Pleasure cruise!

This weekend marks our first (and, incidentally, last) "pleasure cruise" for the Summer of 2009. We and two wonderful friends are heading across the lake tonight, bound for St. Joseph, Michigan (where Scott and I met 2 years ago!). It's a 60 mile jaunt which doesn't seem far at all, but on a lil' boat that maxes out at 8 knots - that's about 8 hours under power. We are, simply put, so excited.

Last night Scott and I went to the boat to get her ready - he put on a BRAND NEW Deep Cycle 12 volt marine battery for the engine (WHOO HOO - starts like a charm now!) while I jam-packed our cabinets with all (non-perishable) groceries for the weekend and disinfected the head with my awesome head cleaner (see previous Borax post). And that's not all folks...we also have a BRAND NEW main sheet (the original one was over THIRTY feet short!) and we have brand new battens...We flushed and disinfected our water tank, topped off our fuel, tinkered with our wacky autopilot (which isn't working properly anymore) and found a blown "mystery" fuse (Is it European!? Do they even make these anymore!?). Every single time we are on the boat two things are certain to happen: 1) we learn something new and 2) something breaks/acts funny/malfunctions. Keeps things interesting, ya know?

From St. Joseph we're going to head over to Saugatuck, Michigan to enjoy the simple cruising life for three days: quaint harbor towns, nights under the stars, local townie bars, beautiful sunsets, wine in the cockpit, great conversation, the sound of the wind through the rigging, the gentle rock of the boat as you drift to sleep, and that wonderful misty morning feeling when you pop up on the dew-covered deck and the world is quiet as a mouse and the sun begins to peek over the horizon to start a brand new day...

Wish us luck - we'll be back in Chicago on Monday!!

With love,

Brittany and Scott