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Old 10-01-2016, 04:18 PM   #7
BandB
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City: Fort Lauderdale. Florida, USA
Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 21,449
Where the boat is now, many marinas are shutting down for the winter. However, if you have fuel and can get headed toward Chicago quickly, you'll have no real issues. You must make it to Chicago by October 31, however, as that's when the city harbors all close up shop. I think you could probably find a marina still open but you're pressing your luck by that point. It then becomes not just Chicago, but also the Illinois River. I'd really try to target getting to Chicago by October 15, if possible. You're talking a 7 to 10 degree temperature drop from October 15 to October 31. Your trip from Holland to Chicago is only around 90 nm. However, this time of the year, conditions can be bad. One day 7-10', the next 2-3'.

Our plan is to leave Chicago on October 10. We anticipate having some cold days pop up on the way down, but mostly decent days to travel.

I also would carry as much fuel as I could find when leaving as in some of these areas, even those saying they're open, may not be. You will be running well behind the loop crowd.

One other issue, though nothing major. There is a lot of dredging taking place right now on the Illinois River so at three areas you need to give advance notice and travel at your slowest speed.
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