First a note of thanks to everyone who reached out to make sure we are okay in light of the news about the crash of Amtrak’s Empire Builder in Montana on Saturday. We mourn all those killed or hurt but we were especially worried for a while that the nice young couple we met on the Lake Shore Limited, and who were continuing on to Seattle, might have been on board. But we did the math and they would have been on Friday’s train. We are scheduled to take that train but not until later in October. Every method of public transportation involves an element of risk. Trains, statistically, remain one of the safest. Still, it really makes you think.

    The morning started with mundane chores, catching up on laundry and running errands. But the afternoon was for fun. Our hosts here in Illinois, Ernie and Kathy, subscribe to the essential three “B’s” of “la dolce vita” in these parts—beer, brats and boats.

Ernie and Kathy aboard Cooler By The Lake

    There are few other areas of the country that have such a proud tradition of brewing, especially with Milwaukee just to the north and Chicago to the South. Along with the national giants there seems to be a microbrewery on every corner. Ernie and Kathy have introduced us to some of the best and we’ve had some great meals. They have a collection of more than 100 beer glasses (including some from Atlantic Brewing and the Thirsty Whale in Bar Harbor) along with growlers, t-shirts and other commemorative items.

    Their other great passion is boating and considering they live just a few miles from Lake Michigan, and with owning a boat slip in Fox Lake, literally just 100 yards from their house, it makes perfect sense that they spend a lot of time on the water. On this visit we got to see both their boats, the modern, sleek, fiberglass cabin cruiser, Cooler By The Lake  (yes it’s a pun) they tie up at the Reef Point Marina in Racine, WI, and the amazing, classic, all-wood, 1958 Chris Craft Continental Oktoberfest, in Fox Lake. You’ve got to love a neighborhood where the association has its own marina and docks.

On Sunday we got a chance to go for a cruise on Oktoberfest and from the start you can tell it’s the couple’s favorite. “The bigger the boat, the less you use it,” Ernie shares acknowledging the work involved in heading out and returning on larger vessels. In that respect Oktoberfest, at 18-feet long, is the perfect size. They are out on it multiple times a week, often in the morning to watch sunrise or in the evening to stargaze when the lake, which buzzes with an alarming number of manhood enhancing powerboats during the weekend, is quiet.

    Oktoberfest is kept in tip-top shape, its bright work gleaming and chrome trim mirror bright. All deck lines are perfectly flemished; the windshield spotless.

    With the push of the start button on a boat built the year he was born, Ernie fires up the inboard six-cylinder, the roaring exhaust providing a distinctive gurgling from the exhaust ports at the stern. A hint of gasoline smell hangs in the air, the result, Ernie explains, of running the carb a tad rich so she idles better at lower speed. As we pull out of the association marina, a cattle egret and a blue heron watch us pass but do not fly off.

    Speeding along, the Chris Craft burgee flies straight and true off the bow. One nice thing in an age where so many people seem to want to rush back and forth on a lake as fast as possible is that Oktoberfest is the boat attracting all the interest. It doesn’t matter whether it’s from shore, from other boats, or from the Route A10 bridge, everybody who sees her waves.

    Ernie pilots us around the relatively shallow lake, avoiding muddy shoals and changing course to stay well away from the racing “cigarette” boats putting up rooster tails of water from their combined 1,500 horsepower engines.

    The highlight of the trip is when we pass the abandoned Mineola Hotel, once the weekend retreat of Chicago’s most famous mobster, Al Capone who parleyed prohibition and restrictions on booze into a criminal empire. Boarded up, paint peeling off its walls, its roof line sagging, it’s just an insurance claim away from being listed as “lost in a tragic fire.”

  

Oktoberfest

 Heading back to the dock we are treated to a fabulous Midwest sunset, the blazing orange clouds, unblocked by surrounding hills or mountains, stretching from full south to north. It’s a great close to our last full day here.

    While Ernie and Kathy love brats, and certainly know their beer, and honor that hobby in their passion for boats, they also know when those pursuits shouldn't mix. From the time they leave the dock, their boats, save spray from the wake and waves, are dry as a bone. Now these are people who take all their hobbies very seriously.

    It’s nearly dark when we get back to the slip and stow the gear. It’s time to head back to the hotel to finish packing. We’re back on the rails tomorrow on the Southwest Chief, an overnight run from Chicago to Albuquerque where we’ll be spending time with Roxie’s sister Mary and her husband Bryan.