Friday 8/25/17

What a difference a day makes....24 little hours

We left Leland on Thursday under cloudy skies with 3-5's which built to 4-6's & occasional 7.  Taking them on the starboard aft corner.  Not fun & not progressing very fast.  Never saw another boat.  That tells you something.  Our goal was Ludington 90 miles away.  We gave up & turned into Frankfort which was about 44 miles.  Frankfort was a very nice, protected marina on Lake Bessie.  It was a fishing tournament weekend.  A 60' Cruiser was docked next to us.  It was the living quarters of someone in the tournament.

Left Frankfort this morning.  The lake was 2' or less.  We are docked in Ludington.  Very nice marina.  We were greeted by other loopers & given advice/counseling & a welcome bag.  We walked the town.  Found a place, Cafe 106, where Riley could sit with us on the patio, so we ate there.  It was very good.  Went to a farmers market & stocked up on fruits & vegetables.  We have not been getting our 5 a day!
We got to see the S.S.Badger a 410' ferry that runs from Ludington, MI to Manitowoc, WI.  Fun fact:  It is an extension of US RT 10.  It is a 4 hour trip. It comes into & turns around right in front of our dock.  It leaves/returns twice a day.
Riley sure gets attention.  People are always asking what he is & can they pet him.  He always says yes.  He does bark at birds & sometimes other dogs.  Tim is not happy with that.  Sometimes he quiets when told, but if not, he gets the towel of shame.

Sanddune on the way to Frankfort

S.S.BADGER

Riley wearing the towel of shame

8/22/17

We are in Leland, MI.  Arrived Monday the 21st.  We are weathered in & will probably be here until at least Thursday.  The wind is roaring out of the WNW & the waves are boasting 6-8 footers.  Temp is hi 60's to low 70's when the sun comes out.  "Fish Town" is a National Landmark District.  Next to the marina are old ice & fish shanties that are now specialty shops & an operating fish house. They sure draw a lot of tourists.  On our walks with Riley we have seen large beautiful houses (summer homes?) & once again the flower gardens & the size of the trees continue to amaze me.  We met Steve & Rae, who are on their 2nd loop.  They kindly shared helpful information.

A little update on Mackinaw.  We did take the ferry to Mackinaw Island.  Once again due to Riley, we choose to walk around the island.   It was a good day for it.  Cool, windy & no sun.  Eight miles.  Riley was fascinated  with the horses as he has never seen a horse before.  He did well & just stared.  I commented to Tim about the lack of birds (except seagulls) & small animals.  When we got to the half way point, there was an information center, which showed numerous birds & animals native to the island.  Never saw one.  Talked to people that docked there & they would not do it again.  With the wind & all the ferry traffic, they rocked constantly & never had a good nights sleep.
Once again, fudge is king.


Now for the stops on the way to Leland.

On Saturday 8/19/17 we arrived Petoskey, MI.  We met some loopers that were about 1/2 thru as they started in FL.  While walking the docks, we saw a port of call Sheffield Village, OH.(for those of you that don't know, Sheffield Village is pretty much next to where we live).  We stopped to talk.  David & Germain summer on their boat at the Petoskey Marina.  He told us all about buying & bringing his boat back from FL.  He also gave us much information about the ports along the MI coast & insisted we take his DNR Michigan Harbors Guide.  It has proved very useful.  We are hoping to cross his path when we return home.
Bear Creek runs thru Petoskey.  We walked the trail along it & stopped to watch a fisherman pull in a King Salmon.  WOW.  It was quite a fight.
It seems Petoskey has some sort of festival every weekend & this was no exception.  Food trucks, music & arts & crafts vendors.  Great hand cut fries!
This marina differed from the others we stayed at, as it had a party going on, on almost every boat.

Sunday 8/20/17 we went to Charlevoix.  That required running up a small river & waiting for a draw bridge to open.  We narrowly averted disaster.  A small boat cut in front of us just before we entered.  He appeared to have no clue we were there.  He was talking to his passengers & weaving all over.  Our horn was not charged,(that will not happen again) Tim yelled at the top of his lungs & the guy got out the way just in time.  Tim was able to use one of his favorite words...MORON.  We were in neutral just waiting for the bridge & the rest of the traffic.  Scary. 😱
Charlevoix is a nice town.  We were able to put the dinghy in & go for a ride on Lake Charlevoix.  The beach had a row of very colorful cabanas,  but try as I might, was unable to spot any cabana boys.👀  Darn.
We were docked next to Richard.  He bought his sailboat from Bob Seager. When he bought it, the only thing it didn't have was a radio!
 Riley got a bath & now smells better.  That is important in these close quarters.
Had breakfast at a small place where everything was homemade.  Sausage, bacon jam, challa bread & jelly.  It was good, but we still miss our breakfasts at Bay Diner. Hi to everyone there.  See you when we get back.

Charlevoix Light House

Grand Hotel Mackinaw Island

Horse Carriage on Mackinaw Island

Garden Sculpture at Grand Hotel

Sunset at Leland, MI

Stormy Day at Leland, MI

8/17/17

Left Rogers City @ 9:30AM.  Arrived Mackinaw City about 1PM.  Little chop but not a bad ride.

First Harrisville.  It was truly a dark & stormy night. 💨⛈ Waited till about 10:30 for a break in rain to take Riley out.  It was pitch black.  Silly me, no flash light.  Riley was spooked as was I.  Turns out it was the invasion of the toads!!  They were every where.  Riley picked one up & spit it out.  Guess they are not tasty.  I can not confirm that. The morning was sunny & nice. 😎 The lake started out nice, but turned into 2-4's & capping.  Craic handled it well.  It was about 4.5 hour run to Rogers City.  The water line sprang a leak.  Bilge was spitting & when we arrived Rogers City, Tim found the problem & fixed & hand pumped 2 five gallon buckets out.

We arrived Mackinaw City on 8/16/17 about 1PM.  It was sunny & 69 degrees.  We walked all over.  Have never seen so many fudge, popcorn & ice cream shops.  Who eats all that fudge???  Was hoping for more outside dining so as not to lock up Riley.  Really wanted to try out O'Reilly's Irish pub, but no go.  Found one place & ate there. Today I am making chicken tortilla soup.  It fits the weather. Looks like we will be here a few days.  Storms forecast for the next few days at least.  I planned some runs with Riley as he misses that.  No luck today. ☔ Do not want a smelly wet dog aboard.🐕 Hope the rain gives us break so we can get over to Mackinaw Island.  Fun fact:  dogs ride free on the ferry.

We are running pretty hard to get over to Lake Michigan & beat weather.  Will hopefully slow down when we get there & for sure once we get to the river system.

Random musings:

 Windmills as far as the eye could see on the lower MI peninsula, forests on the upper.
quite a difference from what we are used to seeing on the Erie coast.

Met a gentleman in Rogers City.  He was sitting on a bench & invited Riley & I to sit & talk.  He is 96 years old & lived on a sailboat with his daughter, son-in-law & dog. We also eventually talked with the rest of the family.  A joy.

Met another gentleman (is anyone sensing a theme here?) 87 years old.  He & his wife & dog are also live aboards in Mackinaw City Marina.  They have a group that gets together to cook out in the evenings. He offered an invite &  his car if we needed to go anywhere.

The flower gardens are beautiful & plentiful.  They are truly impressive considering the short growing season. I'm waiting to see someone out in their yard to ask the secret.


8/18/17

We are still in Mackinaw.  It rained most of yesterday, with a slight break in the afternoon to get out & walk.

Most MI harbors have a walkable break wall

The swans came up the boat to hiss at Riley. He of course went crazy

When the sun shines the sunsets are beautiful. this one is at Port Austin

The Mackinaw Bridge. Taken on the nice day of the Mackinaw visit

The bridge at night

8/14/17.  It was the best of times, it was the worst of times....just kidding & my apologies to Mr Dickens.  We are at Harrisville Harbor of Refuge in MI.  It is pouring rain, but I am getting ahead of myself.
We left Vermilion, OH on 8/7/17(thanks to Mary & Jim Fitzgerald for the photos) & ran to Algonac, MI which is about 10 miles up the St Clair river.  It was close to a 7 hour run.  We knew it would be long, but had already seen much of the area & wanted to get as far as possible that day.  Lake Erie was mostly flat, no problems on the Detroit River, & Lake St Clair had a little chop.  Once into the St Clair river we noticed quite a vibration & thought, now what?  As it turns out it was due to fighting the current & all is well. We docked at Algonac Harbor Marina.  It has not changed much from years ago.  We ate meatloaf & macaroni salad provided by a friend (Jeanne), & collapsed.

8/8/17 We headed for Lexington, MI. It was about a 3.5 hour run.  There was a bit of a chop, but no problems.  Riley figured out the best way to handle these runs is to sleep.  He stays on the floor by the helm & occasionally gets up to stretch & stick his head over the side & sniff & back to sleep.  We stayed at Lexington 2 nights.  It is a nice port & we needed to slow down.  Tim spent the day washing the boat & I was catching up on my paperwork.  Not to mention Riley was in need of his long walks.

8/10/17 Ran to Harbor Beach today.  About 3 hours.  Should have kept going.  It was about a 1/4 mile walk to the bath house & at least another mile into town, but there was a nice walking path to town. It was sad.  Main Street was mostly shuttered with For Sale signs on many of the buildings.  It does boast a Cost Guard Station, & a Dow Chemical Plant.

8/11/17. On to Port Austin.  Only a couple hour run.  Once again the lake was good to us.  Only a slight chop.  Stayed here 3 days.  Nice docks.  Nice town.  Awesome farmers market.  Did some major cleaning & dog walking.  Laundry was free.  Had to take advantage of that.  Tim's brother, Paul & sister-in-law, Carol surprised us with a visit on Saturday.  It was almost a 3 hour drive for them, so they stayed the night.  We went out to dinner & breakfast.  It was nice to see them & spend the time with them. Got my first newspaper in a week.  USA Today & The Detroit Free Press.  Also took a dinghy ride.  Coolest hardware store ever.  First floor all the hardware one could ever need & second floor is a gift shop!   A boat by the name of BAZINGA came in & docked over night.  It was at least 70'.  BAZINGA  was a neon sign flashing at night.  Word on the docks was that it belonged to Sheldon from "The Big Bang Theory", but to my knowledge there was no actual sighting. Downside to this port,  fuel was $1.00/gallon higher than everywhere else.

8/14/17  Harrisville 2.5 hour run, probably should have kept going, but would not have beat the rain, so being in a dock with canvas up was a good choice.  The port itself is nice, but town is small.  There was a small window when the rain stopped & we walked Riley to town.  He needed it.  A little crazy today.  I am sure due to lack of exercise.  Coolest boat ever followed us in.  Once again due to weather have not spoken to them.  It is about 60' steel converted tug.  It is a home on the lake.  On the bow I saw 2 motorcycles, a pontoon boat, a dinghy, lounge chairs & a palm tree.  Of course there is a lift.  On the stern is a balcony with chairs & sun shade.  My glimpse inside looked like a kitchen in a land house.  Hope I get to talk with them.  There are 2 other boats here that are doing the loop.  One is from Erie, PA & just started.  The other is from Pensacola, FL & will cross their wake in Dec.  We are hoping to get out tomorrow.  A little longer run to either Presque Isle or Rogers City.  The wind is will be out of the north & it has been out of the south.  We shall see.

                                            Leaving Vermilion