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.
No comments:
Post a Comment