Day 89 off to Mackinac Island

      Sadly, we are departing Charlevoix this morning and headed for Mackinac Island. We might have stayed longer, but reservations at Mackinac Island need to be made well in advance so our schedule calls... We departed the marina about 8:15 am and went out into the middle of Round Lake to wait for the 8:30 am opening of the bridge between Round Lake and Little Traverse Bay. The photo at the right shows our view looking back at the City Marina with the downtown in the background.

      While we were waiting, the Emerald Isle, which is the Beaver Island Ferry, announced her intentions to leave her dock and transit through the bridge at 8:30 am. The picture at the left shows the Emerald Isle about to depart from her dock. There were three other boats waiting for the opening, but we all had no trouble giving the Emerald Isle plenty of room to undock and turn to pass through the bridge.

      The next photo (at right) shows the Emerald Isle going out first (of course). She exited quickly and smoothly, and we quickly fell in line astern of her. As far as ferries go, the Emerald Isle is quite a handsome ship so the view of her passage was quite pleasant. Of course, it was also nicer not to have her astern of us in an overtaking position. As you can seen in these pictures the sky was cloudless. and the wind in the harbor was almost nonexistent.

      After exiting the channel, we set a northerly course across the mouth of Little Traverse Bay and then toward the main N-S ship channel to avoid a number of islands and shallow areas, which are locally called reefs. We headed up the side of the ship channel to Grey's Reef Lighthouse where we would head more east to the Mackinac Straits. We were about 3 miles south of Grey's Reef Lighthouse when we passed the 110 foot long tug Leonard M pushing her empty self unloading barge, Both are owned by McKeil Marine and were bound for Chicago at 7.7 mph. We were hoping to pass some lake freighters, but this was impressive none the less.

       In a few miles we passed the Grey's Reef Lighthouse (photo at right). The ship channel at the lighthouse was a narrow one lane, but both north and south of here the ship channels has two fairways for north and south bound traffic, which are separated by about 2 miles. The lighthouse itself is 65 feet high and sits on two 20+ foot high bases. It was built in 1936 and automated in 1976. It would have been even more impressive before 2010 when a 40 foot radio tower was removed.

       Next we passed the 104 foot tug Zeus pulling a barge (photo at left). She was going 9.8 mph with a destination of Ludington according to the information on our AIS. Our closest approach was 0.6 miles, and you will see why in the next picture.

      The photo at the right shows the tug Zeus and the barge that she was pulling, which is the tank barge Robert F Deegan. She looks to be light (empty), but her usual cargo is calcium chloride. Calcium chloride is widely used as a deicing agent, and it can depress the freezing point to as low as -52C, which makes it much more effective than salt (NaCl). The tug and barge were at an angle to us, but judging by the length of Zeus, the tow line must be well over 500 feet long.

      Shortly after the photo above was taken, we made a turn to starboard (right) to head more or less directly to the Straits of Mackinac, which separates the upper and lower peninsulas of Michigan. Then we passed this abandoned lighthouse that looked pretty lonely, except for hundreds of seagulls on it.

      At about the same time we could first see the bridge over the Straits of Mackinac, which is over 5 miles long. At this point we are over 5 miles from the bridge, and it still is very impressive in its size. We could already see tiny dots (cars and trucks) moving over the bridge. The bridge now carries Interstate 75 and was completed in 1957. Before that all traffic was carried on ferries. So, it not only connected the upper and lower peninsulas of Michigan but improved transportation between Canada and the US as well.

      I took lots of pictures at different angles, but I will only show one more (photo at left). The photo shows the north tower, and it shows the impressive height of the structure... The tower is about 552 feet high, and the main span is 3,800 feet with a vertical clearance of about 200 feet. I have only been over it once by car, and we went under it going the opposite direction on our first Great Loop. No matter what, it is a very impressive structure. When we passed under the bridge, we were in the main shipping channel between Lakes Michigan and Huron, and thus, when we went under the bridge we were now in Lake Huron for the fist time on this trip.

      At this point we were less than 10 miles from Mackinac Island, which is our destination for today. Shortly, we turned more to the north to follow one of the two main shipping channels that lead to the St Marys River. Ships (and pleasure craft) can go up the St Marys River to the locks at Sioux St Marie where they are lifted up to enter Lake Superior. As we approached Mackinac Island, we first passed the old Round Island Lighthouse (photo at right) that marked dangerous rocky shallows on the south (or Round Island side of the ship channel. This lighthouse was replaced in 1947 by the new Round Island lighthouse (next photo).

      The new Round Island Lighthouse is on the north side of the channel and also marks the turn into the harbor at Mackinac Island. It became operational in 1947 when the old light was deactivated. Since 2009 both lighthouses have operated at lower power as private navigation markers. In this photo behind the light and extending to the left is one of two break walls that protect the harbor at Mackinac Island.

     During this same time, we got spectacular views of the (truly) Grand Hotel, which is the classic symbol representing Mackinac Island. Grand Hotel open opened in 1857 and was billed as a summer retreat for vacationers who arrived by lake steamer from Chicago, Erie, Montreal, Detroit, and by rail from across the continent. Rates at that time were $3 to $5 a night, and as you might imagine the rates are considerably higher today. Cars are not allowed on the island, although there are about 14 motorized vehicles, such as fire trucks and ambulances, on the island today. The main mode of transport for people and goods is by horse drawn carts, carriages, etc. We had planned to use our electric bicycles to take the 8.2 miles road around he island, but only human powered bikes of which there are thousands are allowed. So, much of the charm of the island is in the clinging to the past. The front porch of the hotel is the longest in the world, and since the 1890s, it has been the prime meeting place for people on the island.

      As we approached the marina, we got a wonderful view of Fort Mackinac up on the hill behind the marina. It played an important role in the war of 1812. You can also see several of the large kites that people were flying along the waterfront. Our marina is just out of view at the bottom of the picture. Needless to say, the views from the boat were wonderful in all directions...
     ...and thus we begin our three night stay at this wonderful "blast from the past".

Day 88 Enjoying Charlevoix the Beautiful

      Yes Sports Fans! We have found Charlevoix to be a beautiful and very boater friendly city. The post for today will concentrate on the beauty and not so much on the quality of the eating and shopping. We did see two movies over two days, including "Independence Day: Resurgence", and we also saw "Central Intelligence" for a second time. The photo at the right is taken from the pedestrian walkway just on the lake side of the bascule bridge. There are two condo complexes along the left side of the photo, and from here you can walk all of the way out to the end of the breakwater where we saw the kids jumping into the lake yesterday.

       We mixed up the walking with shopping and eating. The photo at the right was taken from near where the one above was shot, but it is looking back at the bridge and the condo/hotel just on the other side. In the upper left is one of the few actual waterfront restaurants, and it has a great view of the channel. The Admiral found 3 fun tops in the same store. It was one of those magical happenings where most everything in this one store would have fit her, and I kept encouraging her to keep buying. Those of you who know her also know that she does not take orders well, but for once, she did keep buying. I also purchased some t-shirts more to use as undershirts than for the "wonderful" sayings on them.  Now that we are finally experiencing warmer weather I am wearing fewer layers of clothing so the shirts will get used a lot. 

      We only ate out once even though there were many places to choose from. The photo at the right shows the Admiral (Terry) in front of her namesake restaurant, but this is not the restaurant that we chose to eat at.

      We also had a successful trip to Walgreens Pharmacy, which was about 0.9 miles from the marina. We got a ride out there with one of the marina staff, but we walked home to get a chance to see some of the local architecture. The photo at the left shows both some of the beautiful gardens at private homes as well as some of the interesting architecture. The roof ot the house in the right center is typical of Earl Young house as is the irregular stone chimney.  Young built houses from stones, boulders and the creativity in his mind.  He was a local architect, insurance, and real estate agent.  He is credited as the architect of several dozen homes, but he was never really a licensed architect.  The homes are creatively known as Gnome Homes, Mushroom Homes, or Hobbit Houses.  The roofs contain no straight lines, and the chimneys were a focal point of each themed house.

      There is a very nice looking band shell adjacent to the marina. Once again, we lucked out with a Wednesday evening band concert. The band director was the band director at the local high school, but all but a few of the band members were local adults. They played a nice selection of marches, but none of the marches were really exciting like the "1812 Overture", which is one of my real favorites for the 4th of July, which will be here shortly. Lucky came along and had plenty of dog company. It was also fun to watch little kids playing on the grassy slope while their parents enjoyed the concert.

      The final picture (at the right) is of the sign along the entrance channel that welcomes boaters to "Charlevoix the Beautiful". I think that it is fair to say that we both really fell in love with Charlevoix. We have stopped in many different cities and towns in our adventures on the Great Loop, but this is the first one that has totally captured our hearts...

      Sadly, we will be off in the morning for our next destination, which is Mackinac Island. What's not to love about Mackinac Island? However, it would not be the kind of place where we would not want to spend more than a few days. Yes, visit often for a few days, but not to live there for an extended period of time...

Day 87 Petoskey to Charlevoix, MI

      We left the boat at about 8:45 am to walk in to downtown Petoskey for a morning grocery run and a little hardware shopping before our 18.1 mile trip to Charlevoix, Michigan.  We left Petoskey at 11 am after stopping at the fuel dock for the obligatory pump out. The pluses for Petoskey would be that we enjoyed walking around, shopping and eating in the downtown area and in the very pretty waterfront park around the marina. It was at some point before we departed that we actually discovered that Lucky had truly suffered some bite marks from the incident with the 2 dogs on the beach last evening. She is being very good about not licking or scratching the wounds although she is a bit tender in the right rear hind quarters. In spite of this, Petoskey has been a very good stop overall.

      We arrived at Charlevoix in picture perfect weather, and we were greeted with this scene on the breakwater as we prepared to enter the channel (photo at right). There were a few of the usual fishermen, but mostly the crowd was teenagers who were showing off by jumping off the pier into the (chilly) water. We were about to round the red and white channel marker and enter the channel on the other side of the breakwater. The point is that they were not jumping into the channel, which would have caused us some problems.

     The photo at the left shows the "style" of the average jumper. The next sound that we would hear was often shrieks as the jumper came back up to the surface and reacted to the temperature of the water. Oh, to be young again (NOT!).

      We were in the channel keeping station waiting for the 1:30 pm opening of the dual bascule bridge, when we heard the Emerald Isle call to say that she was enterring the channel as well. The first photo show my view from the flybridge looking aft at the Emerald Isle, which is the ferry between Charlevoix and Beaver Island. It did concern me a little with the ferry rapidly approaching at our stern, and the bridge ahead of us was not yet starting to open. However, the bridge opened, and we cruised through with plenty of time to spare.

      In the second photo (at left) we have cleared the bridge, and the Emerald Isle is approaching the bridge. Obviously, when the ferry slowed down, we had plenty of time to clear the bridge and safely get out of her way. Once through the bridge, the channel opens up into a small lake called Round Lake that essentially forms the harbor for Charlevoix. Round Lake opens on the other side into the much larger Lake Charlevoix.

      In the photo at the right the Emerald Isle is passing through the bridge. She will turn to port (her left) and back into the dock parallel to the wall facing the viewer on the left. She is a stern load/unload vehicle as well as passenger ferry.

     Our first view upon passing through the bridge (photo at left) was this hotel on our port (or left) side. we were o learn later that the hotel is actually a condo with individual owners of the rooms (or units), but the whole operations acts as a hotel that rents out the units as available.

      As I have said before, we have heard a lot of good things about Charlevoix, and we are looking forward to checking it out during our two night stay here.The movie theatre, hardware store, outdoor amphitheater, several banks and the post office are less than three blocks from the marina. We have called ahead to Walgreens Pharmacy to pick up 90 day prescriptions for our upcoming 4 or so week trip in Canada where there are no Walgreens. Several of the prescriptions were not due for a refill for another week or 10 days, but they were able to get refills from the doctors, and they contacted our health care to get permission from them to pay early. We have used Walgreens on all of our travels, especially on the Great Loop, and we have had excellent service the majority of the time.

      We are really interested in exploring  "Charlevoix the Beautiful".

Day 86 exploring Petoskey, MI

     I got up at the "crack" of 9:00 am so I was in a great mood and ready to explore. However, just as a little reality check, I spent some time blogging to catch up. Then we headed to town with the first stop being a basket store that had been closed when we walked past last evening. It was a really amazing store with both functional baskets and baskets as "art".
      The downtown area extended for several blocks in both directions. One side was bordered by a block size park (photo at right), and the stores that faced the adjacent streets had added back entrances. Also, I was standing on an old railroad track that cut diagonally across the park. Several blocks along the track was an old passenger station. Around 1900 before the age of automobiles, this area had already become a major summer destination, and Petoskey had about 100 trains passing through each day. There were about 5,000 passengers through here each day from Chicago, Detroit and other cities.

      My photos for Petoskey are going to all be from the marina/park area since for some unknown reason I did not take any more pictures of the town. Unfortunately, I am famous for leaving my phone on the boat. The east end of the marina was formed by a boulevard style walkway from the breakwater extending to the tunnel into downtown. The focal point of the walkway is this bell tower (photo at left) that chimed once every half hour during the day. The Admiral and I enjoyed the chime, but it did manage to scare Lucky every time is chimed...

      The walkway continued out onto the breakwater, and it was always busy with walkers and fishermen. It also had this restored steel lifeboat from the cement freighter J.B. John that loaded cement at a cement plant in Petoskey for delivery (photo at right). It is in remarkably good shape since it was built in 1922 and now lives outside. This lifeboat is only 22 feet long, but it looks a little more seaworthy than the smaller one that was on display at Jackson Harbor. Then again I guess that I never want to find out how sea worthy any lifeboat is...

      While we are on the topic of smaller boats, this is a reproduction of a Native American cargo canoe. I happened to be walking across the boat launch area earlier in the day when the couple that built it was launching her. According to the owners, the hull and interior are authentic as to size, shape, etc., but it was built using modern techniques and materials. She can carry up to 25 people or two tons of cargo. It was a basic means of transport until the late 18th century. The photo at left shows her out for a paddle with paying customers later in the day.

      The western end of the marina coincides with this spillway (photo at right) for a small dam that impounds a long skinny lake through town. I just love the wonderful "noise" of the water as it flows through the rapids created here. This lake also makes a popular skating area when the reservoir freezes over in winter. Towns, like Petoskey, have recognized the importance of tourism on a year round basis. For example, I do not think that the cement plant that the freighter J.B. Johns served still exist, but the freighter's lifeboat lives on as a part of the tourist scene.

      The last photo at left is "yet another" classic, old band stand. This one is obviously still being used, but unfortunately we were not around for a concert. However, until the next concert, the band stand seemed to be doing well as a local gathering spot for lunch.

      One negative came out of our stay here. Lucky was attacked by two dogs that the owner had tied together but did not have any other control over.  I did not see the dogs coming until they were almost on top of Lucky, and I tried to literally leap on the most aggressive of the two. However, it slipped through my grasp, and I ended up on the ground tangled in dog leashes. I was finally able to scoop Lucky up but not before she was bitten, which we did not discover until later. An observer came over to help and pointed out to the other owner that he had observed her breaking two laws, the dogs were not on a leash and not picking up after their dogs pooped.  He was ready to go to the police, but we headed back to Lucky Us just happy to be in one piece.

Day 85 to Petoskey, MI

      The Admiral was up early as usual, and she captured another colorful sunrise from the marina (photo at right). Before departing from Northport, MI, the Admiral did a run to the grocery store. The grocery is a straight shot about 2 blocks from the marina. They have a supply of dock carts outside to load your groceries in to and push back to the marina. You just leave the cart at the head of the dock and they come pick them up. Just another example of great small town service and hospitality! We had stopped in Northport on our first Loop, but we had arrived late and left early so we really had not experienced this delightful town.

      We departed about 8:30 am and headed east across the mouth of Grand Traverse Bay into Little Traverse Bay where our destination is Petoskey. It is near the bottom (east end) of the bay, and our total trip for today is about 40 miles or 5 hours. Two families of geese showed up to say goodbye as we departed (photo at left). In the background is the outer break wall of the marina, and you can see that the marina was so full that there were even boats moored there. The winds were light at about 6 to 8 mph so we looked forward to a smooth trip.

     About 14 miles from our destination we passed the city of Charlevoix, which will be our next destination after Petoskey. We have reservations there, but it is such a popular destination that we were not able to get a slip there for another two days. As we passed Charlevoix, we also passed the Beaver Island ferry that makes twice daily round trips from Charlevoix to the island (photo at right).

     We also made several detours to avoid commercial fish nets. One was a gill net (diagram at left), which are generally set at right angles to the shoreline, and as the diagram says, they may be up to several miles long. They are anchored to the bottom with prominent red flags at the ends and at unspecified intervals in the middle. They would be safe enough to go over, but there is no way to tell how close to the surface of the water that the net reaches. So, it is best to go around them and not take any chances.

      We also passed one fish trap, which poses a greater hazard (diagram at right) to boaters. The fish traps often go all of the way to the surface with small floats every few feet. With all of the flags and floats they are perhaps easier to see, but the nets are going to be at the surface when you can see the floats. Once again, the best strategy is to go completely go around and not take chances. Autopilots are a great convenience, but they do no relieve you of the responsibility of keeping a sharp watch ahead...

     We had stayed in Petoskey on our first Loop and found it to have many really good restaurants and stores so we are looking forward to our time here. There is a really nice park along the bay front between the marina and the city. The main highway along the shore separates the park and marina from downtown, but they have a very wide pedestrian tunnel the leads right to the edge of the shopping and restaurant area. We docked at about 1:15 pm, and by 2:00 pm we were at an "authentic" Mexican restaurant. We had been on a great run of really good Mexican restaurant, but I'm afraid that this one fell a little short of expectations.

      The last photo (at left) shows our flower girl Lucky enjoying a little rest during one of several long walks. We did not have a dog on our first Loop so we are finding that by walking Lucky we are getting to thoroughly explore the waterfront parks on this trip. On the way back to the boat we had a late dinner at Jimmy Johns of all places (?). It turns out that we discovered that they have a "sandwich" that uses a lettuce wrap instead of some sort of roll or tortilla wrap. It was really very tasty and as healthy as fast food can get..We will be here two nights so we plan to do a lot more exploring (i.e. shopping in the Admiral's view) tomorrow.

Day 84 across Lake Michigan to Northport, MI

      We got off at 4:10 am and each of us took a turn at napping on the way.  I was lucky enough to be the first one, and on my way down I snapped the photo at the right of the sunrise. When we left Jackson Harbor, we went north and around Rock Island before heading east to cross Lake Michigan.  Rock Island is barely separated from Washington by a string of rocks and some sand dunes that may be navigable in a small boat, but the water was too "skinny" for us. The waters across Lake Michigan were as flat as could be - perfect as can be seen in the photo there was virtually no wind at sunrise. During our trip the winds out of the northwest slowly built up to only about 8 mph with waves of 6 to 12 inches at most. It would have been one of those rare days when you could have comfortably water skied across the lake.

     We really did not see anything picture worthy on the whole trip plus we each took about an hour and a half nap so the time passed pretty quickly. The deepest point that we noted on the trip is shown in the photo at the left. The depth of 544.0 feet is shown in the lower left hand corner of this screen shot of the chart plotter. As we approached the east side of Lake Michigan, we did see several cruisers speeding along closer to shore, but otherwise we saw no other boats. You can also see two red and one green navigation markers that direct traffic around some shallow areas. It might seem like a dramatic shallowing from 544 to 21 feet as is shown on the screen. Lucky Us is located at the small boat icon near the bottom center. The distance from the boat to the shallows is about 5 miles This means that on average the depth is getting shallower at a rate of about 100 feet per mile, which is about 1 degree. That slope is so shallow that you probably could not see it visually nor would you notice walking up that kind of slope.

      We arrived in Northport, MI at 2:00 pm.  The photo at the right shows the view looking back over the stern just after we entered the marina. Northport is just inside the peninsula that separates Lake Michigan from Grand Travers Bay so the view here is to the north and the westerly breeze is largely blocked by the land. However, if the wind was strong enough it would come over the land and back down to reach the water, but as you can see in the picture the water is like a mirror.

       After Lick Us was safely tied at her dock (photo at left), we have already strolled through the small town. The Admiral found a boutique where she had shopped the last time we were here on our first Great Loop.  Yes, she found more to buy this time too... 

     We had dinner out at a lovely, big new restaurant, and I had the fish fry, which still seems to be a common occurrence on Fridays here in the Midwest. Then we went back to Lucky Us to collect the dog and some chairs and go to the adjacent city park for a free Friday concert.  We stayed for the first of two sets by a jazz trio. It was fun, easy listening music. I must admit that this is the first time that I have heard a jazz version of "The Ode to Billy Jo McCallister". I took the photo at the right from behind the bandstand looking through the performers and out at  the audience with part of Grand Traverse Bay in the background.

     The "selfie" at the left shows the Admiral, me and Lucky enjoying the music. Lucky did very well with all of the children and dogs around. We left at about 8:00pm when the band took their intermission break. It had after all been a very long day, and we are heading out in the moring across the mouth of Grand Travers to Petoskey in adjacent Little Travers Bay.


      Tomorrow is a relatively short trip so it is great timing for the Admiral.  In the morning she will hit the grocery store before we leave and head to Petoskey.  The grocery store is a block away, and they allow you to take their dock carts to the marina where they will pick it up later. The people are very trusting, and the towns seem super safe.

Day 83 to Jackson Harbor, Washington Island

      Reluctantly we left Fish Creek this morning at 8:55 am. The Admiral was up way too early, but she managed to take this lovely photo (at right) of the sunrise over our marina. Our route today is 39.2 miles and includes stopping at Sister Bay for lunch before continuing North to Washington Island, which is a couple of miles off the north end of the Door Peninsula that separates Green Bay from Lake Michigan.  Jackson Harbor is on the northeast corner of Washington Island, and it is going to be our jumping off point for crossing to the other side of Lake Michigan.  Tonight we will review the weather for the next few days to determine when we leave.  Wind is the big factor in choosing the day to cross.  With the early sunrises we have already discussed getting a very early start to take advantage of the usual morning calm. 

      The next photo shows us backing away from the T-head where we were docked. About two hours after departing, we reviewed the weather forecasts and decided to cancel the stop for lunch at Sisters Bay and go directly to Washington Island.  This changes the trip from 39.2 miles to 34.2 miles.  Our main reason is a weather update that forecasts an increase in wind to as high as 15 to 20 mph this afternoon. That much wind would certainly be at the upper end of our comfort range so we decided not to take the chance.

      We have mentioned before that Lake Michigan is up about 4 feet over just a couple of years ago. The photo at the right shows some of the evidence that we regularly see for that rise. This line or shrubs and small trees is in several feet of water just off the end of a small rocky island. They would almost certainly never start growing there nor will they likely live much longer.

      As we continued up the west coast of the Door Peninsula, we saw some scenic sea cliffs formed by the (Silurian) Lockport Dolomite. The Door Peninsula is formed by these resistant rocks while the glaciers eroded away other less resistant formations above and below the Lockport Dolomite. This is the same rock unit that forms Niagara Falls, islands in western Lake Erie and several other features around the Great Lakes.

     At the North end of the Door Peninsula there is a channel between the peninsula and several islands to the north that is known as Death's Door (photo at right). Evidently dozens of old shipwrecks occurred here as ships tried to reach shelter in the lee off the Door Peninsula during storms. It looked peaceful enough in 8 to 10 mph winds today, but with gale force winds being funneled though a narrow rock passage it would be very tricky.

      We arrived at Jackson Harbor at 1:00 pm, and this was our view of Jackson Harbor as we approached the marina. My first thought was that we had somehow been magically transported to New England (photo at left), as we saw salt box style buildings and the gaff rigged, cat boat, etc. 

      The Jackson Harbor Maritime Museum has several building that fit nicely into the New England maritime theme (photo at right).

      We did not go into any of the buildings, but they had some nice exhibits on the grounds of the museum, which were more to my liking. The old US Coast Guard patrol boat is the Plum Island, which reminded me of the recent movie "Finest Hours" about a Coast Guard rescue off Cape Cod, which was done in an all wood boat about this same vintage.

      The also had four gill net commercial fishing boats in the harbor, and at least 2 of them are currently active. They also had this well preserved gill netter displayed on land (photo at right), and I had a good time walking around and peering into it.  There is no cell service here so the Admiral had to find wifi at the nearby inn that is associated with the marina.  No one was around, but the password was on the chalk board so she helped herself. However, I was not going to sit outside as the evening got cool and work on the blog. So, I very graciously gave myself the day off from blogging...

      After we had lunch on the boat we struck out walking to what the Admiral thought was a fiber arts museum.  It turns out that it is a store associated with a fiber arts school, and of course, instead of a little over a mile, it turned out to be a little over 2 miles one way. She did alert her sister that they might have to spend some time here in the future. She also managed to purchase a basket that fits on a shelf above the sink in the galley and will hold potatoes and sweet potatoes. She thinks that the basket is perfect, and the 4.1 miles from that one walk made my Fit Bit very happy for the day. As for Lucky and me, we were happy to be back in the air conditioning on Lucky Us.

      The photo at the left is a old lifeboat that is also part of the museum's collection. It looked nice, but I surely would not want to be caught out in a severe storm in it. On the other hand, if it were the only thing afloat, it would look pretty good.

      We have checked our usual weather sources, and tomorrow we will be heading out to cross to the other side of Lake Michigan with plans to leave no later than 4:30 am.  The wind is supposed to slowly shift from NE to SSE and not to build up any higher than 8 to 10 mph until long after our arrival. Our destination is Northport, MI, specifically the G. Marsten Dame Marina.  This is a 79.5 mile trip which should take slightly less than 10 hours, and depending on how the weather looks, we may speed up a little and take an hour off the trip.  Also, we lose an hour tomorrow as we leave the Central Time Zone.