Day 307 to Day 332
We have been running and busy trying to get back to the USA during the period of time covered by this post. Consequently, I had not kept up with the blog, so hopefully this post will get us up to date.
7/17/16 - Little Current, ON
From Killarney, we went to Little Current as our next stop. We spent two days here since the wind was blowing quite hard from the west. While we were there Mike and Paige Cauldwell on Golden (another PDQ 34) came into port to pick up the new house batteries they had ordered from a marina in Little Current. We traded some stories with them and then they headed back to Killarney for the PDQ meet up scheduled for that Wednesday. We had already decided not to wait around for a couple of days for this meetup since we wanted to get back into the USA before our next grandchild was due to be born. We used the next couple of days to restock groceries and other essentials. I bought some locally smoked fish and made a tasty smoked fish dip with it. The picture below is the grotto we saw as we were leaving Killarney.
This is a lighthouse we saw as we approached Little Current. The lighthouses were built like this to house the lightkeeper's family.
Below is the swing bridge at Little Current that only opens on the hour, so if you don't arrive during the 10-15 minute window that it is open you wind up having to wait until the next hour.
7/19/16 - Meldrum Bay, ON
Once the wind subsided at Little Current we made the run to Meldrum Bay. On the way, we saw another PDQ 34 going in the opposite direction. We hailed them and it turned out to be Bob and Lynn Allison on Moxie. They pulled alongside and we talked for a few minutes. They were on their way back to Killarney for the meet up of PDQs scheduled for the next day. We told them we had decided against attending and said our farewells.
When we arrived in Meldrum Bay the water there in the marina was the clearest that we had seen during our trip. At our dock, we were in 12 feet of water and could count every pebble on the bottom. I finished stripping the dogs of their winter coats and then they went for a swim on the nearby boat ramp. They love chasing and retrieving sticks from the water. That evening after supper we walked a couple of blocks to the only restaurant in town and had a dessert. Later that night we had a beautiful full moon over Meldrum Bay.
7/20/16 - Drummond Island Customs and DeTour, MI
From Meldrum Bay, ON we went back into the USA to the Drummond Island Yacht Club which is the only USA customs reporting station in the area. We pulled up to the dock there and were met by two customs agents. They looked at our passports and boat papers, asked a few questions, then we were done! They did not board the boat and after they gave us a report number to record we went on to the municipal marina in DeTour, MI just a few miles further along. Later that evening Rafe Williams on Cat Daddy (another PDQ 34) pulled into the slip next to us. He came over for docktails and then left us with some of his oversupply of butter tarts from Canada. We wound up staying for a couple of days at DeTour waiting for calm weather.
7/23/16 - Petoskey, MI
We finally got a good weather window to leave DeTour, MI on Saturday. The plan had been to stop overnight at Mackinac Island where we had a reservation. While we were in DeTour we learned that our daughter-in-law had been scheduled to have a C-section the following Friday since the baby was in a breech position and the doctors had not been able to turn her during the preceding couple of weeks. After we examined the weather forecast it was evident that the only good travel day we would have in the next few days was Saturday, so we decided to skip Mackinac Island and push on to Petoskey, MI where we could leave the boat while we drove back to Charlottesville for the birth. We rode past Mackinac Island on the way to Petoskey and saw some of the grand hotels from the water. While going past the island and through the Straights of Mackinaw we were continually waked by the many, many ferries traveling back and forth to the island from mainland ports all around the island. It was a miserable 5-6 miles until we were through the straits and back into calmer water.
We spent Saturday afternoon and Sunday in Petoskey since the car rental places were closed and did not reopen until Monday morning. We took the opportunity to walk around the quaint town of Petoskey and to attend Saturday evening Mass at a very nice Catholic church in town. The Mass was said by a visiting Bishop and we enjoyed hearing him. Many of the churches we attend are very small and many of them do not even have their own priest. This church was different in that it was large and very active.
7/26/16 to 8/4/16 - Trip to Charlottesville, VA
On Monday morning we rented a car from Enterprise and started out on our two-day drive to Virginia. Our son Patrick and his wife Kara live in Charlottesville, VA, and the baby Olivia would be born at the UVA hospital there. Our son Michael and his family live in Culpeper, VA which is about an hour drive from Charlottesville. Michael and his wife Maureen graciously allowed us to stay at their house while awaiting the birth of Olivia. On Friday Olivia was born and Sharon and I got to see and hold her. Below you see us holding the baby and the proud parents Kara and Patrick also holding her. Photo credit to Patrick for the pictures.
The Saturday after Olivia's birth our granddaughter Rebecca played the flute for Mass that evening so we got to see her in action.
8/5/16 - Mackinaw City, MI
After an enjoyable and eventful family visit, we left Virginia and headed back to Michigan. On the way, we stopped in Pittsburg to visit our niece Kathleen who is living there. We made the return trip in three days instead of two, setting a more leisurely pace. At the last minute, we decided to bypass Petoskey and go to Mackinaw City for a relaxing night in a hotel. We had a beautiful view from our beachfront room of Mackinac Island and Lake Huron.
We explored the city and had dinner at a local restaurant where Sharon wrote Olivia's birth date on the wall.
8/6/16 - Return to Petoskey, MI
After our relaxing night in the hotel, we returned to Petoskey to find Duane and Diane Ising on Diva Di (another PDQ 34) on the same dock as we were. We had docktails with them on our boat that evening and caught up on each other's adventures since we had seen them last in Midland. Since they were staying the next night as well we had docktails on their boat the next night. Diva Di left Sunday, and we waited until Monday so we could go to Mass on Sunday and return the rental car Monday morning. When the town fathers heard that we were leaving on Monday they brought out a live band and threw us a farewell party in the park by the marina.
8/8/16 - Fairfort, MI
We traveled from Petoskey to Fairfort, MI on a very calm day on Lake Michigan. along the way we saw Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakefront where some of the sand dunes approach 500 feet high.
We stayed two days in Fairfort, eating in a local brewpub for two meals. On our last night there we ran into Jim and Christine on Crash (NOT another PDQ 34) who we had originally met in Belhaven, NC and had last seen in Norfolk, VA in early May. They had taken a slightly different route that we had, and we swapped war stories with them about our travels.
8/10/16 - Crossing Lake Michigan to Manitowoc, WI.
After two days in Fairfort, the weather looked like we could get across the lake to Manitowoc, Wisconson, a distance of about 78 miles, without too much difficulty. I wanted to make the remaining trip to Chicago along the western shore since the lake is less affected by the prevailing westerly winds on that side than on the eastern side. The ride began a little rougher than expected and we discussed turning back. Since the forecast called for the winds to subside throughout the day we decided to tough it out a little longer, and finally, the winds and waves subsided enough for us to make the rest of the trip in relative comfort. While on this crossing we went many miles without seeing another boat, without seeing any land, with no cell phone coverage, and in water over 800 feet deep.
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