Michigan: New Buffalo (Day 3)

Day: 68
No Travel

As opposed to yesterday which was full of activity,  today was, overall, a "ho-hum" sort of day.  Our weather reports indicated thunder & lightening storms for 11:00, and our phone app "Rainy Days" supported that conjecture.  I need to do laundry but figured that if I took it up town and washed and dried it, it would just get wet again on the return trip to the boat.  I decided that laundry could wait one more day.

We have a device that when aimed at the water returns the temperature.  I tried to use it yesterday before our kayak trip and found the battery dead.  The battery type is one I am not familiar with and do not stock on the boat, so a search for a replacement battery was a good excuse to go shopping in town today.  

Shops on the main street, Whitaker Street, run for about three blocks.  The picture below shows the whole length of the main drag.  Lake Michigan is shown in the background.  At the edge of town, before the marina area, Amtrak has a train station stop in New Buffalo.  That must be for all the Chicago visitors to this cute little town which comes alive on Saturday nights and goes back to sleep on Sunday nights.

Whitaker Street, New Buffalo, MI

New Buffalo Shopping area

The owners of Sno-Daz told Clark that we should check two different stores as a potential source for the battery - the boat supply store and the pharmacy.  From the outside the boat supply store looks like a clothing store.  Once inside, however, the store reminded me of a general store with a focus on boating supplies.   We found batteries but not the odd size we needed.

Fortunately the trip to this store was not wasted as I bought myself two shirts and a pair of Crocs.  I also found the fender straps we use on the boat, so I bought two.  It cost less for two at this store than it did for one at West Marine in South Haven.  Back in Drummond we lost one strap when the fender caught on the dock.  That was the cause of my hand injury.  During the high winds and wave action in South Haven, we lost another fender strap because it broke from all the strain on the line.  At the moment I have no fender straps attached to any of the fenders.  they are just tied on to the rails with two half-hitch knots.  I'll start using the fender hangers again on the river system.

From the boat supply store we crossed the street to the pharmacy and found the battery we needed. We could buy one Duracell for $3.95 or two Energizer for the same price.  Now one would expect that it would be an easy decision to buy two for the price of one, but we debated which to buy.  I figure that when we next need to replace the battery we won't remember we have a spare and will go out and buy one anyway.  We bought the "twofer".  Only time will tell if we remember we have one on hand.  It could be years before we need another of these since the only thing we own that needs it is the infrared temp reader.

Besides the battery, I found a crafts department (uh-oh) in the pharmacy, which was also more like a general store than an ordinary pharmacy and reminded me of a non-chain store version of a Walgreen's.  I planned to bring sewing needles back from NJ when I visit out there over Labor Day, but an assortment package of needles I found in the pharmacy was only $4, so I bought it now.  

We got back to the boat around 11:30, and the rain had not hit yet but was definitely getting closer.  I am not sure why but I found myself quite hungry and decided that I needed to eat lunch even though it seemed early considering when I ate breakfast.  As I prepared my lunch, Clark put up the new cover we bought for the stairway to the upper helm, which serves to keep the back deck on the lower level dryer.  He then pulled out a deck chair and set himself up to watch the rain.  For a while it poured buckets and he really seemed to be enjoying the show, so after I finished my lunch, I made his and gave it to him to eat outdoors.

I'm not sure why but shortly after that, as I was reading my current novel, I got very very tired.  I laid down on the couch and "passed out".  I am not sure how long I slept.  I woke when I heard Clark making some noise or other in the cabin of the boat.  Even though I was awake it took a long time for me to convince myself to get into a sitting position.  I finally dragged myself up and decided that I needed something to do to keep myself awake.  I decided to modify two shirts I have that needed some adjustments.

When I came back to sit on the couch to do my sewing, I found Clark stretched out occupying the entire length snoring!  I was gone all of two minutes max!  I took myself outside and sat in the now vacant seat on the back deck to do my shirt mods.  As I worked on my shirts I decided that I needed some snaps to complete the job, so I peeked in to see Clark still snoring away, left him a note, and walked back into town to see if the pharmacy had the snaps I needed. They did, and I bought them as well as a package of assorted thread (only $1.25 for 30 colors - how is that possible?).

I also wanted to check out the laundromat while I was out walking around to get the lay of the land, know how much they cost, where the shop is, etc.  I finally found the laundromat across the street from a recommended ice cream shop in town called "Oinks".   I took note of Oinks for future ice cream excursion reference.  Now I am not excited about dragging my laundry up the main street through town, so I walked back via an alternate, residential route to check that out for when I do decide to do my laundry.  The walk was cool, quiet, pleasant, and has less of an incline than the main street - so a definite winner.

By the time I got back to the boat, around 5:00 or so, Clark was up and about.  I suggested that I might gather up my laundry and head back up to the laundromat, but he suggested that since it was late in the day I wait until tomorrow.  Any excuse not to do laundry is a good one, so I readily agreed.  Instead I pulled out my new snaps and thread and worked on my shirts until it was time to make dinner.

Clark suggested that we take a walk out to the beach to see the sunset and the wave action after dinner.  Another wind storm is stirring up Lake Michigan and expected to last for several days. Though the wave action on the beach was impressive, the inlet itself is protected from direct wave action, which is good for us.  We expect to stay in New Buffalo until it is time to move to the Chicago marina where we have a reservation.  Fortunately, although we can hear the waves sploshing on the sides of the boat, we are not being thrown around while on board as we were in the last port.

We walked out to the beach to watch the sunset and got a couple of good sunset pictures on the jetty.

Sunset over Lake Michigan from New Buffalo Beach

As the sun approached the horizon, we left the beach and climbed up to the top of the observation deck for a different view.

Sunset over Lake Michigan seen from observation deck
at New Buffalo Beach

The result ... two totally different sunsets on the same night.

Note: Yesterday afternoon, when we walked out to the beach, Clark got a great shot of the lighthouse which I neglected to include in the blog.  Here is that picture.

New Buffalo Lighthouse around 5:00 p.m.