Michigan: St Ignace (Day 4)

Day: 51
(No travel progress)

With our replacement exhaust elbow scheduled to be delivered at 11:00, we slept in until 9:00, ate breakfast around 10:00, and before we could go check in with the marina office to see about the delivery, someone was knocking on our boat with the box in hand.  Clark dove into that box like a child at Christmas.  The only problem was that it had so much strapping tape on it, it was harder to break into than Fort Knox.  He hacked at the box with a putty knife as I asked if he would prefer something designed to open boxes, i.e. a box cutter.  He said yes but continued to hack away at the tape.  I verified that he wanted me to get the box cutter because I didn't want to come back with one and find I had wasted my time digging it out of my storage chest.

Besides being very expensive, repairs on boats are always a PITA, and today's job was no exception. Two metal gaskets came with the replacement elbow.  Clark had a devil of a time getting one of them to lie flat against the metal of the elbow.  He worked away at it for what felt like forever, and when I looked at my watch, I was surprised to see it was 3:00 already.  He took a break long enough to eat lunch and went back to it.

Finally he was ready to "smoke test" the fix quite literally.  He had me start the engine, and as soon as it started I could smell heavy exhaust fumes in the cabin.  He spread a soapy mix over the connections on both ends of the elbow, and he got lots of bubbles meaning both were leaking air (and fumes).  We killed the engine while we decided the next course of action.  Clark could find nothing in the engine manual indicating that a bonding material / adhesive should be used on the gasket to help seal it.

He looked on the internet for suggestions, and finally he called Lockwoods Boat Works where he had purchased the parts to ask their advice.  The engine mechanic there relayed how he handled this type of repair (actually with a hammer), and Clark followed his recommended procedures.  The next time we started up the engine no fumes could be smelled (at least not by me).  Clark decided that we needed a test drive, so we took the boat out for a run to bring the engine up to temp to see what happened.  I drove while Clark investigated down below.

He came back with a report that he could not smell exhaust fumes, but he could smell burning Wisk. Great! Maybe?  We brought the boat back into port and declared success on the repair.  Now what to do with the burning soap?!  The engine temperature, and therefore the elbow as well, reaching up around 1000 degrees.  After we got ourselves settled and the engine had cooled, Clark washed the Wisk off the elbow connections to remove the soapy residue and hopefully curtail any smoking from that when we leave port to head to our next destination.

As insurance Clark had gone out around 4:00 to the NAPA auto store to buy a high-temp sealant in case the hammer solution did not work for us.  When he came back from that quick trip, he reported that a farmer's market was set up in the marina parking lot.  I can't resist farmer's markets, so I headed over to see what I could find.  The market consisted of several small booths selling vegetables, jewelry, and jams.  I found some zucchini that I couldn't pass up as well as some other freshly picked veggies.

I did not buy any of the wire-wrapped-stone fobs for sale as I looked at them and decided that if I wanted something similar I would tap my sister on the shoulder as she has become quite expert at various types of jewelry making including wrapped stones.  The venders prices were all over the place ranging from $10 to $50 for a fob with no apparent rhyme nor reason to the pricing.  Sadly for her, the more she told me about her business, the less I wanted to purchase anything.  Basically she talked herself out of a potential sale by talking too much.

By the time we were done with all of today's chores. (I forgot to mention that while Clark worked on the engine all that time, I baked him his favorite Applesauce Cake dessert.  I made two loaves of it in my two-slice toaster oven.  Due to size constraints, I had to cook them serially, so I had the toaster oven running for an hour and a half while they baked.)  Anyway, what with the repair, the cooking, the shopping, and the test run on the boat, 6:30 rolled around in a hurry.

The marina has a free concert on Thursday nights at 7:00, and of course, Clark and I wanted to attend. Based on that plan, I had 30 minutes in which to cook dinner and eat if we wanted to get there when it started.   We made it there for 7:15, so not too bad.  We left the dinner dishes for cleanup upon our return to the boat after the show.

As we walked from the boat to the show, Clark took a picture of a now happy Sea Moss sitting at the dock with a Lake Huron lighthouse in the background.

Happy Sea Moss

The performers tonight Gemini played children's folk music from the U.S. and around the world. They played multiple instruments and sang their songs in multiple languages with very pleasant-to-listen-to voices.  My favorite instruments are the fiddle and the banjo.  I didn't see a banjo, but the fiddle playing was great.

Gemini Performing at the Marina

Although the show ended at 8:30, by 8:00 the stands had thinned considerably as the weather got too cold for comfort as the sun got lower and lower.  Just before 8:00 I took a brisk walk back to the boat and changed into warmer clothes; otherwise, I would not have been able to see the show to conclusion.  Temperatures here this week have been in the 50s.  When the sun is out, that 50-something feels like 70-something, but in the shade or in the evening / night, that 50 feels like 50. Clark noted that the dress uniform around here is shorts on the bottom and layers on top. It works!

After the show, we walked back to the boat and Clark captured the reflection of the sunset in the sliding door of the boat, so we have a mirror-image sunset picture.  So cool !!!

Sunset Reflected on Sliding Door on Boat

Tomorrow we plan to set off from here to continue our journey.  As I mentioned in a prior entry, if I had to get stuck somewhere, this was the place for it to happen.  Besides the repair, we packed in a lot of sightseeing and completion of miscellaneous chores plus got in some extra zzzzzzs a couple of mornings as well.  The real plus here though is the lack of mosquitoes and big, juicy spiders that haunted us in Canada.

Our estimated trip tomorrow is 4.5 hours long, so we'll need to get up and get going early once again as we had been doing before this layover.  I find it is so easy to fall back into being "lazy".  Other than hiking to the washroom several times a day, I got almost no exercise yesterday or today.  It's hard to get myself back into the mindset of wanting to be constantly on the go again, but with this unexpected layover, we must press onwards.

Michigan: St. Ignace (Day 3)

Day: 50
No travel today

As opposed to yesterday which was a day of leisure, chores occupied our time today.  I started out the day by updating the blog to cover yesterday's excursions because I was too tired last night after being out all day to do it justice.  While I did that, Clark continued his phone call and internet search for paper charts for the river portion of our trip.  After countless referrals to yet another phone number or web site, Clark finally placed orders for his remaining missing charts.  He is very diligent in having paper as well as electronic charts for the areas we are to travel.  We have met several folks who can't be bothered to pay for paper charts, but Clark is a firm believer and user of the paper as well as electronic.

Finally, after procrastinating as long as possible, I made my way over to the laundromat across the street from the marina to do my wash.  I have been doing a little each time previously, but today I had sheets, towels, and his and her clothes that needed to be washed.  As I piled up the clothes to be washed, I thought of that old nursery rhyme.

   Baa Baa Black Sheep
   Have you any wool?
   Yes sir, yes sir
   Three bags full.

Because three bags full of laundry is precisely what I had to deal with.  Clark walked with me over to the laundry to help carry it all.  His mission while I did laundry was to track down the source of the water in the bilge which we believe must be related to the water pump running periodically for no apparent reason.  While I waited for the laundry to do its thing, I called my good friend Janet to catch up on what's new.  I really enjoyed our chat as I miss our lunch get togethers that we did regularly before I fled the state.

The agreement I had with Clark was that I would call him when the laundry was done to come help me drag it all back to the boat.  However, I know Clark very well, and I knew that whatever venture he got himself occupied with while I was gone would be something that would be hard for him to drop on a moment's notice, so I dragged the three bags full across the street to the marina myself.  Once there I was able to obtain a cart from the marina to roll the laundry the rest of the way back to the boat.  I swear it must be a 1/4 mile from the marina office to our boat.  The cart was definitely a plus for the hike back to the boat.

My assumption that Clark would be up to his ears in something not easily stopped midstream was right on the money.  If Clark ever cursed, I am sure it would have happened today as he tried to find that sneaky leak we're dealing with.  He did not find the source of the leak.  He did however break two screws trying to put the outside shower back together.  He had to drill out the broken screw the first time.  I am sure he was not pleased when the second screw broke as well.  So far his hunt for the source of the water has turned up zilch and remains a mystery to yet be solved.

As I waited, Clark put away the tools he had spread from one end of the boat to the other as he worked the leak problem.  We had agreed that since we had a rental car today, we should take advantage and make a run to the supermarket with more than just 2 backpacks to carry home the stash.  As we walked to the car, we saw that musicians had setup ready for a free 7:00 performance tonight.   I knew that would be of interest to Clark, so I knew where he'd be after we got our shopping done.

I did a real good "buying in" today and replenished my "stores" hidden all over the boat.  It feels good to have a nice supply of food to choose from.  I even bought some frozen veggies in case we get caught in the boondocks again and run out of fresh.  After we got back to the marina, we carried the groceries as far as the marina carts and then loaded them in and gave them a ride back to the boat as I had done with the laundry.  Once Clark had finished helping me bring the goodies on board, I told him to go listen to the concert while I put everything away.

I got the perishables put away first.  Many of the non-perishables are stored in the space under my bed.  Whoops!  The bed was still covered with the three bags of laundry that had not yet been put away.  I had to stop the grocery job to put away the laundry before I could complete the grocery job.  By the time I was wrapping up my storing of clothes and food exercise, Clark had returned from the concert saying it was over and that he had enjoyed the music they played.  I could hear most of it from the boat as I worked, so I didn't miss a whole lot and I am not the music lover that Clark is. Besides, I enjoyed having the boat to myself while I was putting things away so I wasn't falling over or distracted by another person in the process.

The concert ended around 8:30, and I cooked dinner after Clark returned because I didn't know exactly when the concert would end, so we ate rather late.  As we ate dinner, we remembered that we had to fill the car with gas to return it, so after we finished eating, we went off to find the gas station.  We went back to the same one where we got all the free air for the bikes and car yesterday.  Since we got free air out of them yesterday, it seemed only reasonable to purchase our gas there today.

It was after 10:00 by the time we got back to the boat.  I decided to write up the blog for today.  We are expecting our new exhaust elbow to arrive tomorrow having been sent overnight from NJ by our friends at Lockwoods today.  Consequently, Clark dove into the bilge as soon as he got on the boat and started working on the engine in preparation for installing his new exhaust elbow tomorrow.  One of the two old gaskets has welded itself onto the piping, and as I type this at midnight, Clark is slowly chiseling off the pieces of old gasket one tidbit at a time in a slow and tedious process.  He needs a smooth service to make a good seal so we don't get more fumes for a different reason.  As a result of his efforts, his hands are covered with exhaust soot and totally black.

To make matters worse, the whole time he has been working on the engine, the water pump has spoken up repeatedly taunting him with the fact that he failed to find the leak earlier in the day. I'm not fond of laundry, cooking, and grocery shopping, but I have to admit that, other than the break he took for the free concert, Clark definitely takes the prize between the two of us for the worst day today for sure.

Michigan: St Ignace (Day 2) - Excursion to Whitefish Point and Tahquamenon Upper Falls

Day: 49 continued

We left Sault Ste. Marie and drove 1.5 hours to our next destination, Whitefish Point, to see the Shipwreck Museum.  The drive felt longer as the scenery included only one evergreen tree after another on rural roads.  It seemed like every few minutes Clark asked “are we there yet?” or its equivalent of “how much longer do we need to go?”  We were both shocked by the number of people and cars at the museum when we arrived as we had seen almost no cars on the road traveling to the site.

Touring the shipwreck museum site has a very sobering effect on boaters such as ourselves.  Stories of lost vessels on the Great Lakes filled the walls of the museum.  Whitefish Point is known as “The Graveyad of the Great Lakes” due to the number of lost vessels at this most dangerous place on the Great Lakes.  550 wrecks surround the point including the Edmund Fitzgerald made famous by the song “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” by Gordon Lightfoot.  I knew the song well but had no idea that the ship went down as recently as 1975.  I say recent as that date is well within my lifespan and a far cry from ships sunk in the late 1800s.

It would seem from reading the memorial plaques provided for a sampling of the wrecks that, besides being a narrow passageway with shoals along the side in conjunction with regular occurrences of bad weather conditions at the point, a lack of speed and due diligence regarding safety caused the majority of the wrecks.  “Time is money” as they say in business, and it would appear that arriving fast held higher priority than arriving at all.  Several ships were sunk after being rammed by one particular vessel who claimed “I carry her majesty’s mail, and all vessels must give way to me!”  Her captain sank at least 4 vessels if I remember what I read correctly. 

Besides greed, stupidity also played into the equation a few times.  As for example, two vessel captains working for the same company spied each other on the waters and brought their vessels near to each other to say hello and collided with each other.  Clearly the mix of weather with the waters of the Great Lakes are not to be taken lightly.   

Lighthouse on the Grounds of
The Shipwreck Museum

Graveyard of the Great Lakes story

Modern-day Freighter passing Whitefish Point

In 1995 the ships's bell from the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald was brought up from the deep and is on display in the museum.  Family members of those lost attended the dedication and a film of the dedication is presented in the museum theater.  The ship's bell was replaced on the submerged ship by a bell inscribed with the names of those lost when the vessel went down as a permanent, underwater memorial.

Dedication to the Edmund Fitzgerald lost in 1975

Ship's bell taken from the Edmund Fitzgerald

Again, I found this whole exhibit very sobering indeed and a little too close to home as we plan our next chapter of our trip on the waters of Lake Michigan. We needed something a touch lighter after viewing this exhibit.  We grabbed two cookies from the museum gift shop, Oatmeal Raisin for Clark and Peanut Butter for me, and headed out to Upper Tahquamenon (rhymes with Phenomenon) Falls.  These waterfalls are the second largest falls east of the Mississippi River second only to Niagra Falls. 

Fortunately the falls are relatively close to the Shipwreck Museum at only 30 minutes away, so we arrived at the falls shortly after 6:00.  With a quick look at the trail map, Clark took off at a brisk pace with me making a valiant effort to keep pace with him.  Multiple viewing spots are setup at the Upper Falls - some up high and some down low.  Clark headed to the easier viewing site first with only 94 steps to the bottom of the gorge.  Although we had not planned it on purpose, our timing for viewing the falls was absolutely perfect as the sun shown through the mist of the falls generating a beautiful, waving rainbow.

As I told Clark, I have no problem with 94 steps going down.  It’s the coming back up that I have trouble with!  We took some great photos of the falls and rainbow and then headed to the next site where the sign claimed 105 steps to the bottom.  Now this one was a trick because 3/4 of the way down a platform was built going out sideways to the viewing spot.  The wooden platform had steps going up and down multiple times.  Clark asked me if the steps going up counted as negative steps.  No way could I tell if I covered 105 steps or 155 steps.  No fair!

See the Rainbow!

Upper Tahquamenon Falls

Clark and Ev Selfie at the Falls

2 Crazy People Walking at the edge of the falls (not us)

View from 2nd viewpoint 

After all of today's excursions and exhibits, we found ourselves hungry for a good meal.  The pub at the Upper Tahquamenon Falls site had been recommended to us at the gift shop of the Shipwreck Museum, so we checked the menu and decided to eat right there at the state park.  As I sat eating my meal and looking at the beer brewing equipment in front of me, I thought of how my son would love this place.  I'm sure he would have tried all 3 of their home-brewed beers available at the time of our visit.  Sadly I am allergic to beer so sampling was not an option for me.

We finally left the park and headed back towards St. Ignace around 9:00.  Although it was still light out, the sun had started to set.  As a perfect ending to an almost perfect day, we got a couple of great pictures of the sun setting over Lake Superior on our drive home.

Tahquamenon River

Shores of Lake Superior

Michigan: St Ignace (Day 2) - Excursion to Sault Ste. Marie

Day: 49
No boat travel today

Clark has come to judge a marina by the WiFi they offer.  Many places in Canada either did not have WiFi or did not have working WiFi.  We learned after a while to ask if they had working WiFi instead of just asking if they had WiFi.  I, on the other hand, have decided that the best way to judge a marina is by the showers they offer.  At St. Ignace Marina, the facility has new docks and new washroom facilities.  If I had to pick a place to be laid up waiting for a boat part, this would be the place.

The only drawback to the marina is the layout of the docks. We are on D dock and have a pretty hefty hike to the washrooms.  The dock layout is a virtual maze and after we arrived here I said we needed to use our bicycles to go check in, which turned out to be a very good idea because we could not find the main office at first and went to two annex buildings first before finding the right place to register.  Yet another opportunity for exercise has presented itself!

Our plans for the day did not change as a result of the engine issue we have.  We had our rental car and saw no reason not to proceed with our road trip.  Before we could leave, however, Clark and I had to take car of ordering the required engine part.  We ended up going to our faithful parts provider in NJ since we could find no authorized dealers of Yanmar parts in the state of Michigan.  We had the phone number for one from Google which, when called, said it had been disconnected.  Between taking care of that business and Clark ordering paper charts by phone, we got a late start to our road trip.  I packed a lunch to take with us as I saw how things were going and knew we would end up eating in the car as we drove along.

We read the brochures and decided on Sault Ste. Marie on Lake Superior as our first destination. Travel time by car to the Soo Locks from St. Ignace is just over an hour.  By the time we left the boat to start our excursion, it was already after 1:00.  Before getting on Highway 75 to head up to the locks, we stopped at the Holiday gas station to put air in our bike tires.  Our bikes require about 90 PSI in each tire to give peak performance.  They had deflated to 55 PSI.  I need all the help I can get on these bike trips, so I was glad to find a place with free air to fill up.

In addition to our bikes, we ended up needing to fill the back, passenger-side tire on the car which was basically flat.  With no manual in the car it took a while to figure out what the orange "!" meant.  Hurray for Google as they showed every Ford Fusion symbol on the dash and what it meant.  With the tire as flat as a pancake I had my doubts as to how long the air would hold, so I texted the car rental rep who said that they would pay for repairs if I take the car to the repair shop across the street. By the time he responded, however, we were already well on our way to Sault Ste. Marie.

Upon arrival we first stopped at Sault Ste. Marie to get the scoop on where to go, what to see.  The person who greeted us helped tremendously with advice on additional sites to see while in the area.  Our agenda doubled just standing there for 5 minutes.  Clark asked if it was possible to do it all in the time remaining for the day, and she agreed we could fit it all in and reminded us of closing times of some agenda items so we could plan accordingly.

We left the visitor center with two agenda items for Sault Ste. Marie: 1) the Soo Locks, and 2) the tour of the Valley Camp freighter maritime museum.  The Soo Locks are U.S. government operated and tall metal fencing surrounded the locks to keep oglers at a distance.  An observation deck is provided for visitors to get a great view of the proceedings safely.  We climbed up the two flights of stairs to take a look around and get a few pictures.

McArthur Lock (named for Gen. McArthur)
Closed - waiting for repair part: hinge for gate

 Lock A, the McArthur Lock, was built in 1943 and is only 800 feet long.  This lock primarily serves pleasure craft and smaller vessels.  With this lock closed due to door hinge problems and waiting for repair parts (I know how they feel), all pleasure craft are being sent to Canada to pass through their lock until the repair can be completed.  The lock had been closed for 3 days already and it was unclear how much longer it would take to repair (good thing we came by car).

2 Freighters sitting outside of lock area

Aerial View of Locks (I won't tell how Clark got that picture)

Opened in 1968, Poe Lock is the largest of the 4 locks at 1200 feet long and 32 feet deep.  The opening of the Poe Lock allowed larger vessels to do business and operate on Lake Superior.  Locks C and D, Davis (1914) and Sabin (1918) Locks, are not in use.  Plans have been approved to replace these 2 locks with a bigger lock equivalent in size to the Poe Lock as a backup should the Poe need repair or maintenance.  I gathered from comments made by the tour guide that these plans have been in place for years.  Although the project funding has been approved, no funding has been set aside to allow construction to begin.  As the guide said, "The check is in the mail, just don't cash it when it gets to you."   Due to the volume of commercial traffic on Lake Superior, large amounts of money would be lost should the Poe Lock need to close for days for repair.

View of North Channel from Sault Ste Marie Locks grounds

Lock buildings

1873 and 1943 Soo Locks Dedications Carved into Wall 

We left without seeing a vessel lock through.

Just a mile down the road from the Soo Locks, the Valley Camp Maritime Museum became our next stop, as recommended by the visitor's center rep.  Given our plans for the rest of the day, we walked the grounds but decided against paying the entrance fee to go on board the freighter Valley Camp.

Valley Camp permanently set up as a maritime museum

View back towards Soo Locks from Valley Camp exhibit

Valley Camp - (Republic Steel shown on Smokestack)

Michigan: Mackinac Island to St. Ignace

Day 48
Travel Time: 5.5 hours
NM Today: 43
NM Total: 1070
Locks Total: 70

Before getting underway this morning, I ran up to town and bought eggs and milk as our planned destination required anchoring out for tonight.  Clark had heard that Les Chenaux was a must see.  Les Chenaux is the French equivalent of the Indian word for this area which translates into The Channels which aptly describes this area.

We left the docks about 9:45 after saying farewell to our new friends on Knot Home.  I dressed warmly due to the chill in the air at Mackinac Island.  We woke to 61 degrees.  I expected the temperature to drop once we got out in open water as I have experienced so often on this trip.  Surprise!  I forgot we were heading east - into the sun and with the wind.  Before I could strip off my layers, I had to get Clark set up with his waypoint / heading so he could be pointed in the right direction.  By the time I was done, sweat was pouring off me.  I ran downstairs and ripped off my jeans and heavy shirt and dressed in shorts and t-shirt. That's one good thing about traveling on your house, a change of clothes is just a few steps away.

Our first stop after finding the entrance to Les Chenaux was at Cedarville Marina where we asked if we could tie up for an hour or two to go shopping at Viking Marine.  The staff at Cedarville were very accommodating and said sure but told us that Viking Marine had their own docks and asked if we wouldn't rather boat there instead of bike there.  With a resounding yes, we cast off from Cedarville and headed the short distance away to Viking.  Clark wanted 1 thing there and I wanted 2. He read that there is a Michigan Harbor Guide published by the state of Michigan, and he wanted a copy.  I wanted a replacement fender and strap for the one that snapped on me in Drummond Bay.

I was disappointed and came away empty handed; Clark was successful and came away with his harbor guide, which since it is published by the state, turned out to be a free publication.  Clark chatted with locals while waiting for service in the Viking Marine store, but the locals had no idea where any good anchorages were in the area.  After we shoved off from Viking, we traveled on down Les Chenaux to see what there was to see.

Interesting House Occupying an Island and surrounding rocks

Cloudy Day on Les Chenaux

Typical View on Les Chenaux - Boat Garages

Clark was not super impressed with the anchorage options and suggested we forego the anchoring out tonight and head over to St. Ignace instead.  We both agreed that Les Chenaux offered nothing exceptional after the views we had experienced in Canada.

With the change of destination in mind, Clark decided that we should rent a car and drive up to Sault Ste. Marie on Lake Superior and see the lock they have there as multiple people told him it is definitely worth a visit even though we have been through numerous locks on this trip and others.  The marina in St. Ignace gave us the contact information for a car rental business that delivers and picks up the car to/from the marina, so very convenient.  We gave the representative the credit card info and he said he would have the car at the marina for us tonight.  By the time we got the boat docked in the slip, I had already received a text that the car was in the parking lot of the marina.

When we went into the marina office to check in, we noticed that they had Michigan Harbor Guides on every countertop as well as a box full under one of the tables.  I guess we didn't need to worry about stopping at Viking after all.  We were laughing about the fact that we made a special trip to get a copy with the person behind the desk who said she can't give them away fast enough to make room in the office for them.  That's the way it goes.

We grabbed the keys out of the car on our way by on bikes to explore the town.  I wanted to get air in my bike tires as I believe they have lost air since Troy, NY when we last filled them.  We rode our bikes for miles and did not find a single one even though we were on a highway by then.  We tried Google and came up pretty empty on gas stations in proximity to our current location so we gave up and went to find dinner.  We had a brochure from the marina office for a pizza place, so we went there.  Afterwards we indulged our sweet tooth craving by getting ice cream at a local shop.  They put so much ice cream in that "single" scoop, I thought it would topple over onto the ground.  It didn't!

We passed a park and several museums on our bike ride.

Waterfront Park in St. Ignace

Fountain in Park near Museum of Ojibwa Culture

Ev standing outside Museum wondering where Clark disappeared to

After we got back to the boat, Clark decided to take the exhaust pipe apart as we have been smelling exhaust in the cabin.  He found a leak in the exhaust pipe, so now we have to do some repair work before we can move on with our trip.

Black lines under pink area are cracks
releasing exhaust fumes into the cabin

The trick is finding the replacement part and getting it shipped to us.  Finding that part is now tomorrow's top priority.  The exhaust fumes were very heavy in the cabin today, so this is a must fix and must fix now item.  The amount of time we spend docked in St. Ignace will be directly proportional to the amount of time it takes to get a new part installed.

Michigan: Mackinac Island Day 2

Day 47

Weather for day two of Mackinac Island did not compare favorably with day one.  We woke to gray skies, and just as I stepped off the boat to go for my shower the rain started coming down.  I decided I was going to get wet in the shower so I just kept going.  By the time I arrived at the end of the dock for the washrooms and showers, the rain just poured down.  A brief hiatus allowed me to get back to the boat after my shower.

Yesterday we found out that the coffee shop next to the marina served home-made scones and provided WiFi to customers. Clark and I walked over to take advantage – me the scones and Clark the WiFi.  As we sat there enjoying our breakfasts a thunderstorm came overhead and gave us an amazing show of nearby lightning.  We found ourselves basically trapped in a bakery with delicious food. 

I ended up buying an extra scone for me and a bagel for Clark to take back to the boat to eat later as well as a long-sleeved T-shirt advertising the restaurant because I liked the color.  Without the rain, I am certain that we would not have spent the extra money there.  The scones tasted just the way I like them.  So often they are more like biscuits and less like scones.  These were light and fluffy and yummy.  I can’t wait to eat my saved one tomorrow.

While we waited for the storm to clear, Clark took a few pictures of the rainy harbor through the café window.  They do not show the force of the storm, so I am not including them here.  We watched our Rainy Days app and eventually found a weather window big enough for us to get back to the boat without getting hit by lightning, so we went for it.  Here’s a picture captured after the skies started to clear.

Skies Clearing after Thunderstorms

Clark took the opportunity of dismal weather to do trip planning.  He put together an outline of our Lake Michigan plans to get us to Chicago by August 27^th when we are to meet Jeff, Devon and Sierra.  The Great Loop association website says to allow one day in three as a non-travel day due to high winds / waves on the lake, so even though 8/27 is a few weeks away, we have to plan carefully and watch our weather closely.

Finally the rain stopped and the Rainy Days app indicated that the storms were history, so we decided to explore more of the island.  We started by strolling through town to visit the shops we missed yesterday.  Many sell knickknacks and souvenirs which I am not interested in collecting at this point in my life.  As I mentioned yesterday every other shop sells fudge and ice cream.  We skipped all the fudge shops yesterday, but we decided to venture into a couple today. 

I learned from a fellow boater that the fudge shops give out free samples to entice customers to buy from them.  She heard on the horse-buggy, guided tour she took yesterday that if you stop at every shop and get a sample, you will have eaten a pound of fudge by the end.  I got two very good samples and decided that was more than enough for me.  It was very sweet and rich – just as it should be.

Towards the end of town we came by a fudge shop where a person was working the fudge from liquid into solid using the equivalent of a wide, large putty knife used for spreading spackle on sheetrock.  He pushed it back and forth and round and round as it cooled always working it towards the middle of the marble-topped table he was working on.  About halfway through I got the general idea and was ready to move on, but Clark was glued to the window (we were outside looking in) like it was a suspense movie, and he had to watch to the exciting conclusion. 

Just as the worker put the finishing touches on making the giant fudge log, Clark noticed that more fudge was brewing in the back of the shop.  He figured that it must be almost done cooking, so he wanted to watch them pour the hot fudge onto the marble-topped table.  Again we watched and waited and were eventually rewarded as two men carried over this vat of fudge and poured it out on the table.  We left after that and compared our viewing experience to walking into a movie theater late, missing the beginning of the movie, and staying for the first part of the next showing to see what we missed. 

By now the day was getting on, the sun (whatever we had seen of it today was started to set), and I began making plans for dinner.  Before the fudge show, we had just bought steaks in the local food market to cook on board.  I had been holding the steak bag through the whole fudge movie and was definitely ready to get back to the boat. 

As we start walking in that general direction, Clark pulls out the map of the island and points out to me that there are a few streets in one section of town that we did not see on any of our touring yesterday.  He, of course, wanted to be sure he had covered every square inch of the island and not missed anything of import or otherwise.  I told him I was not walking anywhere carrying my steaks with me plus I had too many layers of clothes on and was too hot to walk without ditching some.

Sugar and I do not get along well together, so even though I enjoyed the mouth-watering fudge, I paid the price about an hour after eating it.  I told Clark as we walked back to the boat that I was cranky due to my dropped sugar level.  As soon as we got back to the boat, I ate a handful of nuts to throw some protein into my system to counteract the sugar.  It helped immensely, and even though it was already 6:40, I agreed to go for that walk Clark wanted to take.

The walk turned into a two-hour stroll up and down all sorts of hills on dung-covered streets.  The heavy rains had spread out the clumps of horse dung to cover large areas of the streets making it a challenge to walk without adding unpleasant odors to the bottom of our shoes.  We are obviously not horse lovers as we both agreed the island would be paradise without the horse droppings and therefore without the horses.  We don’t find the horse and carriages charming, and neither of us would ever consider paying the $28 per person fee to ride in one of the horse-drawn carriages. 

We did see some interesting sights on our walk.  Although we did not see any live ones while visiting here, turtles apparently inhabit the island.  We saw these two on our walk.

Great Turtle Park

Stack of Turtles Statue

We found the barns where all the horses and carriages go at night.  These two old wagons sat in the yard by one of the barns.

Old Wagons – sprinkler and market wagons

Last, but not least, we were impressed by the Grand Hotel and all its pomp and circumstance as well as the area surrounding the hotel grounds.

Road to the Grand Hotel

Grand Hotel

Little Stone Church
on the Road to the Grand Hotel

If you do the math, you will realize that by the time we got back to the boat, it was already after 8:30, and I still had to cook dinner,.  The steak I served together with the fresh zucchini and squash medley of vegetables bought from the roadside stand in Drummond made a delicious combination though I was so hungry by the time it was cooked, I probably would have eaten almost anything.  I grumbled at Clark after dinner that I did not enjoy washing dirty grills and woks at 11:00 at night whereby he pointed out that it was only 10:15.  Ah!  No problem then!

After dinner cleanup I jumped on my computer to get in today’s blog entry.  I am sure I will sleep well again tonight from all the fresh air and exercise I got walking the steep hills here in Mackinac Island.

Michigan: Mackinac Island

Day 46

Travel Time:  5 hours

NM today: 41

NM total: 1027

Locks today: 0

Locks total: 70

We left Drummond Island at 8:00 to get to Mackinac Island today.  We scrapped our original plan of visiting an anchorage before coming to Mackinac Island due to the prediction of inclement weather for tomorrow.  We heard many times that Mackinac Island is a major highlight for the Great Loop adventure, and we wanted to experience all that was available on a non-rainy day.  Luckily we found space available for tonight so we jumped on it.

The boat trip to Mackinac Island was uneventful and seemed to take forever.  The online site to reserve space midnrreservations.com stated that checkout time is 1:00 and check-in time is the same.  Leaving at 8:00 put us right at the Mackinac Island Harbor at exactly 1:00.  We got our slip assignment, ditched our cold-weather attire we needed for the travel on Lake Huron, and jumped on our bikes to go tour the island.

Mackinac Island State Harbor

No cars are allowed on Mackinac Island – only horse-drawn carriages and bicycles are seen on any of the roads.  Hiking trails and bike trails cover the island.  We got recommendations from the staff at the marina regarding which trails to focus on.  The really nice part is that the roads and bike trails are all paved.  With our undersized tires, asphalt is important for a comfortable ride.  To circumnavigate the island requires a trip of approximately 8 miles. 

We did the 8-mile ride around the perimeter of the island after we rode our bikes probably 5 miles over interior roads and trails.  Clark wanted the full island experience.  We first went to the Arch Rock, which in my opinion lacks the beauty of Arches National Park, but we found it interesting just the same.  

Arch Rock

Then we followed the Leslie Ave bike trail through the interior of the island providing the fun equivalent of a bike slalom with gradual ups and downs and curvy rights and lefts.  

Bike Trail through Mackinac Island

Since Leslie is primarily a bike trail, the natural output of all the horses on the island did not cover this route as much as it did the routes used by the horse-and-buggy teams.  It paid to keep eyes glued to the road everywhere we traveled as we did not want to bring any unpleasant smells into the cabin with the bikes.

Horse-drawn Vehicles
everywhere except on hiking and biking trails

 A multitude of people on bikes passed us going counterclockwise around the island.  I wondered repeatedly if they all knew something we did not as I peddled hard going downhill against the wind and saw a minimal number of people traveling in the same clockwise direction Clark had chosen.  Clark assured me that we would have the wind with us on the opposite side of the island as wind would not be circling the island.  However, I became more and more skeptical as I continued to pedal against strong winds for the entire 8 miles, I doubted either his reasoning or his willingness to tell me the truth.  I wasn’t sure which but either way I got a good workout today. 

Another 13 miles added to my exercise log.  Now if I could just stop eating ice cream, I’d be in great shape.  I can tell my legs are getting stronger and stronger as I now continue to pedal up hills that I would have walked the bike up a month ago.  On the steeper hills sometimes I do not look to see what is coming, I just focus on one pedal at a time going up and down along with breathing in and out to help me keep going.

In addition to our biking, we stopped along the route to visit Fort Holmes at the highest point on the entire island.  Folks coming down when we got there said the view was not to be missed as the entire island and water surrounding it are visible from the top.  We had two choices – walk up the 141 steps to the top or bike uphill.  We opted for the 141 steps.  I had to stop a few times to get my heart rate down before continuing the climb. 

Two forts are here in Mackinac Island – Fort Holmes and Fort Mackinac.  Someone told us that previously Fort Holmes was a pile of dirt with a plaque.  This year, however, a full-scale replica of the original fort sits on the site.  We could not tour the inside as it is still under construction, but we could poke our heads in the guard gates to take a few photos.  Fort Mackinac required an admission fee be paid to tour the grounds.  We had insufficient interest to pay the entrance fee, so we took some shots of the outside and kept on biking.  Fort Mackinac has a full daily schedule of activities including canon firing multiple times a day along with revelry in the morning and taps at night.

Fort Mackinac

 By the time we concluded our bike tour of the island, I was more than ready for dinner.  Fortunately we opted to eat out, so I was off-the-hook to cook tonight.  We decided on an inexpensive restaurant followed by ice cream.  When we left the boat to walk into town, my leg muscles rebelled.  After sitting on the boat for just a short time before going out for dinner, my legs had stiffened up on me.  I found walking to be a bit of a challenge after all afternoon on my bike.

When we checked in at the marina upon arrival, the staff told us to make sure to sample the fudge.  As we walked around town tonight, we understood why as we found one fudge shop after another.  In addition to fudge, we had multiple choices for ice cream as well as flavored popcorn and peanut brittle.  We made a poor choice with minimal ice cream flavor choices as we selected a shop before we realized that every other store offered both fudge and ice cream.  Ah well – we enjoyed the treat anyway!

Clark took almost 100 pictures today with so many good ones making the photo selection for the blog very difficult.  We are staying for a second night to make the most of this excellent vacation spot.

Bikes on every street