Trip Diary for September, 2007
The last leg to home port!

Sept. 1-3; Mackinaw City, MI:  Despite getting to bed after midnight, it was up early Saturday morning to drive the car to Cheboygan by 8 AM where a taxi returned Larry to the boat.  We caught the 9:30 Shepler Ferry to Mackinac Island for a day of being tourists; Sandy was last there at age 2.  The first stop was Fort Mackinac, where we witnessed the ceremonial canon firing before our walking tour of the fort.  We continued to the Grand Hotel for the outstanding (and expensive) lunch buffet before resting on its famous porch. The remainder of the afternoon was devoted to shopping on the island.  We had planned to leave Sunday for Beaver Island, but winds were 25-30 mph with 4-6 ft. seas forecast.  We extended our stay and attended an 11 AM worship service of The Church of the Straits, a merged United Methodist and Presbyterian church.  Like last week (except with much greater attendance), it was an outdoor service with the Northmen Gospel Singers providing special music. After having whitefish and chips at Scalawag's for lunch, we grilled brats at the picnic area beside the marina office for dinner.  Winds were still strong Monday.  Labor Day is special here: it's Bridge Walk Day!  This was the 50th anniversary of the Mackinac Bridge, so crowds were especially large.  More than 60,000 people walked the 5 mi. across the bridge this year, beginning in St. Ignace at 7 AM and lasting until 4 PM, well beyond the announced 11 AM closing time.  We walked a half mi. to the Mackinac Lighthouse park to climb its steps and to observe bridge walkers. The wait line for being bused back to St. Ignace was 3 hr. long.  Returning to the boat for lunch, we then started a puzzle.  Dinner consisted of excellent steaks grilled near the marina office.

Sept. 4-5; Harbor Springs, MI:  The forecast was for 18 hr. of light SE winds before strong winds returned, so we left Tuesday in light rain and fog (1.5 mi. visibility) at 8:05 despite still having southerly 7 mph winds.  Naturally, the first 18 mi. of rather narrow E-W Straits were fine.  By running for 20 min. we approached White Shoal Light and "the Cut" in 1.5 hr.  We now began seeing 3 ft. seas as the full southerly fetch of Lake Michigan was exposed.  Expecting the wind to begin shifting to SE and die, since such was forecast to begin 8 hrs. earlier, we continued without fog, but in a steady light rain.  However, instead of catching up to the forecast, winds remained southerly and built to 20-25!  Why do we ever count on forecasts?!  Slowing to 7 mph, we still pounded as waves built to 3-5 ft. on the nose.  Larry had improperly strapped the dinghy and it began shifting on the lift, so we slowed and removed it for towing.  By 3 PM we reached the lee of Little Traverse Bay and the excellent Harbor Springs Municipal Marina.  After restoring order to the interior, we followed the dockmaster's advice to enjoy outstanding pizza dinners at Turkey's before returning to finish the puzzle.  Wednesday started with 9 AM breakfasts at Turkey's.  The ladies then shopped the many convenient great stores in Harbor Springs until 2 PM while the men went to the local Internet Cafe.  We started another 1,000 piece puzzle, "American Lighthouses," before grilling pork chops for dinner aboard.

Sept. 6-7; Petoskey, MI:  Just going 4 mi. across the eastern end of Little Traverse Bay, we enjoyed a leisurely Thursday morning with an 11 AM departure.  After fueling, pumping out and eating a light lunch we walked into town to shop and enjoy Kilwin's ice cream.  Klaus grilled chicken breasts for dinner and we finished the difficult puzzle  before watching the Coltssuccessfully open the NFL season against the Saints.  We wanted to move on to Charlevoix Friday, but the forecast was for gale force winds, 10-14 ft. waves and rain!  Thus, it was an easy decision to stay another day.  The ladies took advantage of being weathered in to do laundry in the morning, starting the crock pot to cook beans and cornbread for dinner.  Unfortunately the forecast was accurate, albeit off by 4 hr. later than predicted.  By evening strong west winds had shifted to NW, producing 1+ ft. waves, groaning lines and much boat rocking inside this protected marina. The only good weather outcome was a spectacular sunset. By bedtime the boat's jerking motion was so bad that sleeping in the master salon was impossible before the wind began to lay, as forecast, at 1 AM; Larry and Lola relocated to the salon prior to that hour.

Sept. 8-9; Leland, MI: Amazingly, the forecast of only 1-2 ft. waves for Saturday was also accurate!  We departed in smooth seas at 10:40 AM.  Catching the 12:30 PM Charlevoix bridge opening, Sandy and Lola disembarked at Blossom's to pick up the car while Larry and Klaus left with the boat for the 1 PM bridge opening to take advantage of the picture-perfect boating day to cover another 36 mi.  Larry and Klaus arrived at the small Leland Harbor at 4:30 PM with Lola and Sandy waiting.  To cap a great day, we then enjoyed fantastic dinners at the legendary Blue Bird restaurant.  We called former Purdue colleagues Victor and Denise Goldschmidt who now live in nearby Northport and arranged to meet.  Sandy and Klaus left for Noblesville Sunday after excellent breakfasts at the Early Bird.  Victor arrived at 10:10 AM to take us to their Northport Evangelical Covenant Church.  Following the 10:30 worship service, we returned for the Blue Bird's great Sunday buffet before driving south 20 mi. to Sleeping Bear Dunes national park.  We returned to inspect the boat and visit.  As forecast, afternoon N winds picked up to 20-25 mph, making Monday's planned departure dubious.

Sept. 10-11; Pentwater, MI:  The percentage of good boating days on Lake Michigan rapidly decreases this time of the year.  By Monday morning winds had decreased to 10 mph with 2 ft. "rollers" (smooth topped waves that are residuals of strong winds on a large lake) from yesterday's blow.  We decided conditions were acceptable and left for Frankfort at 7:30 AM in cloudy, 57 degree weather.  After the first 5 mi. of beam seas, turning south gave a more comfortable ride and we ran at cruise speed (19 mph) for 2 hours.  About halfway to Frankfort fishnet flags began appearing.  Having tangled one in the prop 4 years earlier, we were especially vigilant to avoid them.  Approaching our planned Frankfort port-of-call (40 mi.) cell service returned and Larry started the computer to get up-to-date weather info; high winds were expected for at least the next two days.  Given that the delightful Lake Michigan's eastern shore ports were already familiar to us, we decided to take advantage of current acceptable seas to get further south.  That decision was re-affirmed at both Manistee and Ludington.  Continuing on with an additional 30 min. at cruise speed, we covered a total of 105 mi. to reach the excellent Snug Harbor Marina in Pentwater at 3 PM just as it started raining (temperatures reached only 63 and heaters started when we connected to shore power).  Having skipped lunch, we walked into town for a bit of shopping and early dinners at the Village Cafe.  We slept late Tuesday morning as it became increasingly cloudy and windy.  After showering we walked 2 blocks to Gull Landing Coffee Shop for breakfast coffee and muffins with free WiFi.  Staying in town, we shopped before and after eating a late lunch of outstanding sandwiches at Gull Landing.  North winds continued building through the day to 20-30 mph by evening.

Sept. 12-16; South Haven, MI:  By Wednesday morning winds were down to 10 mph, but it was cloudy in the high 50s.  After walking to the Pentwater harbor entrance, we concluded lake conditions were improving and that it would be acceptable to leave by noon.  Departing, we found 3-4 ft. rollers from the NNW.  The first 7 mi. going west were quite uncomfortable, but it was better as we turned south with following seas on the starboard quarter.  Rollers continued to slowly subside as we traveled south at cruising speed.  Originally planning to stop at Grand Haven, we decided to continue to South Haven since winds were forecast to increase again Thursday and Friday.  By running the entire 103 mi. we arrived at South Harbor Municipal Marina at 5:40 PM. Having called Rich and Joey Weber (Fennville) along the way, we met them at Clemintine's at 7 PM for delightful dinners and conversation.  Thursday we rented an Enterprise car to haul a load of "stuff" to W. Lafayette and to get reliable haircuts and a nail job (Lola only!).  On the way back to turn in the car Friday we first picked up our own car that had been kindly driven to our home marina, Pier 1000, by Keith and Sharon Hawk's son-in-law Michael Riveras on Sunday as they returned to their home in Portage, MI.  We then continued to Grand Rapids to obtain maintenance supplies from Cummins for the Lola Marie: engine zincs plus Fleetguard (the brand Cummins recommends) oil and ES Compleat antifreeze.  Of course, while in town we also managed some additional shopping.  Returning to the boat about 8:30 PM we found it pitching and rolling from lake wave surges into the South Haven channel and straight onto the marina docks.  After spending 1.5 hr. adding/adjusting lines (seven all toll) to improve the situation as much as possible. It was impossible to sleep in the master stateroom due to the jerking motion of the bow and groaning lines.  We finally bedded down in the salon with Larry finding the floor more comfortable than the couch.  It was the most uncomfortable night aboard of the entire cruise!  We awoke tired Saturday morning, but decided we should continue off-loading the boat and take another carload home.  Before attending the 8:45 AM Sunday service at St. Andrew UMC in W. Lafayette we checked lake conditions and the forecast via the internet and concluded Sunday conditions were likely better than Monday's for the 25 mi. leg to close our adventure.  Sharon and Keith Hawks were also at church, a special service consecrating the church's new facilities and location.  Having been so helpful getting the Lola Marie ready for departure, handling our surface mail and feeding the single fish in our aquarium throughout the 28 months of our travel, and sharing so many segments aboard, they had volunteered to take pictures of our St. Joseph return.  We jointly agreed to culminate the voyage Sunday, so we drove back to South Haven in time to drop lines at 3:30 PM.  Larry replaced the standard AGLCA burgee with the new "graduate" burgee.  Lake conditions were beautiful as we welcomed with mixed emotions the familiar sight of the St. Joseph lighthouse; glad to be back, but a bit sad that the adventure was ending. The CSX railroad bridge, often accused of closing when its operator saw us approaching, was open for our return! We knew low lake levels had created shallow water in the St. Joseph River so it wasn't a shock to lightly drag bottom for 100 yards only 2 blocks from Pier 1000's entrance at 6 PM; .1 ft. less water and we would not have been able to get home.  It was wonderful seeing Sharon and Keith waiting to help us make an interim dockage at Slip #2, the perfect conclusion to a fabulous adventure!

Water miles traveled for the entire Loop: 9,711; this month: 352.

Questions or comments?  Just e-mail us.

Postscript: Pier 1000 in Benton Harbor; Sept. 17-26, 2007

Now began the arduous processes of deferred maintenance, off-loading "stuff" and supplies that could freeze, polishing, and preparing the boat for a winter on the hard in MI.  Sharon and Keith stayed aboard Sunday evening and Monday he helped Larry change antifreeze in one of the engines before they headed home, hauling deck chairs, bicycles and other large items in their truck.  We spent the entire week travelling between St. Joseph and W. Lafayette (3 trips!) hauling car loads of clothes, etc., alternating nights on the boat with those at home.  Having also completed all maintenance work that required to boat to be in water (e.g. changing oil) by Thursday, she was hauled and put on jack stands Friday morning. Amazingly, the bottom of the boat was quite clean; the Pettit Ultima bottom paint had done its job very well. However, the aft transom and dinghy lift were totally covered with barnacles that had to be scraped before further cleaning and polishing.  Daughter Sandy and her husband Klaus plus our oldest grandson Nick and his wife Jamie arrived late Friday evening for a weekend of polishing. A boat is always too big at this time of year, but not having been polished for 2.5 years required first removing substantial oxidation; thus, polishing was a monumental job. After one more round-trip to W. Lafayette Monday, by Wednesday winterizing was completed and we headed home with the last full car.  Without the family's help polishing we would have needed another full week.  Our adventure was now truly finished as we returned to W. Lafayette tired, but delighted with the journey!

We plan to head out next summer for a "second time around" with different side trips.