2019 RV/Boat

Friday…the day the working world escapes the cubicle maze to clog the highways.

Today, we wrap up to our 3 week adventure.

Last night, we watched the freighters enter the St. Marys River.  Sometimes we had a good view.

Sometimes not so good.

And sometimes so-so.

The weather changed every 30 minutes yesterday.  Sun, wind, drizzle, pouring rain, fog, then finally a late evening sun with a rainbow.  I was too lazy to get the rainbow photo.  It would have required getting wet and that wasn't on my agenda.

The lake forecast for Friday favored a departure late morning as the winds were to ease a bit.  It didn’t look too bad about 10:00 am, so we shoved off and began the trip to Mackinaw City, entering the Detour channel.

Several freighters had passed this morning and we met the Algowood as we moved south.

I could see its sister ship the Algoway leaving the Mississagi Strait to our east as we entered Lake Huron.  We took a shoreline route along the Les Cheneaux Islands as they would help block the NW winds for our trip along the southern UP shore.  We had a 1’ to 2’ chop and were making good headway.

We had gone as far west as we needed and headed across the lake to the Round Island Passage at Mackinac Island.  It got a little bit lumpy as we ventured off the UP coast line.

Nearing the pass at Mackinac Island, the waves continued to build some and of course, were enhanced with all of the ferry boat wake.  We ate a little bow spray from time to time.

My camera could only focus on the spray on the side glass as we passed the island harbor.

From the island to Mackinaw City was a real treat with 3’ to maybe 5’ waves for the final few miles of our voyage.  With the wind, the current and the ferry traffic, it’s like a violent ride in a washing machine.  It takes a lot of driving to get through that stuff. 

But we did and are now docked at Straits State Harbor.

And here the boat will stay for a week or so.  We need to regroup back at the ranch.

So there it is!  North Channel 2016.

20 Days

420 Miles

323 gallons of gas (enough to propel the minivan from home to Las Vegas and back...TWICE)

…and a new dinghy!

The next adventure is down the Lake Michigan coast.  That’s coming in a week or so. 

I need to find some fish to catch…it’s been a while.