Linda in Downtown Mackinac Island
We spent our first four days on the island by ourselves and then come over to St. Ignace to see their big car show. The next day we pick up our friends Jerry and Linda Feldstein and headed back to the Island for another four days. Following that we were back in St. Ignace to drop them off and pick up our business partners, Jim and Diane Richards. They were up diving over the 4th of July weekend.
Jerry and Linda Feldstein come back from Mackinac Island with Jake at their side.
After their dives we headed back over to Mackinac Island for a couple of more days of R&R. While there we determined (the engine wouldn’t start) that one of our almost new Caterpillar batteries would not hold a charge. Actually it was 37 months old and had a 36 month warranty. It was a humungous 8D truck battery and weighed 150 pounds. Mike decided to take advantage of Jim and came back to St. Ignace and the two of them pulled the battery out of the bilge. Instead of replacing it with the same type, Mike elected to get three smaller batteries and to tie them together. They only weighed about 60 pounds and Mike was able to get them in himself after Jim and Diane left.
Larry and Laraine Coplin our friends from Cave Creek, AZ stopped in St. Ignace with their brand new DynaMax motorhome. It is a beauty. We spent the rest of the week visiting with them. While they were here, Larry & Kathy McElroy and her family stopped over and we all went out to dinner. Larry bought our dive charter business in St. Ignace and is still running dive charters here.
Larry and Laraine left on Thursday and Floyd and Maggi Lewis came in on their boat that afternoon. Floyd is the President of the Great Lakes Grand Banks group and Mike told him he would introduce him to some of the people in St. Ignace that he knows. They are going to hold a rendezvous in St. Ignace next year. Floyd and Maggi are also our winter neighbors in the Keys and fellow Marathon Yacht Club members.
As you can see, it has been a pretty busy few weeks. We had hoped to start down Lake Michigan this past weekend, but the weather was horrible; cold, rainy and blowing. In fact except for the 4th of July weekend, the weather has been terrible up here all summer, or at least what is summer on the calendar. The forecast for tomorrow is good, so we are going to try to make it into Lake Michigan. We have more company to pick up on Thursday.
Everyone loves Jake
Many of you have asked about little Jake and we are happy to report that he is doing well. Linda takes him for a long walk every day and he meets new friends. He still doesn’t like to travel in the boat, but is happy at the dock where he can run up and down the decks to greet every person and every dog that walks the dock. He has also had company on the boat. Jim and Diane had Daisy aboard, Larry and Laraine had Picmee and Larry and Kathy had their new 12 week old Golden with them. Jake is also a hit with all the dock hands and they are bringing him treats and playing with him. Its funny, no one the docks know our names, but everyone knows Jake.
We hope that you all had a wonderful 4th of July. We think that summer is going to start tomorrow, or at least we hope it will.
Take care, Love,
Linda, Jake and the Fat Man
