Let us all give thanks

The holiday season is upon us and we wish you and your family the Happiest of all the upcoming Holidays. We are only able to celebrate these holidays in the method of our choice because of the brave men and women of our armed forces who fight to protect our freedoms. This season we ask that you all take a little time to say thank you to them.
If you go to this web site, www.LetsSayThanks.com you can pick out a thank you card and Xerox will print it and it will be sent to a soldier that is currently serving in Iraq. You can't pick out who gets it, but it will go to some member of the armed services. It is easy and quick. You are asked for you name and hometown only, no e-mail address or any other information. You pick the cover of the card you want to send and then pick a message from a number of ones that they offer. That is it; you could have done it in the time it has taken to read this message. Do it now, don’t put it off.

If you would like to send a personal Holiday card to service member the American Red Cross, http://www.redcross.org/email/saf/, has a web site that will enable you to do this. They will provide an address and guidelines as to where to send your personal card and they will forward it on.

Whether you support the war or oppose it, you still need to have some compassion for those members of our military that have been sent away from their families to serve you and us. It is such an easy thing for us to do and it will have a huge impact on those far away souls who receive your card that says “I care about you”.

Feel free to pass this along to your friends and family and get them involved. Now more than ever, we can all say that “We are proud to be an American” and that we do indeed live in the “land of the free and the home of the brave”.

Happy Thanksgiving, Love,

Linda and Mike (AKA the Fat Man)

Officially summer is over. We hope that everyone enjoyed the autumnal equinox on Monday heralding in the beginning of Fall. Our weather here has been holding up very well; sunny days in the high 60’s or low 70’s and not many storms. It looks like we have lucked out.

That is more than we can say for our Steelers. We think the offensive line missed the bus to Philly. Big Ben was surrounded all night by guys in green shirts instead of the familiar black and gold. Thank goodness the defensive unit made the trip or it would have been an embarrassing blow out. Next week it is Monday Night Football against the now first place Baltimore Ravens. You can bet that they will be blitzing on every down. It is a home game though, so there shouldn’t be any buses to miss.

We only spent one short day in St. Ignace last week. Our apologies to all of our friends there, none of who we got to see. Linda was able to run over to the laundromat and wash all of the heavy spreads and pillows. We left the next morning for Mackinaw City, our purpose two fold.

First, we wanted to see the Steelers game on Sunday. Mackinaw City has cable TV that we could watch if the game was broadcasted locally. If not, we got the motorhome out of the barn, so we could fire up the satellite dish and watch it there. It was broadcasted locally, so we could watch it on the boat. It was definitely not one of their better days.

Second, when we put the motorhome in the barn last June, there was a problem with the inverter. Mike wanted to check it out and make sure it was working before we had to get in and use it. What he found was all four house batteries stone dead. That seemed strange as we charged them all up completely before we put the coach away. Mike figured that one of the batteries went bad and drained the other three. After sitting all summer, they were probably all shot now to we headed to Wal-Mart and got four brand new batteries. It was almost three years to the day that we replaced them last time. Happy Birthday to Linda again.

On our way out of St. Ignace we saw our old charter boat, the Rec Diver. We called them and our friend Larry McElroy, who bought the business from us, was running his last charters of the season. He came over to Mackinaw City and we had a great dinner with him and re-capped the summer.

We took advantage of the nice weather on Saturday and unloaded most of the boat. You know, all the things that we put on at the beginning of the summer, but never used. By the end of the day, the Blue Chip was sitting two inches higher in the water.

Sunday was football day. But we already talked about that.

Monday we were getting ready to head back to Mackinac Island for one last time. Before we left Mike wanted to start the generator in the motorhome and charge up the new batteries. He was up there quite a while and when he came back he announced why the batteries had gone dead. The inverter had malfunctioned as we thought. What we didn’t know is that apparently the cooling fan on it ran all summer until it totally drained all the batteries. We do turn off all the 12 volt power in the coach when we store it, but we now know that switch doesn’t kill the inverter. To kill the fan Mike had to disconnect the batteries. When he tried to charge the batteries, he got a fault that said there was an AC back feed. Impossible he thought because it worked all the way up. When he opened up the unit to check the wiring, he found a wire nut had melted and probably shorted out on the case. He replaced the nut and the unit appears to be working great. After leaving the batteries charging for an hour and a half, we shut down the motorhome and cranked up the boat to head to Mackinac Island. There are almost no other boat there, this late in the season.

Our friend, Capt Pete from Munising, called and he was going to join us on the island. He drove over to St. Ignace and caught a ferry to the island and spent Tuesday night with us. We enjoyed his short visit, before he had to return back to his Shipwreck Tours business. The weather was again perfect. We had the bikes down and were able to do a few around the island rides in t-shirts and shorts; although it was a bit nippy riding into the wind. Wednesday evening we had our last supper at the Island House Hotel. It is not the Grand, but the food is just as good and half the price and the view is better. Besides it is close to the marina and was easy for Mike to hobble to. Jake was elated because he knew it was his last night on the darn boat! Thursday morning, Linda got in her big walk with the dog for the last time and we departed at 11:00 for Mackinaw City.

Once we got to Mack City it was all work. The first order of business was to pump and flush the holding tank, always a joy. Next, was to unload everything else that was still on the boat. That was followed by a thorough cleaning of the boat, inside and out. We finished before dark, but we both really beat. We then moved into the motorhome, which appears to be running very well now.

All and all it has been a wonderful summer of boating. We had almost no problems with the boat; a battery problem early on and then one of the refrigerators quick a couple of weeks ago. It was the one we used for beverages so we just moved those to a cooler on the fly bridge. Mike thinks it is a control box and we want to get a new one put on before they pull the boat. We will finish a few small things on the boat this morning before it gets pulled and then we will head towards Detroit. We have business meetings this weekend with Jim and Diane Richards and Tuesday Mike is getting his tooth capped in Conneaut Lake, PA. We will be in Pittsburgh the following weekend.

We hope that you have all had as good a time this summer as we have.

Take care, love,

Linda, Jake and the Fat Man

The Summer is gone

Hurricane Ike stayed south and west of the Keys, but we did have tropical storm force winds for two days. Our neighbor checked the house and found a couple of small trees and a whole lot of coconuts down. We had no damage to the house at all. It does sound like a new chain saw might be an appropriate gift for Linda’s up coming birthday.

We ended up spending five nights in the Canadian Soo. Three of those days we ended up eating at Jake’s Grill at Reggie’s Place. It is a downscale bar with pound and a half hamburgers for $5.95. Needless to say, Mike was in heaven. Most people split a burger, but Mike was good for the whole thing. For the adventurous eater they also have a double and a triple burger; that would be 3 or 4 and a half pounds of meat. Even Mike didn’t try that. For a dollar extra you can get a basket of fries that would feed four people and still have some left over. The grill is run by a very friendly elderly lady and all the restaurants in Ontario are non smoking, so it was actually very nice dining there. We would eat lunch there and then still be full and not able to eat any dinner.

Thursday we pushed off and headed back down the St. Mary’s River out of the Soo. Floyd and Maggi were still with us so we took the scenic route and went around and through Lake George. They had never done it before and there are some narrow shallow spots that you have to be careful at. We went first and they figured that we would find any problems before they hit them. We managed to keep it in the channel and didn’t have any problems at all getting through. We then crossed over the north end of St. Joe’s Island and through the St. Joe’s channel. It is one of the prettiest rides that you can take in a boat. We ended up that night in Hilton Beach on the west end of the island. The marina was still open, but there was no one around that night to take our money. We had dinner that night in a new restaurant near the docks.

The next day we ventured out into the North Channel to the little town of Thessalon. The Dockmaster here was right there to help tie up the lines and collect for the dockage. It was the first time that we had paid for a dock in a week, so we couldn’t complain. Lincoln and Shirley North, mutual friends of ours and the Lewis live in Thessalon and invited us all for a wonderful dinner at their lovely home on the bay. The Norths have a boat just like ours and we all belong to the same club, the Great Lakes Grand Banks Owners Association. The next morning we all went out to breakfast and then out to buy some wild rice. Shirley made wild rice for dinner the night before and it was the finest that we have ever eaten. It was special rice she said that came from Saskatchewan and a store up the road sold it. Unfortunately they were out of it and wouldn’t get any more in until next year. Shirley was gracious enough to give us a little of her treasured stash.

That afternoon we said good bye to the Norths and then parted ways with Floyd and Maggi Lewis. We were heading to Meldrum Bay and they were heading back to Drummond Island and pulling their boat for the season. New owners had taken over and re-opened the Meldrum Bay Inn and Floyd and Maggi had eaten there earlier in the summer and recommended it. We had dinner there Saturday night and enjoyed it. They had a small parlor at the Inn and it had a TV hooked up to a satellite. We asked them if they could get NBC from the states and they assured us they could. We then told them there was a football game on Sunday night that we would like to watch if possible. They assured us it would be no problem at all. We told them it might be late, but again they said no problem. Just to be sure, Mike went in and tuned in NBC. We would again be able to catch the Steelers!

Sunday evening we went up and had dinner. We went into the parlor and turned on the game. They served us dessert and coffee there while we watch the Steelers humiliate the Browns for the tenth time in a row. Just after half time we were the only people left in the Inn and the owner came in and said she was going to bed. If we would be so kind as to turn the TV off, shut off the lights and pull the door shut when the game was over, she would appreciate it. Needless to say, we had to be a bit subdued on our cheering and antics.

The weather had turned and we had a lot of wind and rain. Monday it was still blowing and we decided to stay another day to let it die down. Unfortunately the Inn was closed on Monday, so we had to fend for ourselves. Actually Mike made a wonderful pasta with Italian chicken sausage in a tomato sauce with onions and green peppers.

Tuesday the wind was still blowing, but from the south west. We made an early morning departure (7:00 AM, you thought we were kidding) and ran along the lee of Colburn and Drummond Islands to Detour. A good friend of ours, Chuck Feltner, who lives on Drummond Island, was coming back from Detroit and saw our boat in the harbor. He stopped to chat and we all went out to dinner at the Mainsail in Detour, before he caught the ferry back to Drummond.

The wind was blowing again Wednesday, this time from the North West. The winds are normally lighter in the early morning than later in the day, so we made another 7:00 AM departure. We skirted the coast of the Upper Peninsula into the Les Cheneaux Island and back to Hessel. The last time we were here we were the only boat in the harbor. This time the harbor is almost full. Officially the harbor is closed, but the power and water is still on and the docks are free. Mike wants to stay for a week. Unfortunately our favorite restaurant (the only one in town) is closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, so we finished our left over pasta. We left this morning and are now in St. Ignace in the Straits of Mackinac. We need to start cleaning the boat up to put it away and to start looking for somewhere to watch the Steelers game this Sunday.

All this wind and weather is to be expected in September. That doesn’t make it any more fun for Jake, the world’s worst boat dog. Oh, he loves it when we are docked and all the people come around and greet him. He just doesn’t like it underway. Here he is begging Maggi not to untie the line and just leave us tied to the dock.

We hope that the fall has been kind to you all.

Take care, love,

Linda, Jake and the Fat Man

What a difference a day makes!

We tried to go over to Beaver Island for the Labor Day weekend and to our dismay the marina was full. We tried Mackinac Island, but they were full too. The Dockmaster at Beaver did say to call him back in the morning and he might have a spot for us. We did and he did, so we went over Beaver Island on Saturday. We got a late start as we had to fuel before leaving Petoskey. We put on another 140 gallons, bring our consumption for the entire summer up to 340 gallons. Not bad for 2 ½ months of cruising.

We arrived at Beaver and tied up. We got the only slip that was left. We expected it to be a slow summer, but the docks have been very busy all summer on this side of the lake. We did a lot of biking while we were in Petoskey on their wonderful bike trail and then did more on Beaver. We also enjoyed our last meal of the season at the wonderful Beaver Island Lodge.

The weather was nice on Labor Day and we decided to make the run for the Straits. The wind was supposed to kick up on Tuesday. The waves were starting to build already before we could get through Grays Reef Passage and Jake was again not happy. Once we got through Grays Reef and in the lee behind Waugoshance Point the seas calmed. Jake still wasn’t thrilled, but at least the ride smoothed. We were coming under the Mackinac Bridge before the annual bridge walk with 50,000 people had finished, so we had to be escorted by a Coast Guard vessel to keep us away for the bridge supports and any chance of mischief.

Mackinac Island was still bustling, but a few of the boats had already left, making room for us. We were early enough that Linda wanted the bikes off and to ride around the island. Mike had wised up by now and just got them off and peddled. That turned into the daily routine. By Tuesday however, the island activity had almost come to a stand still and the marina cleared out. What a difference a day makes, Labor Day everything is going full strength and the day after it is dead. The weather also changed after Labor Day. Our warm days with good sleeping weather, changed to cool days and cold nights. Fast moving fronts with wind and rain are now the norm. Our hopes for a late summer seem to have been dashed.

By Thursday we were ready to leave the island and start heading towards the Soo. We left early, at least by our standards, 9:00 AM, and started across the top of Lake Huron. Mike mentioned to Linda that it looked like the wind was blowing a little more than forecasted, but she assured him that it was OK. A half hour out we were into 3-5 foot waves and Jake was not a happy camper. By now you know the routine, if Jake isn’t happy…….

The Admiral called for a change of course and we headed into Hessel in the Les Cheneaux Islands. We were greeted by the Dockmaster, Gail, who it the most enthusiast community supporter that we have ever met. Everyone is greeted on the radio with “Welcome to beautiful downtown Hessel”. We were the only boat in the marina, so she was happy to see us. After helping tie up the boat, she took Jake running down the dock and into the park where she threw a ball for him. Afterwards she took him into her office and gave him dog treats. Needless to say, Jake thought that we had just arrived in dog heaven. It was very hard to get him back on the boat the next morning to leave.

The wind had shifted to off shore, so our ride to Detour wasn’t very bad at all. Our destination was Lime Island. It is an old coaling station that is now part of a Michigan State Forest. There is an old wall where the freighters used to dock to fuel that we could tie to. On the island are the remnants of old town, along with walking trails all over the island. Again we were the only boat there, so the dog could run free. Lime Island has always been a favorite stop for us. Floyd and Maggi Lewis on Bonnie Banks joined us later that afternoon. They were coming to the Soo with us to watch the Steelers game.

Saturday, Mike made breakfast for everyone and we ate on a picnic table next to the boat. We later had a nice ride up the St. Marys River to Sault Ste Marie, Ontario, commonly referred to as the Canadian Soo. We were again the only boats in the marina and it was closed. Last year we stayed after they closed and had power and water. This year everything had already been winterized, so all we have is a protected place to tie up, which is much better than a sharp stick in the eye. That night we had an elegant dinner at one of our favorite places in the Soo, Thymely Manner.

Sunday we dressed in our Steelers garb and arranged for a cab to pick us up at 12:30 to take us to the Canadian Nightclub so we would be there for the 1:00 kickoff. This is where we watched the first game last year and had a wonderful time. The bartender and the cook are huge Steelers fans. The cab was late and didn’t get to us until 12:50. That should have told us something. It was only a ten minute ride and we arrived at 1:00. Something was wrong though. There was no tail gate party happening on the deck and when we went in the place was subdued, no football games on any TV’s. Mike asked the bartender what was going on and she said that they still had the NFL ticket, but the first two games where blacked out. We told her that we came all the way up from Mackinac to see the game there. She said she would check the channels again and see if it was being broadcast on one of the standard stations. No such luck as they were carrying the Jets and Miami game, featuring Brett Favre’s debut. She then found the station that was supposed to carry the game and it said it was pay for view, $12.95. She hit the pay button and up came the game. Mike offered to pay her, but she said that she wanted to see the game as much as we did. And it was on the new big high def TV in the center of the bar. We had a wonderful time watching a great game; the Steelers really looked good. Of course they were just playing Houston and were widely favored, but still they played well.

With the game behind us, we are now focused on Hurricane Ike. When we went to bed last night it was a category 4 storm and was tracking over Cuba towards Key West. Now it is down to a category 2 storm and appears that it will go south of Key West. We still will get at least tropical storm force winds and a lot of rain, but hopefully not a direct hit of the hurricane. We should know by tomorrow.

It is blowing 20, gusting to 25 so we are going to sit today in the Soo to see what happens with Ike. We can walk down to the Holiday Inn to get online. We are not sure about internet connections after that. If we are lucky and Ike stays south, we are going to continue to cruise into the North Channel. If we are not lucky we will probably have to go back to Mackinac to pull the boat and head back to the Keys to clean up. We hope that you all had a wonderful Labor Day weekend. To our friends in the Keys, our hearts are with you.

Take care, love,

Linda, Jake and the Fat Man

Easy Riders

We certainly had an easy week. Mike made an appointment to have his root canal finished this past Tuesday. And that gave us a little over a week to do nothing. Rather than spend the whole time in Petoskey, we thought that we would take another loop around this end of Lake Michigan. Before heading out we put fuel on for the first time this year. We weren’t low, but the fuel had dropped to $4.20 a gallon and Mike didn’t want to lose a bargin. We put on 200 gallons of the 260 that we were down. Mike wanted to leave room in case it went down some more.

We headed out and went back to Charlevoix. Of course that meant dinner at the Gray Gables; a fantastic place. From there we moved over to Leland; our first time there by boat. As usual it was full and we had to raft behind three other boats. Each of them informed us that they would be leaving early in the morning, which meant that we had to move our boat first. We had dinner at the Cove in Fishtown. Linda figured that if we had to get up to move the boat, we might as well leave, so at 8:00 the next morning we were on our way. We dropped back down into Grand Traverse Bay and went into Suttons Bay. There we had a great dinner, cheap, at Boone’s Prime Time. It has great steaks and burgers. The next morning Linda perused the local stores and was ready to go at noon. We slipped over to Elk Rapids. Dinner there is at Pearls, a wonderful Cajun restaurant. Elk Rapids has cable TV on the docks and we wanted to watch the Steelers game. There wasn’t time for dinner Saturday night without missing part of the game, so we ordered pizza delivered to the dock. We are not sure if it was the Steelers play or the pizza that caused the indigestion. It was ugly, but the Steelers did manage a field goal with 4 seconds left to pull it out 12-10.

Coleen and John D’Amour, our friends from Boyne City came down in their boat joined us for breakfast Sunday morning. Linda wanted to do some laundry, but the washing machines were down in Elk Rapids, so we started back to Petoskey.

The weather wasn’t supposed to be too bad, but by the time that we cleared Old Mission Point we were in 2-4 foot seas. Jake was not a happy camper at this point. If Jake isn’t happy, Linda isn’t happy. If Linda isn’t happy, no one is happy. We knew it was going to build the further up the Bay we went and when we got into the open Lake there would be a 3-5 or 4-6 foot sea.

The Admiral gave the orders to the Captain to head north west to the lee shore and into Northport. We used to love Northport. It had a couple of good restaurants and some interesting shops. Now it seems to be dying. The last time we were here we had dinner at the last restaurant that is still open. How was it? Linda elected to eat dinner on the boat this time rather than eat out. That should tell you right there.

We got up early on Monday and headed back to Petoskey so Mike could finish his root canal. If there is one thing worst than having a root canal, it is having to do it again. Tuesday morning he trudged up the hill to the dentist office and was done by noon. Linda did her laundry on Monday and by Tuesday wanted to do something. She wanted the bikes off the boat and wanted to ride. She conned Mike into thinking that they were just going to ride to the frozen custard stand a mile down the road. Which they did, but afterwards she pushed him for another six miles. Actually Petoskey has a wonderful bike path that runs right along the Lake shore. It stretches all the way to Charlevoix one way and Harbor Springs the other. Yesterday it was back on the bikes for a Starbucks and we ended up half way to Harbor Springs. Of course we have been eating out every night, Monday at the Mitchell Street Pub. It has the best French onion soup. Tuesday we did the Thai Orchard, which was good, but not as good as Spicy Siam in Royal Oak. Last night we ate at Stafford’s at the Perry Hotel. We dined outside on the veranda and the view is magnificent. Sunset was gorgeous and all the guests were out watching it and taking photos. It reminded us of Mallory Square in Key West.

Sunset from the Petoskey Harbor

Well that was the past week for us, easy and hassle free. We need to stay in Petoskey today to make sure that there is no infection in Mike’s tooth. If there isn’t we will head back to Beaver Island for the weekend. After that it is back through the Straits and Mackinac Island. We want to make the Canadian Soo by the Steelers opener on September 7th. There is a sports bar there that is very partial to the Pittsburgh Steelers as that is also the name of their local team.

It looks like summer is coming to an end and we only have about another month of boating for the year. This past month the weather has been great. A far cry from what we started the summer with. Now the days are warm, but not hot and the nights are cool. Good sleeping weather, we think the term is. We hope that you are all well and have enjoyed your summer.

Take care, love,

Linda, Jake and the Fat Man

As much fun as a root canal!

Our friends, Ed and Debbie Moore, made it in from the Keys right on time on Saturday evening. The boat was shiny and clean, but was really rocking as a 25 knot wind was blowing straight out of the north and down the entire length of Grand Traverse Bay. Although we were in a marina and protected by a breakwater it was still bouncy. The waves were crashing over the wall and rebounding through the entrance. A small boat swamped and sank earlier in the day right at the mouth of the marina.

Ed and Debbie Moore of Big Torch Key aboard the Blue Chip

Linda decided it was too rough to cook aboard (what a surprise) and wanted to go out for dinner. Her choice was Stella’s, in the basement of the old state mental hospital. We ate there a few years ago and it was quite good. On the way over the cab driver told us the kitchen was in the old morgue. He advised against having the liver. Ed and Debbie must have thought that we were patients there because the food was ordinary, the portions miniscule and the prices outrageous. Needless to say, we were all very disappointed and will not go back.

Sunday the winds had come down some, but were still blowing hard enough to make for an unpleasant boat ride. We decided to rent a car and to do a little land cruising. We drove up the Leelanau Peninsula through part of Michigan’s new wine country. Mike says Michigan wines are crap and wouldn’t even stop for any free tastings. We did go through the lovely little villages of Sutton Bay, Northport and Leland. All stops on our normal cruising itinerary. At Leland’s fish town we had a snack of smoked fish from the famous Carlson’s Fish House and cheese curds.




Mike insisted that Ed have one of the famous Chubby Mary drinks. It is a Bloody Mary with a whole smoked chub in it. Ed didn’t quite know what to make of it, but did get it all down.

From there we drove down the coast along the Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes through Glen Arbor, Empire and finally to Frankfort. We had dinner at the Fusion restaurant in Frankfort which has moved to a new location right on the water. The food was very good, but didn’t seem quite as exciting as last year. About half way through dinner, Mike remembered why. Last year we never ate dinners, just a wide variety of appetizers. We are going to have to go back and try it that way. We ended up land touring in a day, what would have taken us a week to do by boat.

Monday the winds had died down more and we made our escape from Traverse City. Our destination was back to Charlevoix and of course the Gray Gables restaurant. Needless to say, no one was disappointed. Tuesday the seas were lying down and we made a run back to Beaver Island. We were hoping that they would enjoy Beaver as much as we do. Of course that meant dinner at the Beaver Island Lodge. We had a great meal and a perfect sunset over Lake Michigan.

Wednesday morning at breakfast, Mike bit down on a Honey Bunches of Oats cluster and it bit back. He thought that he either chipped a tooth or lost a filling. Our visit to Beaver was short and that morning we headed back to the mainland and Petoskey. There, we met up with Floyd and Maggi on Bonnie Banks. They were just coming back from the Grand Banks Rendezvous in Sheboygan, WS. That evening we did something totally out of character and ate aboard. Our refrigerators were bursting at the seams from the leftovers and take out boxes. There was only on thing to do and that was to eat them. We had cocktails and appetizers aboard Bonnie Banks and then moved to the Blue Chip for a dinner of assorted leftovers. A grand time was had by all.

Our plan Thursday was rent a car, do some touring in this area and then drive Ed and Debbie back to the Traverse City airport Friday to catch their plane. We had told them about a wonderful restaurant in Cross Village called Legs and were going to go there for an early dinner. However, by now, Mike’s tooth was really hurting and he declared he needed to seek medical attention. He found a dentist that could see him that afternoon. To make the best of it, the ladies decided to shop in Petoskey and Ed and Floyd traded fishing lies on the dock. After Mike’s exam and x-rays the dentist said his tooth was abscessed and he would have to have a root canal done. Being from out of town and on a boat is not the best situation for medical care. Through a series of fluke incidents, Mike got an emergency appointment and finished his root canal at a local endodontist about seven that evening. So much for having an early dinner at Legs; we settled for dinner at one of favorite local places, the City Park Grill.

Friday morning we took Ed and Debbie back to Traverse City for their flight back to the Keys. Back in Petoskey we went to turn the car in and were told that we could keep it for another day if we would like for free. There were a couple of minor issues when we picked it up and they wanted to make sure we were happy. We took them up on the offer and we finally got to Legs in Cross Village for dinner.

Linda, Maggi and Floyd Lewis at dinner at the Legs Inn in Cross Village.

The doctor asked Mike to stay in town over the weekend in case he had any problems with his tooth. He would also need to have a follow up to have the root canal redone and a permanent filling put in place. Although he is not having any problems now, we decided to scrap our planned trip to Lower Georgian Bay and to stay local until he can have the root canal finished. That is now scheduled for next week. He will still have to have the tooth capped, but that can wait.

We hope that you have all had great week. Our Sullivan family reunion was this weekend in North Carolina. We would like to say, “Hey y’all” to all of our aunts, uncles and cousins. Although we couldn’t attend, you were all in our hearts.

Take care, Love,
Linda, Jake and the Fat Man

Back on line with a new Computer

Our lack of a new blog for the last month is not because of a lack of interest, but a lack of internet. Our computer finally gave up the ghost. As we have previously complained about, we had a Best Buy warranty on it and had to deal with the Geek Squad to get anything done with it. True to form the Geek Squad could not do anything and it had to be sent back for repair. It was finally deemed to be non repairable and we were to get a new computer comparable to our old one. Our old one was a desk top replacement that cost $2000 three years ago. The comparable unit is a $599 special. It also came with the dreaded Vista operating system rather than the Windows XP that we are familiar with. It has taken a little time, but we finally have the new machine up and running and most of the data and programs transferred over. All and all, the new computer seems to be doing a very good job.

Now back to our trip. We left the Straits on July 15th with perfect weather and flat calm seas. It seems like summer has finally arrived. We headed to Charlevoix and were joined by Floyd and Maggi Lewis on their boat Bonnie Banks. That evening Larry and Larraine Coplin stopped on their way back from their family reunion. We all had a fantastic dinner at the Gray Gables Inn. This is one of the finest restaurants in the area and we would highly recommend it to anyone visiting the Charlevoix area.

Floyd & Maggi Lewis

Steve and Paula Atkinson joined us Thursday for a week of cruising. We first headed to Boyne City where Steve had a friend that worked for the police department and Paula had a friend that had a condo there. They were able to visit with both and we were able to see our friend, John D’Amour. We were also able to hook up again with Larry and Larraine before they started their journey back to Arizona. We would like to go into more details, but we made a pack, what happens in Boyne City, stays in Boyne City. We will say that things really got interesting one night when a bachelorette party of about 15 women showed up. Most of them were bigger than Mike and nine were still dancing on the bar when we left and that was about 15 minutes after the band stopped. From there we headed across Traverse Bay to Northport and then back to Charlevoix. The computer had crapped out at this point so Steve drove Mike to the Best Buy store in Traverse City about an hour away. Linda and Paula spent the rest of the afternoon shopping. The day after Steve and Paula left, we headed over to Beaver Island.

Paula & Steve Atkinson

When we tell most people that we are going over to Beaver Island they ask why go there, there is nothing to do; precisely why we go. It is our favorite place to do nothing. Do nothing is a bit of an exaggeration. We ride our bikes a little, Linda walks the dog and every night we go out to dinner. There are a few places to eat out on Beaver Island, but the best is Nina’s at the Beaver Island Lodge. It has the finest view over looking Lake Michigan the surrounding islands and fantastic food. We think that it is the finest restaurant in the Great Lakes given the quality of the food and the atmosphere. Another good place is Stony Acres. They have a Bar-B-Q on Thursday nights that has perhaps the finest ribs that Mike has ever eaten (Linda doesn’t eat meat, but loves the Bar-B-Q chicken and shrimp). They also have a wonderful perch dinner on Friday nights.

Coleen and John

John D’Amour and Coleen from Boyne City flew over to Beaver and joined us for a couple of days. One day we rented a car. As we were picking it up the young lady asked if we had a map with all the highlights. Mike told her we did and were going to see them both. She instantly replied, “There’re two?” Beaver Island is 13 miles long and has about 1 mile of paved roads. We did the whole tour from one end to the other. A few of the dirt roads got down to what we would classify as two tracks, so it was an interesting adventure.

Rev Jim and his wife Carol

While there we met up again with the Rev Jim and his wife, Carol. They were sailing with some friends and were trying to get to Escanaba. The weather was against them and they had to abandon their plan. The problem was his car was in Escanaba waiting for him. He solved that problem by catching a ride with the local air service. Before he left we all had another wonderful dinner at the Beaver Island Lodge.

Another fine dinner at the Beaver Island Lodge

Rev Jim, Carol, Dave & Julie

Floyd and Maggi Lewis stopped at Beaver with their boat Bonnie Banks on their way to Wisconsin. That meant another great meal that the BI Lodge. Do you get the impression that we like this place? Floyd and Maggi liked it so much, they stayed an extra day just to try the Thursday night Bar-B-Q. They were not disappointed.

It was now August and we had company coming and we had to get back to the mainland to pick him up. Best Buy called and said that our computer was toast and we could come in the store and pick up a new one. We tried to go to Traverse City where the Best Buy is, but they were full due to a big film festival weekend they were having. Instead we went to Boyne City and borrowed a car from our friend John and drove to Traverse City about an hour away to pick up the new computer.

Mike & Dr. Ed move the boat around to Harbor Springs

Our company, Ed Gordon or Dr. Ed as we affectionately refer to him, met us in Boyne City. We all linked up with John and Coleen again and had a great few days. When it was time to move, Mike and Dr. Ed took the boat around to Harbor Springs and Linda drove Ed’s car. It took the boys four hours to get around and Linda about a half hour, so of course she had to kill the extra time shopping in Petoskey. Dr. Ed left this Thursday and we moved the boat down to Traverse City to meet Ed and Debbie Moore, our neighbors from Big Torch Key. They are flying in today.

The weather today is cool and windy. That didn’t deter Linda from insisting that the boat be washed. Of course, she isn’t the one that would be washing it. Mike set the bikes off the boat and onto the docks, so that he could wash the decks. When he was done, he asked Linda what happened to the other bike? She said that she didn’t know and hadn’t moved it. You guessed it, the bike blew off the dock. Mike has been trying to get rid of his bike for a long time and Linda accused him of throwing it off. Mike dug out a grapple anchor from the dinghy and was able to hook the bike on the first try and retrieve it. Linda had said earlier that she wanted to wash the bikes, we guess that didn’t include a good soaking.

Well for those few that are still with us, that pretty much sums up the last month. We are over the half way mark for this summer’s boating. The boat is running good, the weather has been wonderful and we are all feeling great. We hope that your summer is going as well as ours.

Take care, Love,

Linda, Jake and the Fat Man