Hopscotch

Hopping from harbor to harbor, we're playing hopscotch down the east coast of Lake Michigan while trying to avoid the worst of the wind, waves and thunderstorms on the lake. It can be gnarly. Mackinac Island. . . Harbor Springs . . . Charlevoix. . . Leland/Fishtown. . . and more to come.

But first, once in a great while, a jacket and tie do come in handy on the Loop. The Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island requires them for gentlemen after 19:00 hours. I've worn the jacket a few times this past year (Chicago, New York) but this may have been the first time in 11 months I've worn a tie. The Admiral said I "dress up pretty good!" And, I can still tie that tie.

My most recent blog left you at the end of our first day in Harbor Springs, a beautiful, upscale town with nice shops and a couple good restaurants. We had planned to stay two nights but ended up staying a third in order to collect a new sump pump that we had ordered. As I said in my last blog, I managed to get the shower sump working again by cleaning the sump box and the pump itself and then replacing the float valve.

In the process of doing that, I got thinking about the aft sump box and decided I'd better take a look at that, too. Sure enough, the box was chock a block full of water. Not good. To be honest, I didn't even know what that box was draining. Turns out it's the washing machine and the air conditioning condensate. My theory is that the washing machine discharge pump had enough oomph to push water through the sump box and overboard which had kept us from being aware of the issue. It's probably more extra work for the washer than is good for it.

I bailed the box (long process) and cut the wires to the float valve. When I touched the wires together, the pump came right on--another float valve had bitten the dust. This time I had to walk further for parts as I had already purchased the only float valve at the marina where we were staying. Fortunately, the folks at a neighboring facility had just what we needed. I installed the new one and wired it up. Voila; another problem solved.

By far the most pleasant part of our stay in Harbor Springs were two visits with friends. Craig Tallberg, the owner of Coastal Carolina Yacht Sales who sold us both the Back Cove and the Sabre, drove over from Charlevoix and took us to lunch on Thursday. He has become a great friend and it's always good to see him. We talk boats, boating and future plans. The Admiral tells him stories; I always enjoy hearing her take on things when she's relating our adventures to others. And for dinner on Thursday, my friends since college, Erik and P-Nut Thorp joined us. Erik and P-Nut live on Mullett Lake, about 35 minutes from Harbor Springs. We keep in fairly regular touch via email and telephone but there's nothing like being in person to really catch up. And, unbeknownst to us beforehand, we celebrated their 48th wedding anniversary with them that evening.

Friday afternoon, the Admiral packed me up and shipped me with Judy Byrwa's taxi service to the local urgent care center. There, a very cordial AGNP treated me for an inflamed eye which had been bothering me for several days (couldn't have anything to do with spending a day with hands in the shower sump could it?) It appears I'm destined to finish the Loop wearing my prescription glasses instead of contacts which I can't wear while applying the eye drop medication--a bummer because my sunglasses only go over the latter. Better to be on the safe side though where your eyes are concerned. And what, you might ask, is an AGNP? Hmm, the NP stands for Nurse Practioner, of course. The AG? Adult gerontologist. Should I be insulted or just recognize reality?

Friday night in Harbor Springs brought some fun to help me shake off the insult of the afternoon. Remedee, a famous band (at least in northern Michigan) performed a free concert at Marina Park, a short walk from where we stayed at Walstrom's. We enjoyed some of their music but it was even more fun to watch the crowd. I'm guessing the "M's" in the picture below do not stand for Maine! 😎

Harbor Springs Historical Note: Inventor Ephraim Shay moved to the town in 1888 where he founded the Hemlock Central Railroad to haul logs and, in the summer, tourists. In 1891, he crafted a vessel of steel that he used to take his friends on tours and fishing on Lake Michigan. He also built his hexagonal home of steel.

From Harbor Springs, we headed to Charlevoix, a short, 20 mile ride. Though we dodged showers and thunderstorms, the light wind of 5-10 knots did not generate seas of more than a foot or so and led to a comfortable ride.

Faced with nowhere else to dock, Ward Marine had kindly offered us an overnight space on their fuel dock but we couldn't occupy it until 18:45. They assured us there'd be a day dock available at the City Marina. Sigh--a busy Saturday and all full. So, we anchored out and watched the comings and goings of the harbor through showers and more thunderstorms. Between them, I took the Admiral for a short dinghy ride and then dropped her ashore to window shop. As the weather worsened and things quieted down, it looked to me like the City Marina which had told us several times that they had no room at the inn was, in fact, going to have one or two empty slips for the night. I called them at 16:30 and, it turned out, one had become available. We grabbed it--nice to have the space two hours early and nice to have shore power and water for the night.

We settled in comfortably and, in due course, walked to the Gray Gables restaurant where we had by far the best meal we've had in some time. It was well worth the half

mile walk each way and, luckily, we got back to the marina just before the heavens opened. Along the way home, I took the picture below:

On Sunday we left Charlevoix about 10:00 to travel 35 miles to Leland. NOAA forecast winds of 15-25 out of the north/northeast with waves of 3-5 feet. We had all of that. Waves on the stern and stern quarter are tough. You alternate between surfing rather quickly down the front of a wave then groaning slowly to climb steeply up the backside of the next. And, if you get just a bit too much sideways, the seas throw you for a roll as you struggle to straighten out. Thank God for the SeaKeeper and Volvo Intercept Systems which helped to reduce the effect of these as well as for the Admiral's dramamine.

We arrived in Leland Harbor and remembered that Lake Michigan's "Fishtown" is immediately adjacent. We went to the Cove for lunch where you could get white fish and walleye any way you wanted them. We both had chicken salad wraps!

After lunch and a nap, we explored the village of Leland, itself. We discovered the Leland Village Green which showed off well in the late afternoon sun. Dozens of butterflies and scores of bumblebees joined us as we spent a half hour enjoying the park and its beauty.

After the Green, we sauntered over to Van's Beach where we spent another 45 minutes sitting in beautiful, warm sand watching a half dozen or more kite surfers fly on the 20 knot breeze. Then it was back to the boat for a light supper of sausage and hors d'oeuvres.