August 11,2022
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| The Mitten of Michigan |
Our last blog took us as far as Caseville, MI. Caseville is on the inside of the thumb of the Michigan mitten. It will make sense if you look at a map of Michigan, I promise. Our next port of call is across the upper Saginaw Bay in Harrisville…. Onto the main part of the mitten. We left Caseville on July 31st at around 9a.m. Harrisville’s claim to fame is its size. It is the sixth smallest city by population in the state of Michigan. That means we have already been in 3 smaller cities.🤣🤣. Harrisville is the county seat for Alcona County. We will need to stay here for a number of days due to weather moving in. Luckily for us there is an excellent brewery in Harrisville.
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First on Bob’s agenda was starting the dinghy motor and getting the dinghy in the water. We have not had the dinghy down in over a year nor has the motor been started. We’re both crossing our fingers. We had to deflate the dinghy for the low bridges on the Erie Canal and the motor had been laid down on the floor of the dinghy. We had bought fresh gas in Gibraltar, so we were hopeful. As luck would have it, all went well. The motor started on the second pull and ran like a champ. We took the dinghy for a short cruise then tied her in our slip with Carolina.
That evening the town held a concert in the pavilion on marina grounds. We have heard better singers and did not stay for much of the entertainment. The following day the weather came in. It blew like stink. We watched the dock master and two dockhands help a boat in during the worst of it- lightning, driving rain and winds gusting to 35. Don’t ask me why they were out boating in that weather. They left before we could ask.
The next day, when the weather had calmed (but was still raining) we asked for a ride back to the Brew Haus. The marina staff were wonderful and willing to drive us almost anyplace we asked and pick us back up. Needless to say, we had more than one beer. These were some of the best craft beers we have had since leaving home. We also found that their food was excellent AND they sold Cornish Pasties to go. We had died and gone to heaven. Tim, the dockhand, came and brought us back to the marina.
We made plans to push out for Alpena on the 4th of August. We have a hard date in Sault Ste. Marie on the 16th and with the way the weather has been, we want some cushion. Alpena is a bigger city and would have stores that we could provision in. These small towns are hell on shopping. You can always find a Dollar General or Family Dollar but they don’t carry fresh produce which is the mainstay of our diet.
We made reservations on the Michigan state website for our stay in Alpena.The marina is just in the entrance to Thunder Bay River and surrounded by water treatment and city facilities. All things considered, this was a nice marina and well protected from weather.we actually had lovely weather here. Our second day on the dock we saw a most amazing sight. A B- 24 Liberator flew over quickly followed by a B-29 Superfortress. We were going to have to find out where they were going. The superfortress was lowering its landing gear so it had to be someplace near. A google search pulled up an air show at the Alpena Regional Airport starting tomorrow. Looks like we’re staying a little longer than expected.
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| P-51 Mustang |
We rode our bikes to the airport via excellent bike trails. Round trip we pedaled about 20 miles then we decided to go out for linner so add another 4 miles. It was a long day but we had a great time. Tomorrow we’ll leave for Rogers City, our last stop on “the mitten”.
August 6th dawned bright and breezy. We were expecting some chop to start out with the lake smoothing as the day wore on. We were not disappointed. We left Alpena at 7am and had an uneventful 50 mile trip with one sighting of the B-24 . We arrived in Rogers City around 3 pm and docked on the outer wall. We had a neighbor boat that had been in Harrisville with us who helped us tie up. Rogers City is famous for its neighbor Calcite - the largest limestone quarry IN THE WORLD!! Population of Rogers City is 2800. I bet 95% work in Calcite at the quarry. From the marina we could see the excavators working 24/7. We could hear them too.
We rode our bikes around Rogers City the day we arrived. We were there during the Nautical Family Festival so there were amusement rides set up in the park with food trucks. In town there was a giant craft fair in one of the parks and an antique car show in another. We visited the Nowiki sausage store and watched the car parade. That night an 80s cover band played till late. We were glad we were so far from the park. We could hear just fine from where we were. Weather moved in on Sunday and we thought the festival was doomed but the Kielbasa Kings still went on at 4pm and shut the festival down at 10pm when they set off most excellent fireworks from the docks in Calcite.
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| DeTour Lighthouse |
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| Mainsail Restaurant |
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| Bob at DeTour Nature Preserve |
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| Yummy Red Ale |
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| Another hidden gem in DeTour - very well done memorial garden |
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| Constant traffic from Lake Superior cruises past day and night |
Now I have caught you up to our present location. Next up will be Sault Ste. Marie and Bob’s brother and sister-in-law visiting for a week. More adventures to come .Keep us in your thoughts.
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