Sunday - August 9

 Sunny warm Sunday....after breakfast, we started removing more stuff from Catrina to put on Flo, Big Red or in the storage building.   Stuff, stuff, soo much stuff!

A very interesting statistic came out this week.....in the first 6 months of this year, over 200,000 new residents are making Florida their home applying for drivers' licenses.   WOW.....10,000+ are in Lee County (Fort Myers).

Nine on zoom tonight - Sharon is enjoying her new grandbaby, Warren; Theresa is dealing with her badly injured arm (can't have home-health care any longer cause she's too healthy); discussed Sister's Weekend the end of September; Joan asked for prayers (neighbor Josh is going to court tomorrow regarding a fatal auto accident);  Janet and Doris have enjoyed their grandchildren this summer but tired when they leave😉   Heavy rain in Dixon, Rockford and Chicago today - heading our way.

Have a great week ahead!

Saturday - August 8

 It's so good to be back in Port Clinton.    We had a bunch of errands but first, breakfast at Ala Carte which is always a good hearty start to the day!  

Another very warm sunny day.....we worked on our stuff - taking things off Catrina and starting to organize of what we don't need for rest of the season.   

Mark put his stats for the trip together and here goes:

Cruised 1,466.4 miles (94.1 engine hours)

653 gallons of fuel

$3,622.68 cost of fuel

$5.55 average cost/gallon

48 days on the trip with 1 day less than 7 weeks

20 days were we were moving on Catrina; rest of time we were in port for multiple days

Some other tidbits to share (from me):

Best marinas (boater's lounge, bathrooms/showers) - Manistee, MI and Sturgeon Bay, WI

Several good coffee shops but funkiest: Red Cup on Washington Island, WI; 5 and J Sturgeon Bay, WI and The Coffee Factory (Muskegon, MI)

Best biking: Frankfort, MI

Best walking: Manistee, MI

Best shopping:  Sturgeon Bay, WI;

 Christmas shops (Tannenbaum in Sister Bay and Alpine Gift Haus in Cedarburg, WI)

Highlights:

Road trip to some favorite northern Michigan ports and visiting Dennis and Teri in Presque Isle, MI:

Family reunion in Menominee Falls, MI

Dinner with our nephew Steve and Lori in Marinette, WI; long-time boating friends Ron and Pat in Muskegon, MI and Leon (in the hospital) in Muskegon; CT friend, Linda in Muskegon; Allie and Owen in Muskegon and enjoying Grand Haven and the water fountain show + good eating, coffee and touring the LST boat (guys).

We went to 4:30 Mass with Father Jonathan at Immaculate Conception (another awesome homily).    Then to The Orchard for a wonderful dinner (thanks to Anne, Liam, Connor, Gibson and Frankie) for my Mother's Day gift.    Top notch!

Back home and went for a walk - I met Jeannie who is from SC and just brought her beautiful yacht from Hilton Head to Port Clinton where it will be stored for the winter.    She also has a beautiful RV and living in that for now.    Mark met her before we left on our trip and followed along in her boat (Magic Carpet) travels these past several weeks.

Friday - August 7

We are HOME!!!    Came under the bridge at 3:30 and Donna (boat sister) and Dave (dockmaster) were there to grab our lines - thank you very much!    Big hugs for these dear folks and so good to be back  (1 day shy of 7 weeks)!!! 

We left Port Sanilac at 6:40 AM and had nasty fog for almost 2 hours on Lake Huron.    Then to the St. Clair River and tah dah....nice 'n clear; then Lake St. Clair, the Detroit River and finally, the last hurrah, Lake Erie and 2.5 hours to Port Clinton.   153 total miles today.

It's hot.....but no complaints - funny how much of this trip we were wearing long pants, hoodies, jackets, etc.....

Thursday - August 6

 Exactly 9 hours of travel time today - we left Rogers City at 6:18 and arrived in Port Sanilac at 3:18.   160 miles and pretty calm seas with sun, clouds, sun, clouds and then a surprise shower at 2:45!    Just enough to make things messy.  

I fixed breakfast along the way - cheesy eggs, fruit and cranberry walnut toast.

We are at the Port Sanilac Municipal Marina for our last night before "home sweet home"!

So thankful that our good friends, Leon and John are doing much better after serious health issues - Leon in Michigan and John in Florida.

Mark's sister Sharon has a new grandbaby - "Warren Thomas" was born to Sarah and Daniel weighing 7 lbs. 14 oz and 19".    He has a big brother Mason, 2.

Baby Warren

After settling in, we walked to the Stone Lodge - an old building with stone fireplace and lots of animal heads - like up in north country,    We really enjoyed our meals - chicken pot pie for Mark and walleye for me - excellent!    Busy place.

Lovely old hotel we passed on our walk to the Stone Lodge

Tomorrow starts the 12th annual Blues festival here in Port Sanilac (less than 600 residents).   It's a very big event and they are setting up tents tonight.  One year ago when we were returning from our boating trip to Canada, we tried to get a slip for one night but it was this same time and nothing available.....glad it doesn't start till tomorrow when we'll be outta here.

 We also heard that this weekend marks the annual garage sale which is along a busy highway and goes from town to town.

 WHEW....one more day!

Wednesday - August 5

We had some light rain off and on during the night and this morning, but by 8:00, it was done, even though the forecast said "all day".    So, my captain decided we should take off and get some more miles in towards home sweet home. 

We left at 9:35 not sure where we would end up, but not the best conditions today - cloudy and dreary with some wobbling seas - not too bad, but not what we like.    So, 38.5 miles later, we were in Rogers City again (last visit was June 24th - 3 days after we started this big trip and now into our 7th week)!!!

Had a familiar face greet us on the dock, got our routine done, Mark checked into the office and we walked downtown.   I went to Cook's Coffee Nook for an iced latte and Mark went across the street to The Painted Lady for his iced Americano decaf.   Gotta support these local businesses.    Then to Save-a-Lot for some pasta salad.    Had a light lunch on our way back to Catrina at the Pavilion Grille.   

I made a batch of BBQ and we had a nice quiet afternoon.   Liam called - can't believe he's down to his last 2 days of his internship in Minneapolis!    He has sure enjoyed the work, family he stayed with and the wonderful recreational area.    He biked 102 miles on Saturday from Minnetonka, MN to Hudson, WI.    Holy moly!!!!!

The rain started around 5 and got heavier but was over by 6:20.

Maeve had a belated birthday party this past Saturday....

Our sweet Maeve is "10" with her friends!

We had a picnic-style supper of BBQ, baked beans, watermelon and deviled eggs!