Yesterday & Today

Yesterday was partly sunny and cool.  We went to the Farmers Market in Holland.  There was a surprising amount of goods: we bought veggies and a pint of Maple Syrup.  We ate the beet greens with bacon last night – mumm. After the market we walked downtown Holland and on the way back we stopped at a natural food shop and the Verizon Wireless shop.  I need to upgrade my phone so I can get emails and texts plus limited web – I did not do it since old plan cannot be extended and the new one is $10 per month plus the $ for web access.

Today we may go out in the dingy up river a ways.  This would exercise the engine a bit plus give us a nice diversion for the afternoon – our last Sunday here until next April.  After the little dingy safari it comes out of the water and so does the motor.  Moore later…..

Weather – good & bad

This morning dawned with a fog across the water and upon visible sunrise the mist disappeared and the temperatures rapidly warmed due to the brilliant sun and low westerly wind.  However, by noon hints of overcast skies appeared and by 1500 hrs the skies were obscured and the strong wind was chilling.  Forcast for tonight is rain and low 40’s temperatures.

This morning I talked with Greg of Windfluence. They are supposed to be pulled tomorrow.  They are going for the Fall Color Tour too.  Tugboat Joe stopped by to talk and he is leaving for the color tour too.

We have the heater on now and it is very nice down below.  I talked with John Call for an hour or so this afternoon.  Believe it or not, John just had his mast stepped this afternoon and wants to sail this weekend.  He has spent most of the summer doing refits on his boat.  SAM walked for an hour and a half this afternoon and just returned.  I went to the library to read magazines for a while.

Fall Colors Tour – Day 3

Day three is the end of the tour – we are back at the boat amid Small Craft Warnings and temperatures in the 40’s tonight.  SAM is out walking as is the norm.

We started from the Best Western at 10:00 AM.  We took M115 across to Frankfort M22 and started North to Sleeping Bear Dunes.  I do not know the time we got there but we did and used our squeeking clean National Parks Senior Pass we bought last summer.  The Ranger said I did not look old enough to have a senior pass so I said “thank you very much”.

We stopped at every 1 – 12 park  highlighted are and took a lot of pictures which we may post later as an animated highlight.  After the tour we hit the real back roads to find the lake we saw in the #11 overlook.  We found it!

The ##### lake was within 30′ of joining Lake Michigan and was a sandy bottom which I wish we had found this summer on our cruise.  The color was beautiful but about 1 week late from peak but it was absolutely great color time.  SAM kept saying how great this was and how lucky we were to be able to do this.

The Platte kayak place was close so we did not even stop but proceeded to Frankfort.  The following sequence brought us back to Saugatuck – Frankfort-Arcadia-Onekama-Ludington-Pentwater-Muskegon-Grand Haven-Port Sheldon-Holland and home.

We are planning our next year adventures if the physical asspect allow.  While in Traverse City area we bought some Cherry Wine which we will give to friends on the the way to FL this winter.

I am sorry my narratives are so bad but I feel compelled to document our end times travels.  Thanks for reading.

Fall Color Tour – Day 2

We took lots of pictures of new and old haunts.  We left Petoskey 10 AM and proceeded South on US31 to Charlevoix where we stayed almost two hours touring the town,  harbor and some artist shops.  We like it and promised to visit next summer on our cruise.

Continuing South on M31 to Elk Rapids and spent some time at Grand Travis Bay Resort & Spa, touring the town and harbor areas plus we went to the library.  This is on our cruise tour also.

From Elk Rapids south on US31 we proceeded to Mission Peninsula and got a lot of pictures on the grape vines, beautiful panoramas and Chateau Chateau.  We consider this a particularly beautiful area and we know lots of beautiful geography.

From there, we backtracked and went via M-72 and a circuitous rout to Chateau Fontaine to reunite with the owner we met this summer at the  Northport Harbor Festival.  From the Chateau we went to Northport to see the harbor and our old swimming area.  Then we proceeded south again on M-22 to our old haunt of Leland (the harbor was empty).

SAM & I were tired about this time and we decided to drive the 22 miles to Beulah and the Best Western (at $80 per night).  This drive was done entirely on GPS and it was a trip all in itself.  And lead us via a 3 mile dirt road to M-31 again and unto Beulah Best Western (it is pretty new and has all the amenities).  We ate dinner at a good place and returned tired and happy.  As I write now I fear I am going to bed pretty soon.

Tomorrow will bring new adventures as we return to Sleeping Bear and the Platte.  Moore later………

Color Tour – Day 1

We departed Saugatuck about 10:00 AM and after an abortive start we definitely traveled through peak color. By the time we passed through Kalkaska the trees were past peak color. Peak color started just north of Grand Rapids and continued for the next 75 miles – a beautiful drive along US-131. As we arrived in Petoskey the color was back again and we made a side trip on M-119 past Harbor Springs – it is a tree canopy drive and the sunlight filtered through – beautiful is the term for this drive. I have some pictures with SAM’s new 12MPx Kodak camera but no cable to upload them so I’ll have to wait until I get home to post to this blog.

10/10/10

emacedgame.net

SeaPerch – how to

Packing out

Today we filled the car with items from the boat:  Tools, clothes and items we have not used for a couple 0f seasons.  We ate lunch on the boat and headed for PL.  What a bittersweet time – the end of the boating season.  We came back to PL because the new 4″ well is supposed to be drilled tomorrow.  Rick called and said there was a problem with the pump install so it might have to be done later  because he is using a new subcontractor.  I do not know what that means but it does not sound so positive.

Anyway, we have to be in Saugatuck on Friday because SAM’s new glasses arrive and they are to be fitted.  Thursday I have a hangar association board meeting that is a must attend.  However, tomorrow is filled with washing the vehicles, starting all the machinery to get ready for the Fall work season and general cleanup.

We are trying to find some time do do the northern Michigan Fall color tour which is now in full swing.  We want to visit the places we saw this summer on our “cruise”.  Time flies so fast in the Fall that it is hard to get everything done.  The leaves will be falling in the next 3 -4 weeks so that will take some time to  rake, blow, mulch and vacuum all the 30 – 40 loads of leaves.    We can do about 5 loads a day so that gives you an idea of how many days it takes to complete the job.  It usually takes about 2 -3 weeks to for most all the leaves to fall to the ground and we hope for a strong South wind to help the process of  getting the leaves down to the bottom of the hill where we can get at them with the mulcher/vacuum.

A fun day

This will be the first frost of the year if predictions come true.  We have the dorades plugged up, wicks trimmed and the electric heater ready to keep the boat warm tonight as the first sub-40’s temperatures arrive for tonight and tomorrow night.  Winds are still moderate from the north under rising barometric pressure.

Today we went to the Douglas October Fest but it was a bust and we did not even pay the $10 fee to enter.  Instead we went the back way to Holland and came upon the Farmers Market there so we bought some greens and other items.

After that we drove to the north side of Lake Macatawa to the Yacht Basin marina just to look around and really liked the place.  They have deep enough water to float our boat so we will call them tomorrow to see about slip prices for next year.  Moore on this later.