Days 54 & 55 August 13 and 14, 2022

Day 54 Saturday August 13, 2022

Meldrum Bay, Ontario to De Tour Village, Michigan. Sunrise on Meldrum Bay

Beautiful, calm morning.  Only disturbance was the discovery that a boat at the marina had sunk over night!  Joe called the dockmaster to let him know as we headed on to De Tour.  Sad day for the boat owner.

  

We arrived at De Tour at 1:15pm, five hours and 45min later.  Travel was uneventful with a a few freighter sightings.  We hadn't seen them since we were on Lake Ontario. 

 Once in US waters we needed to report to US Customs.  Jerry had already prepared for that by filling out the CBP ROAM app.  He filled in the forms and scanned our passports.  When in US waters, and sure of good cell service (with a US carrier) we checked in via the app.  A customs officer reviews your request and then notifies you if you are approved, need to do a video call interview, or need to meet a customs officer face to face.  Delays in CBP responses have occurred so we were anxious that our request would transmit and we wouldn't drop the call.  We watched as our request went from pending to processing and then finally approved without the need for a video call!  We now have "trusted traveler" status.  I'm not sure what that does for us.  We have been in Canada since 7-10-2022 when we entered in Kingston Ontario.

One of the first things Jerry did once we were in our slip was to take down the Canadian courtesy flag.

 

We pulled up to fuel dock for a pump out and diesel.  Last time we fueled up was July 27th; we had travelled 46.7 engine hours.  We have been documenting engine hours and fuel purchased since the fuel gauge didn't seem to be registering.  Well -- over the last few days the needle has actually moved.  We hadn't let the fuel tanks drop very far before so maybe that was the problem.  Now if only the holding tank gauge would work!  

Churches in Canada and the Diocese of Marquette seem to be suffering like those in our area.  Sacred Heart of Jesus is part of  the "Four Faith Community" sharing one priest who does a weekend mass and a daily mass at each of the churches.   Fr. Jernej Sustar needs to take a ferry from Drummond Island to De Tour Village to do his Saturday masses. 

   

We hit the local IGA before church (mass at 6:30 and it closed at 7pm) and then the Dollar General afterwards.  Yes, we brought our veggie purchases to church with us. 

Taco dinner on board and then TV!  Jerry was quite happy to be able to finally watch the news.

Day 55 Sunday August 14, 2022

De Tour Village Marina

The water is so clear and almost Caribbean blue in color.   The docks are designed as piers with poles that you tie your boat to.  The docks are fixed and do not float.  I'm sure we'll see more like these.

We spent a second day relaxing in De Tour.  Jerry cooked breakfast instead of our usual cereal or peanut butter toast. We had a lazy morning and then I did laundry.  Laundry seems to be a bigger effort than it should be.  Washer/dryers are available at many marinas, sometimes for free.  The issue is how many other people are in line ahead of you.  Since we didn't have much to do I decided to try doing it on the boat.   The washer proved temperamental again, with a couple of false starts and then an extra spin to get rid of some of the dampness.  Then the dryer -- 90 minutes later and they still weren't quite dry.  More time required.  Finally done, I'm sure it would have been quicker and easier at the marina laundry.  

We watched  a freighter tied to the  stone quarry across the channel.

 

We walked to town again to visit the highlights, the IGA and Dollar General for a few more groceries. Back to the boat we tried to plan our next moves.  Laura shared there plans and we discussed the options.  Do we continue travel down the east side of Lake Michigan through the quaint towns or cross to the west side along the Wisconsin shore.  The advantage of the western shore we would be less affected by the winds from the west but we would miss a lot of nice towns on the east.  West coast has Sturgeon Bay and Door County, also must see stops.  We will probably try to split our time on both sides, crossing to the west at Frankfort.  Of course all dictated by the weather.

Great dinner on the grill, telephone call with dad and more research for upcoming stops.

Freighter docked at the quarry.

Tomorrow we head to Mackinaw City, about 5.5 hours away.  Winds are predicted relatively calm and should be a good travel day.