Big Water = Carnival Ride

 Monday July 21:

We were up early and ready to go so we pulled the anchor around 0615 and were on our way toward Mackinac Island area.  The sail boat race from Chicago to Mackinac Island was going on, so we saw many sailboats on our way.  Wes had to do a little "dodging" but it wasn't bad.  It was neat to see all the sailboats.  It was a nice ride.  We got some good pictures of the Big Mac bridge.  We arrived at Duncan Bay near Cheboygan, MI.  There were some people enjoying the nice weather so we heard the squeals of joy and laughter.  We had a nice dinner and a beverage on the aft deck then went in for a relaxing evening.  I got a few pictures of the beautiful sunset.

 

Tuesday July 22:

We both got up and joined our respective bible studies, then pulled and anchor and headed out around 0845 and headed to Presque Isle.  The weather forecast doesn't look good for travel tomorrow, so we are planning on staying at a marina for two nights and then we will see what the weather forecast says from there.  It was a little windy on the lake but not too bad until about 1330 and then the waves increased in size and we were bouncing quite a bit.  We arrived at the marina around 1600 and were happy to get tied up and out of the waves.  

 Wednesday July 23:

We stayed at Presque Isle State Marina for the day as the wind forecast was to be nasty and after our rough ride, we didn't want to get stuck in that again.  We made a trip across the street to get some ice cream.  It was delicious!!  I had meetings for work, but we hosted docktails with another looper couple that is just starting their loop, then participated in virtual docktails.  We stayed up a little bit to wind down, then off to bed.

 

Thursday July 24:

Another poor forecast, so another day at Presque Island State Marina.  We had some dark clouds, wind and rain come through in the early afternoon.  We had a quiet day on the boat.  Me working and Wes working on the videos and pictures.

 

 

Friday July 25:

After being in port for the last two days, we were ready to get underway.  We were up early and shoved off around 0630.  We made to Tawas around 1730 and stayed at Tawas Point State Park.  We walked up to the office, paid our bill then walked over to the Bikini Bar that is right on the beach.  They had some live music, so we went over and had a drink and listened for a bit.  We went back to the boat and enjoyed dinner on our aft deck.  As we were finishing dinner, a couple was walking by from Long Island and started asking about Toscana.  Turns out the did the loop a few years back and are now taking the summers and doing each of the great lakes.  We invited them aboard and had a nice visit.  We went inside before dark and relaxed before heading to bed.

 

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Saturday July 26:

We had a shorter day so we didn't shove off until 0730.  It was a nice day on the lake at first.  The winds picked up a bit and we were catching them on the port / bow quarter of the boat.  It wasn't too bad, but enough that Wes put up the sail.  The clouds continued to gather and then the rain came.  The last hour or so we go rained on and of course it rained pretty heave as we pulled into Wheeler Landing in Bay City, MI.  Our friends Deb and Brownie were waiting for us and helped get us tied up in our slip.  They then came inside out of the rain and we had a landing drink while we chatted.  The rain stopped and we walked up to pay our bill for our stay here and Wes's Aunt Gay showed up.  We went back to the boat and sat on the aft deck visiting until the rain came again.  We moved to the fly bridge and waited out the rain.  Gay went back home and then we got on Deb and Brownie's small boat and headed up river for dinner.  We had a nice dinner at Vinny's Pizza in Uptown then went to Scotty's Sandbar to enjoy a little live music and have one more drink.  We were all beat by that point and went back to the marina and went straight to bed.

 

 

Sunday July 27:

After a late night, we weren't moving too quickly.  Wes made breakfast and we had a quiet morning.  Wes was doing some picture/video work and I relaxed in my chair.  We went to the Rib Festival with Aunt Gay.  It was a HOT and humid day, but we walked around and checked out the vendors there, did some people watching (which was interesting) and got some ribs from three different competitors and then a sample plate from another with some smoked pork, chicken and shrimp.  We then went back to Gay's house, cooled off, and enjoyed our food.  It was delicious!!  Gay took us back to the boat where we were contemplating taking the boat up river a little ways to listen to the Trace Atkins concert, but it was still very hot so we stayed in. Gay went back home to have a quiet evening and once the sun went down, we went to the aft deck and listened to the concert from our slip.