Our rental car arrived that Thursday of our last blog entry-a red Ford Focus without cruise control! We are spoiled. It was okay, but not nearly as good a ride as Mary's Montego (her "old-lady car" as our kids say) or even as good as John's Mariner. Mary was going to drive it to Tawas to visit her mom and dad because the gas mileage was so good, but we put the insurance back on the Mariner for 2 days and John drove the Focus around Alma and Mt.Pleasant. We were home for 2 nights but basically no days-we arrived late Thursday, Mary left the next morning for Tawas and John spent all day running errands (picking up a prescription, grocery shopping, etc.) when he wasn't doing laundry. Mary had a good visit with her parents and there was even a bonus-her sister Sue and Sue's daughter, Amber, were there. Played one game of hand and foot (Mary and Amber won) and received a gift of fresh garden veggies-tomato, summer squash, green beans, and zucchini, yum. John later grilled the veggies-more yum.
Our new dinghy is finally here.
We each woke in the night at home with a sensation that something wasn't right. Mary stretched out her leg and didn't feel the side of the berth and John woke because it was so quiet (no water sloshing) so it appears we've adapted to having the boat as our home for the next year. Came back to St. Joe early Saturday to avoid paying for 2 more days of rental since the Benton Harbor Enterprise office closes at noon on Saturday. We did some more walking and biking and reading. The woman who was to put the new letters and numbers on our dinghy was supposed to do it early Monday. That would give Wolf's a chance to deliver our dinghy and complete last minute adjustments. Traveling by water on Tuesday sounded ideal, so we called a marina in Chicago and made reservations for Tuesday. The sign shop was struck by lightning Sunday night, so the letters weren't applied to the dinghy until Monday afternoon, the dinghy was delivered Tuesday and by the time all was finished, it was too late to travel across the lake within the good wave conditions window. We fueled (best price yet-only $4.20 a gallon!) and moved to the municipal marina to be closer to Lake Michigan (as opposed to further up the river) and beyond the railroad bridge.
Mary Frances IV at the municipal marina.
The red brick building in the background is the St. Joseph yacht club, but it was the home of A Company, First of the 246 Armor when John commanded the Armor Battalion from 1991 to 1996.
As we approached the marina, we tried calling on the cell phone and hailing on the marine radio, but no one answered. Inside the breakwall, we could see an attendant at the gas dock, so Mary called to him, asking for a slip assignment. With a shout and a sweep of his arm, he indicated that we could have our pick of "any of those over there". We asked if someone could catch a line and he said he couldn't leave the fuel dock. Mary prepared to get herself and the lines to the dock as best she could. She had already accomplished this feat once, at Pier 33, the other marina we stayed at in St. Joe as the marina office is across the river from the slip they assigned and the attendant couldn't get there quickly enough to catch a line. In that instance, the gentlemen 2 slips down, who had completed the loop in 2009, came down to help and complimented us on how well we could bring the boat in without assistance. Mary accepted their praise graciously, but did admit it was the first time.
Okay, back to the municipal marina and Mary standing at the stern with both bow and stern lines, knowing that what she has to do is step off and put the stern line around a cleat so John can pivot the boat using that secure line. She stepped off just fine (hurray new hip!) but THERE ARE NO CLEATS!!! We got in okay, using the posts to tie off. The harbor attendant, a Michigan National Guard retiree, did come over to help and he and John enjoyed reminiscing. He told us there are no cleats because it gets so rough in here that cleats would just be torn from the docks. John, why did we move down here when there are small craft advisories and gale warnings the next few days?!
Why we didn't go to Chicago until Friday.
We called Chicago to tell them we won't be coming 'til Thursday, then called them again today to tell them we plan to arrive Friday, as the wave forecast sounds okay. The railroad track is close to this marina and Mary got up twice the night severe thunderstorms were predicted, as she heard the sound of a freight train and had always heard that's what a tornado sounds like. Both times, however, a train whistle sounded before she got all the way to the deck. Since tornadoes are probably not considerate enough give a warning whistle, she went back to sleep. John slept through it, although he did awaken for some of the thunder and lightning shows.
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