Back in the USA: South-bound!

Days on cruise:   128

Miles Traveled: 78.4

Travel time:  8 hrs, 18 mins

Total trip odometer:  2,806 statute miles

After dilly-dallying around Canada for six weeks, traveling  far fewer daily and weekly miles, the last two days have begun to make up for our slackerly (is that a word?) ways. Yesterday in Blind River was our northern-most stop on the Great Loop, and today, for the first time, we’re headed south-bound for several thousand miles.

We were both awake before 6am, found the weather forecast remained favorable, and slipped our lines at 7:30 to head out into the big waters of Lake Huron.

The view most of the day was . . . water! And more water.  And occasionally a small island or two, or a pile of rocks. But the sun was out, wind was light, and water was calm, so we surely won’t complain about the lack of stimulating views!

When we left Blind River we planned to travel to De Tour Village.  At 42 miles, that would have been far enough for the day. But recalling there wasn’t a whole lot to recommend De Tour Village ,  and that tomorrow’s weather forecast is less favorable than today, we decided to continue on.

This is one of the last lighthouses we’ll see on Lake Huron.

 

And then this one, which may really be the last before we enter Lake Michigan tomorrow.

After crossing the line back into the U.S. (woo hoo!) late in the day, we entered Les Cheneaux Islands, only 20-25 miles from tomorrow’s destination, and a place that is reported to be a haven for old wooden Chris Craft vessels.

We’re anchored in Government Bay, a huge bay with room for zillions of boats, relatively shallow water and protected from big wind. It’s nowhere near as beautiful as Georgian Bay or the North Channel, but pretty and pleasant, if busy with lots of water skiers, jet skis, and fishermen in small boats. There are perhaps a dozen other boats anchored in the bay. Our friend Jim A (who we met in Marathon, in the Florida Keys last winter) suggested we’d enjoy a trip through here to ogle all the Chris Crafts!

So our Verizon cell phones are turned back on for use as a telephone, not just a texting device, our faithful Rogers wi-fi (which provided us with internet all but 4 nights in Canada) is turned off, and we immediately called our youngest daughter who we hadn’t talked with in a couple of weeks. Now if only we could watch the Olympics!  We have a TV on board, but no antenna or subscription to service, so we’re relegated to watching on the internet if we can figure out how. Life on the Loop remains good.