It has been a while, but I finally have a decent connection to post. We made it to Roger's City on July 4th. It was hot and humid and there is not much there except the biggest limestone quarry in the world. Met an 80 year old couple from Holland that had lots of stories. They did not have fireworks so we were bummed. On the 6th we headed to Presque Isle (pronounced eel). Since storms were coming and we did not know the area, so we went into the marina. The older couple from Holland were there and yelled over that "we saved you a slip". It is pretty much unspoiled wilderness. They have quite a conservation program to save flora and fauna. They have a general store with a good deli and the yacht club restaurant which was excellent. On Friday night the store sells ice cream and the line was 20 feet long. Obviously, there is not a lot to do there. Saturday night we ate at the club and then they had fireworks. It was a great show that we could watch from the boat. We also took Ollie for a ride around the bay. The old Presque Isle lighthouse (1840) was designed by Jefferson Davis, and yes he was the president of the confederacy later.

We skipped Alpena and kept going to Harrisville on the 9th. There were 2-4 waves but they hit from port stern (back left) so we pushed on. Spent 2 days there. They had a small grocery and a terrific pet store (go figure) so I picked up some supplies. The harbor master had a yellow lab that hung out all day at the docks. She came over to our boat numerous times and was right with us when we took Oliver for walks.

There was also a creek near the marina. Oliver looked like a bear searching for salmon.

Then we were on to Tawas Bay where we anchored out for a couple days. We dinghied to town one day. The bay is so shallow that you anchor quite a ways offshore then wade in 1/4 mile with the dinghy to shore to take care of business. This next picture is Tawas at night from our boat. The first morning, we woke up to bug city, yuck! Washed the boat with Bay water as we have to conserve what we have.

The next day we took off for Harbor Beach. This was a day to forget. First, in Tawas, we had to wait and wait for 2 power boaters to fill up with gas (300 gallons a tank). After being an hour behind schedule, our oil pressure gauge was wobbling. Dale fixed it, but now we are farther behind. On Lake Huron we then went through three bug plagues. Luckily we had screens down, but we went from mosquito looking things, to big gnat looking things to horseflies. Then I call harbor Beach and we get close and we find out they are too shallow for us. Since it was almost dinner time, we found out we could anchor by the breakwall and lighthouse. This was also popular with the seagulls. It was like an Alfred Hitchcock movie. We had to dinghy quite a distance to get to the marina to let Oliver ashore. We promptly left the next morning and made it to Port Sanilac where we stayed 3 days to recover. It is a nice little port and again I could get some groceries. They also have the most wonderful bakery and the oldest continually operating hardware store in Michigan. I hit the bakery and Dale went for hardware. We cleaned Still getting bugs off) and worked on the boat. We saw the Port Huron to Mackinaw sailboat racers go by.

After feeling restored, we headed on to Port Huron where we are today. We heard the current picks up as you get close to the Blue Water bridge between Sarnia, Ontario and Port Huron, and boy did it. We picked up a knot as we approached the bridge.

We passed the Fort Gratiot Lighthouse. built in 1829. It used to be near a fort. It is also the oldest, but I am starting to wonder about all these claims.

Then, the wild ride began down the St. Clair river. We were flying by at 10 knots, which is fast for us, we go 6-7 usually when we motor. It was choppy and a freighter was coming, luckily it was a smaller one. Then we were to the turn off on the Black River where there are marinas. We had to pass under 2 bridges, but we are docked safe and sound.