Lawton, Michigan

 

"THE TERRIBLE SWEDE" John Larsson

later changed to Lawson in America

 

"The Three Swedes"  BOB, ALAN AND KEN

Bob, Debbie,Alan, Linda and Ken

Lake house and  LINDA AND ALAN BEFORE CRASH

We have enjoyed our stay at Lawton visiting Alan's cousins, Aunts and Uncle. We stayed at Uncle Earl's lake house on Cedar Lake and was entertained every night. It was fun sitting around visiting and enjoying the old stories of their childhood. Friday morning  we had the 1st annual "Terrible Swede" memorial bike race where Bob,Deb, Ken, Alan and myself started out at Grand Junction (bike path) and rode to South Haven. We had lunch at Clementines and then rode back which totaled 25 miles according to the official time and miles keeper Debbie. 

"The terrible swede"  AKA John Larsson was ALan's, Bob and Ken's great grandfather and was a professional bike racer in the USA who had emigrated from Sweden. They also had a great uncle Iver who raced and had changed his name to Lawson.

The trip was great, but I have the scars to remeber it by. Alan and I managed to get tangled up and crash , BUT I finished it even if there was pain. THere was no way I was going to wimp out on this. 

Later that night we all gathered at the Lake house along with cousins, Nancy,CHarlene, Connie and Aunt Lorraine to have pizza and rehash the day. 

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Yesterday Alan and I went to the Wolf Lake Fish Hatchery and walked the nature trail then later I fixed dinner for Ken, Judy and Uncle Earl.

This has been a great stop and boy did we have ADVENTURE! 

South Haven Michigan headed to Lawton

We arrived at South Haven after a beautiful almost FLAT cruise from Ludington . We docked at the NOrth Municipal marina because the SOuth marina was reserved. We secured the boat and Alan's cousins from Lawton, Bob and Ken drove over to pick us up. We are staying at their family lakehouse on Cedar Lake. We will all be getting together tomorrow . The Lawson's are great host and really make you feel like you are part of the family and glad to see you. We will be here for a few days and maybe catch up with everybody. It was good to see Uncle Earl and Aunt Delores. It is hard to believe that it has been 14 years since we were last here. 

I will post more later and update our great stay here along with pictures.

Winneconne, Wisconsin

The S.S. Badger

Their Boat and their house from the river

We arrived in Wisconsin by way of the "SS BADGER" a steam ship ferry from Ludington, Michigan to Manitowac, Wisconsin. My sister Debbie and brother-in-law Phil picked us up at the ferry. We enjoyed 4 nights at their house in Winneconne on the Wolf River. Friday Al and Phil explored in the area and Debbie and I enjoyed a day of SHOPPING. SAturday we went out their boat for a fun cruise and enjoyed the company of Captain Ron and Steve their friends. We enjoyed a delicious meal at the Supper club that night here in Winneconne with Ron and Jeannie, Rose and Dale, Phil, Debbie and us. Sunday Deb and I went back to the mall and Alan and Phil went to an outdoor show. We enjoyed a dinner that evening with Dan and Colleen at Debbie and Phil's house. We leave this morning back on the Badger to Michigan. We have really enjoyed our stay there and it was time off the boat which we haven't had since the 1st week of June. 

Now we will visit ALan's Michigan family in South Haven. We look forward to our visit with them and family time there.

Ludington

After two more nights in Frankfort due to the weather we left  at 6:15am this morning heading for Ludington. Alan did some trolling on the way, but finally gave up and we picked up speed. The waves were not to bad, but they were choppy and about 1-2 foot. We made it into Ludington about 10am, fueled up and got our slip at the Ludington Municipal Marina. We took a walk over to the Badger and got our tickets for tomorrow to Wisconsin. We will be there until Monday visiting my sister, so don't panic if nothing is posted for several days. This is a very nice marina and the staff is superb!

Frankfort, Michigan

We arrived in Frankfort yesterday and winds were picking up. Today some fisherman told us the waves were over 6ft on Lake Michigan. I am glad we were in port. A cold front is pushing through tonight and hopefully the Lake will settle down by tomorrow evening and we can proceed on. Last night we had one of the best meals in awhile. The local high school football program were having a benefit for the team and serving a pork loin dinner with all the fixings for $5 right here at the marina park. BOY was it GOOD!

Northport, Mi

Well we did decide to leave at 6:15am this morning and see if we could make it a little further south. This time we had the 2-4 foot seas to our bow. We only had to go about 12 miles so I toughed it out. Once we made it into Traverse Bay it eased up some and we got a slip at the marina. We walked around a bit and I did a little grocery shopping. 

Charloviox, Mi

We left Beaver Island at 6:30am heading to CHarloviox before weather conditions deteriorate. We have 2-4 foot swels to our stern for a surfing 30 mile trip. We made it there and got a slip for the night. Walked around and listened to the bluegrass music they had going on at amphitheater. There was a 74 foot hatteras that was parked right in front of us and people would walk down to the end of the dock to look at it. We would make some comment like we were their dinghy. We felt like an ant to this big monster, BUT we were both at the same marina. We also met Skip from Indiana who had recently purchased a 2008 C-Dory from Marc at Wefings in Appalachicola. The name of his boat is "Lizzie" and he winters in Orange Beach, Al. 

 We will decide in the morning if we are going to leave depending on again the weather.

Beaver Island, Michigan

Easy Rider Weiland's
Beaver Island


We arrived at Beaver Island yesterday around 8:30am. We left St. Ignace about 6:30am and had a fairly smooth ride through the Straits of Mackinaw. 

We tied up the boat and walked up the street for breakfast and decided that we wanted to stay here for a couple of nights. This island is really cool and very few cars. We rented mopeds and toured around on the sometimes dirt roads and back woods for a couple of hours. WE HAD A BLAST!!!

The wildlife is incredible and the view is spectacular. You would think you are in the Caribbean with the water color and sand dunes. 

After the mopeds we went back to the boat, napped and planned the next day. WHAT A LIFE.

It was a very quite night and I decided I wanted to spring clean the boat so Alan went biking on the island. THere are miles and miles of road and trails to cover here. Tomorrow depending on the weather we will go to GArden Island which is right close by then head to the eastern shore of Michigan and start south. 

Mackinaw Island by ferry from St. Ignace

We pulled into St Ignace and tied up at municipal marina there. Tom and Linda on the (Harvey J Kendall) were already there. I went walking around and shopping, but did not buy much. It is a very cool little place downtown. We met up with Linda and Tom and got the ferry schedules for Mackinaw Island.  Alan and I went over the next morning on the 8:30am ferry and Linda and Tom came over on the 10:30. They had been there several times and love it. Alan and I rented bikes and rode the 8 mile trail around the island then around town some. We also walked up to the Grand Hotel for some kodak moments, but declined to pay the $10.00 a piece charge to walk through  the hotel and in the court yard, so we found a little path by the tennis courts and snuck in for a few photos. 

The island is motor free and the only way you get around is by horse and buggy or bicycles. 

We met Tom and Linda for lunch at the Yankee Tavern Inn and had a nice time. We took the ferry back where we both took a nap after our adventure. 

We leave in the morning for Beaver Island and will part ways with Linda and Tom. They are headed back home to Toledo Ohio by way of Lake Huron. I have really enjoyed the past few days with them and look forward to our next time together. 

Detour Village to St. Ignace, Michigan

Stormy evening after arrival at Detour. 

Alan Caught this spout on camera!
We left Detour VIllage around 6:45am in relativity calm waters and headed for Cedarville and had breakfast. We also visited the Great Lakes boat-building school which was really interesting.It is amazing to see how wooden boats are built from the bottom up starting with plans. It is a 9 month program then the students go out in the work force among some of the best wooded boat restoration and boat builders.  They also offer summer classes for anyone who wants to participate in the various workshops. After that eventful visit we left and headed for Hessel where the antique boat show had been that past weekend, but the weather was too bad for us to go. We had lunch at the little Inn there and met up with Dave from the Boat building school again. He was having lunch there also. (He recommended the place to us) We left Hessel and headed for St. Ignace which was a beautiful and FLAT cruise. Today was a fun day and we really enjoyed it. We are going to stay at St. Ignace for two nights so that we can go to Mackinac Island by ferry.

DETOUR VILLAGE_USA

We left Meldrum BAY, Ontario around 7:00am this morning and arrived at Drummond Yacht Haven for customs about 8:10 am. Checked through customs without any problems and headed for Detour which is only about 8 miles away. 

Will update travels in a couple of days when we have wi-fi at a marina. 

Meldrum Bay

Meldrum Bay marina

Linda and Tom with their boat in background

Lighthouse and inlet

We arrived at Meldrum Bay around 10:30am. The seas were picking up and we decided to head for a harbor. We tied up and walked around the small , but quaint village.  We met Linda and Tom from Toledo, Ohio and just hit it off. They have been boating in this area for several years and have great knowledge of it. We had lunch with them at the Inn the first day and Peggy from the marina lent us her car and TOm drove us all to the lighthouse at Mississiagi Strait. Tonight Bob and Lois on the "Going There" trawler organized a pot luck supper that most cruisers came to. Lois and Bob are from Pennsylvania and doing the loop. We all had to stay an extra night at Meldrum Bay due to the weather. This has been a really crazy year with the winds and storms here in the North channel and Georgian Bay. I think the weather has been crazy all over. 

Pictures

I am trying to load more pictures, but haven't figured it out yet. I am trying to link our picassa web album.

http://picasaweb.google.com/meluvscruzin/GreatLoopSimplicity

Spanish heading towards Drummond

We stayed for two nights at Spanish and had a heck of a rainstorm last night. Kurt and His mom Pat stayed at marina also and invited us for dinner aboard their boat. Kurt is a great cook(stir fry) and it was good. With his knowledge of Lake Michigan we have planned our trip south. We are going to cruise the Eastern shore of Lake Michigan and take the ferry  SS Badger to Manatowic on the Wisconsin side. This ferry is a coal fired ferry and should be a nice trip. We will visit Debbie and Phil on that side. 

Well we are sad to be leaving the Georgian Bay and North Channel, but there is always next year. 

We will probably anchor somewhere tonight before Drummond.

Until next post.

Safe Travels:)

Spanish Ontario (HAPPY BIRTHDAY HANK)

Today is ALan's Dad's 91st birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY HANK!!!!!

We are at the Spanish Municpal marina in the North CHannel and here  for two nights to reorganize the boat and load up on some groceries. We walked into town this morning and went to the only grocery store they had. Today was a civic holiday for Canada so there wasn't much opened. Tomorrow we will wash her down and try to get the boat ship shape again. We will anchor out after this and get ready for the crossing over to Drummond Island where we will check into the US Customs and we  will be in Michigan. This will probably be towards the end of the week or early next week. We will want to make that crossing when the seas are VERY calm.

Oak Bay off Perch Bay anchored

Well we cruised around trying to decide where we wanted to thrown the hook. Today was a real gunk-holing day. We first stopped at Hotham Island and dropped the hook for some lunch. After a sandwich and a little rest we headed for Oak Bay. Found the spot between some rocks and away from the main anchorage. A good mud bottom we set out bow and stern anchors and watched a movie on the laptop I had downloaded from I-Tunes. Life is Good.

So Benjamin Island 1 night anchored

Found a spot that was just for us. Our own private cove with cliffs above us and a view that was incredible at our front door. Was a little crazy at first because it turned out our front anchor was dragging so the boat was inching towards shore. ALan had gone off kayaking, but LUCKILY  came back in  time to see me trying to push the stern away from the rocks. He got the stern anchor and we reset the bow anchor . This was another comical routine that should have been filmed for America's funniest videos, but it wasn't. We finally got everything squared and the anchors were holding. We breathed a sigh of relief and looked at each other and said"Are we having fun yet?"

Of course we are. We WANTED adventure!

Croker Island- WELCOME HOME MOM

We arrived at Croker Island and picked our very special, almost private spot to be anchored for two nights. it was a nice spot and only one sailboat a little ways from us, because we can anchor in shallow water. the blueberries were scare and picked over. we did manage to get a few to throw into the pancakes the next morning. pulled up anchor on the 2nd Saturday morning and headed for South Benjamin Island. 

FRIDAY was a great day.MY MOM went home from the rehab center. She is progressing very well and glad to be home.