Dick and Debbie’s Visit

Sunday morning (August 14) was beautiful. The wind had died down and the sun was shining. Sitting on the aft deck of NautiNell we had a gorgeous view of Lake Huron. After breakfast we cleaned her up to get her ready for company. We were really excited to have the Smiths come for a visit. Our first boat guests! It would also be great to see someone from home.

Arch Rock on Mackinac Island

Bicycle Built for Two!?

Beautiful view of the harbor from Pink Pony

Different type of bikers than we're used to!



Mackinaw Island Harbor



Think they're having fun!



Ferry from Island to Mackinaw City - rooster tail!



Mackinaw Bridge - beautiful!



Mackinaw City

Quite beautiful

View from the bridge by car

posing with the Captain?

Full speed ahead?

After all, we've been gone for more than three months!
Dick and Debbie got here about 1:30. We sat all afternoon visiting – trying to catch up on everything. We finally decided to go to town for a late lunch. We went to the Pub which had really good food. Not much goes on in Detour Village on a Sunday afternoon. The grocery store closed at 2:00! Back to the boat we went and visited till nightfall.

It was good to hear the stories of how Joplin is putting itself back together. It makes me proud to call Joplin my hometown. It has a long way to go yet, but it will happen. The fact that Joplin Schools started on time without a hitch is amazing. Kudos to R E Smith Construction! They promised that the construction on all the "temporary school buildings" would be completed in time and they delivered. And with all the donations, not one child had to buy school supplies. Even Barry Manilow donated a truck load of musical instruments. Okay, so I guess this means – no more Barry Manilow jokes.

Monday was another beautiful morning. Debbie and I went to the grocery store while the guys went to buy charts. We had brunch at the Detour Village Inn. This place was our kind of place. They served the best Bloody Marys we had ever tasted. They use pickle juice to help cut the tomato juice – and they pour in the hot sauce! Whooeee! We finally were back on the boat and ready to head to Mackinac Island.

Mackinac Island is beautiful. We walked/shopped around for a while and decided to have dinner at the Pink Pony overlooking the harbor. It had a wonderful view and great food. It was a perfect night spending time with our good friends.

The next day we decided to ride bikes around the Island. It's a 7 mile ride. I'm not sure the Smiths knew what they were getting into. They rented a "bicycle built for two"! We rode our own bikes. The scenery around the Island is breathtaking. We stopped along the way to take pictures, etc. There were hundreds of people on bikes. It was quite interesting to watch the people from serious bikers to families with small children. Halfway around the Island there is a snack bar and a rest area. We stopped and had lunch. I think the Smiths were grateful for the stop! LOL!

When we finally made it back around the Island we went back to the boat for a rest and a cold beer. That is where we went wrong – we should have brought a cooler of beer with us on the ride! What were we thinking!!!

Later Debbie and I went shopping while the guys did their thing. It was so nice to have a shopping partner! For dinner we took the dinghy over to the Mustang Lounge. Neat place with good food! Had a few drinks and called it a day. We must be getting old……

We got up on Wednesday to a light rain and clouds. We obviously didn't listen to the weather close enough. We left out around 11:00 for Beaver Island. That was way too late in the day to leave. We know that now! It wasn't bad the first few miles through the Straits. However, after a few more miles all hell broke loose. The waves turned into 6-7 footers. We were tossed around like I'd never seen before. Everything in the boat was thrown around. The television flew off the shelf along with pictures and the contents of the fridge. Luckily nothing of any importance was broken beyond repair. Thank goodness! I got sick and had to lie down for a lot of the trip. It was not fun! This was the one time so far that I think we were actually getting into some trouble. Mike did the best he could, but there isn't a whole lot you can do when the waves decide to knock you around. Poor ol' NautiNell held it together though – even when her pulpit was buried into a wave. Yes, that happened several times. Finally we decided that we had to turn back. We could see Beaver Island but we were not gaining any headway. We were barely going 3 knots! When we turned around it was of course much smoother. We immediately started making better time and it smoothed out a lot. We made it to Mackinaw City and found a slip at the Straits State Harbor Marina. It was good to finally be safe again. We had been going since 11:00 and we ended up only 10 miles from where we started! Not a really good day. We cooked burgers and visited with a couple of local guys who wanted to hear our story. They told us that the waves are always higher than predicted and the only way to really handle it is to go early before they build up. From now on we will take heed to this advice. I guarantee it!

Thursday we ate lunch at the Keyhole Lounge in Mackinaw City. It was still pretty windy so we had decided to stay in Mackinaw City a day or so. I don't think any of us were really ready for a boat ride yet. Again, Debbie and I shopped and the boys did their thing. Mike got his fishing license so he went out in the dinghy for a while. Good thing we had planned to have steaks for dinner- instead of fish!

Straits State Harbor Marina is fairly new and is really a nice marina. The people that work there are exceptionally nice. We really enjoyed just sitting on the boat and watching all the others come in. There were several other Loopers there passing through. In fact Trident was there when we first got there. They were going to leave their boat for a few days to go to a wedding. They had needed a kennel for Monty (their dog). Betsy, one of the workers there, said she couldn't bear to see Monty put in a kennel and volunteered to keep him at her home. Now that's going out of her way to be nice!

Friday morning we had planned to go with the Smiths to pick up their truck in DeTour Village. They had rented a car in Mackinaw City and planned to drive to Detour Village – pick up the truck - then we'd drive the rental car back to town. DeTour Village is about 60 miles from Mackinaw City. No Worries! Well, maybe there was one….. When we got to the city limits of Detour Village, Dick realized that he didn't have the keys to the truck. They were back on NautiNell! SO! We had to go back to Mackinaw City to pick up the keys….. First, though we stopped back in at our favorite place for Bloody Marys and burgers. Might as well enjoy ourselves! Dick had said this would be a road trip – but I think he was only thinking about 120 miles and a few hours - not 240 miles! Oh well! After an additional trip to get the keys and back to DeTour to get the truck we were back to the boat. Did I forget to tell you that we also missed out turn on the return trip? Yeah, we went about 30 more miles out of our way. It just keeps getting better, doesn't it! Finally we were back on the boat and laughing about the so called "road trip". We decided that we really didn't want to go anywhere for dinner. It felt pretty go just to sit on the sundeck. So, we had pizza delivered. Perfect! It was good too! Pizza and cocktails – perfect end to a not so perfect day. Oh well, (again)

Saturday morning came too quickly. Dick and Debbie left about 7:30. This week had gone by way too fast. It was so good to see them. We can't wait until they come back again. Not sure where or when that will be, but I know they'll be back. The last I heard from them was that they were home sitting on their patio. So we toasted them on our sundeck - - -

To good friends!!!!

Till next time!

Admiral "C"