Is everyone tired of hearing about the mundane boat stuff we’re doing yet?
The morning was again uneventful, just fighting a current north, which is making the trips a bit longer than usual and probably more fuel than usual as well.
The trip to St. Clair from St.Clair Shores goes up from Lake St. Clair to the St. Clair River, which will take us to Lake Huron. Lake St. Clair is also known for its bashes called Jobby-Nooner, where hundreds of boats raft and anchor in very shallow shoal areas and you can actually walk around out in the lake.
Our trip north took us through Harsens Island, which is apparently an ‘R’ rated island to party on. there are lots of houses and condo’s along the shore. They are having a rough year, as the high water has taken the water up to land and is actually covering some yards and parking areas. There are NO WAKE signs all up the island, as it is devastating to them when a boat comes through and pushes more water in the form of waves onto their properties. We took the slower scenic route through and up past the island, as opposed to the commercial shipping lane, because we have no where to be and we can! The opposite side of the channel is Canadian land, and it is mostly wetlands and very little structures.
We eventually joined the shipping channel and continued North. We were being followed by a freighter, but were nearing our destination. Around 3:50pm we arrived at St. Clair River, which has a draw bridge to enter. This bridge opens on the 1/2 hour and hour. So we just made it perfect for the 4pm opening. This was a 7 hour trip today to go around 35 miles.
We entered the river and found a municipal dock that has free 5 hour docking. Since we got there later, we debated whether we could stay the night there. I took a dinghy ride over to a marina close by and chatted with someone there at the gas dock. He said it should be fine or he could take us at his marina. We decided to roll the dice and stay where we were.
We took the bikes out and rode around looking at the town; we have come across some small towns on the way and this was the same. Small downtown area with the only interesting brewery closed mon-wed, so we continued on and came back to Klondike. Lauren took her bike for ice, and ended up in East China! I wondered why it took so long! She really has a picture of the town East China, Michigan. I will learn how to post pictures next…
We decided the next morning would be early as we had a lot of ground to cover for the next destination. Good plan. We got up around 615am and prepared to depart. We pulled off the dock at 650am for the 7am opening. I approached and radioed to the bridge tender…- no answer? I tried again and someone came on and told me the bridge doesn’t open until 8am. DOH!
So we pulled to a dock right in front of the bridge and loosely tied up to wait. I walked to to Tim Horton’s on the corner and got coffee and donuts. Frank got treats form the staff there, and to my coffee I added Baileys, and was just doing some research on the route when a guy who was fishing came over and said: “your dog just jumped off and ran that way!”
WHAT! I scrambled off and went running in the direction he pointed. There wasn’t really anywhere else he could be going as it is water in most directions. I came around to the parking lot of a park and there he was, sniffing around. I secured him walked him back to the boat where Lauren was waiting on the dock. He knew he was bad, but he thought he could get away! Sucker!
We finished our coffee and donuts, and waited just a little while longer for the 8am bridge opening. I politely radioed in to let him know we were waiting and he told me it would be 4 minutes…OK. OK, we waited and as soon as it went up we headed for Lexington, MI., Lake Huron, and another day on the water.