Good Morning Weather Watchers!!  By now you are probably tired of my constant mentioning of the weather.  Weather dictates when we can move on the water.  Plain and simple.

Rain, Wind and Waves. (RWW) We have experienced gusty winds when we have traveled.  That isn’t too bad until you need to dock.  Then, oh nelly, does Wayne have to work hard to put Always Home in the right place for a soft landing.  Trying to balance wind gusts, angle of the slip entrance and current makes an interesting physics question.   If the wind is gusting from 10 – 15 mph and the current is running opposite of the wind at 2 -4 knots, just how much engine rpm is needed to put a boat weighing 48,000 pounds into a slip 20ft by 60 ft?  I am sure someone can come up with a similar math question.

Waves?  Remember last week or so when we were trying to go from Midland to Killbear?  Waves of 3 feet or more were more than the humans on board could handle.  Other boaters can handle larger waves, they tell me.  Tonight, a boater mentioned they often travel Lake Michigan and get into 6 foot waves.  No problem!  Not for me.  We are just not seasoned enough to venture into the waterways with those kinds of waves.

So, we wait at Drummond Island for better weather.  The wind is expected to be 10mph – 20mph for the next two days. Oh boy!  We decided to sit for a couple of days for the wind to die down.  The waves should follow closely behind.  Theoretically, anyway.

Sunrise out the porthole.  A bit early for me, but I was able to stumble out of bed and take a quick picture of the sunrise.  Good thing there was no boat in the way!  Did I remove the screen on the porthole?  hmmm

Sunrise at Drummond Island

Staying an extra day gave us an opportunity to rent a car from the marina ( $12 ), go to breakfast, get some groceries, visit the hardware store, and tour the island.  The car we rented was an old diesel Mercedes with 265,000 miles on the odometer.  It ran pretty well once it got going.  Cool enough not to need the air conditioner.  We weren’t sure if it worked, anyway.  We rolled down the windows…they worked!  The brakes worked.  All good!

The island IGA store is well stocked.  A bit pricey but then they have to cart the groceries all the way over on the ferry.  Right?  A good sampling of almost everything you would need.  Plenty of booze, snacks and a handful of apples.  Good enough!

Drummond Island does not have cell service.  We were hoping nothing crazy happened to the car when we were in it or we would have to walk a ways to get to a land line phone.  Or one of those Tardis-type boxes.  Nothing happened.  The car worked well.  It got us where we needed to go.

Since we had the car, we went to see where the Drummond Island Ferry comes and goes.  That is how Drummond residents get to “the rest of the USA”.  Of course!!

Ferry left early!

We had just missed the Ferry!!  I asked the truck driver in line what happened.  The ferry left before the scheduled time.  “It was full of dump trucks and such.  No room for the rest of us, so they left early.”  There were a couple dozen cars all in line and more coming in hopes of making the 10:30am ferry.  To their chagrin, they would have to wait another hour before they might be able to make the crossing.  30 minutes one way.

I took a picture of the water instead.  This is where we will be cruising by when we leave the Drummond Island Marina to get to Mackinaw City, Michigan.  DeTour Channel.  Looks pretty rough out there, today!

Rough water at Drummond Island Ferry

Looking at the waves and feeling the wind gusts, we were glad we stayed.

Near the covered boat shed, I saw this little fellow.  A frog!

Neighbor

Over by the laundromat  I saw this machine…

I think it is funny that you would have a machine dispense “Live Bait” and a frog nearby.  Wonder if the frog was looking for the bait that escaped!

What did we do with the rest of our time, you ask?  I did go to the laundromat to wash our heavy rugs and large towels.  Too hard for our on board washing machine to handle.  We did dishes, wash clothes, fold clothes, read a book, plot our stops on our Michigan charts we had just bought, and plan which towns we are hoping to stop at along the eastern shore of Lake Michigan.  Aren’t these the kinds of things you do on any given day.  Shop, clean, read, and maybe sneak a nap in?  I know it is.

Sunset at Drummond Island, MI