Tuesday, September 7: We Will Be on Lake Michgan Forever

We actually did leave Northport yesterday and traveled 26 miles south to Traverse City as the choices were to continue to stay at Northport (already we were there for 4 nights) or we could come to Traverse City even though it was the wrong way. Probably a good decision as it is the nicest marina we have been in. There is a boater's lounge complete with TV and very comfortable couches and chairs and a coffee machine (I may never get Steve to leave!)

The city has really made an effort with it's downtown - many cute shops and bistro type eating places. There is also a regular mall, Home Depot, NAPA - any kind of store you would want. The downside of course is that we have to backtrack in order to continue moving toward Chicago.

Plan for t0day: ride bikes to breakfast, follow the wonderful bike path around the small lake south of the city, go to the mall to see Despicable Me, stop at Home Depot for more of the finish Steve is putting on the floor and stop at the auto parts store for a couple of things. Total round trip mileage: 7 miles - definitely doable.

The plan went well - beautiful day, sunshine and a 20 mph wind which we rode into the whole way to the mall. This was just no fun AT ALL. Which of course is way better than having to ride back against the wind. By the time we got back to the boat (about 3:30) the sky was very dark and looking like rain. The trip back took us about half the time with the wind at our back!

Despicable Me was a very fun movie! Cute and funny :-) We highly recommend it!

Yesterday was not without it's work as the dryer wasn't drying the clothes. New rule: never shut off the electricity to the boat when the washer/dryer is running. We did just that and burned a wire up - which could have been much worse if we had burned the heating element up! Fixed in about 1/2 hour but moving it out of it's home is a real pain (for Steve of course as I wouldn't be able to budge it!).

Anyway, with some luck we'll get back to Northport tomorrow and then the winds are predicted to be from the East on Friday. If that's the case - we'll be booking it as far as we can get. Today: 10 - 12 foot again on the side of the lake we need to go down :-(