Day 91 Journey Complete With Arrival At NCYC, La Salle MI

These last two posts have been quite difficult. We have very mixed emotions about our decision to head home, however, we know it's the right one.

Too  much to put into words, so, all I will say is that we shed some tears of joy and accomplishment, with a new found respect for the seas, The Wild Goose II and ourselves.

Crossed our wake at 3:15 PM 9-5-2010

We are welcomed back to NCYC.

Goose gets a well deserved rest.

Day 91 Happy Anniversary , Trip to NCYC Home

Unplanned, however, our final decision today is to head home. Our itinerary to GPYC and The Crews Nest is not working out with Mother Nature and with both places being pricey, it seems like a bad idea to spend the money  and not enjoy the visits.

The fall leaves really came out this weekend and are shedding to the ground with the colors reminding me of Thanksgiving. Pausing for a moment, I reflect on giving thanks for the opportunity of a lifetime that we are now completing. Thanks for lessons learned, time for opening our eyes to Gods' miracles,  meeting new friends, and spending quality time with my best friend.

 Small white caps trying to form around The Goose as she rounds the corner passed GPYC and into The Detroit River.

    

     

Entering Detroit River

Canadian Fountain near the Casino's

Belle Isle Island Tower

Downtown with Ambassador Bridge

GM

Canadian Greetings

American Greetings too!

The Captain on Freighter Watch

Detroit Tug

The old Boblo Ferry

Down Bound Channel into Lake Erie

Channel Marker with GIYC Racers on Horizon

Detroit River Light Marks the turn for Freighters

Days 89-90 Metro Beach Sept 3-4 FR-SA

Well, the lack of fanfare on our departure from North Channel Yacht Club was a reminder that Ron and I slipped out of the "after party" with out being noticed, and the rest continued on well into the evening. All bets are on as to whether  Carol will get out of her cabin sometime today. :)

Weather is beautiful and the waves friendly as we head toward Metro Beach on Lake St. Clair to visit Bill and Denise Schebil. Bill promises to be the "easiest" of the brothers. We make sandwiches upon arrival and go to the back deck to watch boats attempting stern in dockage with lot's of wind. There are no dock hands available, so, it's boat neighbors and friends helping each other.

The docks and bathhouse have been rebuilt and very nice. Showers are private and clean. The concrete docks sturdy with new power and water supply. Bill drives into the park to pick us up for dinner and shopping. We are low on the heavy stuff, IE: water, beer , soda, and also lunch meat and produce. First things first is dinner at a local restaurant that proved to be very busy, nicely noisy and great waitstaff. We have nice easy meals that fill us all up to the extent of needing "to go" dishes, got caught up on the latest baby news.  As Bill promised, he took us to the store and dropped us off for the evening at The Boat early to make this our third and final "brother visit" and this one by far the easiest party. Bill and Denise actually had an agenda as they needed to be up early to go to Lansing for Michigan State tailgating on Saturday.

It took Ron and I some time to find the games on radio and TV. It was a must do, as the cold breezes came off the lake this morning and turned the park into an instant tailgate/football mode with the weather and all of the lawn chairs and grills going before noon kick-off. We enjoyed both Michigan games. Go State, Go Blue!

Day 88 Sept. 2nd Thurs. To another Schebil Party

It's time to take off to North Channel YC to see Jim and Carol Schebil (and Madeline), Bro #2 of the trip.
Many chores needed to be taken care of before departure and #1 was to get all of the bird poop off the boat that we got bombed with last night. I'm not sure what we did to deserve all the Seagull gunge, but we sure did get it!
A client had called regarding an ongoing lighting project and I found it tough to get out of boat mode to return the call. Of course I did and that means I am one step closer to home as I told them I would be available after Sept. 1ST.
The last chore was to call customs and get clearance again to return to The USA. Ron is given some new , permanent BR#'s to use for reporting and The Goose is all set to travel. We are under way by 11:15AM Mostly Cloudy 78 degree and 80% humidity. When heading out of the Sarnia channel, we have The Black River Bridge in it's fixed position on the bow.  Many memories of all the Mackinac races that we did.

The St Clair River is kind to us and we enjoy many nice views. Every year it seems that old homes are being replaced and squeezed by new larger ones.

The ferry's that takes cars and people across the river travel non-stop daily carrying people to their homes,  cottages, and maybe even work.

Their are many small cities along the way to explore, including Marine City with it's beach, lighthouse and darling old downtown right along the rivers edge.

We arrive just in time for the rain to start with Jim and Carol waiting to help tie us up to the dock behind their boat Shy Fox.

Jim and Ron decide to take off in Jim's "dinghy" to explore childhood haunts, while the girls nap before happy hour begins.  Ron and Jim grew up on Lake St Clair and the river and water skied many of these remote back cuts.

Dinner inside is ordered from a small, but good list of sandwiches made by volunteer staff. The whole club is set up to run with volunteers only. We have burger and the good  ole' Captain Morgan.  Like most clubs, drinks are inexpensive and that leads to people buying multiple rounds for the table and later in the evening, rounds for the whole bar area. There is certainly going to be a hang over for a few people.

We visit with Schebil's, Zot's, and two of Ron's associates from WCC. We are introduced to numerous guys from the car  business who hang out with Jim and Carol when they are there. It was fun to get to know the Zot's better, spend time with "Barbie Doll ", and to listen in on the conversations of the "car business gang".

The evening ended on the aft deck of Shy Fox with Ron and I separately sneaking away and going back to our boat undetected in order to "save ourselves".

Days 86-87 Sarnia Fun Aug 31-Sept 1

A few days of boat cleaning , bike riding, swimming in the pool have been the norm since arrival in Sarnia on Monday.

Tuesday night we enjoyed dinner across the street at the sports bar with leftovers galore. Very good dinner and nice sunset.

Wednesday morning brought us an absolutely delightful breeze. Ron and I took advantage by biking to town for groceries in preparation for the days ahead that we cannot provision easily.  We are watching the weather closely as our plans start coming together to visit Ron's other two brothers. We'll need to reach them both between forecasts of high wind and waves.

Sarnia has a shoreline full of benches and art, along with some history. The bicycle trip after lunch allows us to enjoy them all.

Before preparing last nights leftovers for dinner, we are treated with a kite boarding show.

Well, what goes up.......

Day 85 Monday the 30th of Aug. to Sarnia Bay

Depart for Sarnia around 10 AM with the the temperature already hitting 80 degrees and no wind.

Even so, this fisherman might have gone a little overboard when marking his fishing location. From a distance Ron thought it was a life raft and we went closer to see if we could assist.

Our decision had been easy to make when picking Sarnia as they have a great outdoor pool, nice air conditioned cafe' and good docks. Not to mention that the staff is very friendly and helpful. Always.

It's not long after we depart that I realize we'll been leaving our beloved blue waters of Lake Huron. Our experiences together on Lake Huron go way back including the ole racing days before we began our cruising life.

Passing Fort Gratiot Light is always so very pretty. Too bad we are not staying in Port Huron so we can visit this year. It's a lovely beach.

Our first siting of the Blue Water Bridge is foggy, which changed to hazy, to OMG.... a traffic jam on the bridge!

 And we're being pushed by the current enjoying a ride with speeds of 12.2 hooray!!!!!!!!!

As we turn into Sarnia Marina, we pass a freighter from St. Catherine's, it brought memories of being on Lake Ontario during the early part of the trip, as well , it reminded me of my friend Lynda, who was born there. We also show the boat log moving over 1300 NM to date this summer.

The cafe at the marina is just as we remembered, with breakfast and lunch in nice air conditioned rooms with a view of the harbor and a receipt under 12.00 for the two of us. So refreshing.

After hearing some splashes, we ventured to the outdoor saltwater pool. Sorry, but it was another OMG.  When my hands were like prunes, I finally got out. My flippers and I had a good work out of laps while dodging the few kid's in the water.

If "a red sky at night is a sailor's delight", then what happens when it's purple, or orange?  Can't wait to find out tomorrow.