Our first full day in St. Joe was just like so many of our days in Ludington. Rain and more rain. Rain so strong it took out DirecTV at Buffalo Wild Wings, which would’ve been fine if all the TVs in the world shut down so nobody could watch the debacle in Charlotte. Oh well, we have boating to do.
Of course, even if it hadn’t been raining on Saturday, all the sailboats rafted up in the marina like a game of giant sailboat Tetris would have kept us there anyway.
The annual Tri-State Regatta was to blame. Actually we quite enjoyed the sailors and their boats since we weren’t going anywhere anyway. The marina guys warned us to expect all-night revelry, mostly from the groupies. The rain kept things down on that front, but also prevented us from going to the concert next door. Libido Funk Circus was the band. What, you’ve never heard of Libido Funk Circus?
In fairness to the Michigan weather, it did clear up on Sunday. And the temperature and humidity soared into the upper 80s. Yuck. Lots of Michiganders were out for the holiday weekend despite the yuck, however. Can’t count on many days without rain up here so take ‘em when you get ‘em.
At the beach we found a lighthouse monument to lighthouses. That seems odd. It was made from Petoskey Stones, however, which suggests that maybe someone just had a bunch of them laying about and needed something to do with them.
The trains rumbling past the marina mostly were diurnal so not much of a bother. The marina was clean, with grass for the boys and other facilities close by. Not too bad a stay, but we’re ready to get to the rivers.
Despite the not-surprising-at-all threat of rain all week, we took off for Michigan City this morning. Turned out to be a fine day to cruise the four hours. Along the way a Monarch butterfly kept us company for awhile.
That really brings home just how slow 7.5 knots really is—a butterfly caught us. He seemed quite attracted to the Tennessee-Orange Vol Navy Flag. Who wouldn’t be?
Michigan City will be our last stop in Michigan.
What’s that? Michigan City is in Indiana? Hmmm. Indiana now is our seventh state, which seems pretty non-noteworthy when one recalls that you can “See Seven States” from Rock City. You also can spot Misty Pearl in the crowd thanks to that very attractive Tennessee-Orange Vol Navy Flag.
Anyway, mid-afternoon the skies opened up again. Have you ever seen the rain coming down on a sunny day?
Looks like we’re facing this for much of the foreseeable future. At least on the rivers we shouldn’t have waves.
We dodged the rain and made it to the Galveston Steakhouse, where Dana and Second Wave found a little something to remind them of Texas.
Tomorrow we’ll head to Hammond.
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*CCR seemingly wrote the soundtrack for the bottom half of Lake Michigan. We expect tambourines and elephants any day now. Is there a song about flying Asian carp out there?