Day 75 - Thu 11 Aug 2016
Docked – Manistee, MI

[photo: the concert in the park after the rain stopped]

I didn’t mention in yesterday’s blog that we went hunting last evening. As we sat on the flybridge enjoying the moderating temperatures after sundown, we noticed lots of spiders, large and small, getting active rebuilding their webs. With Diane in her spotting position (sitting comfortably with a beverage), I took pieces of paper towel in hand and set about eliminating them as she called out their positions. It got so bad I had to get more paper towels after 5 minutes. Left unchecked, they create a horrible mess.

Speaking of horrible messes, going onto the deck early this morning, it was filthy with dead bugs in the dew. I would love to hear from other boaters up here following the blog if they have always had the same problems. I will be scrubbing the boat, again, later today when we get to Manistee.

We weighed anchor at 0645 in the almost still air and after a fair distance at slow, no wake speed, exited the breakwater into the lake. There was definitely some swell from the S, but overall the wave action was pretty tame and had a good run of 3.5 hours down to Manistee. About halfway through, we got into a discussion of meals for the next several days and decided that a good, hearty spaghetti sauce with plenty of veggies and meat would be a good way to use up some things that might not be fresh too much longer. I got that all into the crockpot in short order and it was done, and delicious, shortly after we docked.

As we pulled into the slip, there was no way to stop from bumping our aluminum rubrail against the numerous wooden posts along the finger pier. We had a current of several knots and a slight breeze both pushing us sideways as we maneuvered our 17 foot wide boat into a 19 foot space. With no damage done (that’s what a rubrail is for), we got the A/C hooked up fast since it was already very hot both outside and inside the boat.

My first inspection of the shoreside facilities yielded an extremely high appraisal. It has a beautiful lounge with two TVs (separated enough to make it practical), new washers/dryers, and numerous private showers with great water pressure.

After checking in, Diane served a nice lunch and then we set to work. One of my first tasks was to plug about 80 percent of the grille letting the cold air into the head (bathroom). I like the cabin cooler than Diane, but her tolerance for the colder temperatures gets tested a lot quicker if the toilet seat is freezing cold. My solution is to not air condition the head so much and see if that helps.

The office had Diane’s prescription, but the chartplotter had not yet arrived. Diane got to work with a load of laundry (inside the air conditioned lounge with TVs, of course) and I started the long and tiring chore of scrubbing the boat. I got a reprieve when the FedEx guy arrived just as Diane was there so she lugged the rather heavy package back and I got to work reinstalling the unit to test it. It worked just fine.

Resuming the scrubbing, I was getting tired, but persevered until it was done. Diane helped with the windows and we called it a day. It may rain much of tomorrow, but today was not going to be one for walking around town. We relaxed a bit, caught up on some interior tasks, and then hit the showers.

We had an early supper of the sauce with some pasta and both took a nap. We awoke in time to get ready to walk about one-third of a mile to the park across the channel where they were holding a free concert. It was definitely threatening rain, but we decided to take a chance. As soon as we got there, the husband-wife duo announced they were going to wait to start until the narrow squall passed. Many went to their cars, but a number of us huddled under the gazebo and helped keep their gear as dry as possible.

When they started the performance, they played almost all original music. We liked most of it, especially her violin when they did numbers they called ‘hillbilly romp-stomp,’ In addition to the music, we were entertained by several families with young children dancing and really getting into it. We left a little before the show ended because Diane had gotten wet and was getting cold.

Tomorrow, we will stay put and see what the weather will allow us to do.