Roger and Tari returned to their Midwest stomping grounds to fix up their house (houses need maintenance, too, it turns out), see their son, and visit old friends at the harbor in South Haven. Later, Tari will visit her parents in Ohio. Then back to Florida.

So on Saturday, Pat and I drove to South Haven for the reunion. Taking the boat over Friday night and returning Sunday would have been wonderful, but the forecast was not great for those days. Especially returning Sunday into 20 knot headwinds and storms predicted as a cold front came through. The weather seems especially extreme this year, so gambling on the weather didn’t seem wise. Not that driving was a whole lot safer, as a truck tire literally exploded in our faces as we tried to get around a truck with a smoking tire. Just like a scene from a movie - except I was the one trying to drive through and around the flying tire debris. Time for the can of bug and tar remover. No serious scratches, but black marks are everywhere.

Roger and Tari and friends have a nice, large tent setup in the corner of the parking lot to serve as a gathering place for everyone. So that is where the boaters gathered to welcome them back and hear their stories and tall tales - some rather fishy at best. The supporting cast includes: Larry & Mary, Karen (Roger’s boat wife ... hey, I’m just the reporter here - I have no idea ...), Chris & Julie, Kib & Gail, Rich & Debbie, Tom & Rose. My apologies if I created any couples where none existed before. A number of the gang went to lunch with Roger, Tari, Pat and I. Afterwards, just the four of us walked around South Haven, and then to the beach. In Waukegan, when the wind comes off the lake on a hot day, it is a godsend - a refreshing, cooling breeze. Just a few days ago, it was chilly enough to make you grab a light jacket. But on the Michigan side, the wind was warm even off the lake, and a ton of people were wading in the lake with no issues of the water being too cold - it wasn’t. Maybe it’s to keep up their tourism industry, but apparently, Michigan hoards all the warm water over there. Who knew?!

My solar panel saga continues. Friday morning, my solar was working great ... until it wasn’t. So I tightened the damaged screw again, and realized I needed to replace the controller. I did more research on the controller I had. I thought I had the good kind - MPPT, but I found out I was wrong when I went to the question and answer section. You can search for MPW versus MPPT solar chargers if you are curious, but basically, they are more efficient, so you get more out of your panels. Anyway, it turns out that MPPT manufacturers are very proud of that fact, and there is no missing the fact that their controller is MPPT - those four letters are splattered everywhere. If the solar controller is the MPW kind, then it is just labeled as a solar charger controller. MPW is never mentioned. Not even in the specs they give.