Saturday, August 26 - On to Frankfort

Saturday, August 26 - On to Frankfort

Deb and Gil had recommended Smoke on the Water in Charleviox for breakfast, especially their brisket hash.  Since we had a 6+ hour cruise ahead of us, we got up at 6:00 and walked over for an early breakfast.  Yes, you read that right.  I was actually up before sunrise!  It was so cool outside we both wore jeans and jackets.

The first sign inside the restaurant said “Northern BBQ.”  I asked the waitress what it meant, she said “BBQ cooked in the north.”  Duh!  They were out of brisket, so ordered a bacon jam omelette, with the bacon jam on the side.  It was different, but I’m not sure I would order it again.  As we were paying, our waitress offered us a taste of their Banana Bourbon and Apple bread.  It was delicious!

Waiting for the 8:00 bridge opening, I got some better pictures of the mushroom or fairy houses.  I don’t know which was which.  The yards were gorgeous, though!

As we left the harbor, a boat was on the radio talking about somebody not having right of way, then asked if the captain got his license at WalMart.  He was pretty hot and yelled a bit.  The We were cruising right behind two other Loop boats, so didn’t pay much attention to him.  As we passed a small boat that turned out to be the one on the radio, he read our transom, hailed us and informed us that he was reporting us to the Coast Guard.  Until then, we didn’t even know he was talking to or about us.

The water was rough for a while, then smoothed out, thank goodness.  This was to be a 7-hour cruising day, not our ideal way to travel.  It was still pretty chilly, so we kept everything zipped up.

About an hour out, Danny told me to look at the depth on the chart plotter.  It was reading 428 feet!  Not long after, it was over 500 feet.  By the way, our boat is the dark triangle in the middle of the picture.  The outline only triangle is a boat that left Charleviox the same time we did, but pulled into a marina just a couple of hours south.

About half way down to Frankfort, we started seeing dunes.  We were passing Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore Park, which stretches 35 miles and has dunes up to 450 feet high.  I took tons of pictures.

We took pictures of this picturesque Coast Guard Station for Danny’s cousin who is a retired Coast Guard Harbormaster and has enjoyed revisiting facilities as we take photos on our trip. 

More dunes, some with houses.

This is the second town we have visited on the Michigan shore, and both have had benches.  That is just weird!  It’s too cold up here for beaches.  

 Fellow Loopers on First Forty cruised with us all day, and we pulled into the marina to gas up together.  We just missed a fish tournament weigh-in, but were in time to see some nice fishing boats! 

Deb was waiting for us at the dock!  We last saw them at De Tour when we left for our trip to Georgia and It was great to see them again.  Deb, Bobbie from First Forty, and I walked down Main Street and checked out the cute stores.

Where there are two or more Loopers, there are docktails!  I think final count was 8 boats represented.  It was one the best gatherings so far.  Highlight was Deb sliding off her bench.  She got up laughing, so we didn't feel too bad laughing, too.  And she had not had anything to drink!