MORE PAINTED LADIES

August 18, 2011   Dateline Charlevoix, MI USA

Grianan and I went our separate ways yesterday.  Grianan, a trawler, was going 70 miles while I was only going about 20.  Makes sense, huh, the faster boat goes the shorter distance.  Oh well there is no accounting for what owners do, I just do what they tell me----unless the wind and the current tell me to do something different.

We went to Charlevoix, MI.  Charlevoix is like Petoskey and is located on the same shore as Petoskey.  The entrance to the harbor from Lake Michigan is a narrow channel which leads to a draw bridge that opens on the hour and half hour.  Rich got me there 15 minutes too early and I had to sit in the channel.  What a pain in the transmission.  Once under the bridge and inside the harbor I was on Round Lake which is about 2 miles across, it connects to Lake Charlevoix which is 17 miles long. They did not take me into the big lake.  As Rich pulled into the slip a automobile tourist stood in amazement as Rich moved me backward into the slip using his little wireless controller.

Rich ordered a part for my Automatic Identification System (AIS) from a local parts supplier and had it delivered here.  Along the way as he walked to the marina, where the part was, he saw these painted ladies.  They are pretty neat.  Aren’t they?  There were many in this area, as they were built at the turn of the last century as part of the Charlevoix Summer Home Association.  Those Victorian people sure liked gingerbread. Just a Note – while Rich walked more than a mile each way, Carol spent a relaxing 2 hours at the Salon getting a much needed hair makeover.

In the afternoon, Rich went with several other Loopers to the home of John Winn.  John was the owner of a boat manufacturer called Four Winns.  John has a very large house on Round Lake and under his house is an equally large boat house.  John is a collector and restorer of antiques wooden boat. His collection of boats, outboard engines and marine memorabilia is very impressive.  John’s family room contains a full size bar, six video games as would be in an arcade, a pool table, two shuffle boards and then the more than usual chairs and sofas.  The collection of old boats contained the S.S. Magoo which he bought from Walt Disney after it had been in the movie about Mr. Magoo.

Rich then spent several painful hours replacing the AIS antenna as the antenna wire had to be threaded from the hardtop to the upper helm station and of course the old wire had to be removed. Needless to say, it was an early night.