Wednesday, August 2, 2023 Harrisville

Lying in bed I heard a halyard banging so I figured it must be windy out. But it was actually rather still when I popped my head out. The harbor was quiet. One big trawler left early but that was the only movement. 

Peter came over for his cappuccino and had his iPad with him, indicating we were having an official skipper's meeting too. The question was when to travel next. We searched Windy, Predict Wind, Ventusky and NOAA for the answer. We kept coming up with the same answer - Saturday. If forced we could travel earlier, but it would not be comfortable, especially crossing Saginaw Bay. We could do Harbor Beach on Saturday, then Lexington or Port Huron on Sunday. Neither of us have a pressing day we need to be back which is nice. We will likely stop at Algonac. We would like to go from Algonac to Middle Bass Island and skip Milliken. It would be about 75 miles and we would want some help from Lake Erie with favorable conditions.

From the internet we learned two things about Harrisville. First, the nice downtown grocery is permanently closed. Bummer! We had planned to provision there. Second, the Precious Paws Humane Society Store that Kerry loves is still open. While Kerry was shopping I checked my Fitbit sleep score and saw that I had an 87 last night. I think that is my best one ever. Wow. 

I took a bike ride before Kerry got up. I did a circuit around the two main roads and found two hardware stores, but not much else other than two dollar stores. The pizza store ia closed too. Once Kerry was up we got marina bikes and went to the Humane Store, Precious Paws. Kerry really likes that store and bought 3 books and 3 tops. We had planned to go to Teresa's Restaurant but it was getting late for lunch and we were having dinner at 5:00. Instead we went back to Annie and I cooked a steak on the stove. It was very good and really unusual for us to have a tasty steak for lunch. I could get use to it if I had too.

Several Mackinac racing sailboats came into the harbor this afternoon. One big non-racing sailboat came in with a Starlink. They loved it. The only negative is that it uses 4 amps an hour while it is on. That's more than we thought, but manageable. It's about what our refrigerator uses. It can be used underway if speed is less than 10 knots - no problem for us. A delivery skipper on a J/111sailboat came over and told me that a Nordic Tug was his favorite boat. He had delivered a 37' one time and really enjoyed it. He looked for my big captain's chair but, oops, not on a 32' Nordic. 

The Orros came over at 5:00 for cocktails and dinner. Peter and I had talked about going to the hardware stores earlier but a little storm came through so we saved that trip until tomorrow. Kerry had an delightful dinner of deviled eggs, bacon twists, shrimp cocktail, Waldorf Salad, mac and cheese, asparagus, and pistachio pudding with an Oreo cookie buried in it. We all enjoyed the various dishes and were stuffed when finished We followed it with the usual liquors over little Jimbo ice cubes in our little glasses. We said this unconventional dinner was a success. 

We keep checking the weather but the forecasts have not changed. Saturday still looks like the best travel day. We're not in a hurry so we are planning plan to wait until Saturday to travel at this point. Still, we are paying day by day in case forecasts change. Our next stop is 56 miles away, 7 hours, so it would be nice if it is pleasant on Lake Huron.

Tomorrow's agenda starts with coffee and cappuccino with Peter. Biking to the hardware stores and possibly Teresa's Restaurant are also likely possibilities.