August 31: Rogers City to Presque Isle Harbor. 23 miles

I got a text message on my phone last night... Mike sent a photo of his motorcycle on our boat trailer. That is very good news indeed, since his driving it downstate like that will save me 10 hours of driving when I get home. Where there's a will there's a way! Thanks Mike!

We slept in again this morning. That sure is a change for me after hardly sleeping at all on the bike trip. We walked to the bakery and had a snack and coffee and left Rogers City around 10:30. We knew it was going to be a short day today, so it did not matter what time we left. On our way out we could see 4 lake freighters lined up for Calcite loading. We started out with Bill driving, of course, but I drove for a long while after we were underway. I was driving when Toby took the photo at left--Bill told me to aim between the right and middle freighters... Erika drove today ,too. This gave Bill a chance to program the GPS and make small adjustments to things.... he's the skipper, but he likes a break now and then...

We had a fair northwest breeze most of the day--we set our course out of Rogers City and did not have to make any changes for hours--really we did not jibe until we were in sight of Presque Isle harbor. That's a rare day sailing! We are docked now; at this harbor there is a store and a restaurant and free wireless. Bill and I bought some food for tomorrow, which looks to be a long day on the water, and Erika and Toby walked to the lighthouse to look around. While they were there they learned that the old Presque Isle lighthouse is thought to be haunted. The History Channel and Discovery channel have both investigated and could not disprove the allegation. So at dusk, Toby, Erika, and I walked to the 37th set of pier railiings and looked toward the old lighthouse... and it lit up! There is no electricity in the lighthouse, and no lightbulb or lamp. But we saw it light up at night, so there it is.

What a great day!