Ludington to Frankfort to Charlevoix

On Monday morning we departed early and in fact followed the S.S. Badger out of the Ludington harbor as it headed west on its morning run across the lake. The leg to Frankfort was uneventful and we arrived in the early afternoon.After we secured the boat we headed of to the local lumber store to pick up some hardboard sheets that Alan had ordered earlier that morning. The boards were needed to provide a rigid backing to a 5X8 area rug that was purchased before we launched and was needed to protect our main cabin floor which is also carpet. The reason we are relating this story is because last year we tried a larger area rug and fought it all during the cruise as it bunched up and wandered all around the cabin. At the end of our 2007 cruise it was the first thing that went into the trash when we were unloading the boat. We still wanted to have a rug in the cabin and thought the new one would work just fine. Unfortunately it started the same bunching and wandering behavior that we experienced before. Alan came up with the idea that if it had a rigid backing it would probably stay flat and lo and behold after gluing two sheets of hardboard it appears to have worked. It still wanders a bit but the bunching was the greatest annoyance. The two sheets were needed to allow it to be folded in half when we needed to access the areas below the cabin floor.

Now on to our trip. After our finishing the carpet exercise we had a leisurely dinner out in Frankfort, walked to the beach, and settled in to an evening of watching some TV. The marina in Frankfort is one of only a few that has cable at the dock.

We departed early on Tuesday and headed towards our next port of call, Charlevoix, Michigan where we plan to spend two nights. The trip up was once again perfect with near calm conditions . When we reached the harbor entrance to Charlevoix we started having engine problems after increasing our speed in order to try and make the opening of the draw bridge that you must pass under as you exit Lake Michigan. In any case, we got an emergency opening of the bridge and safely found our way into a slip at the new city marina. The problem appears to be some clogged fuel filters which I will swap out on Wednesday. This was somewhat expected based on the boat sitting in storage for almost two years and the diesel fuel growing some contaminants building up. This should resolve itself after the maintenance since diesel is continuously filtered during operation.

This a beautiful spot and for those of you who might remember, Charlevoix was the summer home of JonBenet Ramsey's family which we could see from the marina. In any case, we enjoyed the downtown area and had a great dinner of whitefish on the local economy.