Breakfast at the Latitude and a late departure (around 10AM). A local told us this morning that Marquette is much busier in the winter then the summer. A few places are only open in the winter. The hotels are booked. It turns out Marquette is midway on the Cross the UP snowmobile trail. Winter sports are huge up here.
Soon after departure we had some confusion. Our GPS Route had us heading towards rocks and made no sense at all according to the paper charts and our surroundings I went below, checked the route on the lap top and reloaded it. Still not right. Finally I determined an option I changed late yesterday caused a strange bug in the GPS. I turned that option off, and all was well. A GPS is wonderful, and makes things so much more relaxing. But I am convinced that depending only on a GPS chart plotter can be dangerous.
Our heading was NW and the winds were the prevailing Superior NW winds. So we flew both sails and literally beat into the weather tacking all day. So goes it, but it sure can't beat a run!! But how else could a run be so enjoyable.
We arrived at Huron Bay around 5. A sleepy little harbor with only a few boats and no one in sight. It took near an hour to locate the harbor master and get some fuel. Dinner at the lumberjacks a mile or so up the road in Harbor Bay…Everyone in there looked like lumberjacks. The UP is much more back country then I would have expected. Still rather rough and wild up here.
One more harbor, two travel days till the Great Lakes venture is complete. It is not about the goal or the accomplishment. It is the journey! The goal creates the journey, the path that is not beaten, and the places we would never otherwise explored. It is all about the journey. And the journey is quickly winding down. Yes, there will be new journeys, but I feel quite sad to have this one coming to a close. It has been absolutely wonderful. These are indeed Great Great Lakes, all of them, every mile and engrained in our being is a feel and love for these lakes. Not sure how we top this one! But we will for sure. So goes it! The way the wind blows.
Bay Harbor, UP..
August 16, 2008
