Great Loop Day 004 Sept 1, 2016, Vinny's Breakwall to William Milliken State Park Marina
River cruising past Detroit, Michigan.
You can't be unhappy in the middle of a big, beautiful river. -Jim Harrison
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Day 4 Thursday, Sept 1, 2016. Today's travel was shortened when I heard some nasty weather was brewing up on Lake Huron with reports of possible water spouts and high winds. Daily mileage 10.0 miles in 3:36 hours from Vinny's Breakwall or some people call it a bulkhead or seawall. Night on the bulkhead was very calm as there weren’t any freighters making their way up or down the river. I was totally unprotected from their wake. Had it got rough I was prepared to move in a slip just behind the bulkhead. Didn't see any people on shore all night or this morning.
Made another call to Vinny and got no answer. I untied at 8:22 am and made my way around Mud Island into the main channel. My upriver speed was good at 4.0 to 4.5 miles per hour but slowed to 2.5 mph as I hit the main channel going into Detroit. Going full throttle would only increase my speed by a half mile or so. Made no sense to waste gas gaining so little speed.
I slowly motored passed the steel mills and the stench in the air hit me hard. It reminded me of my old home in the Cleveland neighborhood referred to as the Southside during the 50s and 60s. but now called Tremont, The smell was so acrid people stayed indoors and only venture out when absolutely necessary. When it coincided with the family washday my mom would hang the clothes in the basement on a clothesline strung between the floor joists. There were a lot of clotheslines strung up because she had clothes from 5 people, 2 adults, and 3 small children (and we all loved to play in the mud) to wash. The electric-powered agitated wash tubs of that era with the rollers to wring out the water attached to the top were state-of-the-art for the period. My mom never complained. I’m sure she did but never let us kids catch her.
I do recall an incident when my younger brother Rich, was playing with the ringers and caught his arm in it. We were about 6 -7 years old. Spent a night in the hospital and was given all these toys to play with. When I saw a picture of him in the hospital with these cool toys around him well, I did get jealous.
I caught a glimpse of the Ambassador Bridge as well as the GM building. Detroit has its own paddlewheel sightseeing boat, the Detroit Princess. She has an interesting history (from the Detroit Princess’ website):
It was originally named the Players Riverboat Casino II and was built in Jennings, Louisiana in 1993. It ran as a Merv Griffin establishment for a number of years, located on the Mississippi River in Metropolis, Illinois
Harrah’s Hotel & Casinos eventually purchased the boat, bringing it back down south to Lake Charles, Louisiana where it ran as a casino boat for a number of years before being stripped of all its gambling decor and abandoned for a larger boat. The boat sat in Orange, Texas for a few years, not operating. The owners had plans to scrap the boat, but at the final hour, some folks up north decided to step in.
In 2004 we purchased the riverboat and the vessel made her first and last journey to her new home in Detroit. The boat was too large to make its way through the northern portions of the Mississippi River, so it had to be towed around Florida, up the inter-coastal waterway, past Nova Scotia, and through the St. Lawrence Seaway to reach the Great Lakes and a temporary home, Toledo.
The boat spent a number of months in Ohio being refitted to operate as a restaurant, adding a full kitchen with eight convection ovens, ten steam cabinets, ten movable heater cabinets, two walk-in coolers, a fully functioning dish room, and serving kitchens on each level that would soon serve Detroiters and tourists alike. After retooling, the vessel was ready to come home.
A few hours later passed under the bridge noting the 18-wheelers all lined up to enter Canada thinking Trump got elected and was deporting all Canadians back home. Well, it could be possible. No? I haven't watched TV since Sunday night and only caught bits of news on the home front. Detroit appeared to be a nice clean waterfront with people walking and riding bikes on the water's edge.
An hour later I Googled the phone number for William G Milliken State Park and Marina. It is the second time this happened, my phone connected and I heard the caller answer but they could not hear me. I dialed back and the phone worked fine. Maybe I had the phone on mute. Spoke with Carol Rogers at the marina and she advised me to call on VHF Marine Radio Channel 9 when I got closer.
Got through to the marina on the fixed VHF radio in the cabin but I needed to steer the boat so I grabbed my handheld VHF radio. My Icom marine radio was inoperative and now would be a good time to field test the Baofeng handheld 2-meter ham radio that was programmed to carry the marine band channels I set up last year. Thanks to Ed Durma for giving me a heads-up on this unit. By the way, Ed, I haven't hooked up the solar panel yet as shore power and outboard motor doing a fine job keeping batteries charged besides Mickey loves to lay on the panel I have hooked up as a shelf.
The Baofeng VHF radio worked out swell! Got a hold of Carol and she guided me into the right slip, I mean boat well Oh, we are in Michigan now. For some reason, the locals call the boat slips, ‘wells’. This marina was a bargain at $27 for the night with shore power, clean showers, and free use of a washer and dryer by GE. Had a short wait for another boater to finish her load before I could load up mine. This washing machine has a learning curve you wouldn't believe. There is no timer on it. Press your settings and press start. But wait… if you change the setting from white to colored while it's running the machine stops and then drains all the soapy water down the side tub drain. Stop!!! I yell. I need that soapy water for my clothes. I had a small cup and as fast as I can catch the outflow I dumped it back into the washer tub. I'm docked way on the last pier and already made a long walk back once cause I forgot the laundry detergent. (I brought enough for just one load in a small container) Not going back again. Saved enough water to complete the wash cycle.
Well, the clothes and the rug (Mickey thought it was funny to mess it up with his poop) got clean, and it sure does smell much better. Took a hot shower while the clothes were drying. A little multitasking if you will. The rest of the day was spent meeting new people and getting updates on what was ahead. Made 2 new Facebook friends Carol and Kale. Welcome aboard!!!
Carol is an RN from Canada who boated across the river with her husband whose name I forgot and Kale helped me dock the Sea Marie in well 46. Kale is a park ranger working at this marina for the summer.
I checked with Noel who's sailing up the Detroit River Saturday to give me some local knowledge on the St Clair River. The North Channel looks good. With the predicted north winds I expect the levels on Lake St Clair will be down from posted depths but on the other hand the lake water levels are high. We'll see. See you all tomorrow evening and fair winds to all.
Comments from 2016:
Edward Durma I hope you get time to set up the solar panels. More important is your VHF antenna, get a couple of spare rubber ducks if you can.
Kale Leftwich Nice Pics...... Thanks for coming to stay with us.....maybe it's time the park invests in a new washing machine haha.....Good luck out there and remember epic adventures are just like you said "it was the best of times and it was the worst of times".... but when you think back to remember this trip, you'll only remember the best.