Chapter 9: A Freighter, Fog, and Friends!

On Aug. 3 about 5:20 am we woke up to a 508-foot lake freighter moaning, sloshing and moving slowly through the Manistee channel just 15 feet from our Maggie’s port side. Crazy! We left 45 minutes later and encountered a terrible, very dense and cold fog. By some miracle or Godwink, our radar system began working perfectly—it had been unreliable until this day. The navigation rule is a horn toot every minute. We tooted on and off for two hours. The water calmed and then the sun shined through finishing a five-hour, 71-mile ride to Muskegon. Another first.
Bill’s brother Pat visited, introduced us to his cool sailing friend Scott Smelker,
and the infamous “snurfer” predecessor to the snowboard.
Next, we traveled a short distance on Lake Michigan (foggy again and a bit bouncy) to Grand Haven’s Safe Harbor Marina—a favorite with MANY amenities. Oh yeah, and our antenna cleared a bridge by just four inches. Oops!
Before a Friday evening happy hour, Bill said to Bridgett, “Let’s go make some new friends.” Must’ve been serendipity because indeed, we met new friends, Michele and Dave Bell. They were great ambassadors for Grand Haven and their hospitality was delightful! We thought we would make a lot of friends quickly along this trip, but that has not been the case. So Michele and Dave really warmed our hearts.Read more