Washed Out

Well I am no longer going to say when we plan on travelling because Mother Nature waits for our plans then delivers bad weather.  Today, Saturday, was to be good for travelling.  Winds calmer and waves less than 2 feet.  We headed out of Grand Bend at 8:30 AM and the Lake was fairly calm BUT... visibility was only about 1 mile.  It was cloudy and "heavy", that is, a bit soupy.  We continued on our way believing in the forecast that the soup would clear and the rain would hold off until late in the afternoon.  NOT!  It started raining about 6 miles from the mouth of the St. Clair River.  It closed in so bad that I was getting disoriented and had to rely totally on the electronics.  We could still see about 50 yards ahead of us (important so we would not run into anything) but had no point of reference for direction.  We had no choice but to carry on and managed to get to Port Huron going about 9 mph. 

After filling up with 300 gallons of diesel we started down the St. Clair River.  There was a steady rain at first but we were cruising at our normal speed of 24 mph until the rain became so heavy that we could not see again.  Back to 9 mph.  It was a real strain, and stressful, trying to see through the heavy rain so that we could locate marker buoys and those "stupid" fisherman who were out in force.  There must have been a tournament because there were dozens of the idi....s on the water.  By 1 PM we were beat so we stopped at Algonac Harbor Club.  To give you an idea about how much concentration was required, Linda said, yes Linda said, forget everything and let's go get a drink.  She had 3 glasses of Zinfadel before we went back to the boat to take our wet clothes off.

So much for our trials and tribulations.  Grand Bend was great.  We met up with Linda's cousins, Leon and Lana, and had 3 great days.  We were still able to swim on the beautiful beach that is the highlight of Grand Bend.  The sand is like powdered sugar, the main beach is about 30 -40 yards deep and the water has a sand bar which is good for swimming and wading.  The water temp was 69 F.  Most enjoyable.  Found some good places to relax as well.  The mussels and hot spinach / 3 cheese dip are a must try at the Growling Gator.  The Schoolhouse, just east of Hwy 21, are a favourite of the locals many of whom are wealthy, filthy wealthy.  Around Grand Bend there are many million dollar cottages and the Cruising Club has as many 50 foot boats as 30 footers.  It was a quality restaurant with excellent food and superb service.  The prices were not so bad either.  Another superb spot is the Hessenland Inn but it is about 20 km north of town.  German food at it's best.  Linda says that the goulash soup was the best she ever had or could imagine.  All of our food was excellent.  This place was more pricey but worth every penny.  So with the swimming, visiting and food it was a great stop.

We will probably be here for a couple of days while Ike dumps rain on the area.  For those not familiar with this part of the world, Algonac is a small town on the US mainland situated on one of the tributaries of the St. Clair River as it nears the north side of Lake St. Clair.  We are probably only 1.5 hours from home but under today's conditions it may have taken us 6 hours and into the really, REALLY bad weather that was forecast for Saturday night.  Severe wind warning and thunderstorms.  NO THANKS.

I'll let you know when we get home. 
Tom & Linda