Farther North to The Island...

We left Chelsea, Michigan around 9am. This was a great start time for us. We had even managed to eat a bite of breakfast at the hotel before leaving. I filled my two styrofoam cups with ice and water and we were ready to roll.

Claude reviewed the Michigan map with Jake the night before. We determined we would head north out of Chelsea on Michigan 52. That, my friends, was a most excellent decision. It was an absolutely beautiful relaxing drive.

When we reached I-96 we hopped on an traveled to Lansing where we found Highway 127 north. We would stay with that until I-75 joined it. That would take us to Mackinaw City, Michigan. My needlework surrounding me in the passenger seat and fingers flying while Claude quietly put the miles behind us made for a nice ride.

Some items on note on this drive were the worn out car in someone's front yard with 'parts' spray painted on the hood. That is one way to get ride of an old car that you can't sell. It appeared you just took the pieces that you might need.

We also passed the '20 Blackbirds Country Store'.  I immediately started into the nursery rhyme, "Four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie..."  Claude admitted he was trying to remember how it started. I commented that kids don't really learn the Mother Goose nursery rhymes like they used to. Then Claude said, "Nope they now download and upload."

We both liked the city sign outside Ithaca, Michigan. It said, "Cherishing the past, Living in the future."  I told Claude we could adopt that for Sadieville. We both agreed we would change the second part of the phrase. We would say something like "Cherishing the past, Looking toward the future."

We wanted to see fall color and there were places along I-75 that had great color. Love those fall colors. These were deep and rich and vivid.

I noted several working oil derricks. I grew up in the north west corner of Louisiana. Texas had lots of oil derricks, especially in Oil City. There were even some in Louisiana. I just have not seen them in a very long time.

We made out pit stop about 90 miles south of Mackinaw City, Michigan. There was a gas station with an Arby's and it was time to stretch our legs and have a bite of lunch.

Along the islands where the gas pumps were located were shrink wrapped flats of sweet potatoes. That is something one doesn't see every day. I also noted some corn shrink wrapped on flats. I was thinking they might be for starting fires. Maybe not.

We placed our orders with the cashier in Arby's. I took our cups to fill with soda. Claude gave her his name to write on our ticket so she could call us when our order was ready. The only problem was, when Claude said his name, she heard Clog. Whoever would name their kid Clog!!!

Claude, or Clog to some, ordered a french dip sandwich. As I watched him eat it I commented that most of us don't want our bread to get soggy when we eat a sandwich. Now he chose a sandwich that he was deliberately making soggy to eat it. This led back to our discussion on Sunday about French people being called 'frogs' and then pondering if Kermit the Frog is French. Such is the in depth dialog after 41 years of marriage when you put your brain into vacation mode.

We drove through Gaylord, Michigan. This is of note because Gaylord, according to their city sign, is located on the 45th Parallel which makes it 1/2 way between the North Pole and the equator. Pretty cool factoid!

Now, the harrowing portion of our Monday. I don't think Monday would be Monday without there being a harrowing piece in there somewhere.

As we drove on to Mackinaw City, Michigan after lunch the air conditioning in the car stopped.  It was immediately noted by Claude and me. Then Claude said we had a warning light for the passenger air bag again. The traction system warning light came on. Then the anti-lock braking system light. Then the tire pressure warning light. Things were not looking good. The car was running fine but its systems were shutting down.

I got the handbook and started to read out loud the things about each warning light. We at least knew we had brakes, just not the anti-lock portion of the brakes.

The air conditioning came back on and the warning lights went off. Eventually the warning lights went on again. The air conditioning stayed on. Thank goodness.  Claude determined he would keep going as long as he could with the car. The closer we were to Mackinaw City the better for getting some help. However, while we drove we lost all the meters on the dash. We had no idea how fast we were driving, how much gas we had, etc. We also knew we had no power to our windows and the blinkers were not working.

We made it into Mackinaw City and made a loop around this tiny town. No car dealership or repair places were found. On our second loop Claude pulled into a gas station and sat in the car with the motor running while I went in and asked if there was a garage to which we might take our ailing vehicle. The cashier told me there was only one small garage in Mackinaw City and it was up the street past the next light. We drove there.

We pulled into their parking area in front of the shop and Claude turned off the car. One of the things I read in the handbook is that your keys computer chip can sometimes wear and it will cause silly things like these to happen. Claude could not get the car to restart with his key. I gave him my car keys. He tried but it still would not start.

I went inside while Claude lifted the hood. I explained our situation to the owner of this little business and his mechanic. The mechanic said he had about 10 minutes more work on the car he was finishing up. He would look at our car as soon as he finished.

I cleared out my needlework in the front seat and made the car ready for someone to work on it. Then I headed into the repair shop to wait. Before I headed in an elderly man came up to Claude and me and said, "I just want you to know you have an honest and very good mechanic in this shop to look at your car. I have been in your situation and I thought you might like to know that." I thanked him profusely for this kindness.

Claude tried to start the car again and it started. The mechanic said to not turn it off. He had us drive it into one of the two bays in the garage.

After looking at all the fuses, the battery, inside and under the car the mechanic only had a guess as to what was causing this trouble. I called Frank Shoop, my dealer in Kentucky, and got the only repair from their history that has ever been done on my car.  It really didn't factor into this problem. I also got the name of the closest Buick dealer and they are in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. We are headed there on Thursday. I made an appointment for them to give the car a once over on Thursday.

This honest mechanic ran all the electrical tests he had equipment for and then told us he had done all he could. The car was running fine for him. He noted he had not changed any of the computer notes the car made about what might be the problem and he had not added any in his efforts to help us. We paid him for his time.

We determined we would go to the Star Line Ferry and leave the car in a spot so the front was facing out in case we needed a tow. We decided to go ahead and enjoy our time on Mackinac Island and then head to Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan on Thursday on our way to Sault Ste. Marie, Canada. It seemed the car worked fine after a rest. Maybe a few days rest would be good enough to get us to the dealership on Thursday.

As we left this little garage it began to pour rain. We unloaded our luggage at Star Line. Claude parked the car and we waited for our ferry to take us across the water to Mackinac Island.

We had a very bumpy ride to The Island.  We chose the Star Line because their boats make a really cool 'rooster tail' in the wake as you speed across the water. This, in and of itself, causes a bumpy ride. There was no going outside to see the rooster tail. The waves from the storm only added to the bumpiness. We had lots of sprays of water coming out along the sides of the boat.  This picture is the Mackinac Bridge viewed from inside the boat and you can see the lovely spray of water as the boat splashed forward.

The boat ride is only 18 minutes and was over too quickly. There was a valet provided by the hotel to get our luggage from the Star Line dock and bring it to our hotel. We are staying at the Main Street Inn & Suites. We stayed here on our other trip to The Island. It is just a little up Main Street from the Star Line docks. We walked up and checked in. It wasn't long before the valet came with our luggage.

We set things up in the room for our stay and then headed out for a walk. The rain had stopped. It was good to stroll the streets and unwind.  We were looking for a place for dinner and we found it. The Seabiscuit Restaurant on Main Street. The food was excellent. I had a Curried Chicken Salad that was the best I think I'll ever have in my entire life. It was great.

Then we walked off the fullness before heading back to our hotel room for the evening.

Here are a few pictures. It was cloudy and getting toward evening.

Mackinac Harbor

Ft. Mackinac on the hill; Horse drawn Surrey in foreground

Freighter going through Mackinac Straits

As we walked back to our hotel, I noticed this dog in the display window of one of the stores. Imagine my surprise when it moved!!! Yep, the owners real dog found a way to climb in the window. This puppy was a real ham. As soon as it realized I was going to take a picture it struck a pose for the camera.

While in our room during the evening we heard the rain storms come in with great force. We each got up at different times to look outside to be sure we were heaing what we thought we were hearing. Yep, it was pouring down rain. Eventually Claude did note we had a barn behind the hotel with a metal roof on it. That probably applified the sound but it was a nice sound and made for a good nights sleep.