I'm sure you noticed the sudden end to postings on the blog...I was hatching a plot to surprise my daughter for her birthday....and it worked!!! We spent time with the Bemis couple in Charleviox and then made the quick run to Northport. Wednesday morning, August 12th, 8 AM our new friend Scot arrived with our new Thor Axis motor home and we headed to Elkhart, IN. Scot did mention that he thought this was the longest test drive he'd ever been involved with. ( 4 and 1/2 hours) Floyd signed papers. We got a few RV lessons. We bought necessities and headed for home on Thursday afternoon. We spent Thursday night in Joliet, Ill...on an RV campground that was once the Empress Casino complex (which a friend of mine built in 1992)...now Hollywood Casino complex. Then we toodles on to Grain Valley, MO (just east of KC). Arrived on Kelli's doorstep at noon on Saturday...she was more than a little shocked to see me standing there. In fact, I feared she'd be in such a panic that she'd go into labor right then. But she recovered quickly...and spent most of the rest of the day interrogating me about how I managed to pull off the surprise. Seems lots of folks were in on this...and she hadn't a clue.
It was a great birthday surprise....

We've spent time doing marathon laundry, getting hair cuts, manicures, pedicures, teeth cleaning...playing catch up...We are almost fit to be seen in public again. The rooms are still rocking a bit.

For now, the boating plan is that we will return to Lake Michigan around Father's Day and head south to complete our second loop. Then return to Lake Michigan...where we hope to continue to store the boat for several years and use it in the summers to play in North Channel, Georgian Bay, Lake Huron...etc. We love the idea of escaping Kansas heat...and maybe we'll have company.

Love Love Love being home....and once we get things situated in the RV, I think we'll love it too. At 25 feet, things are much tighter than on the boat. Plus there are no little nooks to tuck things in to...its in a cabinet or outside storage. No hidey holes inside at all. That will take some getting use to. Dakota seemed to settle right in...though when we are underway, he thinks he's a lap dog.

I do think I need to blog about RV adventures...but haven't decided whether it needs its own blog or I should just continue posting on this one....but for now, I'm shopping for RV things and anxiously awaiting the arrival of Baby Boy Rappard #2...he-who-has-not-been-named is coming September 1...after 10 AM...

August 6…Captain Floyd had us up at 5AM…water is smooth as glass…and we are outta here. We couldn’t believe how peaceful and calm the water was…all 7 hours of our journey into Drummond Island. IT WAS LOVELY!!!! Cleared customs at 2:47PM…added gas-o-line (measured in gallons, eh!) …beer thirty on the aft deck…a little celebration at supper and we are down for the count. Even though we are back in the states…WiFi, phone coverage and internet on this island is bad at best. Hoping tomorrow it will be better in Mackinaw City. Rain is in the forecast this weekend and wind is due to change direction…so maybe we’ll have slow down again.  But we are excited to get to Charlevoix, summer home of Ted and Linda Bemis. We’ve got some serious catching up to do!!!!...and laughing, and eating, and drinking, and shopping, and solving of world problems!!!!

August 5…several boats left this morning, and even though it looked calm we stayed put. Several of us did comment that leaving was probably a bad idea, winds “out there” were still predicted to be higher than we like…tomorrow the weather looks really good. We are willing to wait. Today we began sorting and labeling sacks of items to go to Wichita…we’ve had an “RV” box and a “going home” box (which are both full) since we arrived in April. Things in the Crew quarters have gotten more than a little out of control…especially since the waves on July 31 sent everything crashing to the floor and left the shelf wet. Floyd has lost so much weight he needs to re-think his wardrobe…and I’m constantly changing thoughts about mine. So we spent most of the day sorting clothes into garbage sacks depending on where their destination would be…labeling according to where in the RV they need to go. WHEW! We are definitely subtracting weight for TUMBLEWEED. We still managed to take breaks and naps. We returned to the restaurant for supper. We think tomorrow looks to be the perfect day to head to Drummond Island and re-enter the USA. Departure at o’dark thirty!!!

August 4…and the winds howled. We’ve had it with fighting waves…4, 5, and some 6s last time out have us all just a little gun shy. So we are staying where we are…thank you very much. Yesterday we managed to spend time with Jazi and Stacey in the afternoon. Then Robby and family joined us for supper at Bouy’s, the restaurant close to the marina. Stacey gave us a wonderful children’s book she’d written about flying. Today we did manage to walk into explore the town of Gore Bay…located the grocery store for just a few essentials…took naps and read books. Not a very exciting day. Boaters who arrived today looked like they had been beaten…know the feeling.

August 3...As planned, Floyd revved up the dinghy to get Dakota to shore for his morning business visit. As luck would have it, he couldn't get it to stay running for the return trip...so he rowed, against the current and breeze! Got his workout before we ever left the anchorage. The up anchor went well...and we heard lots of boaters chatting on the radio as we pulled out headed 50 miles to Meldrum Bay. . All good signs. SEA VENTURE was behind us and JOELLA in front...JET STREAM wanted a report after we crossed Clapperton Channel. And then we knew why...the water turned nasty in a heartbeat!!! Dang, that weather man got us again. This time we are sure to have battled 6 footers. However this time, they were mostly on the bow...not so much rocky-rolly...but lots of slam-bam. Things didn't seem to fly out of place much...but we knew there was no way we were traveling all the way to Meldrum Bay in this mess. A quick call to Gore Bay...another rough hour or so and we arrived shortly before noon. A quick re-shuffling of the stuff...bacon and tomato sandwiches for lunch (our first home grown tomatoes this year)..nap time. We called our friends from PRINCE ARTHUR, as this is their home port. Stacy and Jazzy stopped by to see us...really, just had eyes for Dakota. Robbie and his dad head out tonight or tomorrow morning to finish bringing PRINCE ARTHUR home. There is a restaurant on site that's suppose to be good. I've offered to take Captain out tonight. We hope we aren't here long...but we are ALL sick and tired of fighting the wind, waves and bad weather reports. and I mean ALL!!!!

August 2...We awoke to no wind...calm waters...but since we had planned to spend the day here, we went about our business...breakfast. The parade of boats leaving didn't stop...and somewhere around 9:30, we wondered why we were staying. So we left. Just a little over 20 miles to Little Current...and they have three marinas...oh, and that swing bridge that only opens on the hour...what could go wrong! Yeah, right!!! First the wind began to pick up...then the rain came...then not one marina had any space for us...then the bridge tender couldn't tell time...Once we finally got through that we spotted a long dock  that sure looked pretty empty to us...so we pulled up! NO!!! They said..."this is just a service dock...you can't dock here!" and pushed us off...we couldn't even convince them to let us stay a while to walk the dog. We thought a moment about going on the 20 miles to Gore Bay...but decided against that. We anchored just outside of Little Current off Picnic Island. Finally got that to use the new anchor we got in Hammond, on Chesapeake Bay...oh, and practice our anchoring skills. Everything went really well. We about broke our arms patting ourselves on the back.  Dinghy worked great as we took Dakota to shore for his evening business. Plan tomorrow is to rise early and go to Meldrum Bay...51 miles...once again winds aren't predicted to pick up until after noon and with that early start we should be there. Monday is some sort of Canadian holiday...some marinas are full...others seem to have taken the day off!!!

August 1…a new month and a new day…a parade of boats left today…we were happy to watch them…I have no desire to be on the water today. We’ll take a stroll down (or up) the one street in town…stop at the little store for bread …and plan to go to the Sportsman Marina restaurant and bar tonight for dinner. I’ve discovered some wet clothes under the cabinet in the captain’s quarters…so it looks like laundry hanging in the fly bridge…and Floyd has a little drying action set up in the crew quarters…seems the windows or rub rail leaked a bit. But those should be dry soon. It’s a cool day and we’ve got windows opened.

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July 30…WHEW! We both agree this was the WoRsT day of boating ever!!! Totally makes us forget that day on Lake Michigan in 2011 when we got caught by big unpredicted winds…Thank god this day is over. Captain checked weather…wind was not predicted to kick up until afternoon…and waves were to be under one meter…so at o’dark thirty, we left Wright’s Marina and headed for Killarney. What a mistake! But an even bigger mistake would have been to try turning this big boat around in those big waves and going back…we were committed. And the waves were BIG…Bigger …BIGGEST we’ve ever seen. We are sure they were 4’ and 5’…and some 6’…on the bow quarter…lots of water thrown at us and lots of rocking and rolling. With Captain and auto-pilot George steering the course from the lower helm, Dakota and I huddled for safety and comfort on the sofa as everything skidded off shelves and resting places everywhere. Usually it’s just the pencil holder that takes a nose dive. This time even the items stored on the shelves at the dining table and in the crew quarters landed in heaps on the floor…even the three 25 pound bags of dog food. To say we were taking a beating was putting it mildly. Rather than try to put it back into place, we just let it go…figuring it’d be safer to re-assemble once we got to Killarney…that 5 hours took forever. It did settle down quite a bit for the last couple of hours. Enough so the Captain was able to make calls about staying in Killarney. We were refused docking at the first two marinas…seems there is some sort of MONK boater reunion this weekend…finally were able to get into Roque’s Marina…last one there. And then we arrived into Killarney Channel….narrow waters that start the link between Georgian Bay and the North Channel…three marinas…and about 8 boats circling waiting to dock…all on channel 68 hailing marina’s… people requesting fuel, pump outs…and one with only one engine…somehow we managed to avoid hitting any of them and got an answer from our marina… we missed getting into the first slip assignment because the current and wind were just too strong. Captain made a great saving maneuver.  They circled us around to the inside and we landed like pros that time. Dakota and I were a mess…not to mention poor TUMBLEWEED. But hey, it was only 12:30 and, believe me, no one wanted to eat. …so Floyd started at the front in the crew quarters and galley, I started in the back, captains quarters and head…putting everything back where it belongs. We found some things we forgot we had…and threw away some things we forgot we didn’t need…it was a thorough unplanned boat cleaning experience. We’ll be laughing about it someday…but not today. I’m just gonna say I took all my frustration out on the Captain…and I’m sorry. One wrong call in all our days of boating shouldn’t be grounds for the emotional beating I gave him. He didn’t deserve it…I’ve apologized profusely and I regret the way I behaved…tomorrow will be a better day!!!!

July 29…a day at Wright’s Marina…couple of loads of laundry, boat washing, visiting with locals about AGLCA, cigars, naps and, of course, a little Kawartha ice cream (could be our last)… locals are discussing wind and possible rain…looks bad for their government holiday weekend…and probably means we won’t be leaving tomorrow either. Marina has a courtesy car we can use for $1 deposit…grocery store down the way and a little restaurant…could be worse. Captain will be weather checking, for sure.