Back in the USA

Yesterday Once Around travelled a lot further than planned.  The anchorage we chose was infested with some kind of fly or gnat that swarmed us and seemed to hang on for miles as we tried to escape.  Before we knew it, our destination became Meldrum Bay.  Our deep water trip was enjoyable and the water could not have been calmer.  The only problem occurred when we hit fog for about an hour late in the run.  That was the first time our radar has come into use on this trip, I believe.  Everything worked well and the fog lifted before we hit Meldrum Bay (or anything else), where we ended up staying the night.  Not much there, there, as Katie (Carrie's sister, who evidently checked it out on Google Earth) noted.  It is basically a marina and a small store.  But, no bugs!

We finally got boarded by someone official for the first time on this trip.  Canadian Customs was on the dock checking in a boat that had just entered Canada from the US and invited themselves aboard Once Around for a look.  I think my overspray while I was washing the boat caught one of them pretty  squarely, so the visit might have been payback. The lady (who I squirted down with the hose) stayed on the dock and turned out to be very nice, chatting away with Carrie.  Her partner, however, took himself pretty seriously and (wearing a bulletproof vest) asked me to accompany him aboard while he searched the boat.  He asked me twice if I had any firearms.  I told him I had not expected any Canadian pirates (although now I know about Jacques), so I had left all my guns all at home.  Of course, they found no firearms, and the drugs we carry are all the prescription kind, so all went smoothly.  Still, he managed to paw through all our underwear drawers before pronouncing us good to go.

Up and on the way early today, we were in Drummond Island, Michigan before 1 PM.  Although they came by a different route, we were only minutes behind Jolly Tolly, Moonstruck, Godspeed and Bombay Lady.  Duddon Pilot, yet another Looper, came in right behind us.  So a minor Looper reunion took place on the docks, after clearing US Customs, of course.  Although Canada was beautiful and the Canadian people all very friendly, we all mentioned how good it felt to be back home in the USA.

Tonight a bunch of us are having dinner together and talking about what is next.  Lake Michigan awaits us.

Dinner on Drummond Island:  left to right:  Carrie, Judy and Doug from Moonstruck, John and Gloria from Bombay Lady, Ron and Jan from Jolly Tolly and yours truly.