Petoskey MI July 24, 2016

The expected storms did not come last night. The system split in two and bypassed us. Art said that Mackinaw City got drenched with a heavy rain for a couple of hours.  It's been real dry here, so it was needed. We had a little sprinkle twice, but not enough that I had to close the windows.

I watched some fellows fishing this morning, right in front of our boat. Two nice small mouth bass about 16" were plucked out of the water. One fisherman used a regular hook, with a small treble hook about 5" underneath it. He strung out a night crawler, and dragged it along the bottom. The second hook was the one that caught the fish when it tried to bite the end of the worm.

Kerry was fired up to wash the boat today, so for the first time this trip I got out the soap and bucket and we scrubbed. I also filled the water tanks. I will have to fill them regularly since we now leak a steady stream of water. It must not be too fast a leak as the bilge pump does not run frequently. Sure hope it stays that way. It would be a major bummer if all 100 gallons gushed out.

Just as we finished washing the boat Art and Janet came motoring down the channel. They had traveled 39 minutes trailering their boat here. We have become good friends and were quite happy to see them. Art offered to take us to the grocery in his truck, which we gladly accepted. We ended up going to Bed, Bath and Beyond, Lowe's and Wal-Mart.

Cocktails were inside on Annie as a heavy mist/light rain developed. Afterwards we went to Duffy's Garage and Grill for dinner. It is a really unique restaurant, with lots of car part themes. Duffy's is best known for their pizza. We had a 4 topping pizza with a bottle of Chianti special that was delicious.

This chandelier is made of spark plugs, and the sinks in the restrooms are also unique. The urinals are made from beer kegs, but they were in use and I thought better of taking a picture.

After dinner Art drove us through the old residential area of Petoskey. It was really amazing. The homes were old Victorian, Craftsman type, all meticulously maintained and landscaped. One was more amazing than the next. It was so nice to be able to see this part of town. It was like we were transported back into the 1950's. From the deck of Annie we never would have known these wonderful old neighborhoods existed. Thank you Art!

Tomorrow we are going to call the Charlevoix City Marina at 8:00 to see if they have space for us. If not, I will try the Irish Boat Shop where we have a reservation for Wednesday night, and see if they can take us a day early The Karpinski's are coming on Tuesday, so we need to be in Charlevoix then.