Rogers City, MI August 4, 2016

Annie tracked straight and true today. She must have read the blog and not liked what I said about her wandering about with big following seas. We had planned to stay in Mackinaw City today, but changed our mind based on the weather forecast. Today was good to travel to Rogers City, 45.1 miles away. Tomorrow's forecast includes 25 knot gusts. It took us about 5 1/2 hours for the trip, averaging 8.4 knots. Top speed was 13.1 knots when I was letting Annie blow some carbon deposits out of her engine. Sarnia Coast Guard said Environment Canada issued a high wind warning as we traveled, so I was glad we decided to leave.

Our day started with the decision to leave, then laundry. Three washers and dryers made short work of it. We traveled SE through the Straights of Mackinaw, turning more S when we entered Lake Huron. I must have missed the sign saying you are now leaving the Straights of Mackinaw and entering Lake Huron.The winds and seas varied all day in direction and strength, but it was a nice trip. I sat outside for a large part of it, reading boating magazines. I brought a large pile with me and Kerry wants them all gone. Kerry prepared a nice fruit lunch for us while traveling, followed by more fruit (Jola's peach pie!) for desert.

Rogers City has a series of 4 sets of red and green buoys to guide boaters into the Harbor. I saw them and was reminded of the last time I was here, 9 years ago. Lew Myers and I followed Kip on Royal Eagle into the harbor in total fog. I think we came from St. Ignace to Rogers City in total fog, so thick we could not even see each others boats. Kip did a fabulous job of navigating us here and arrived at the buoys perfectly for a safe entrance into the harbor.

We pulled to the fuel dock when we arrived. The Harbormaster, Wayne, greeted us. He loved Annie. We invited him on board and had a nice chat as he toured. The marina has bikes and a car boaters can use while they are here. We bought 51 gallons of diesel. We used 3.5 gallons an hour this last tank, higher than normal, but we have been traveling faster than usual. Our depth sounder worked most of the time on this trip. We have traveled 843 miles so far, and 118 miles since we started home yesterday.

Wayne warned Kerry that she will be shocked tomorrow morning when she sees the spiders all over our boat. I guess they have an infestation here. That will be a bummer because it is still so clean after Jim's washing. I sprayed our dock lines and fenders with bug spray to see if that will help.

I grilled hamburgers for dinner. We sat on Annie's upper deck and had a great view of the lake and marina. It is very pretty here. One of Rosemary's chocolate chip cookies proved to be an excellent dessert. We took a walk after dinner. There is some kind of a fest doing on. The marina has a big tent with a polka band in it, There is a carnival right outside, and they are setting up an arts and craft show downtown. This street leads to the marina.

We had planned to turn the air conditioners off, but it is still 85 at 7:45. It has been very hot and humid lately. Three days of temperatures in the 70's are promised, starting tomorrow. We hope to do a nice bike ride tomorrow, so we hope the weather cooperates.