Thursday, August 6
Today we celebrate two months aboard Pearl. We left Essex,
Connecticut, on June 6. That was the most easterly point of our trip -
72°22’878" west longitude - and on Tuesday in Lake Superior we reached the most northerly
point - 46°32'158 north latitude.
We’re in Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan, on the Upper Peninsula.
It’s a nice, small city with all the services we need: internet, a grocery
store, Walgreen’s, a butcher, fuel, fresh water and a pump-out. We’ve decided
to stay an extra day to really get caught up with paperwork and business calls
and cleaning the boat. We love the nomadic life, but once in a while we just
have to stop and unwind. I know you will laugh at that!
We’re glad to be back in the United States, not because we
didn’t enjoy Canada, but because things we had read had made us anxious about
the U.S. Customs process. In the long run, however, it was simple and friendly. We had
eaten all of our fruit and vegetables, so that wasn’t a problem, and the agent
was a very friendly young woman. They have a huge territory: the waterfront,
the ships, the International Bridge, the trains, the airport, and an enormous
area of land.
I’m glad to have cellphone service, internet service, and
American dollars. I am especially glad to know that I can contact our children
again.
From the Canadian side, you can see a very tall monument in
SSM, Michigan. Brian guessed that it was a control tower for the American Locks
and I thought it might be a viewing platform. But as it turns out, it is a
truly hideous concrete representation of the three crosses on Calvary, built by
a Catholic Bishop. As ugly as it is, it’s an excellent spot for an American
flag and a cellphone antennae. If only the town zoning people had seen the
design and said no, this would be a much more attractive city.
Yesterday we used a taxi to get our heavy bags back from the grocery
store. The driver told us that his brother-in-law owns all the horses that are
used on Mackinac Island, and winters them near here. That’s something to look
forward to - an island without cars!
Brian had to make business calls this morning and I’m working
on these blogs. This afternoon, we’re going to walk over to the American Locks
to watch a ship lock through. We’ve taken down our Canadian courtesy flag and we’ve
replaced our cotton U.S. flag with a new nylon one in the hope that it will fly
a little more actively.
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