August 17, 2011 Vermilion, Ohio

I woke up this morning about 6:00 and tried to remember what time we had agreed to leave – 6, 7 and 8 were all discussed. I remembered that we agreed upon 7:00 and lay in bed until 6:20 when it was time to get up and going. I plugged the coffee pot in and thought to myself that this is the last pot of coffee I will be perking on Excalibur this trip. I used the last of my Traverse City Cherry coffee for this special occasion. It is so good. Last night I gave Gretchen some for her pot today.

We cast off the dock lines at 7:00, right on schedule. Today is the easiest navigation day of the trip. Once we leave the harbor we just punch Vermilion in the GPS and engage the autopilot. The course is straight across the lake. We did not touch the helm again until 53 miles later when we arrived at the Vermilion break wall, which was 4:00 PM.

It was not a great trip today. On the positive side, it was cool and we had no flies. On the negative side, the wind was right on our nose the entire way. We did not put sails up at all. The waves were about 4’ and really bounced the boat. We were slamming into them so hard that we had to slow down to lessen the pounding. Up and down the waves we went, with an occasional BAM BAM as we hit the big ones. The wind diminished a bit after several hours and the last three hours of the trip were much more tolerable.

Our dock was empty when we got back to the VYC. It’s always a bummer to find a transient boater in your dock upon returning so we were really happy to find it empty. Just as we were docking Big Boy Jim and his friend Karl showed up bringing gin and vodka and a big welcoming hello. Jim was just on his way home from the airport, returning from a visit to Charlotte to visit his daughter Keri, and decided to stop by. It was great to see him and Karl again. Jim made martinis for us. Then Jim Karpinski came by to welcome us home with a bottle of Myers dark rum and tonic. I gave my martini to Kerry and Jim made rum and tonics for us. Jola stopped by also on her way to a Weight Watchers weigh in. She passed up all food and drink in preparation for her moment of truth. It was really great that so many of our friends stopped by to welcome us home.

By this time Lew and Gretchen stopped by for the frozen margaritas I had been promising them for two days. Kip also was ready for one too, and Marcy his wife brought two of the grandsons by. It was quite a welcome home party for Excalibur and her crew and we all had a great time.

Dinner was two pizzas from Papa Joes and a Greek Salad prepared by Jola. Kerry washed some sheets and I tried again to upload some pictures to the blog before turning in. Anne is coming tomorrow to take us home and she is bring up Penny and Peanut, our grand dogs, to spend the day and perhaps take a dingy ride on the Annie M. We are all excited to see each other again. As fun as it is traveling, there is no place like home and it is good to be back. The last picture today shows us leaving Rondeau Bay, our final port of call.