Return

We had originally planned to come home on Saturday, but thinking about it, there was a lot that needed to be done on Saturday, so we decided to spend part of the day in the area and come home on Friday evening.

First thing was to drive to the 40-Mile Point Lighthouse and launch the kayaks.  The wreck of the Joseph S. Fay is just offshore and I took some pictures from above with the drone yesterday.  Now it was time to look at it from over the side of a kayak.

We were a little disappointed that this was not a calm morning.  The wind was already blowing up a bit of chop on the water, so a really clear view would be much more difficult.

On October 19, 1905, the wooden freighter Joseph S. Fay set sail from Escanaba, Michigan, in calm, clear weather. Destined for Cleveland, Ohio, Joseph S. Fay towed the barge ​D.P. Rhodes. As the ships sailed down Lake Huron, both heavily loaded with iron ore, the weather changed dramatically. Winds exceeded 60 miles an hour, and Joseph S. Fay struggled to maintain a steady course as waves crashed over the decks. Unable to steer, Joseph S. Fay and D.P. Rhodes were at the mercy of Lake Huron. The towline to the barge alternately slackened and snapped taut and eventually tore part of the stern off the ​Joseph S. Fay​. The storm drove D.P. Rhodes ashore, but the storm was still too fierce for ​Joseph S. Fay​. After a massive wave washed ​Joseph S. Fay’s​ mate overboard to his death, the remaining crew escaped in a lifeboat as the freighter quickly sank.  The ship now sits in 19 feet of water only 300 yards from the shore.

Once again I tested the water-worthiness of my iPhone by dunking it in the water for a few pictures.

We also took a tour of the lighthouse.

After having lunch in the parking lot, we headed for home.  Of course, we made a few stops on the way.  Aside from the necessary fuel stop in Gaylord, we also stopped at the Alpine Chocolat Haus downtown, a stop made a lot more challenging by the Alpinfest that was going on.  Traffic was a mess and parking was challenging.  We had to navigate hordes of people and lots of carnival rides and booths to get there.

We made a stop at Ebel’s General Store in Falmouth.  Always good for some meats and today didn’t disappoint.  They were selling whole smoked whitefish and when Deb inquired about it, the guy behind the meat counter grabbed one of the packages, opened it up and gave us a couple generous samples.  He said the rest of the fish would be sampled out in short order.  We came home with one as it was very tasty.

Last stop for dinner at a Menards parking lot in Big Rapids.  We picked Menards because we needed to pick up some countertop material from the Wyoming store.  Stopping here would save a trip.  They had it in stock, so I was able to cancel the Wyoming order and get it here. The RV was now a delivery truck.

Arrived home just before 8pm.  Great trip and it covered a little more of the Lake Huron Shoreline, continuing from another trip.  We still need to finish the last segment from Rogers City to the bridge, but that will be on another trip

Adding in the prior trip, we have covered quite a bit of the upper Eastern Michigan shoreline:

Total miles traveled: 759