Travels with Just One Snowbird and Friend, Monday August 17, 2015 to Wednesday August 19, 2015. Port Austin, MI and the trip home

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Sunday morning, Barb, And I were sitting watching Pete scroll thru the TV channels when he landed on a two part mini series, Broken Trail, starring Robert Duval. We watched for 2 hours before we realized it was 2 parts. Pete recorded Part 2 so we could do something besides watch tv all day. We ended up having a lazy day of doing absolutely nothing except sitting and watching life on the lake pass us by. Pete made his world famous chicken crockpot stew with dumplings for dinner, and the girls played hand and foot. Playing 3 handed hand and foot is quite different than 4 handed with partners. I won that night, and Barb and Sherry were sarcastically gracious. I rubbed my win in real good. Often.

Sunday night's iPad TV show was Falling Skies, and I fell asleep before it was over.

Monday morning put us in front of the TV as soon as we all woke up for Part 2 of Broken Trail, and it really is a good movie. If you see it listed, watch it.

This being our last day, Barb found a few more historic sites for us, without gift shops, of course. We visited a few small towns in The Thumb with colorful names such as Pennbog, Kinde, Port Hope, Huron City, and Grindstone City. We visited Pointe Aux Barques Lighthouse and LifeSaving Station, both a real treat for me. (The locals pronounce it something like Point eh Bark). Being a lighthouse buff for many years, I seized the opportunity to read everything I can about them when I come across a new one.

From Wikipedia: The Point aux Barques Lighthouse and Lifesaving Station aided mariners for over a century, beginning in 1847. That year the U.S. Lighthouse Service built the first lighthouse on this site to mark the turning point of Lake Huron into Saginaw Bay and to warn of shallow waters. Catherine Shook became Michigan’s first female light keeper when she took over for her husband, Peter, after he drowned in 1849. In 1857, the lighthouse and dwelling were replaced with the present 89 foot tower and attached house. In 1908, the brick assistant keeper’s house was built. The lighthouse was fully automated in 1934. Five years later, the last keeper retired, and the lifesaving station, made up of 15 buildings, was decommissioned.

It was lit by a second order fresnel lens, displayed inside (My NJ peeps….Twin Lights had a first order and second order fresnel). The grounds were beautiful and well maintained, the tiny museum had wonderful artifacts and pictures divers took of the many wrecks off this tip of land. Some of the items on display come from Barb’s sister’s husband’s family! Next to the lighthouse was a wonderful pocket campground, Kathy E you would love this one, your kind of place, but 15 miles from nowhere.

We started back to Port Austin and visited a few other scenic overlooks, all helping Barb cruise down memory lane…...first date with her husband, sisters former house, restaurants no longer there, etc. We hadn’t had lunch; we stopped at the local ice cream joint in Grindstone City (so named for the fine quality grindstones made there. "Grindstone" is a special rock formation from the Marshall Sandstone. It is a grit stone finer than sandstone and used exclusively as a sharpening stone, which produces a finer edge than carborundum which has replaced it.

The ice cream cones come in sizes. Baby, one scoop, Kiddie, 2, Single, 3, Double 4, and Triple, 5. Let me tell you these were huge, see pictures. My flavor was called something like moose tracks, vanilla ice cream, chocolate chunks and fudge swirl. I geared myself up for a big lactose intolerance belly ache afterwards, knowing it would be worth it, but it never happened. Barb opted for a kiddie, butter pecan (I think) and banana something or other. See pictures. We saw someone with a single, 3 scoops, but they did not finish it. It was fun sitting outside people watching. For 2:00 on a weekday afternoon, in a town called Grindstone, it was very busy. Dinner with the extended family was at a local place called The Sportsman. I finally had my first ever taste of lake perch, and it was quite excellent!! Goodbyes that night were sad for all. Packing and to bed early and up early on Tuesday morning for our ride home.

We opted for a different route home at the start. Instead of going down thru the eastern side of the thumb and thru Detroit, we went west before we went south. I hate that. West before south, seems so fruitless. But, we met up with I75 near Toledo, bypassing the awful construction around Detroit. The weather held up pretty well for us, overall, for the first 600 miles until we were about 50 minutes away from our predetermined layover, Mt. Airy, NC, with a dinner stop at a Cracker Barrell. It would not be a Snowbird roadtrip without a stop at a Cracker Barrell!! Mt. Airy is on the eastern side of the Shenandoah Mountains which are noted for their fog. And rain. And we hit both. It was a miserable, traficky crossing with lots of trucks for company. But we made it to Mt. Airy finally, falling into bed exhausted.

Up early wednesday morning and drove thru the town of Mt Airy, Andy Griffith's hometown and inspiration for Mayberry.

It was a wonderful trip for both me and Barb. She got to connect with family and old friends, and spend time near her beloved lake. I got to see a part of the country I have never seen before. It’s what is being a retired senior citizen is all about, right?

I did some research on the health of Lake Huron and the other great lakes, and here’s what I found: I kind of consolidated a whole bunch of info….yes...plagiarized from the internet. Here goes:

The Zebra mussel: What is it?

Zebra mussels are a type of mollusk, a bivalve, getting its name because of the dark, striped pattern on each valve. Usually the shell is a light color (tan, beige) with the zig-zag stripes. However, some are almost completely all brown and the stripes are not pronounced. Even more rare are those nearly all light colored with little striping. Generally, zebra mussels are small, averaging about an inch long. Two inches is approximately the maximum size. Their life span is four to five years. Zebra mussels are native to freshwater rivers and lakes in Eastern Europe and western Asia. Zebra mussels were first discovered in Lake St. Clair in 1988. Lake St. Clair is located east of Detroit, Michigan between Lake Huron and Lake Erie.

Zebra mussels spread rapidly throughout the Great Lakes region and in the large navigable rivers of the Mississippi River drainage. They can be found in many locations from the river's headwaters in Minnesota to the mouth at the Gulf of Mexico, including the major tributaries such as the Tennessee, Cumberland, Ohio, Arkansas, Illinois, and Missouri rivers. They can also be found in the Hudson River in the Atlantic drainage. Barge traffic in these large rivers helped to disperse zebra mussels during their first few years here. Since then, dispersal has been mostly into small lakes within the Great lakes region and beyond. In the West, the quagga mussel, which is closely related to the zebra mussel, has established a large population in the Colorado River, specifically Lake Mead in Nevada. Other western states also have found these mussels in a number of their reservoirs. Overall, these two mussel species have been reported from the waters of 33 states which includes numerous rivers and more than 750 small lakes and reservoirs. Much of this recent dispersal is being attributed to recreational activities such as boating and fishing.

It is generally agreed upon by scientists that zebra mussels entered the Great Lakes from ballast water dumping by large ocean-going vessels from Europe. Ballast water is used to keep ships stable in the water. The amount of water carried is dependent on the amount of cargo on board. A ship will carry large amounts of ballast water when there is no cargo and will dump it in port as cargo is loaded.

Many invasive species share commoncharacteristics that make them very adaptable to a new environment. The zebra mussel has the potential to inhabit most of the fresh waters of the U.S. and may impact a variety of native aquatic species and eventually entire ecosystems. They also have had a large economic impact already. Many power plants and water users have had to spend millions of dollars cleaning out zebra mussels from their facilities. In addition, more money has been spent on retrofitting facilities with devices to keep zebra mussels out and to monitor for them. These costs get passed along to the consumers.

They are primarily algae feeders. They feed by filtering the water through a siphon, up to a liter per day. This is why they like the insides of pipes so well, there is a constant supply of water and food flowing by them.

What impact are they having on the ecosystem?

One of the most well documented impacts is on our native mussels. Zebra mussels are anchoring themselves by the thousands to native mussels making it impossible for the native mussel to function. As many as 10,000 zebra mussels have attached to a single native mussel. Our natives have all but disappeared in Lake St. Clair and the western basin of Lake Erie. Zebra mussels also are filtering the Great Lakes at an amazing rate, making the lake very clear. Most people assume that this increased visibility in the water must mean the water is "cleaner". Not true. All they have done is filter out all the algae which normally would be food for native microscopic organisms.

It is these microscopic organisms that are the food for the bait fish that the perch eat. no microscopic organisms, no bait fish, no perch.

Zebra mussels do not have many natural predators in North America. But, it has been documented that several species of fish and diving ducks have been known to eat them.




Another new species to the Great Lakes is the Goby fish.

The round goby (Neogobius melanstomus) is a small, bottom— dwelling fish that was first found in the Great Lakes region in 1990. Originally from the Black and Caspian Sea areas of Eastern Europe, it is believed that this exotic species arrived in the ballast water of vessels coming into the Great Lakes. Since the first sighting in the St. Clair River, round gobies have spread to all of the Great Lakes and are working their way inland through the rivers and canal systems.

Characteristics

Gobies are relatively small (about 25 cm) bottom dwelling fishes. They prefer rocky and sandy lake bottoms and can occupy a broad range of depths, but are the most abundant in the nearshore.

Their populations have exploded in the Great Lakes because of their aggres­sive nature, and their ability to spawn several times per season. The fish feeds on insects and other small organ­isms found on the lake bottom. They also feed heavily on Zebra Mussels and occasionally on small fish and fish eggs.

Field investigations have suggested that the die-offs observed in Lake Huron may be the result of botulism type E poisoning. Toxins from the bacterium Clostridium botulinum and specifically Type E botulism, which is found in fish-eating birds in the Great Lakes, cause these die-offs. The botulism toxin is pro­duced in the absence of oxygen and with suitable temperature and nutrient conditions. It remains unclear which fac­tors trigger the bacterium to produce the neurotoxin and the ensuing fish and wildlife die-offs.

Species commonly found during die-off events include: Freshwater Drum (Sheepshead), Smallmouth Bass, Rock Bass, Round Gobies, and Channel Catfish. Bird species include Loons, Cormorants, Mergansers, Gulls and other waterbirds. It is suspected that zebra and quagga mussels are ingesting the botulinum bacteria (invertebrates are not affected by botulism).

Round gobies are known to heavily feed on mussels; therefore, they are thought to be ingesting the bacteria. Native fish species such as those commonly associated with the die-off are starting to feed primarily on the round goby; thus, they become affected by botulism. This movement of botulism is believed to be leading to the fish die-offs commonly observed along Lake Huron.

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Photos

My baby next to Barb's Kiddy..
it's just the angle, hers really was bigger than mine