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Published: September 7th 2016
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Our Route
The purple line draws out our anticipated route Sept 4, 2016
It is early morning on day 4 of our adventure. Despite this being an unscheduled, take it as it comes trip, we have been pushing pretty hard so far. Having left a little later than anticipated, we want to get out of the great lakes before any nasty autumn weather hits.
And so we haven’t stepped foot off the boat for 48 hours. Instead we have been running 10-12 hours. But we have made good headway. Leaving Port Stanley on Sept 2, we made our way past Erieau and around Point Pelee arriving to anchor near Leamington at around 9:30pm. This morning, we pulled anchor (ok, I admit, I was still in bed…Lukus did all the work) and headed towards the Detroit River and then north to Lake St. Clair.
We are headed north??? I know, didn’t make any sense to me at first either. Seems a little backwards. A few people have asked about our route, so I have tried to draw out a rough route on a map (see photo). Hey, sometimes it takes one step back (or north) to get two steps forward!
I think the last two days would probably
seem uneventful for most, lots of water, some land in the distance, and an engine constantly chugging in the background. But there has been lots of learning for me.
I am still gaining my sea legs; figuring out how to do things on a rocking boat. It can be challenging to cook meals and clean when things are sliding around; I have been tempted to try yoga, but haven’t worked up the nerve yet. My balance is questionable at the best of times! But after a while, the perpetual motion of the boat has become almost soothing and neither of us has fallen over yet.
Lukus is teaching me more about wheeling the boat, how to watch the waves, and anticipate the movement of the boat. One of the biggest lessons I have learned is about over steering. In bigger waves, the boat tends to be bob around and it is tempting to adjust the wheel every time. But what I have noticed is that if you set the wheel properly in the direction you want to head, the boat will often correct itself. Makes it a lot easier than constantly spinning the wheel.
It is kind
of like that in life. When we overreact to every little thing that tries to push us off our course, it can take up a lot of energy. But if we keep our eyes on our destination, and ride out the little waves, it makes the journey less exhausting and more enjoyable.
Sept 6
We finally tied up yesterday after 3 days on the water…for an hour and a half. I took two steps on land to tie up the boat in Port Huron, where we cleared customs and fuelled up. Now we are back on the water; I don’t know if I will remember how to walk on firm ground when we finally stop! But we are making good time.
After stopping in Port Huron, we headed back out onto the Sarnia River. The river gets very narrow and choppy as you pass between Detroit and Sarnia, so we were being tossed around back and forth pretty good. Then, we look back, and we see a huge cargo ship coming up our stern. Pretty intimidating to see these monsters pushing right for you (see photo).
Now back out in open waters; cruising on Lake Huron
towards Sault Ste. Marie. We hope to arrive up at the tip of Michigan by sometime tomorrow as the weather is supposed to get a little dicier. Just asked Lukus if there is anything he wanted to add. He said “Waves are getting a bit bigger again; and that is all I have to say about that.” I have been hearing a lot of Forest Gump quotes out of him lately.
The more we talk about it, Forest Gump is an ideal role model. He took every opportunity he was presented and pushed ahead without every really thinking about whether he could actually do it or not. He didn’t let doubts enter his mind; he just went ahead and did what he wanted to do.
So, that is what we are inspired to do. Just move forward through this door that has been opened without allowing worry or scepticism to get in the way. And some people might think that’s stupid but as Forest would say “Stupid is as stupid does”.
P.S. There have been people asking some questions, like what our route is. If you have a question, you can put it in the
comments below and that way, we can try and answer them.
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Janice Pow
non-member comment
Wow!
Every time you share an other instalment in your journey I can't wait to read it. I am inspired by your adventure. I want to tell everyone I actually know someone who is on such brave journey. I feel cooler just because I worked with you over a decade ago. Thank you for the map showing your route. I pictured you going east to the Atlantic and down. But I know nothing of geography and less of boats. I am curious, why this trip, why now?