Back in the Great Lakes

Good night George. Good night Gracie.

Oh my gosh! We are both so happy to be back in fresh water and in the Great Lakes. We left Buffalo, NY, this morning and started west into Lake Erie. Lake Michigan here we come!!!! :-)

Dr. Seuss wrote a book called "Oh the Places You'll Go" which does apply to our journey on Tequila, but I'd like to change the title to "Oh the People You'll Meet!" In the three years we've been traveling by water to Down East in Maine and back again, we have met some of the nicest people. I'm going to list them so that I never forget how they helped us reach our goal of a long journey on our sailboat. They (maybe you are on the list) appear in no particular order.

*Bill sometimes of Charlevoix, MI - He has patiently push, prodded, provided web sites, fixed problems on our computers, and been our go-to computer guru. We can never thank him enough.

*Bob and Camille, Bristol, RI - This year Bob called us in April to offer us an apartment in his parents' house. We would have drown in a tent this year. It was a perfect little apartment for us.

*Bob, Sr. and Betty, Warren, RI- They were so nice with us and didn't seem bothered by our odd hours. They let us use their washing machine too!

*Gary, Lockmaster at Lock 26, Erie Canal - He drove us miles and miles from the canal to a motel when we couldn't sleep on the boat because of a diesel fuel leak.

*Faith and Ron, Buffalo, NY - They drove us to the grocery store and out to dinner. Those were two wonderful stops with very friendly people.

*Norm and Chris, Littleton, CO-They gave us their battery powered little refrigerator because our refrigerator on the boat stopped working.

*Marlene and Mike, East Lansing, MI-They were "crew" for the three years of the trip. Mike was invaluable in the building of the craddle for the mast and Marlene was a great galley companion.

They gave us a 2 step step-ladder that Lou needs to put the cover on the main sail. Great!

*The Tow Truck Driver, Bristol, RI- He drove us around when our car had a flat tire. Very nice guy.

*Matt, Grand Cayman Islands-He fine tuned the boat and tried to correct all our "bad habits." He needed more than four days to get that job done, but we appreciated his advice.

Cordray Family, Milburn, NJ- They were going to drive our car and trailer back to Michigan for us in August until Matt decided to do the driving. We still appreciated them being willing to do that for us. And, Lori brought enough food on her sail to feed us for a week.

Lloyd and Sharon-They have been storing our car since Matt dropped it off in Michigan.

Marie-She's been getting our mail this summer. (A belated thanks to Lisa and Don for getting it the other two summers.)

All the Lockmasters and Lift Bridgemasters for being so courteous and friendly on the Erie Canal.

The Crews at Bristol, Hop-O-Nose, and RCR Yachts for stepping and unstepping our mast and providing great service.

Everyone who shared charts, information, and stories.

Tim and Susan, Buffalo, NY-for providing us with transportation to the rental car location so that we could get home for Brady's birth.

Everyone who reads this blog and shares our adventure.

Lou-He brought me on this journey with his pockets full of patience. It takes a special person who can give the same instructions to the "helper" who has forgotten once again. :-(