Great Loop

September 20 Great News Terri and I received some great news this past week.  No, Micaela is NOT having #8.  But our youngest, Colton (and his wife Emily), are going to have #1! YEA!!! Tell me that doesn't look just like Colt (after a little to much bourbon)!   Anyway, we are real excited and that was fantastic news to receive on the trip.  Congrats Colt and Emily! Lake Michigan I owe the state of Michigan a huge apology.  My impression of the state was largely from my business dealings in Detroit.  In general I wondered why anyone would ever choose to live here or even attempt a short visit.  I could not have been more wrong.  Take your family to the Michigan side of the lake.  You will not be disappointed.  All the towns have been quaint, fun and beautiful.  The people are outstanding and the water spectacular. The places we have visited since I last wrote include really cool towns like Petosky, Ludington, Pentwater, Muskegon, Grand Haven and Saugatuck.  Each of these places brin

September 11 Whereas the trip has been amazing, stunning and really really fun, not every day is roses and unicorns.  It is easy to forget that the good Lord has this very persnickety friend called Mother Nature who gets fussy from time to time.  Take a look at this.  We traveled ~35 miles in this mess one day: What the video doesn't show are the lightening strikes all around us.  The admiral was not impressed but hung in there.  She did ask questions like "what happens when lightening strikes a boat?".  Please don't fact check my answer of "Lightening never strikes a boat because it is not grounded".  It seemed like the right thing to say at the time.  Funny story, everyone made it to port that night safe.  There was a very large docktails at the marina clubhouse.  When we waked in someone yells: "And there goes the Shorebilly blowing right by us leaving us in our misery." The rest of the room chimed in "yea,  we saw them on AIS (some said Ne