The wind came blasting in, far stronger than forecast. But
before it did, we’d had a fine run down through the Apostle Islands. Now
streaks of white filled the horizon, wave crests breaking against the hull
began covering us in spray. So, we turned to head back into the marina early in
the afternoon and helped tidy up the 30 foot sloop that served as our hosts
summer cottage and lake explorer.
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| 1. Sailing with Jerry and Karen on Lake Superior was one more of the special moments of our three month meander across the US. |
“Tell you what,” said Karen. “Let’s head over to Bayfield
and have us an ice cream, a look around.” The turn our day took brought to mind
one of the many lessons cruising taught me.
For the previous two weeks we’d been meandering ever
westward, on land, not by sea. David, who is from Australia, had never explored
the American west. Fortunately, I have a pick-up truck and slide in camper
which I use for occasional US seminar tours. Between tours I store it with
friends, one in Connecticut, the other in California. This year, the truck was
waiting in Connecticut. We settled Sahula in Tasmania for the southern
winter and took off on an extended land tour. Mostly we kept our schedule
loose, choosing our route and destinations as we moved along. We both had a few
special friends we wanted to visit. Thus our path took us through Vermont, on
to Niagara Falls, then into Canada. Three sets of friends, three days with each
of them. We continued along the south shore of Lake Superior. At Sault Ste.
Marie we dropped down into Michigan and drove almost to the western end of the
Great Lakes to meet up with Karen Larsen and Jerry Powlas. We’d been friends
since they asked Larry and I for advice and ideas to start what became a
successful magazine called Good Old Boat.
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| 2. We found wonderful camping, often right next to burbling rivers, in National Forest Lands as we began to explore the Rocky Mountains. |
Bayfield turned out to be a delightful little town. A small
volunteer run maritime museum showed us the rich and often strange history of area
which until recently was dependent fully on the fishing fleet. It had once
numbered more than a 150 working boats but had now dwindled to about a dozen.
The most interesting exhibit to us with our more tropical based upbringings,
was the ice road. Each winter, as the lake freezes over, a road is cleared
across the ice to connect the nearest island to the mainland. Over a hundred
people live there. The children cross to the mainland by boat in summer, by ice
tractor in the winter. But occasional mishaps such as when the ice could not
bear the load of a full house being transported to a new location, made for the
most amazing photographs.
Museum enjoyed, ice cream in hand, we wandered the small
downtown area, walked along the docks of the town landing. I tend to read
everything and anything and I began noticing simple 8 by 11 posters advertising
a chamber music concert at the local church in just over an hour. The first
half dozen I sort of ignored. Then I pointed out yet another one to David. “Be
interested?” I asked.
“For $12 why not be supportive. Only happens once a year
according to this poster,” he replied.
“Okay, we’ve got time to ask Jerry and Karen to drive us
back so we can get our truck.” I answered.
But Jerry and Karen were interested too, as they had friends
in Bayfield. “Might run across someone we know.”
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| 3. As I write this we have begun exploring red rock parts of southern Colorado and are now at the amazing Mesa Verde before we move on towards New Mexico and Arizona. |
An hour slipped gently by as we browsed the well-stocked
bookstore (Yes, I did buy yet another book because of the owners high
recommendation and am enjoying it now.). Then we found seats at the local
church and settled in for what turned out to be and hour-and-a-half of tear
inducing beautiful music played by a mix of professional and semi-professional
locals. During intermission, the husband of the pianist commented to us, “My
wife has been practicing for this concert all year. Now I hear it played with
the other four musicians, and an audience, I see why she does it.” At the end
of the second concerto, we, like all the generous crowd of local people who
were in attendance, eagerly gave the musicians a standing ovation. But what
made the event one I’ll always remember is the warmth which many people
extended to us when they learned we came from far away. When they learned we
had come from Australia and New Zealand they gave us a standing ovation. They
seemed exceptionally pleased we had dropped in just on a whim and responded to
the beautifully chosen and beautifully played music just as they did.
Later, over a late dinner with Karen and Jerry, I commented,
“almost sorry we are planning to continue westward in the morning, I know if we
stayed, we’d have made friends with some of the people we met this evening and
had a fine time as we got to truly know the place.”
The lesson I relearned from my voyaging days? Keep your eyes
open, your schedule flexible and be willing to try almost anything that was a
bit different. I can’t count the number of times doing just this provided the
highlights of our voyaging life and introduced us to local people who became
life-long friends.
May you have fair winds and interesting encounters
Lin
P.S. Looking forward to meeting some of you at the Port
Townsend Wooden Boat Festival or Annapolis US Sailboat Show. Just got word the
brand new, fully updated and expanded 3rd Edition of Self Sufficient
Sailor is fresh off the presses and being shipped to my distributor right now.
So, having a big book launching party at my booth in Annapolis on the Friday,
at 6PM. Herb McCormick from Cruising World will be there and so will Desiree
and Jordan of Sailing Project Atticus.
For any of you who might like an autographed copy, if you
follow this link clickhere before September 15th, I can sign books before I leave
the country to head back to Sahula for more voyaging around southern
Australia. I leave the day after the Annapolis show.