Author: Mike & Jonell Murphree

Ok Getting Looped Followers, todays update is a doozy !

Update #1 – We began the day early this am with a wild wind storm, I felt the boat jostling around about 5am. Went out side to check the lines – everything looked ok, everyone’s boat was moving a lot.

Update #2 – Cousin Kathy Serre & Aunt Angie came to the marina to see the boat for the first time & to drop off aunt Angie’s GMC Jimmy, for Jonell and I to use over the weekend (how nice, eh!) . They live in Alpena , about 40 minutes away. The plan was for Jonell & I to use the car over the weekend and then meet them for a BBQ in Alpena on Sunday. (Sorry, we forgot to get pictures of them on the boat, we will take blog photos on Sunday at the BBQ).

Update #3 – We used aunt Angie’s Jimmy to go to the Presque Isle OLD Lighthouse. It is only 38ft tall, but was built in 1840. The structure was built with 2/3rds stone & 1/3 brick, but by 1867 had deteriorated enough, and was no longer high enough to be effective. Congress approved budget for the NEW Lighthouse, one mile further north on the Presque Isle pointe.

Update #4 – We then went to the NEW Presque Isle Lighthouse, built in 1870 (only 40 yrs later). It was built closer to the pointe on the Presque Isle peninsula, it is 109ft tall and supposedly the tallest of the 149 light houses in Michigan that you can climb to the top. One of us did climb the 131 steps to the top. The view was grand, as expected (at least, that’s what Nellie told me).

Update #5 – We then drove aunt Angie’s Jimmy to Ocqueoc Water Falls , just outside of Rogers City. When we pulled into the parking lot and paid the attendant, I noticed what seemed like an abnormal high fuel pump whine noise from the bottom rear of the vehicle. The car stalled while paying the attendant, but started back up. We parked the car, then went to the falls. The water falls were in a very secluded area, with me & Jonell being the only humans in sight.
Check out our secluded hide away = https://youtu.be/Roc7V47nk6I

Update #6 – Upon returning to the car we encountered as they say in the auto industry , a “No-Start Condition”. The time is 4:00pm, park closes at 5pm, and first three attempts with my cell to call AAA or google auto repair failed due to no cell service. BUT, then came Nellie’s new smart phone to the rescue. Jonell’s phone had enough signal to google a shop in Rogers City. The owner/operator John did not have a tow truck, but did call three tow companies for us due to our cell issues, until he found one that could show up before 5pm. The tow truck came at 4:50pm and delivered us and the Jimmy to the repair shop at 5:25pm. The owner John waited past 5pm closing time for us to arrive. We then needed a ride back to the boat in Presque Isle (about 40min away).
Tow driver AJ gave us a lift to the local sports bar where we planned to call an Uber or Taxi.

Update #7 – After arriving at the International Sports Bar in Rogers City, we learned that there is no taxi service or Uber service in Rogers City. While on the phone with the taxi company in Alpena (closest place, $75 ride back to boat), the conversation of our woes was over heard by a woman at the bar who said ” we will give you a ride back”. New friends, John & Mary Alice Krajanta & 90 year old father Robert to the rescue. We bought their dinner and were delivered back to Gettin’ Looped about 6:30pm.

Update #8 – After returning home to Gettin’ Looped, we unwound with some Bicardi/Coke, a big Bear Claw Ice Cream Cone from the local hot spot parlor, and a night ending walk on the break wall to view the sunset over the western tree line.

Time for Ferris Buehler & Bride to go nitie nite !

The weather cleared from the rainy/dreary Wednesday at Harrisville.
Time to go back to work !
Today started out as another one of those tough days, departing Harrisville Michigan heading to Presque Isle, with beautiful wind/waves (thanks again maw Murph & Silorey).
It was a hard day because we had dew on the windows and we had to raise the center glass to see (Nellie got cold).

We arrived in Presque Isle about 2pm, washed the boat, and had some welcome to Presque isle drinks at the bar.

After the “welcome to Presque Isle drinks, we went for a walk down the marina breakwall. The water UP NORTH here is crystal clear (we are now officially up north, north of Aunt Angie in Alpena), Can’t wait to see the Georgian Bay water because this water is dramatically more clear than Harrisville , only 50 miles further south.

The day ended with a nice dinner, docktails with 2 other couples,  & a walk thru the marina looking for the next Murphree Boat, I think we found it, a 65ft Marquis Motor Yacht.

Check out the GPS Tracker, it feels like we are making progress now after 5 days in Caseville & 2 days in Harrisville – it was good to get further north = https://share.garmin.com/GettinLooped2017

We came to Presque Isle (just north of Alpena) to see Aunt Angie Chesney, & my cuz Kathy & Dan Serre.
We will see them tomorrow and Sunday.
Kathy says they will drop off A. Angie’s car tomorrow, and that we can use it for the whole weekend (no Daniel, you can’t borrow it !).
We will also have a BBQ on Sunday at Dan/Kathy’s house

The Caseville to Harrisville departure was delayed by 1 day due to 25-30 mph winds on Monday (phone Apps – Windy & Sailflow are coming in handy to predict winds in advance).
After hunkering down for one more day in Caseville, we departed this morning on a  beautiful peaceful Lake Huron. We are pretty sure that we are being blessed on this trip by a couple weather angels named Jan & Faye (thx mommies).
Join us for a ride = https://youtu.be/HyHUwwqYj3Y

Harrisville is about 50 miles north of Caseville and 50 miles south of Alpena/Presque Isle, our next stop. It’s a small quiet town of under 1000 people.

They have the train tracks going to anywhere USA

And if the train is not on time, you can hitch a ride on US-23 back to metro Detroit (three blocks from the Harrisville Harbor) .

We went for a walk into town, ate/drank dinner at Shot Maker’s Sports Bar/Grill, and had some of the coldest/freshest tap beer I have ever had. Then we came back to hang out at the very nice marina lounge, watch the Tiger game , and talk boating travels with 4 sail boaters who have done some of the legs of the Loop.

We also had some GREAT NEWS & some not so great news from the Real World.

GREAT NEWS – Daniel was baptized this past weekend by Pastor Jesse at Christ the King Church, brother-in-law Adam participated (sorry for the grainy video, but we are proud).
https://youtu.be/xI2dTAXyZE0

Danny boy had some bad luck this evening with the Fiat, he is taking collections for repairs. I recon that I will be his initial contributor.

The Grobbels returned us to Gettin’ Looped about 11am Sunday, and at noon we welcomed the next Caseville visitors; FCA co-worker Brian Agar & lifelong college pal Eric Deloney (also visited us in Lexington).

Brian has boated in the Caseville area for many years, he has a warehouse with 15-20 boats, trailers, and full shop.
Brian gave us the Caseville tour of ; the Pigeon River break wall, his brand new 5th wheel trailer, his warehouse, & his home marina “Huron Yatch Club”.

The Saginaw Bay end of the very long breakwall had interesting deformations of the safety rails from damage created by the ice during the past winter (the power of water & ice).

Brian then took us to his very unique Huron Yacht Club, of which the interior was built entirely by the very small 40 person club membership.

After the Caseville tour from Brian, we returned to Gettin’ Looped and visited for a few hours. Shortly after Eric & Brian left, a viscous storm passed thru. I did not get any video, but cousin Ron Grobbel texted to make sure Jonell & I were ok, and attached this video from his cottage 7 miles north of the marina.

Good to be safely tied up in port during this one, we did lose power at the marina for about 5 minutes.

 

We spent the day with my cousins Ron & Sue Grobbel & their adult children Katie & Michael Malone. We started with some drinks on the rear deck of Gettin’ Looped. Then we went to the Grobbel’s new cottage, purchased last year about the same time we purchased the boat.
As we approached the driveway of the new Grobbel estate, my eyes widened as we pulled up in the drive.

After my initial shock, Ron backed out his neighbor’s driveway, and pulled into his own driveway. A beautiful 5 bedroom/4 bath home right on Saginaw Bay.
Ron/Sue treated us to some awesome 3″ thick pork chops (really 3″), that Ron cooked on the open fire on the beach. We later had some post dinner drinks, milkshakes, and ice cream cones. The clouds cleared for about 3 hours and we were able to watch stars & the campfire late into the night.

We arrived Thursday afternoon after a pretty bumpy ride from Harbor Beach.
Shortly after the arrival we met the harbormaster ” Gold Looper, Bernie Cobb”.
Bernie recognized the AGLCA burgee and the stories about his Looping experience began.

Surprisingly, later that afternoon, we met 2 other couples who ALSO RECOGNIZED THE AGLCA BURGEE. The two couples were both Platinum Loopers (have completed the Loop more than once); Bob/Sally Oliver & Ed/Connie Fibranz.
We invited them up on the rear deck of Gettin’ Looped, and picked their brains about the Loop for about 90 minutes (forgot to get a photo, will add it later this weekend).
We spent the early day today cleaning the boat & doing laundry, prepping for guests later this weekend.
During the afternoon we went on a bike ride to the Caseville Beach. Had some refreshments at the “Baywatch on the Beach Grill”. Sounded nice on Google, but it was basically a burger/hot dog stand with no libations. At the beach, we people watched under a shade tree and were able to see a really cool seaplane land and later take off. We missed the landing it was the most cool, but did get some video of the take off. Not sure how the quality will be on the blog, but its worth a look.

Tomorrow – visiting with cousins, Ron & Sue Murphree

The weather gods continue to shine on us.
We departed Lexington about 8:45am today to absolutely NO Wind !
Most of the ride was magnificent, with wind/waves picking up as we approached Harbor Beach.

At Harbor Beach we began to experience some of the small town friendliness we had heard of from other Loopers. One of the marina staff took us into town to the Hardware, Drug store, and Boating Store.
Harbor Beach Marina has a very long pier/breakwall on Lake Huron – we spent the afternoon sitting on the pier having some pre-dinner refreshments.
Nellie then took her 1st Looping bike ride into town where we had a great dinner at the highly recommended Smallies Bar/Grill (Butterfly Shrimp, Pasta Amelia & 2 Beers = $26.67). The shrimp & chicken pasta were awesome.
Tomorrow=Harbor Beach to Caseville, where we will meet up with cousins,  The Grobbels  & FCA pal Brian Agar.

GPS Tracker =https://share.garmin.com/GettinLooped2017

After visitors Kenny/Kathy Luchkovitz & Eric/Nancy Deloney departed, Nellie & I had some down time to spend in Lexington Harbour.
We spent the afternoon under a shade tree watching teens play volleyball, looking at Lake Huron, and the Boats in the Marina.
We then came back to the boat, took a short siesta, went to dinner at the Village Pub, and had a small 22oz Caramel shake for a nite-cap (Then a Netflicks movie on the boat).
Starting to like this Looping !

The first 50 mile voyage was great. The weather was perfect – low boat traffic, low wind, and sunny. In spite of boating on Lake St Clair for 35 years, I had never taken a ride up the somewhat scenic St Clair River.
Passing thru Port Huron under the Blue Water Bridge was interesting. The current and wind increased dramatically as approaching the mouth of Lake Huron. Once on Lake Huron the pace slowed down to a nice 5-10 kts and 1/2 ft waves (yea, first day on Huron).
We spent the afternoon of arrival with retired FCA friends Ken & Kathy Luchkovitz.

 

Approaching Blue Water Bridge & entering Lake Huron

Lake Huron – Lots of water to the East !
That is a strange cloud line in the distance, not Land.

Kenny & Kathy visiting Getting Looped at Lexington State Harbor

My pal Eric Deloney & bride Nancy

 

Check out the GPS Tracker Link (it’s always on the welcome page) – making progress now
https://share.garmin.com/GettinLooped2017

 

Well the 1st stop was a whopping 25 miles away, at Algonac Harbour Club. We spent the weekend with fellow boaters; Dave/Carol Vrabel, Rich/Anita Cook, and Dave/Shelly Herzog. So far feels just like a normal boating/drinking weekend. Probably will start feeling like a voyage as we get up to northern michigan. Next stop Lexington Michigan in Lake Huron.