Relocating to Oconto, WI

A week ago we took the Shangri-La to Oconto, WI where we will start rebuilding the cabin area. On September 1st, we will relocate the motorhome from here at River Park in Menominee, MI to Holtwood Campground in Oconto. The campground there doesn't close for the winter until the end of October. I have set up a blog where I will post pictures and up-dates of progress on our restoration project. After we complete the restoration project on the Shangri-La, we plan on moving onboard as our summer home.
http://shangrilarestorationproject.blogspot.com/

Back to Menominee

We made it back to Memoninee late this afternoon after driving over 300 miles. First we drove from Sault Ste. Marie to Drummond Island. Drummond Island, MI sets on the North end of Lake Huron where we will set sail someday as we leave the USA heading into Canada's North Channel. With today's politics in the USA, someday may not be very far away. From there we back tracked some of our route and headed to St. Ignace, MI. We were going to go over the Mackinac Bridge but the traffic was backed up due to road construction so we decided to make that another trip. From there we headed West on US Highway 2 back to Escanaba to Michigan Highway 35 into Menominee.

DO DA SOO, EH!

This morning while riding my bike in town I thought to myself, we've talked about going to Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan but we've been putting it off. So after arriving back home from my ride I asked Barb if she wanted to go for a ride. 220 miles later here we are.


The first thing we done was to go to the Soo Locks (Click HERE for Webcam) and watch a lake freighter go through. This was Barb's first time to watch a ship go through the locks. I watched the Pacific Princess, the ship that was used in the 1977 - 1986 TV show "The Love Boat", go through the locks in the Panama Canal back in 1987.


Then we had the wild idea of leaving the country so we headed to Canada..., Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario that is.



There we drove around town for awhile and stopped to walk the mall. Afterwards we headed back across to the USA side and are spending the night at a Budget Host Inn. Tomorrow we will head towards Mackinac.

USS Freedom

We watched the USS Freedom leave the docks for the first time today starting it's sea trials. The USS Freedom (LCS-1) is the first Navy ship of it's kind. A LCS is a Littoral Combat Ship. Connect HERE to learn more. The USS Freedom was first scheduled to leave around 5:30 CDT this morning but it wasn't until 2:00 this afternoon until the tugs finely pulled it away from the docks. The USS Freedom is 329 feet long, 43 feet wide, draws 12.8 feet of water, has the same engines as the DC-10 airliner and will go from 0 to 40 knots in 90 seconds.

Chamber's Island Cruise

Barb and I cruised our boat to Chambers Island Bay today with a group of two other boaters for a day of sun and fun on the beach. Once there we backed into about 3 1/2 feet of water, dropped anchor and rafted with the other two boats for the rest of the afternoon. I got in the water for awhile. It was cold but once in for a few minutes it wasn't bad. Barb set on the swim deck with her feet in the water. There were probably 30 other boats out there doing the same thing this afternoon.

After we got back to the marina there was a party going on. The marina owners held a 4th of July party for the slip holders and guest which had already got underway shortly before we returned from today's trip.