Tuesday, August 28 – The weather finally cooperated for us to make the trip from Mackinac City to Charlevoix.  The problem was that we would be traveling through four weather zones in the space of the 60 mile trip.  First, we had to go north on Lake Huron, then west through the Straits of Mackinac, then south through Gray’s Reef Passage, and finally southeast to Charlevoix.

Charlevoix is a resort town with a  winter population is about 2,500 and a summer one of about 25,000.  It is one of those places where, before air conditioning, people from Chicago, Detroit and Cleveland came to escape the summer heat.  We were there over Labor Day weekend for the last hurrah of summer.  We rented a car for the weekend and did some touring of the area including Traverse City.

We were scheduled to be hauled early on Tuesday, the day after Labor Day.  Every other time Down Time has been hauled it has been with a travel lift.  This time it was on a giant trailer that backed down a public boat launching ramp.  We drove the boat on the trailer just like you would a 18 foot ski boat (remember Down Time is 36 feet long, 15 feet wide, and weights about 23,000 pounds).  The people doing the hauling were Bergmann Marine and they have hauled several boats identical to Down Time using this method.  It’s one of the reasons we used them.

Little truck hauling our big boat

On the trailier

The trailer was pulled several miles over public roads to the Bergmann main facility where the bottom was power washed and we unloaded our stuff into our rental car.  By 11 am we were all (Jim, Diane and Ron) on our way to Cleveland.  Later Down Time was moved into a heated barn where she will spend the winter.

Headed down the road to storage

Ron stayed a few days with us in Cleveland before flying back home to Texas.  We enjoyed having him with us and hope he joins us for part of next year’s trip.