Back to Traverse City

Carol & Roger are very happy after a beautiful day of sailing. The wind was from the west, so they sailed back south to Traverse City, where Carol wants to spend her birthday on Friday. They thought it was exciting to be moving really fast through the water.  The waters of Grand Traverse Bay are pretty protected, so you can get lots of wind (today the wind varied anywhere from 6-25 knots, but averaged about 15-20) without big waves. Even so, we “tipped” a lot (20 degrees and slightly more at times). The official sailor’s term is “heeling”, but I can’t say “heel”, since that’s what dogs do, not cats.

They were also excited to see a boat they recognized sailing north, a beautiful schooner with tanbark sails, the “Inland Seas”. It’s an educational ship that teaches people about the science of the Great Lakes.    Roger & Carol know the captain from their old church in Traverse City, so Carol called him on the radio to say hi. You can see a picture of the schooner at the top of this post. If I don’t move it down into the text, you should be able to click on it and make it bigger.

I spent most of the day below on the bed, trying to sleep, but I was bothered by the sound of the water rushing by the hull. I’m not doing as well as I was, so Carol has made an appointment for me to see one of my old vets here on Friday morning. I hope they can make me feel better. I don’t like making Carol worry.

There is a big film festival going on right now in Traverse City, so the town is crowded with tourists (more than usual). A few famous people are here for it, including Michael Moore, its founder, Phil Donahue who is presenting a film, and on Saturday, Madonna, who made a documentary about Malawi they are going to show. The other big-name attendee is Stanley Donen, the director of “Singin’ in the Rain”, which they are going to project on a huge screen in a park overlooking the bay, I think tomorrow night (there’s a free outdoor movie every night during the festival, which started yesterday and runs through the weekend). What fun!