We arrived in White Hall, Michigan on Tuesday afternoon under not so good conditions. We were in Lake Michigan getting ready to enter the rather long channel into White Lake when our steering went out! We went a little farther out into the lake and Mike actually went under the boat to see if anything was wrapped around the rudder. After discounting that, he went down under our bed where the steering mechanism is located and discovered a piece broken. Our choice was to either call for a tow or have me sit down there with the emergency tiller and headsets steering us in. We chose the second option and there I sat for about an hour listening for instructions and pulling or pushing that tiller as hard as I could. I have extremely sore shoulders as a result!
Kathy operating the emergency
tiller from below listening to instructions
from the captain through headsets
Prior to cruising to White Hall, we made a stop in Frankfort where we saw swans immediately upon entering the slip. We were almost able to have them eating out of our hands.
Mike feeding "Ralph"
Frankfort is a cute town with beautiful homes and a great beach which we discovered by riding our bikes around the area. We only spent on night there and headed to Ludington where we also spent one night.
As I mentioned we're in South Haven for one night and tomorrow we head to New Buffalo which is our last stop before Chicago. This place is very active - lots of boat traffic and noise. I think this is one of the last week-ends for the people of Michigan before having to store their boats for the winter.
We're meeting Mike's sister Kay and her husband Steve in Chicago where they'll stay with us for a couple of nights so we can do some city tours.
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