North Channel Drummond Island and De Tour Village 9-9-10

This is a 2 flag day for us: we come back to the USA and the red, white and blue through customs on Drummond Island; and we really earn our gold burgee for our Great Circle Loop for the 2008-2010 trip. We will not be going back into Lake Superior this year, but we were here in De Tour Village on 9/12/08 at the start of that Loop, and crossed our wake here today after logging 7,315 miles. We know we’re back in familiar waters as the ore freighters are on parade and they definitely have the right-of-way.

We are quietly reflective today compared to our other Loop milestone of technically completing the Great Circle Loop in the Chesapeake on 6-27-09 (see archive article, It's Been a Grand Adventure). Since that accomplishment, we’ve really slowed down, savored the moment and have broken-up the final leg into segments. It has been less stressful, and more fun in many ways than the fast-paced Loop schedule. Going only 300 miles in 3 months allowed us to really revisit our roots, relatives and friends in New Jersey, New York and Vermont last summer and fall, and this spring. Slowly cruising the Chambly, Rideau and Trent-Severn Canadian canals this summer, and then exiting into the Georgian Bay and North Channel areas of Lake Huron has been the highlight of our entire Loop.

We went to the De Tour Botanic garden today as we did on 9/12/08. Here are a few of the images from there: a Passage Keeper, a Sea Memorial and a Window on the World. It captures some of how we feel today—thankful that we could make this passage, and mindful that it has definitely given us a new window on the world.

North Channel Town of Thessalon 9-6-10

With the trio of strong clocking winds, cold temps (we don’t have a built-in heater) and rain with t-storms continuing here in the North Channel, we made the reluctant decision to leave the town of Spanish for the town of Thessalon instead of anchoring out on this holiday Monday. There were no boats in sight as we traveled east through the Whaleback Channel and Blind River Bank. We saw lots of anchorages that we want to try next year—Bear Drop, Long Point Cove, John’s Harbour—the list is endless here.

Our boat is a Grand Banks trawler and we joined the Great Lakes Grand Banks Association (GLGBA) a few years ago but have been too busy Looping to do much with them. On a whim, Bob sent an email to Linc North, a GLGBA member, newsletter editor and resident of Thessalon, that we would be coming into the Thessalon marina. Linc was there to catch our lines and whisked us away to his stunning home overlooking the harbor. We were wined and dined with a fantastic partridge and wild rice dinner, topped off with his wife, Shirley’s amazing apple rhubarb pie. What a gracious couple and the only thing Linc is requesting from me is a newsletter article—that’s a deal.

Thessalon offers a harbor with good protection, use of loaner bikes, a lighthouse-inspired marina building with a boaters’ lounge loft with complete kitchen. There are shops, a grocery store, hardware store, restaurants (Tina’s On Main is good), LCBO, parks and an ice arena that is gearing up for some serious hockey. You can tell a country is serious about hockey when it depicts hockey on their $5 bill—not pros, but kids playing. You got to love it! Speaking of money, we have been accumulating oodles of coins as Canada does not have $1 or $2 bills, but has these denominations in coins. We are hunched over carrying all these coins around, and Canadians tell us that’s why they all use knapsacks for wallets. I took $50 in coins up to the municipal office to pay the marina bill as the boat was listing from all the weight.

The last picture illustrates our boat name better than any explanation. With a name like Baby Grand, we usually get asked—“Are you musicians?” or “Do you have a baby grand piano onboard?” “Of course,” we say, “It’s just a little hard to get it out of the rear locker.” The real answer is that our Grand Banks 32 foot boat is the smallest model made by Grand Banks, hence Baby Grand. Here that point is illustrated next to Bonnie Banks, a 49 foot Grand Banks, owned by Floyd and Maggie Lewis who also came into Thessalon to visit with Linc and Shirley.

This is our last stop in Canada. We crossed the border on 6/13 and have been welcomed everywhere we’ve travelled. It is a beautiful country, filled with amazing people who really want you to have a good time here. I’ve been reading Richard Ford’s novel, Independence Day, and could not agree more with his character's observation: “The best all-around Americans, in my view, are Canadians. I, in fact, should think of moving there, since it has all the good qualities of the states and almost none of the bad, plus cradle-to-grave health care and a fraction of the murders we generate……”

Canada—see you next summer, eh.