Dunno, Cinder ...
Unka Pat talkz in Circles jest like Dad duz ...
Looks like he sent about Three Daze of Dawg Krunch wiff us ...
I guess we'll jest *hang* here wiff Cali, Miz Joan, an Unka Pat an wait fur him ta come home.
BOAT Ride?? We don't HAVE a boat!
How'z he gonna Ride inna BOAT??
Too Bad the FurKids couldn't have come along ...
Youngstown, OH to Mackinaw City, MI, by yourself is a Looooong drive!
WHY did he drive to Mackinaw City on Tuesday, June 20th, you ask?
He went onna BOAT RIDE ... and THIS was "The Boat" >>>
Yep ...
That's a real, live, just retired and decommissioned US Coast Guard Cutter -
the WWII Great Lakes Icebreaker the Mackinaw ...
sailing out of her Cheboygan, MI, home port and headed north to her
"New Home" at Mackinaw City, MI.
The Neat Part was good ole Phred was right there - ON BOARD - for the entire
4.5 hour Final Cruise from Cheboygan, north along Bois Blanc Island,
along and east past Mackinaw Island,
turned and sailed under the Mackinaw Bridge out into Lake Michigan,
came about and sailed back under the Mackinaw Bridge and back into
Lake Huron, and finally turned south to dock at
the Ship's New Home at Mackinaw City.
WW!
Icebreaker Mackinaw (WAGB-83) ~
390 feet Long x 74 feet wide; 19.5 feet under water ...
SIX Fairbanks - Morse 10 cylinder diesel engines
driving generators turning electric motors which turn
Two 14 foot diameter stern props and One 12 foot bow prop ... 10,000 Horsepower!
5,252 TONS!!
The Mackinaw has been Breaking Ice on the Great Lakes for as long as I've
been around ... she was launched the day before I was born!
She was the Largest and most modern Icebreaker in the World for many years -
and is still the largest Icebreaker in the Coast Guard's Great Lakes fleet!
So HOW did I and 499 of my Closest Friends get to RIDE on her for 4.5 hours last Wednesday?
I'm STILL wondering HOW her Captain and the Owner of Sheplers Ferry Service
were able to convince the US Coast Guard to let 500 CIVILIANS climb on a 62
year old Cutter and Go for a Ride ...
But WHO Cares now - we GOT the Ride!
I wonder if anyone KNOWS we went for the ride??
(At least HALF of Michigan knows --- there was a LOT of TV coverage -
including ride-along camera crews!)
It's been an UP & Down month for the"Mighty Mac" ... the Museum Group that
has been
raising funds for years was dealt setbacks by Michigan refusing dock space;
and the Coast Guard and Congress dragged their feet with signing the
Boat over to the group ... which made fundraising more difficult ...
THANK Heavens for her Captain - Commander Joe McGuiness,
and Captain Bill Shepler - who just happened to own an old, unused ferry dock ...
They teamed up and got Uncle Sam to donate the Boat and Captain Bill said
his dock could be the Boat's new Home --- Deal DONE!
After making a "Serious" Donation to the Museum ... we got our Ticket to RIDE
and become a part of history!
Thursday I rode across the Mackinaw Bridge ...
and decided to keep on goin to see the big Soo Locks ...
well worth the extra half day ...
Pictures in the Album.
Oh yeah ...
HERE's the ImageStation Album of the entire Mackinaw / Soo Locks Trip >>>
http://www.imagestation.com/album/pi...?id=2104948856
Enjoy - cuz I sure did!!
/s/
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Glad you were able to pull it off and glad you had such a grand time! 
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