Balancing Family Connections and Boat Prep
The month of May brought a scheduling puzzle of tending to spring boat projects and launching Meraki while also wanting to attend graduation events for two grandchildren. Our solution meant an early launch date and a couple of trips back and forth from the Twin Cities and Rogers City.
Keeping family connections while we are cruising is important to us so we watch for opportunities. Sometimes it might mean a trip home and other times family comes to see us.
Graduating Grandchildren
Two grandchildren graduated from high school this spring and their events, ceremonies, and open houses were spread out at different times. We did our best to attend as many as possible.
Kayla has been dancing her whole childhood so it was meaningful and amazing to watch her senior dance performance. All those years of practice and dedication to dance certainly shined in the end of the year showcase. She’s a talented dancer not only athletically, but also in expressing story and emotion through movement. I smile and am impacted every time I get a chance to watch her perform. And I’m reminded to dance more often myself!
Ethan attends a classical school and part of their senior year is to write and present a thesis paper. Ethan’s topic of Actions Speak Louder Than Words; Why Christians Should Care About Social Justice was thoroughly researched and well presented. He seemed like a natural at public speaking! We appreciate an education that helps young people learn to think for themselves and reason through things. Tony and I had a nice conversation about what topic we’d research and write for a thesis. Give it some thought, what would you write about?
When we heard two of Tony’s siblings; Tom and Tami, were planning a road trip in our vicinity, we were hopeful we could match up our location and their route to coordinate a visit. It worked! They stopped by to see us in Rogers City a few days before we left the dock, how fun!
Boat Projects and More Boat Projects
Our spring boat projects included things needed before launch like replacing a thru-hull (twice because we broke the first one tightening it with the wrong tool, oops!) and painting the prop with anti-fouling.
Other projects included sanding and sealing the woodwork, changing our life lines, creating a jackline system, installing new speakers for the cockpit (nice to have music onboard!), and adding a remote VHF to the cockpit.
Our big improvement for this season is the addition of refrigeration, woo hoo! Because we’ll be on a longer liveaboard trip this summer, it was a priority to make Meraki more like a “home” than camping. We also added a solar panel to accommodate needing more power for the fridge. Tony hooked up all the pieces of the system and then was puzzled why it wasn’t working. “Why don’t you call the company tomorrow and walk through the installation with them” I suggested. Tony woke up the next morning and exclaimed “I figured it out!” “I forgot to turn the switch on”. And with the flip of a switch, we had more solar power heading into our battery.
Another “extra” to make this trip more comfortable and pleasant is the addition of Starlink mini. Now we’ll have better connectivity when we’re not close to shore or in a remote location.
Our galley got quite an upgrade from Tony’s brother Dave. We asked him to repair the old cutting board insert that sat over the sink. He not only repaired the old one, he also made us a gorgeous custom made one! What a special gift!
Speaking of the galley, it was time to change our dinnerware. It surprised me how attached I had become to our plastic “bowl plates” and mugs we’ve used over the years on different boats and locations. When unpacking them from storage after losing Terrapin, many of them were brittle and breaking. Last summer a few more hit the dust. When our new dishes arrived, I donated the remaining bowl plates and mugs. That night I kept considering going to the thrift store the next day and buying them back, but I refrained. We’re a few weeks into our trip now and we’re adjusting to our new dinnerware and mugs. I guess it shows how meals and food can be associated with memories.
You know the saying “a place for everything and everything in its place”. That sometimes is easier said than done. I worked hard to find containers for the various storage cubbies and our smaller ice box (more insulation for refrigeration). It’s like doing a jigsaw puzzle trying to find what will fit where. After making some progress, we declared it “good enough” as we wanted to get going. We can always rearrange and adjust later.
Rogers City
Rogers City worked out really well for winter storage and a location for spring projects. We loved the quaint and friendly community. When not working on projects, I frequented the library, coffee shop, and bakery. While Meraki’s cabin was a construction zone, we stayed in a local motel.
I appreciated being able to walk to/from our motel to the marina. On one of my walks, I met Evelyn who also enjoys walking down by the water. The small town feel of Rogers City meant I might see someone I knew while on errands. That happened a couple of times. I was at the grocery store and heard “Julie!” It was Evelyn who recognized me. We chatted there in the dairy isle and later enjoyed a lovely dinner visit together. Another time while waiting for my take-out order, a woman exclaimed “you’re from the marina!”, gave me a big hug, and invited me to sit down with her friends. She’s the owner of the coffee shop. It was delightful to hear their stories and especially about the recent ice storm. We were aware of an ice storm because of all the holes in our shrink wrap. Kyle, the dockmaster, explained how ice kept falling from the masts for a few days after the storm as temps warmed up, yikes!
Mural Festival
Right before we left Rogers City, there was a mural festival. It was so interesting to see the grids up on the walls and watch the artwork progress day to day. Murals are a nice way to bring art into a downtown area.
Our time in Rogers City has been full of friendliness, kind gestures, and interesting community events. We also made good progress on boat projects and accomplished a few trips home for special family events.
Rogers City, we’ll miss you, but it’s time to leave the dock!
another remarkable blog, keep em comin! 😉
I’m going to try to find windows of opportunity to keep on the blog while on our journey. Ha! rainy or stormy days, like today, are probably my best strategy to spend time writing, arranging photos, and being online.