Tuesday, Aug. 10th Day 33… 4627 miles driven
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| The Mackinaw Bridge |
This year I made a New Year's resolution and have been sticking to it. I resolved to be adventurous and try something new every day if the opportunity presented itself. I have always been timid when it comes to trying new foods so almost every day my resolve is tested when faced with a menu. Michigan is known for its whitefish so I ate that last week. I saw one on the wall and it is one ugly fish, but I ate it. Yesterday when faced with the soup or salad question, I chose the soup. I can't pronounce it and certainly can't spell it for you but it was delish! The waitress said it was a stuffed cabbage roll made into soup. Mackinaw City is also famous for its fudge; so much so that the tourists are called “fudgies.” Since I've had lots of fudge, it didn't qualify and I'm proud to say I passed on it. I did try a sample of German chocolate fudge...yuck.
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| The USCG Mackinaw Icebreaker |
Our purpose for being in Mackinaw City was a visit to the ice breaker Mackinaw Maritime Museum. Fred interviewed the museum staff for an article on QRZ.com and we received the VIP tour. It was another of those “boys and their toys” tours but this time I stayed interested the entire two hours. We got to see places in the ship that even one of the guides had never seen. I gotta say it was cool. When Fred has his blog up and going, I'll give you that site address so you can read the technical story and see the pictures. My main impression was that there were LOTS of spiders and their accompanying webs everywhere. I ate one but not on purpose so it doesn't count for my resolution.
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| Our Guides |
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| Down to the engine room |
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| Two of the 4 engines |
Now to the new “incident.” While I've been learning little lessons along the way, Fred has been saving his learning for one big lesson. Do not drive a jeep in to a ditch. It's hard to get out.
So, we are enjoying a nice drive on a Sunday afternoon and stop to explore the beach from a small public park. Children are romping around, a watermelon is chilling in the lake and a young couple is getting married on the grass under the trees. There is a big display map of the county showing the “Old Macinaw Road” which looks fun to Fred and not fun to me. With no road map and no GPS in the car, we take off for adventure. Turns out, the road is narrow, isolated and not paved. Just when I am thinking....what if we had a wreck here...no one would ever find us, I spot an old dilapidated farm house begging to have its picture taken.
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| The "Incident" farm house |
I mention it as we pass it so Fred slams on the brakes and whips an exuberant U-turn. It is clear to me that there is no room for this maneuver and I hollar as the jeep sinks into a ditch full of cat tails.
We lurched along straddling the bottom of the ditch, trying to climb back up onto the roadway. No luck. With each try the jeep would strain and struggle but could not quite lift itself up over the hump. Fred stopped and put the vehicle into 4-wheel drive. No luck. We weren't getting out this way. With the jeep canted sideways at a 45 degree angle, we backed up and leveled off again in the bottom of the ditch. Fred asked me if I wanted to get out. I didn't and I couldn't anyway; too deep. He got out and walked several yards in front and then behind the vehicle and realized that conditions worsened in the direction we were going. The path to self-extrication would be rearward and the maneuver would have to take place in reverse. Fred put the vehicle in low range 4-wheel drive and started backing up, first slowly and then with a sharp turn to the left, managed to get both back wheels up onto the roadbed. The front ones followed and just as suddenly as it had started, the event was over. We were again on safe, solid ground, on the roadway. A local came driving by in a beat up station wagon just as we came up out of the ditch and he never slowed down. I think he saw our Arizona plate. I was ashen and silent but Fred was beaming. His little white jeep proudly displayed a layer of mud proving itself worthy of its four wheel drive heritage. Fred declared himself an extremely skilled driver and proceeded to take the picture of the farm house. Fred says it was thrilling in an adrenaline pumping sort of way. For me, not so much.
from the road:
-robin
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