May 2003

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We took out my luggage and drove the car over the the Hydro Plant where it would stay safe and secure until I returned to drive it back home to Vermont. Finally got aboard the ship around 6am. It was so great to be there with Anders as it had been over 6 weeks since I had seen him. We were both pretty exhausted me from my drive and him from being in the river all night so we went in to take a rest then got up for some lunch around 12:30. Macaroni soup and fresh homemade bread..ohhh man was it ever good! We were supposed to leave around 4:30 that afternoon and my gosh we actually did. (hmm was I seeing a trend here?) We had to go up to shell oil to get some "gas" before heading out on the lake so it was a short little ride and a short trip at the fuel stop too. Expected it to be an hour but only took 1/2 hour. geezz....

Here is of "Jim and Julie" some of our boatnerd friends who have a really cool beans , coolbeans sign they hang out for the ship! :o) If you look close you'll see them there waving too!

"a beautiful picture" (always gives me a great feeling to see our countries flags together),

one of many lighthouses that keep the ships safe on the Lakes.

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Finally out on the lake again, its such a great place to be too!  we went down to Anders "apartment" and watched some tv then got some sleep. Oh how I love sleeping when the ship is out on the Lake! I tell you there is nothing better. The gentle movement of the ship just rocks you to sleep. We got up around 7:30 and went down for some breakfast Oh yum, eggs, home fries all the good stuff.! Course why people eat fried bologna for breakfast I'll never know but whatever toots your whistle I guess!! :o)

This is round island where round island lighthouse resides. It's a beautiful place that has been completely restored and it's amazing! They always get a salute from the Algolake and then they give one back too! 

Yep, if you've read any of my other story adventures you'll remember that Anders and I have frequent discussions about whether or not there are a few Lakes IN the St. Marys River system. Here on the Chart its proof but of course he IS the Captain so if he says there isn't a lake then of course there isn't a lake...:o) 

I just love the water, the currents and the colors it's so beautiful!

Hey Look its Stephen Hause! Course I wasn't sure who it was at the time but I was looking and he yelled "HEY Donna!!" I waved and I got home and found pictures of me on the ship waiting for me! yeah! thanks Steve! The guys in the wheelhouse think it's pretty funny that I have so many friends out here that know me..I think it's pretty cool beans! :o)

Now this is fun!

Mike the first mate up forward spotting for Anders and getting ready to land the boys.

I mean REALLY would YOU think this ship would fit in there????

There are always people in the viewing stands its about as close as you can get to watching a ship go up or down in the Lock

One mini golf I have yet to whoop Anders at!.

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Heading out of the Duluth Harbor....sun just coming up looks like a different time of day when you look behind though! 

Course from the front of the ship to the back could be a whole different time zone! :o)

 This picture shows the guys painting grease on the wires for the unloading boom..not a job I'd like to do! They sure do keep busy though. Those guys are always doing something on the deck.

This is just me taking pictures of water again..the sun sparkling on it was just too beautiful to pass up..God sure does work wonders out there.

There's Anders checking out to see what some ship is doing and where he's going. They have a new "gadget" this year that put the name of the ship and its speed and direction etc right on the screen for them. It's pretty amazing!

Yep got the Soo earlier than planned..I think we gained an hour going down and back. I guess the fact that there wasn't a ripple on Lake Superior had something to do with that. Pretty amazing actually a lake that size and it was as flat as a sheet of glass.No one seemed to mind though. 

This was interesting..shift change for the railroad bridge at the Soo. Oh my that guy took awhile to get all the way up in the elevator. I sure wouldn't want to be going up there in the winter! Well actually I don't think you'ld get me going up in that in the Spring, Summer or Fall either! No Thanks!

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we were going in the Mac the ship ahead going in the Poe.

while we were going down!

This is the guy giving the hands signals to let everyone know how far the ship has to go before its in the lock and they can shut the gate, he says it and uses hand signals, then the mate calls up to Anders to tell him then Anders repeats it back ..Anders has two walkie talkies he's using plus slowing the ship down! It's pretty neat actually.

There were alot of the crew standing outside today since it was nice and sunny. Lots of them using cell phones to call family and friends others just enjoying the view and answering questions to the people in the viewing stand.

We were in the St. Clair River around lunch time. It was a beautiful sunny day again and yes we were early to bouys 11 and 12 ...If you aren't getting this ...let me explain. I don't mind the delays when I'm on the ship..heck we could anchor for a week and I wouldn't mind (sorry Algoma!) but the delays when I'm waiting for Anders to come home or when I'm trying to get out to see him..those I don't like..so its working the wrong way so far...man we are like flying here!

Oh yes indeed they got a salute!! Lots of kids on this tour today all wanting to hear the horn blow!!! So it did!

The J. W. Westcott now THERE is an important boat! Brings my sailor guy and all the other guys on the ship their mail from home. When the Westcott got pulled up alongside us one of the crew went running out with a letter to put in the pail he got there just in time!

well look at this the Captain is actually steering the ship! Anders thinks its funny that the first time I went out there to take a trip with him I expected that he would be steering. Actually all of them think that's funny. Gee seems like the Captain would steer...I can't get them to understand that one though..:o) Course I SUPPOSE there are times when that would be somewhat difficult.

Exclamation point Alley and actual Exclamation points! Okay look at a Chart of the lakes and tell me that the little lighthouse marks don't look like exclamation points.....:o)

We got up to a cloudy sky approaching Nanticoke, those Towers sure can be seen from everywhere! We got off the ship in hopes to get in a game of mini golf in Port Dover but they weren't opened yet so had to settle for running errands for the ship and had to stop at our favorite pizza joint "Capt Billy's" wasn't long before the rain started coming down and we were both pretty tired so took the taxi back to the ship to get some rest before we headed out. When the unloading is going on you really have to be really really tired as the Captains room is right behind it and it's pretty loud!

On the way in Anders is on the phone alot calling the list of people who are going to come down to the ship with supplies, laundry, etc. There's usually quite a list too!

getting the latches off the hatches.

Anders doing his thing and backing the ship u

We watched the Hockey game that night before we headed out , back out on Lake Erie headed towards Sandusky by about 8:30. Yep they got the ship unloaded ahead of schedule AGAIN. The American Republic was scheduled to be in Sandusky the same time as we were so I was kinda hoping they would beat us there..but no such luck when they heard we were going to be there too the scheduled her somewhere else....geez I just can't get a break! :o)

walking around the ship a bit..its nice off the stern, the sound of the engines and the water is very relaxing and the view is nice too!

walking around the ship a bit..it's nice off the stern, the sound of the engines and the water is very relaxing and the view is nice too!

This is really interesting! 

Anders heads the ship in the bay in Sandusky, then he has to turn her around in this little teenie area at just the right spot. Yep there's a guy on the bow spotting and this picture sure looks like we are running into something but for sure we didn't . Pretty fun spinning around though!

dumping train cars full of coal onto the ship.

This basically shows how they load the ship in Sandusky, its pretty interesting really , I really enjoy watching the process of seeing the coal cars going up, flipping over etc. fascinating really.

relaxing in the wheelhouse

So this is the last leg of my journey before I head for home. We got to Detroit River light and Anders went to work. Things were fine , it was a nice sunny day but once we got in the river Anders got a few radio messages from a ship in front of him that the fog was settling in. Well it sure did! We were already in the river so nothing Anders could do about it for now so up the river we went.

once in awhile it would clear up so you could see something. But the background was how I saw the Amherstburg Channel, Grassy Island and a few other things to

funny how you look out the windows but why? Can't see anything!

Once we got to Lake St. Clair the fog started to lift so Anders went down stairs for a bit to relax, that had been a rough morning! I don't think we were down there for more than 1/2 hour though when the mate called down to say the fog was coming back in. So back up we went.

Yep and then we got to Lambton Generating Station again. We got there in the afternoon and headed up to Sarnia to go have a snack at Paddys :o) Found out that there was still a ship in the Slip that Anders was hoping to put the ship in later. So he'll have to go to the North Slip instead to get the repairs done they needed. I was going to drive up and stay until they were finished but things were running slowly ( yeah now they slow down...grrr) So it was decided that I would head down to Wallaceburg again and get a good night's sleep before I headed back home the next day. So around 10pm Anders walked me down to the car..and we said Good bye for now and I headed back . I knew at the time I would be coming back out in a week to pick him up and bring him home for a month but it was still hard to leave. It was a great trip and I"m looking forward to going back with him in the fall.