6/12/23 - Ludington to Frankfort

 As usual Erik was up early and Renee got up around 6:30ish and actually got an early start on laundry.  Erik topped off the water tanks and did some miscellaneous boat chores. After rotating laundry we headed up to House of Flavors for breakfast, we had heard they have a really good breakfast!  Breakfast of a waffle with strawberries and cool whip and biscuits and gravy was a perfect start to the day.  We headed toward the beach on our bikes just to look at the lake/wave conditions.  The water had a slight chop but did not look terrible.  The thought was we would head to Frankfort since the conditions were decent.

Decor at House of Flavors

Traditional looking ice cream/soda counter

House of Flavors is in the Guinness book of world records for the longest ice cream sundae!

Riva asking “what are we doing today?”

   When we got back we loaded the bikes back onto the boat.  Renee retrieved, folded and put away the laundry.  Then took a coffee and warm up break. Erik was itching to get moving so he got started disconnecting electric, putting away cords and hoses, and fastening things down.  We gave Riva some Dramamine as she didn’t do as well on “lumpy” water, and today was possibly going to be pretty “lumpy”.

We headed over to the fuel dock to fill up before heading out…you don’t want to know what that cost 😳💰💰💰. Walked Riva while filling up then headed out to the lake for 50 mile cruise to Frankfort.  The lake started out just bit choppy, but built into some rolling 1-2 foot waves.  It was not the most comfortable cruising today.  Luckily we don’t get seasick and the Dramamine was helping Riva (she pretty much slept the whole way). The waves started to calm a little for the last hour or so (about a 5 hour trip).  

Big Sable Lighthouse-would have liked to visit but it was not very close by bike or walking

As we pulled into the harbor at Frankfort we passed a coast guard boat that appeared to be checking us out.  As we found our spot and dropped our anchor we determined that the coast guard vessel had turned around and followed us in.  They pulled up beside us and said to let us know when our anchor was set and they were going to board us.  Once we were set (set on first try, we are getting better at anchoring⚓️☺️) two men hopped aboard with a clipboard and briefcase.  They asked for out ID’s and boat paperwork, which we had 😎.  Erik took one aboard and they inspected the engine compartment, where he determined we need to have our fire suppression system inspected (it’s a year overdue).  He inspected many of the bilge areas, including the toilet system under the bed that is disconnected (you cannot discharge in the Great Lakes).  After checking for life jackets, fire extinguishers, distress flag, flares, and a horn, he determined that we only needed one more flare, but since we also had a strobe light in addition to flares we passed the inspection, yay!!!

Frankfort lighthouse as we entered the harbor

 Coast Guard pulling up to board for a safety inspection

This says we officially passed our coast guard inspection!

We heated up some leftover burgers, rice, and chips for dinner before hopping into the dinghy to take Riva ashore and check out the town.  There were several  restaurants and shops.  Many shops were closed or getting ready to close. We managed to visit a few shops then walked to the end of the main road which ended at the beach.  Frankfort has a very nice beach and even has a dog beach 🐶🐕🦴🐾. It was a litttle to chilly to walk the pier or the beach much so we headed back through town.  Stopped off at “The Scoop” to get a scoop….of ice cream of course! We both went for the coffee caramel that did not disappoint 😋🍦🍨.

View of the harbor entrance from the beach, too cloudy for much of a sunset, again 😔

Along the main road there was a beautiful little garden with spectacular flowers 💐 

More awesome flowers,🌺🌹🌸💐

We dinghied back to the boat and relaxed, had coffee, talked on the phone, before taking Riva to shore one last time before bed 😴