29-Michigan or Bust: Adventures of a White-Knuckle Cruising Spouse

The 2015 Great Loop cruise, while big on adventures, had surprisingly few mechanical problems. But when we left Drummond Island on our way to Lake Michigan, our engine began to have weird episodes of revving up on its own, even though the speed didn’t increase. Still, it was troubling and needed to be looked at by a professional.

If we could find one. Diesel mechanics were as rare as a parking place when you’re in a hurry.

Mackinaw City had a large marina and tons of quaint shops featuring yummy fudge. It also was near Mackinac Island that had the famous Grand Hotel, the setting for a young Christopher Reeves film that people in the marina loved to talk about. So we rented the film (Somewhere in Time) and set out to find a mechanic who specialized in Cummins diesel engines.

We found a mechanic three days later, but he was downstate so we set off on our Lake Michigan adventure, cruising under the Mackinac Bridge, and down the east side of the lake. My new fudge stash came in handy with the bounce and the quirky engine revs, but we made it to Charlevoix only to find the mechanic had finished and gone on to his next assignment. He was in Harbor Springs which we had passed, so back we went.

To make a long story short, the engine problem was gunk in the fuel so we had to drain the tank and clean the filters and lines. All of this including tests took a week and we were getting close to the time when marinas in the Great Lakes close down for winter, boats are pulled out of the water, and businesses go on vacation. (By the way, we paid $2.73 a gallon to fill the tank with diesel and thought it was expensive).

It was time to go.

Lake Michigan is a large body of water. The prevailing wind blows west to east, meaning waves are generally higher on the east side and the frequency is about three seconds, making for a rough ride. I pouted and stewed and out of frustration looked at the airline schedules again and the cost of a taxi ride to the nearest airport. Obviously, I was out of fudge.

Tired and worrying if cleaning the fuel really did solve the problem, we waited for decent weather and headed south along Lake Michigan’s east shore for the next port. We’d come over 3,000 miles and still had 2,000 to go and it was approaching September.

Two ports later the problem started again. But that’s the next story.