Wonderful Weekend at the 1st Annual GLCC Trailer Boat Rally in White Lake, Michigan!

Baby Seapickle (and daddy) with Seapickle II on the trailer ready to launch in White Lake

This past weekend was the 1st Annual Great Lakes Cruising Club Trailer Boaters' Rally in White Lake / Whitehall, Michigan.  We've been to a few GLCC events before, but this was our 1st full rally and we really enjoyed the weekend.  We arrived Friday evening to a pizza party at the pavilion in front of the White Lake Municipal Marina.  We've stayed there twice before, and enjoy the low-key vibe and quiet of the town and marina.

Driving through the town of Whitehall on the way to the launch

Launch ramp in Montague, Michigan (docks are a little short for our 26ft cruiser)

We enjoyed a walk on the little trail next to the launch

Ready to launch

Saturday morning we joined the group for a nice breakfast at Crosswinds on the Lake Restaurant in Whitehall.  They don't usually open until lunch, so it was very nice of them to host us that morning for a pancake and sausage breakfast.  After breakfast, we went back to the boat for RJ's morning nap and spent some time playing with our new toy while we waited for him to wake up.  After naptime, the plan for the day was Michigan's Adventure Park!  We couldn't take the baby on rides quite yet, but he LOVED petting the animals at the farm exhibit / petting zoo.  Saturday ended with a cocktail party on the dock with new friends and boating stories - our kind of night. :-)

Ben and RJ at breakfast with GLCC friends

Ben's new toy! Aka our new dinghy - deserves it's own blog post :-)

RJ meets Llama

RJ learning how to hang out on the dock

Sunday morning RJ and I slept in while breakfast was being prepared up at the pavilion.  When we finally stumbled up, we enjoyed donuts and great conversation (and RJ enjoyed being carried around by a new friend).  We wanted to head back home early so we could beat traffic, but finally got on the road around 2:30pm.  We arrived back at our marina around 6pm spent a little time unwinding on our dock.  All in all, a great weekend and another successful GLCC event!

Trailer Boat Committee Chair, Chris, making breakfast at the pavilion

GLCC breakfast in White Lake

Seapickle II in White Lake Municipal Marina

First Trailering Adventure with Seapickle II

Since getting the trailer for Seapickle, we've been anxious to try it out and get a taste for what trailering a boat our size will be like. This past weekend seemed to be the perfect weekend to take a roadtrip, and the bright and sunny Friday morning weather sure did not disappoint! Friday morning, after packing up our bags and saying goodbye to the cats, we headed to Doyne's to pick up the boat & trailer (we had already loaded it Thursday night). Thankfully our friend Barry was there, who reminded us to attach the safety strap (oops!) and helped Ben get the trailer attached to the truck. The only thing we seemed to overlook was putting down the antenna, which was a bit bent up after our trip!

Getting onto the highway (I-94 East) was a little stressful, and we quickly realized there were many more hills on the highway than we had ever noticed! The truck did very well pulling though, and aside from a few stressful merges and a pretty inconvenient detour, we made the 160 miles to the public launch ramp in Montague, Mi (home of the world's largest weathervane) in just about 4 hours. We stopped a few times along the way to check the tire pressure and hub temps, and everything seemed to be just fine.

By the time we got the boat settled into slip #23 at the White Lake Municipal Marina, walked back to the launch ramp, parked the truck in an abandoned lot (where the heck is overnight parking??), stocked up on supplies at Montague Foods and walked back to the boat, we were too tired to grill dinner so we headed over to the Harbor View Grille, which was just a couple blocks from the marina in Whitehall, and had a great view of the sunset over White Lake.

Since sunset is an hour later in Michigan than it is for us in Indiana, we still had time to make it to Pekadill's while it was still light out at 9:30pm! I went boring with the Butter Pecan in a waffle cone (delicious!), while Ben tried a caffeine-infused chocolate peanut butter ice cream that was supposed to have as much caffeine as an energy drink! (he still was tired after eating it)

We got back to the boat around 10pm, and it was STILL light out! But we were exhausted after a long day, so after making Ben pose for an impromptu photo shoot, we curled up to watch the stars come out over White Lake, and planned out what was to come for Saturday. (which will be continued in the next post)

Day 1 The Journey begins!

The day we have been waiting has finally arrived! After a year of planning, and three days of careful packing, it was time to leave port and head north. Our goal was to get to the boat and be ready to go at 6a.m. and we came close! We arrived at 6:20a.m. and met Ben's dad, Bill, who helped us load the rest of our gear and film our departure. We left Portage Harbor at approx. 7:20a.m. and headed northeast on the lake with the gps set to Muskegon . The day started out rainy with calm seas, and progressed to much rougher seas. By the time we reached Saugatuck waves were reaching 3ft, and hitting 4ft at Grand Haven!

We reached Muskegon in about 5 hours, where we stopped to see the Tall Ships and meet a fellow Four Winns forum member Cap'n Morgan. Thanks for the open marina slip tip! After touring the Tall Ships it was time to have lunch on the boat, fuel up and complete our trip to White Lake, a little over 10 miles away.

Entering White Lake was very beautiful and peaceful. The lake is 6 miles long, with White Lake Municipial Marina at the very end. We pulled into slip #44 on our port side and a marina attendant was there to help us tie up and tell us about the area.We unloaded our bikes, connected to shore power, and discovered our AC Pump stopped working!! :-( Lucky the forecast called for a cool evening.... and we made plans to try to get a new pump in the morning.

After showering and relaxing a bit, we headed into town in search of pizza. We ordered a deluxe pizza from Big Johns and walked around town while we waited. Back at the boat, we enjoyed dinner and relaxation.. and headed to bed at 10pm, beat up and tired from the long day on a rough lake

Day 1 Miles -154.9

Moving time -7hrs 9min

Fuel used- 77.7 Gal

Average Mpg -1.99!