Coming across NY towards MI, we had a couple of days to spend, so we found a place we had never been before and booked a nearby campground for a couple of nights. This place is right on the water, but access to the “beach” requires rappelling down a steep grade. We were up for the (slight) challenge and wandered on the very tiny beach for about 2 minutes. If the weather had been swimming weather, it would have been an ok place to go into the water, but we were just checking it out.
The next day we got the bikes out, packed a lunch, and headed to Presque Isle State Park, PA for the day. Its a huge peninsula with miles of bike paths, about 12 beaches and 4 boat launches. If we had been staying longer, we would have loved to have put the dinghy in the water. As it was, we still had a great day. the weather was perfect, not too hot, and not too sunny. We biked about 12 miles, stopping along the way to check out the views of the lake and read the history of the area.
During the war of 1812, Admiral Perry and his men were stationed in Lake Erie, near the area where some of the war ships were being built for the American side. Lake Erie is very shallow, and there is a sand bar near the harbor with only 4’ of water, which prevented the British from bringing their ships all the way across the lake, but since two of Perry’s ships were in the harbor and needed 9 feet of water, he was also stuck and vulnerable to attack. Luckily, the ship builder had foreseen that problem and had built 2 “camels” to lift Perry’s ships over the sandbar. Camels are huge wooden boxes that are attached to either side of
a ship, and then filled with water to sink them. They are then pumped out and are so tightly attached to the ship that they lift it out of the water, so it can be moved over the sandbar. They had to empty the newly stocked ships of all their supplies, gear and guns, and then it took 3 days to get the process finished, but in the end, the ships were free to pursue the British. Admiral Perry is probably best known for coining the phrase “Don’t Give Up the Ship”.We are now in Michigan, visiting with friends, getting stuff out of storage, and trying to figure out when we can get our new trailer. It’s not looking good for next week, but we may be able to go to the dealer to at least take a look at it before we head to Traverse City for July 4th.
