July 23, 2022

Temperature 81 Degrees, Abundant Sunshine and Clear Blue Skies

Coast Guard Cutter Icebreaker Mackinaw Museum Ship

This is the last attraction that we visited while in St. Ignace while we were staying at the Lakeshore RV Park and Campground.

The USCG Cutter Mackinaw is located in Mackinaw City and is easy to find. If you miss the sign there is no way that you are going to miss the huge propeller that was one of three that was once used by the ship.

The USCG Cutter Mackinaw was launched in 1944. It was built to keep the Great Lakes shipping lanes open so that iron ore and copper from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan could be transported to wartime factories in the Lower Great Lakes.

For 62 years the Mackinaw plowed through the Great Lake ice keeping important shipping lanes in the Great Lakes open to commercial traffic.

It was taken out of service in 2006, however, the ship is as ready to be returned to service today expect for one detail. We’ll talk about that a little later.

Come on, let’s take tour of this remarkable ship. There is too much to see and discover in a simple blog so I’ll try and cover at least some of the more interesting things about the ship.

One of the details I was most curious about was, how in the world did the ship actually break a path through the ice? The first thing I learned is that it was designed to break ice that was between 3 and 5 feet thick. This is the norm for ice on the Great Lakes. OK, but that still begs the question How did it actually do it?

What I discovered is that the ship broke through the ice in several ways.

It all begins with its cut back bow which allows it to ride up on the ice and slice down through it.

It also had a bow propeller that was 12 feet in diameter. This propeller would if necessary chew through the ice. Most of the time, however, it was used to hurl the broken pieces of ice back under the hull creating a water wash down the sides of the hull. The water wash lubricated the hull and made it easily slip through the broken ice.

The ship was also designed with no keel to keep the ship steady. Instead, the hull is rounded so that it could be rolled from side to side. To do so there were ballast tanks to port and starboard that could be flooded with about 500 tons of water within 90 seconds. When the tanks on one side were full the process would be reversed automatically sending the water back to the other side effectively rocking the ship from side to side. This rocking from side to side would help with ice breaking. There were also ballast tanks in the bow and stern allowing the boat to be rocked back and forth helping it to climb up on the ice and then slice down through it.

Finally, it always tried to take the path of least resistance. Meaning, it would look for the lightest ice, or ice that is already well broken up and loose, or better still, ice that is formed in patches leaving some open water between them.

I was told that never once in its 62 years of service did it ever become stuck. It was the heavy weight of ice breakers and there is none like it today.

There is more to see and discover so lets keep moving.

Then, the all important area for me

OK. Time to go down a deck to

the engine room. And here is the reason the ship was taken out of service. The ship has a total of six Fairbanks Morse opposed piston engines for which parts are no longer available. Since no parts are available the engines can no longer be serviced. It was for this reason alone that the ship was taken out of service.

I found it very interesting that the diesel engines don’t actually drive the propellers. Rather,

the diesel engines drive generators, which in turn power DC motors which in turn power the propellers. A really neat arrangement, indeed.

And now to finish up our tour we’re going topside.

to the pilot house. This is where most of the navigation and piloting of the ship took place.

The view over the bow from the pilot house. Note, the view of the bow itself is somewhat restricted because of the steel wall around the front of the ship. Because of this,

And finally,

The view out over the stern to Lake Michigan. We’ve now gone from bow to stern, top to bottom in our our tour of the USCG Cutter Mackinaw. I found it to be absolutely fascinating to tour this great ship and to gain an understanding of how it accomplished its mission, of what life on board must have been like, and to see the engines that drove it for some 62 years. I’m definitely glad we took the time just before we left to take the tour.

Thanks again for spending some time with us.  It’s always great to be able to share our story with family and friends. Comments? Feel free to share them with me. And always remember, cherish every moment of every day that God gives you and live those moments to the fullest. 

Our continuing mission remains the same: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have not been before

Wednesday, July 20, 2022

Temperature 76, Sunshine and Strong Winds

I Did It Again

Well, I did it again. This past Monday I turned 70 – for the fifth time!

Many thanks to my wonderful wife for making my day so special.

After a morning of sightseeing she took me to

restaurant which has a five star rating.

I had a delicious lunch of white fish prepared Cajun style and grilled asparagus. I devoured it leaving not one little bit on my plate.

Then I finished it off with Devil’s Temptation. What a dessert, it had a brownie on the bottom, then two scoops of Bear Hug ice cream, another brownie on the top finished off with hot fudge and whipped cream. I wondered at first if I could finish it but I sure did.

Oh yes, my sweetheart spoiled me rotten and I’m so grateful to her for doing so. Thank you my dear for making my birthday so very, very special. Hugs and Kisses.

Tuesday, July 19, 2022

Temperature 83 Degrees, Sunny with Broken Clouds

Travel Day

The time had come for us to pack up and get back on the road. Our time in St. Ignace has been great. We’ve been able to visit quite a few attractions and we’ve also had a chance to just sit back and relax. A great combination. But the road is calling and so off we must go.

Knowing we had a five hour ride today we made sure to get on the road as early as possible. We rolled out at 8:30 am. How about that, we can get us and going early in the morning when we have to.

Today was the day for the trip across the Mackinac Bridge. It didn’t seem that bad from afar but one never knows until they are actually on it. Well, I’m here to say it was a piece of cake. The grade on either side is nothing and the lanes are actually of ample width. Moreover, there was hardly any traffic on the bridge when we went across this morning.

The rest of the trip was rather boring. The only thing that got our attention was the poor condition of the roads in different sections. That, and the fact that this being the hottest travel day yet, Elvira tended to push the temperature gauge a bit higher that I’ve seen before. However, it was nothing really to worry about. Thankfully.

We made one stop for fuel and once again we’re seeing some decent mpg figures. Elvira has been averaging just a little over 8 mpg. Which is good because the price of fuel in Michigan is still extremely high. We’ve paid more in this state for a gallon of diesel than in any other state. I guess they figure they’ll get it while they can.

In due time we were at our new home. This is a huge RV Park filled with mostly seasonal tenants. There is one new section primarily for overnight guests and those staying short term. This is where we will be staying. Here is the funny thing, all the RV sites in this section are brand new concrete and all of them are unlevel! The only thing I can think of is that whoever poured the concrete didn’t know what a level is.

So here is our new home for the next week. It really is a great site other than the fact that it slopes downhill in the back. Thankfully, the leveling jacks easily corrected that. All utilities are right where they need to be. Albert is on the picnic table doing his thing. In so many words life is good.

Thanks again for spending some time with us.  It’s always great to be able to share our story with family and friends. Comments? Feel free to share them with me. And always remember, cherish every moment of every day that God gives you and live those moments to the fullest. 

Our continuing mission remains the same: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have not been before

Sunday, July 17, 2022

Temperature 83 Degrees, Abundant Sunshine, Clear Blue Skies

Soo Locks, Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan

Another one of the must see attractions for us while in this region were the Soo Locks. So yesterday morning we were out and on the road by 8 am for the 45 minute ride north to them.

In due time we were welcomed into the city of Sault Ste. Marie or as our GPS likes to say Sault Sweet Marie!

Either luck or our early arrival resulted in us getting a parking spot right outside the entrance to the park which then left us with a short walk to

the observation platform. When we arrived there were only a few people present but that quickly changed. Later, talking to others I discovered that some people actually spend the whole day here as well as part of the evening hours. Now, as much as I enjoyed our time here I don’t believe I could spend a whole day. It’s fun and a really neat experience to watch the Great Lake Steamers lock through but after awhile one looks just like the next.

Let’s go watch some ships lock through!

First, as to the location of the locks. The Soo locks are on the St. Mary’s River and they allow ship traffic between Lake Superior (upper left) and Lake Huron (to the right). In this area of the St. Mary’s river is a serious of unnavigable rapids which drop 21 feet from Lake Superior to Lake Huron. Originally, at the rapids in the St. Mary’s river men had to unload and carry everything around the rapids.

Then they actually tried taking the ship and moving it on rollers down the street around the rapids. It took an average of seven weeks to move the ship just one way!

Today, thanks to the locks ship traffic moves smoothly through the area with no need to load and unload. Not to mention with the size of today’s ships there is no way you could move them over land.

A quick note on how the locks work.

No pumps, nothing but gravity to fill the locks and empty them. So simple, so efficient, so reliable.

However, it does take a whale of a lot of water to do so.

So where do you want to go?

Now, for the ships themselves going through the locks.

This is the first ship we saw lock through. This is the CSL Laurentien, a self discharging bulk carrier, just leaving the Poe lock. The ship was built in 1977, its overall length is 739 feet, beam is 77 feet and it has a draft of 31 feet. The ship’s normal cargo is iron ore.

Once the CSL Laurentien was clear of the lock another ship began to move into position to enter the lock.

In the lock and waiting to be lowered to the level of Lake Huron which is off the ship’s bow. This is the Mantoulin. Believe it or not this is actually two ships merged into one. The bow section was built in 2014 and the stern section was built in 1991. In 2015 the two sections from separate ships were joined together to create the ship you see in front of you. The resulting ship is 664 feet in length, has a beam of 78 feet and a draft of 30 feet. The ship’s normal cargo is also iron ore.

Look closely and you’ll be able to see the number 6 on the ship’s bow. This is before the lock is emptied and the ship is lowered.

Look again and you’ll see the number 10 on the ship’s bow. Then compare the height of the ship in the first picture to its height in the second picture. It has now been lowered and is ready to proceed out of the lock into the passage-way leading to Lake Huron.

Here’s an even better example of the difference in height between the two lakes.

This is a tour boat entering the MacArthur lock from Lake Huron. Let’s all wave to the people down there on the boat.

The same boat after the lock has been filled. You could now jump on and join them if you wanted to. The boat is now ready to make its way to Lake Superior.

After we watched the ships locking through, we went to

the Visitors Center to discover a bit more about the locks. Here is a bit of what we learned.

There are currently four locks at Soo.

The two to the right, Davis and Sabin are closed. Sabin is on track to be replaced with a new lock the size of Poe by 2030.

The third from the right is the Poe lock and is 1,200 feet long, 105 feet wide and has a depth of 32 feet. It is the largest and currently the most used lock. If, for some reason, it were to fail a lot of shipping would come to a halt on the Great Lakes.

The fourth from the right is the Macarthur lock and is 800 feet long, 80 feet wide and has a depth of 31 feet.

The need for a larger lock is directly due to the increase in size of ships sailing the Great Lakes.

Today, there are 13 ships that are 1,000 feet in length sailing the Great Lakes.

Think of this: one 1,000 foot ship can carry the equivalent of: seven 100 car trains with a 10,000 ton capacity; or, 3,000 large trucks of 25 ton capacity each. Moving bulk cargos through the Soo Locks and across the Great Lakes saves more than $3.9 billion per year in freight costs.

The Soo Locks I discovered do not operate year round. They are usually closed between January and late March when ships on the Great Lakes are laid up for maintenance. However,

So that was our day at the Soo Locks. We had a great day there and learned so much which made it a great day all around. If you are ever in this area I would strongly encourage you to spend a few hours there. It is absolutely fascinating to see first hand the passage of these great ships between the two lakes. To think of all that is involved and how it happens so seamlessly is amazing.

Thanks again for spending some time with us.  It’s always great to be able to share our story with family and friends. Comments? Feel free to share them with me. And always remember, cherish every moment of every day that God gives you and live those moments to the fullest. 

Our continuing mission remains the same: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have not been before