My August circling of Lake Michigan maybe become October. Feeling disappointed yet this may be necessary.

Battery

I went to the storage place where I keep Ecovision to start and run her. Last year when I did this she made no noise and wouldn’t start. Even the AAA mechanic couldn’t get her started and she had to be towed to the Dodge dealer about 6 miles away. The culprit was mice had chewed the engine wiring and to repair it took my entire travel budget for a planned weekend caravaning to a Petoskey Township park with my friend Rachel.

This time my battery made some clicking noises, but wouldn’t turn over. My own fault for only starting it once or twice since last fall and we had this specially brutal winter. The AAA mechanic got it started although it took some doing and kept stalling.

The mechanic was very helpful and I asked him to stay while I drove it around the storage facility a couple of times and it purred like a kitten. The battery is only three or four years old and a very high-quality Interstate so under normal daily-driving situations would be just fine.

After the mechanic left I took Ecovision out on the street and drove about 4 or 5 miles to get the battery charged. I returned to the storage facility, parked, turned off the engine and then decided to start again just to make sure. It wouldn’t start. Darn. My mistake was I didn’t turn it off and try to start again while the mechanic was still there because if I had we would’ve seen that it was not going to start.

I had to get back home for an appointment so I left Ecovision there with a dead battery. I haven’t been back yet because I know it’s going to be a half-day adventure waiting for AAA, getting it to the dealership, having them drive me back to my car at the storage facility and then returning home. So Ecovision sits for now.

Books

The other impediments to an August circling is my study. I hired a wonderful college student to help me sort and reorganize my nearly 2,000 books that got disheveled when I had hardwood floors put in throughout my home last year. I have not been able to face this onerous task hence I hired Brad to help me.

We’re also going through my decades of research, notes, papers and articles on key topics of interest like the Great Lakes, their islands, elite-research methods and real-estate development. With this momentum going and having Brad to help makes me very reluctant to stop for two weeks to circle the lake with this important project unfinished.

Oh and did I mention money? Chances are I may need a new battery and I’ve had significant unexpected expenses in the last month or two like repair of my refrigerator. Plus I’ve been organizing a major family reunion up north in Frankfort over Labor Day weekend and I have a cousin coming to stay with me from Norway. More impetus to get my study fully settled.

So It looks like I will just keeping going in my study, get the battery situation settled, enjoy my cousin and the family reunion and resign myself to a late September or early October start date. Darn. Cannot go in September because we are super busy that month at the People’s Food Co-op.

Promise
As I start sorting the Great Lakes and island papers I’ll start posting what I come across and learn. I do have extensive information and will be compiling it in a better way. I have at least three file drawers full of materials and with Brad’s help will make them more accessible by creating a better filing system. I will share interesting tidbits here as I go along. So again do stay tuned. I promise this will get better.