Showing posts with label Manitowoc. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Manitowoc. Show all posts

Wednesday, June 21, 2017

Day 14...Manitowoc and Home

Sunday was Father's Day, and Eric and I spent it with his girlfriend and her father. He owned a sailboat and took us out for a sail that morning on Lake Michigan. It was a great time, unlike anything I had ever experienced.

I had never been sailing before, even on a small lake. And to sail on Lake Michigan...wow! What an experience! I remember having the opportunity to take control of the vessel, which was a sailboat about 30 feet in length. As the sail caught the wind, the boat began to list, and I quickly shifted the rudder in fear that we might capsize. I was assured that I needn't worry; they had tried to bury the wooden rail that ran around the top of the boat's hull, but never been able to. "Really?" I asked. Again, I was assured I needn't worry.

Emboldened now, I steered once more so as to catch the full force of the wind, and like we had been shot out of a cannon, we were off. I'll never forget the amazing opportunity to feel like you had captured the wind and were drawing out all its power to be utilized under your control. It was an absolute thrill!

That afternoon, still flying high from our boat ride, we had to carry on to the conclusion of our trip. We drove back to Northwestern, where we dropped Eric off at the fraternity house where he would be living as he took summer classes. And after that, I made the drive south myself, down Interstate 55 and back to St. Louis. It was fairly late when I returned home and the next day I would have to return Mr. Hendrickson's car to him. Sadly, the trip was at this point nothing but a memory. But it what an amazing memory it was!


Distance driven today: 478 miles
Total distance driven: 3,723 miles

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Tuesday, June 20, 2017

Day 13...The Longest Drive


We had to wake up fairly early on Saturday morning because we had quite the drive in front of us: nearly 875 miles from Baltimore to Manitowoc, Wisconsin, where Eric's girlfriend lived. I'm not exactly sure why we incorporated this into our trip, but we had to get him back to Northwestern for summer classes, and though Manitowoc certainly wasn't on the way, it didn't add that much to our trip.

The plan was to hit the road by 6:00 am, so I was up and in the shower not long after 5:00. While the water fell on my very tired body, I heard Eric’s voice in a loud whisper from the bathroom door asking where I put the keys to the car. The night before, I had borrowed them to get something from the car. Unfortunately we soon came to find out that I must have set them down on the dashboard and locked them inside the vehicle because that’s where they were!

After the two of us tried fruitlessly to break into the car, Eric called AAA. They said they’d send someone out and they’d be there in the next hour. Or two. Long story short, by the time we actually got out it was after 8:00 EDT. After a later than anticipated start, we were on the road. 

There are two other things, I remember about that day. When we arrived in Manitawoc it was 10:30 pm CST. The reason I remember that is that the opening to Saturday Night Live was on as we came into the house. The other thing I remember is that in the 15 1/2 hours on the road that day, we played A LOT of Strat-o-matic baseball.

The trip was winding to a close, but what an adventure it had been!

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Miles driven today: 873 miles
Total miles driven: 3,245 miles