7/24 - Drummond Island, Michigan

We spent our last Canadian money at the fuel dock before we left this morning, and headed out on our 43 mile crossing to the U.S. About an hour out we headed into pea-soup thick fog, and were very thankful for our radar. We also decided that sitting on the fly-bridge in cold and damp conditions wasn't that much fun, so we went below and ran the boat across from our cozy main salon. Eventually the fog cleared, and as we approached Drummond Island the sun even came out! Alleluia! As we crossed into U.S. waters, Pat hummed "The Star-Spangled Banner" and coming into the channel we were happy to see American flags flying at all the houses as we approached. Our five weeks in Canada were great, but we simply missed our own country and were glad to be "coming home"! Within 15 minutes of docking, a U.S. Customs and Immigration official came on board, checked us out, and charged us $27.50 for a decal which will be sent us to display on the boat. He didn't really care or check if we had bought anything in Canada, all he really cared about was that we didn't bring any lamb, goat, or citrus into the country. So, we threw the lambs and goats over-board, and disposed of the one lime we had left in our gimlets that evening. "Houlegan" arrived an hour later, and Ray and Caryl invited us to their boat that evening with another couple who were aboard their Island Packet 35 sailboat from Michigan, Dan and Mary Jo Flory.