Hitching a Ride

It was a pretty uneventful morning. The water was like glass again and the bugs were back. We had a great breakfast at Martha’s and decided to spend the day working on little boat projects.

While my dad organized below. I set to the task of cleaning the boat. Both top side and the hull. I decided to work harder and not smarter, and ended up cleaning everything on my hands and knees with a stiff bristled brush (top side) and dangling over the safety lines with the soft brush head on the extension handle for the hull. It was a few hours worth of work, but I’m happy with the results. Plus, I got to work on my tan at the same time 🙂

While the morning and afternoon were a little mundane, the evening has been the most ineresting day to date. While at breakfast, my dad picked up a magazine that highlighted great local eateries. The publication was called Edible Grand Traverse. It had a great article on a little winery about 3 miles out of town called Black Star Farm. We called around and were discouraged that they did not have a courtesy vehicle and the nearest cab company was our of Traverse City. We did, however at the prompting of the hostess at Black Star Farms, find that there was a transit system that ran up and down M-22 from Traverse City North on the Leelanau Penisula. It was anout 4:00pm EST when we made this discovery and the next bus was scheduled to pick up at 4:40pm EST. So, needless to day, we had to hustle to get ready and get to the bus stop in town to catch our ride.

We made it to the bus stop with about 10 minutes to spare. Along the way though, my dad didn’t hesitate to stop a few locals to ask for ride out of town. We were not successful in this endeavour. Nevertheless, we caught the bus and took the short ride along M-22 to Revold Dr where the Black Star Farm was located.

The Black Star Farm property  was magnificent. Rolling hills with vineyards along the side, a horse pasture in the center and numerous beautifuly kept buildings including an inn on the property. The pictures speak for itself.

The restaurant on the farm was mostly lighter fare and we instead opted to go to another building for a wine tasting. The wine tasting was fantastic. All of the wines were produced from locally grown grapes and bottled on the estate. My personal favorite was the Late Harvest Riesling 🙂 We got to speak with a number of incredibly friendly people; including the staff. But, no one was willing to give us a ride back to town.

So, after our tasting flight was complete. We grabbed our complimentary wine glasses and made our way back to the highway. Along our hike back up the hill of the winery to the main road, my dad asked me if I had ever hitch-hiked. And, I said that I had not. With a grin he said, “Well, let’s see what happenes!” It’s only a 3 mile walk back to Suttons Bay. Completely doable. But, being the adventurous souls that we are, we decided to try our luck.

Our thumbs were out and our smiles were on. I had no hope of catching a ride and was completely prepared to walk back to town. But, my dad was determined. We were passed by probably 20 cars. No bites. I made the comment that there was no way that any one would pick us up. And, if they did, it would be some beater of a car. Lo and behold, we were able to catch the attention of a woman making her way north. Not in a beater, but in a Range Rover. She didn’t stop right away, but we did see her hesitate by tapping her brakes as she passed. My dad was hopeful. I wasn’t convinced.

Just down the road a ways, she decided to turn left into the start of a little residential area. It was the first place to turn, left or right, after passing us. Just as soon as she has turned, we saw her pull back out to the stop sign at the intersection. She didn’t pull out right away and make her way towards us, but it looked like she was studying us for a good 5 minutes. As we continued on down the road, we saw her pull out onto the highway and make her way back towards us. I ventured the guess that she was lost. My dad said, “She’s coming to pick us up!” I still wasn’t convinced until I saw her pull yet another u-turn to come back our way. We both turned around as she was waving us toward her vehicle. Success!

As we approached her vehicle, she rolled down her window and asked us where we were headed. We told her Suttons Bay, and she said that was right along her way back to Northport. During the drive we swapped information and told her that we were on a sailboat. She fired back right away, “Were you guys achored off Northport Marina last night?” And we said, “Yes!” Turns out that we had anchored right off this woman’s house two nights prior in Northport. And, an additional time the year prior! I even saw her talking on her cell phone on the water’s edge of her property the first night we anchored. What a small world! Her name was Diane and she and her husband own a veterinary practice here in Michigan and just moved to Northport a few years back. Such an incredibly nice woman! It was definitely an experience that I will never forget!!

Another day, another adventure 🙂

P.S. Diane, if you ever read this. Give us a call or shoot us an email. Because, we would absolutely love to have you and your husband come along for a sail sometime!! Thank you again for the ride 🙂