Freighters, friends and fun — Fall 2025

After our legendary 35-day cruise which ended on August 23, we got back to Tennessee and our “normal” routine! We had taken over 2,000 photos between our two phones, Bill’s and Charlene’s phones and our camera. (Thank goodness for digital cameras?!) Sorting through all of them took a while; no wonder it took 3 months after we got home to get the blog posted! Plus Linda had surgery on her shoulder…

The wild turkeys continue to cross in front of the house frequently.

Having decided that 2 wheels were no longer a good idea for Linda, on September 3^rd, we drove to Murfreesboro to get a recumbent trike. Here’s Bobby making some final adjustments to our new TerraTrike Rogue. It has internal gears in the rear hub and an electric assist; it can be pedaled easily, but the battery power can help with steeper hills

A new bike rack was needed to haul both Jim’s bike and Linda’s trike.

The property that we built our house on had been a wooded lot; we had a logger take out the trees, and we had a lot of stumps dug up and hauled off, but there were still about 65 stumps to remove, so we hired “Cowboy Jon” to grind them down.

Linda met with her old book club group for lunch – a fun reunion of ladies that had met together for many years. We shared names of books we had read recently – and as we talked and ate no one took a photo of our group!

On Sept 18 we left home at 8:35am with 106,744.4 miles on Acey and 138,642 on Thor. We headed up to Michigan for a couple of weeks. We stayed overnight at The Wandering Griffin Brewery & Pub near Dayton Ohio — a “Harvest Host” spot – RV-ers can stay free but are encouraged to spend some time and money at the venue.

Having arrived about 4:30, we were parked and set up in time to enjoy a brew before dinner!

The next day, we were back in our home state of Michigan!

We arrived at Thousand Trails St. Clair at 1pm where we stayed for 2 weeks. Linda would have the opportunity to ride her new trike! We planned to ride the bike trails there, meet up with friends and also watch for freighters on the St. Clair River.

What’s old is new again; here’s Laura and Linda on trikes in 1960 and Linda on her new ride!  

On September 20^th, while we were out for a ride, we watched the Algoma Discovery headed upriver. The MarineTraffic App is handy to know where pretty much any ship is, and some information about it

Looking it up on the MarineTraffic App as I write this blog, the Canadian flagged Bulk carrier has been stopped in Montreal 5 days 19hours ago (having come from Quebec); the length and breadth – 222.44m and 23m (730’ x 75’), built in 1987 – and more info can be found on more pages, including several photos of the vessel.

Later that day, we met up with Candi and Mark – friends and former classmates of Linda’s. It’s always fun to get together with old friends!  

On the 22nd we were out for a bike ride again on the Bridge to Bay Trail bike path in St. Clair, one of our favorites to ride; we start it at a park, encounter a few street crossings and ride along the St. Clair River. When we stopped to eat our packed lunch, we didn’t expect to see a freighter, but there was the Tufty, heading downriver – an interesting looking bulk carrier, flagged in Cyprus; much shorter that the Discovery at 185.14m long and 23.99m wide (607’ x 78’), built in 2009.   

Looking at this vessel, you might think it is referred to as the Menominee, but it is the Olive L. Moore! It is classified as a tug; an Articulated Tug and Barge (ATB). The Menominee was originally built in 1952 and became a self-unloading vessel in 1980. In 2006, the vessel completed a conversion to a new articulated self-unloading notched barge.  The tug was built in 1928. In 2005, the pusher tug Olive L. Moore underwent modifications including installation of a raised pilothouse and was paired with the barge in 2006 as an ATB with a combined length of 728 feet. By pairing the tug and barge, the crew is reduced to just 13.

September 24 was a fun day! This Ring-billed gull watched us as we waited for some freighters to pass by while we were at the Palmer Park in St. Clair.

The American Mariner, heading upbound was the first vessel to pass.

The Algoterra followed soon afterwards.

And then the Lake Guardian passed a few minutes later. It is the largest research vessel in the U.S. EPA fleet and the largest research vessel operating on the Great Lakes. It was built in 1981 is 180’ long and 40’ wide.

We walked past this statue on the way to the Jeep as we left Palmer Park and headed up to Port Huron. The statue is always there to wave at the ships even if no one else is in the park…

We had been in touch with Nancy who was just leaving home and stopping overnight in Port Huron. We arranged to meet for dinner and catch up a bit before she headed thru Canada to get to Massachusetts, Maine and other states up East. In 2012 and 2013 she was doing her Expedition 56  (and this); visiting all 56 states and territories, walking 56 miles a week, and donating $56 every day! Now she was working on Roadrunner 100! (walking 44 more miles in each state to make it 100 miles).

While we waited to meet Nancy for dinner, we saw more traffic on the river. The MarineTraffic App covers all sorts of vessels worldwide, including this sailboat. You can find all sorts of details!

Next came the Algoma Innovator sailing upbound. She is a Self Discharging Bulk Carrier built in 2017, currently sailing under the flag of Canada; 650 feet long and 78 feet wide. 

The restaurant we met Nancy at was called Freighters – imagine that! The lighting was kind of funky for this photo that Jim took as we parted ways!

The next day we went out for a bike ride and stopped for our picnic lunch.

And along came another upbound freighter, the American Courage. Built in 1979, she is 635 feet long, 68 feet wide.

On the 26^th, we visited the Water Street Brewery and enjoyed a sample flight.

And, wouldn’t you know, we checked the MarineTraffic App and saw that another freighter was downbound on the river! Linda went across the street to get a photo of Caroline McKee (an ATB) with barge Commander. Originally constructed in 1957, Commander has been reconfigured several times, most recently in 2019.. The 495’x72’ freight barge was paired with pusher tug Caroline McKee in early 2021.

On another ride, we came upon this steam locomotive. We texted Chris, and he found information about it! (He has been a train fan since he was a young boy – and he is involved with the 576 steam locomotive restoration going on in Nashville! This steam locomotive is a Baldwin “switch engine” built in 1923 and was used by Detroit Edison. For many years it hauled and shuttled freight and coal cars. It has been in the park in Marysville since June 1958.

Another bike trail we rode on, Wadhams to Avoca, is quite rural and shaded. A former railroad route that opened in 1882, the right of way was purchased from CSX in 1999.

Being rails-to-trails, we could imagine many trains had crossed over this tall trestle that we rode over. The 640 feet long Mill Creek Trestle is the longest bridge of its kind in Michigan

We saw some more freighters; the Algoma Endeavor downbound on September 28^th.

This Canadian self-discharging bulk carrier was built on 2025 and is 740 feet long and 78 feet wide. (Canadian freighters often sail out in the ocean and can’t be longer than 740 feet nor wider than 78 feet in order to navigate the locks St. Lawrence Seaway, the aquatic path which connects the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean.)

After a bit of a wait, American Integrity came upbound. Built in 1978, she is one of the thirteen 1,000 footers in the Great Lakes laker fleet. Her overall length is 1,000 feet, beam is 105 feet. 

On September 24, 2017, American Integrity broke the all-time record for the largest load through the Soo Locks with 75,095 tons of iron ore — beating the record held for the previous two weeks by Edwin H Gott. She was loaded to a draft of 29.7 feet 7 inches on her way to Indiana Harbor in Indiana.

It’s amazing how quiet these big ships are and how small the wake is that they leave behind!

We had hoped to see the “Queen of the Great Lakes” again during our time in St. Clair. Sailing since 1981, Paul R. Tregurtha is the longest freighter on the lakes, measuring 1013 feet long (and 105 feet wide). On the 29^th, she was downbound, so we went back to the park to watch for her! 

On October 1, we had lunch with our friend Barb got caught up with each other. Afterwards, we visited the Franklin Cider Mill for fresh donuts and cider. Jim grew up just down the road from the cider mill, and Linda visited it often with her family. Sadly, no photos taken that day; but we did share cider and donuts with Eve and Chris when we returned home!

On our last full day in Michigan, we were out for a bike ride and saw more freighters on the St. Clair River. When we stopped for lunch, we noticed 2 freighters stopped on the other side of the river, so we checked the MarineTraffic App.  It showed the 2 ships at Sarnia.

The Owl 5, a tankship, built in 2009 is currently sailing under the flag of Marshall Islands, is 420 feet long with a beam of 66 feet.

Docked in front of Owl 3 was the larger Algoma Conveyer, a Canadian bulk carrier built in 2019 she is 742 feet long and 78 feet wide.

An hour later, Northern Venture passed downbound as we rode along the river and headed back towards the trailhead.

We rode 117 miles during our 2-week stay in St. Clair – and Linda only used the electric assist on her trike for maybe 5 miles total.                

On October 3, we left Thousand Trails St Clair at 8:30 with 107,020.7 miles on Acey and 139,112 on Thor. At 4:30 we arrived at Country Boy Brewing, our Harvest Host overnight destination in Georgetown, KY. Of course, we stopped in and had a sample flight!

We left Country Boy at 8:30 on the 4^th with 107,404 miles on Acey and arrived home again at noon.

Chris noticed something on top of our street number post; Jim said actually it had been there for a few months. On closer inspection, it’s a little Jesus! Everyone needs a little Jesus!

Linda’s shoulder was still not quite right since she fell off her bike in March and broke her collarbone and some ribs. Physical Therapy has helped some, but having surgery on her frozen shoulder would help restore mobility and lessen the pain. So, on October 7 she had outpatient surgery on her shoulder to loosen the tight capsule around the shoulder joint. And she continued physical therapy. She also had 2 machines to help with rehab.

Eve & Amanda enjoyed an evening at a Sip ‘n Paint on the 15^th.

The wild turkeys seem to like our backyard as well! With Thanksgiving around the corner, they may be disappearing soon!

On October 29 we got news that Linda’s Aunt Dee had passed – at 102 years old. Linda was glad she and Eve were able to visit her and celebrate her 100^th birthday in 2023!

Dee had lived longer than anyone in either of our families. Her 3 sons and wives were with her during her final days; tho she loved her family here, she longed to be reunited with her loved ones that had gone before – her husband, parents and sister… and to be with Jesus!  We rejoice in a life well lived and that she is now safe in the arms of her loving Lord.

~ *~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Feel free to comment now and then – to let us know you are reading the blog and keeping up with our adventures. Thanks for stopping by!