Manistee, 131 to Baxter, July 7th
Jacqui Morgenstein | Published on 7/7/2024
10 set out on a perfect morning from 131 on the Manistee. Just enough cloud to keep the sun from boiling us:
Jackie Anderson, Tom lipps, Tracie Lord, Loretta Pickford, Marlene Puska, Barbara & Richard Robbins, Donna Steinebach, Paul Wilkins, and Jacqui Morgenstein.
Most of us took our long boats for a rare outing. The current added to that great feeling of smooth speed gliding through the water. The river is wide enough for several boats to be near enough to each other for great story telling.
We missed the usual lunch spot for this section but found another - we passed 3 ladies leisurely floating down the river and they said we could use their family's land. We'd know it when we saw it, they said, it has a wood cottage on a cow pasture with a ramp, just round a bend. There'd be no-one there, they said, the renters left this morning.
Many bends later we found it, but there was a big pickup truck and trailer on the ramp unloading a big pontoon boat.
Only it wasn't a boat at all but an aluminum picnic table!
Of course we got talking and it turns out that one of them recognized Donna, and of course we were welcome to stop there. (But they can't believe we forgot to ask those ladies their names!)
Having put the dog on board, 4 of them set off down the river with a truly inventive selection of paddles.
The floating ladies arrived just as we finished lunch so we had a chance to get their names - and relationship to the picnickers, after all.