Back in the USA

As it turned out Kincardin Ontario was our last port of call in Canada as we took advantage of SW winds and sailed back across Lake Huron to the Michigan shore and the town of Harbor Beach (HB). Before leaving our hot water heater hose broke and it being Canada Day, July 1, no  stores were open. I meet a fellow sailor also waiting for the hardware store to open who offered me a plug to stop the leak so  we could have water, if not  hot.
So at Harbor Beach we did find a hardware store who hooked us up with enough parts to jury rig it together. It has worked all the way to Mentor Harbor, Ohio where we are now. This is our planned stop at the Tartan factory for repairs which begin tomorrow.
After HB we sailed to Lexington and were hit with a line of thunderstorms with winds clocked by HD of 57.5kts. (that's better than 65mph if you don't have your conversion table handy) We only had short notice however being the careful crew we are we had the sails down and were as ready as you can be. The winds hit us from our starboard aft quarter with some small seas as we were just of the coast and that was where the storm came from. We did hull speed for a half hour or so and then the worst was over. We had to steer off our coarse to keep our speed below hull speed even while in idle. Good news again for our new home did her job and  HD never put her rail in the water.
When it was all over we were rewarded with a place at the sold out marina in Lexington and a front row seat to the 4th's fireworks while we ate a gourmet meal in the cockpit the first mate pulled together again.
We checked back into the USA at Port Huron, the first of the ports in the St. Clair river. We motored through the rivers of St. Clair and the Detroit to get us to Lake
Erie. Had a nice sail across the St Clair Lake which separates the two.We will miss the blue waters of Lake Huron. They are truly a magnificent.

A stop at the  island of Put in Bay then  Huron Ohio which didn't have a town? and we finally found the lovely boating community of Vermilion. We spent a planned second night with shore leave for the crew which was a nice change from the traveling we have been doing on this part of the trip. We had dinner at the 5 star restaurant,Chez Francois, which was as good a meal as we have had in a long time. (not counting the  home cooked delights which the crew is blessed with on a daily basis). We told the co owner this and that our sister is the publisher of Food Arts Magazine. He was familiar with it and Marvin Shanken and the past now deceased publisher which he was glad was not our sister.
The crew is anxious to get on with the next adventure which is the 7 to 10 trip through Erie Canal and then the much anticipated NY and NE coasts. We will leave here after the repairs are finished and visiting with some old friends from the Captain's second tour of Ohio.