Mark’s Kaddy Korner

Since I’m going to be up here all winter I thought I might write about the experience. I’ll try to update it every few days or so. Let me know what you think.

The First Few Days – arrived 12/22/08

Wendy and I had talked about it for awhile, and it seemed like the thing to do for both of us. She’s got a beautiful place on the island www.mackplacecondo.com, but a winter there, that may be quite the undertaking. I’ve spent 4-6 straight weeks at my place in northern Wisconsin, but never a whole winter without a car, transportation, just our two little feet to get around an island inhabited by about 500 people.

We left Florida a week before Christmas, spent the weekend in Boston visiting her daughter, Ashley, and then braved a nasty snowstorm driving to Michigan. You don’t just arrive on Mackinac Island for the winter, it’s a process which takes quite a bit of planning, many stops, and causes a bit of apprehension. You can’t cover all the bases, but we had packed supplies in my van and her SUV so we felt prepared.

The last boat leaves for the island at 3:45 every day until the straights ice over, then it will be only snow mobiles or a plane flight on and off the island. We unloaded the vehicles at the St. Ignace dock onto the carts and waited with her two Golden’s, Sam and Honey. They were getting antsy and looking forward to the island. We were too, the whole process of getting here was weighing on all of us.

The ice crunched along the sides of the boat, and it had to follow just one path wedged between the ice flow. Our laptops, a couple dozen eggs and the dogs were gathered at our feet on the boat deck, and I looked about the cabin at the wide variety of people I’d be spending the next few months with.

It took me awhile to get accepted when I bought my place outside of Mellen, WI and I was wondering how I’d be accepted here. Locals are wonderful people once you get to know them, but someitmes that’s a long process and you have to move carefully. I’ve learned over the years on tour, you don’t speak unless spoken to, and you definitely don’t offer unsolicited advice. You sit in the corner, drink your beer, and enjoy watching the people.

Our supplies were unloaded after a little wait, Wendy made arrangements with the Arnold LIne for delivery, and we made the 10 minute walk to her place. We got the dogs situated, surveyed the house and waited for the horse drawn wagon delivering our supplies. Darkness falls early up here and the wagon arrived well after the sun had set. You don’t get front door service, the supplies are left on the street, and you unload them yourself. With the assistance of a pilfered neighbor’s sled, and some determined Sherpa-like work, we managed the transfer from cart down the alley to the back door.

We piled stuff high in the entry room, surveyed for damages, and unloaded just what we needed for the evening. The only items missing were one boot, the meat for my award winning chili, plus a bottle of Wendy’s favorite champagne. The boot showed up in a Main Street snow bank a week later but the champagne and meat are still MIA. Someone had a nice meal that evening.

The unloading and organizing took a few days, I treaded lightly trying to help but not get in the way at the same time. This is Wendy’s home and I’m just visiting, luckily there’s enough room for both us and we have our own private space. She’s got her office space downstairs and bedroom upstairs, and I have my room (office and bedroom combination) with bathroom across the hall. My organized mess shouldn’t get to out of hand.

My daughter, Cassie, was supposed to come before Christmas but the weather and ferry schedule curtailed her trip…….maybe after the holidays. Christmas was going to be quiet and I hadn’t even started my shopping, good luck here on the Island, there’s not much open. I spent Tuesday getting acclimated, registering a P.O. Box, opening a bank account, and searching for an XMAS tree.

The post office clerk, Nancy, and another patron were very helpful. They spent some time contacting the high school about trees and guiding me around the small, tight knit community. The tree was going to be a problem and I’d have to call ACE Hardware on the mainland for a saw and snow shovel. Nancy said I should go into the forest and cut my own, but I didn’t want to get in trouble so soon.

Willard was very helpful at the hardware store. He shipped the saw and shovel on the 1:30 boat and then told me the Country Store had trees. After talking with an elderly gentleman and pleading for a tree, he went out of his way to make sure we had the tree Christmas Eve afternoon. It arrived on the last boat, I drug it through town on the pilfered sled, and then a local, Tricia, offered me snowmobile seat the rest of the way.

I’m going to enjoy this small town atmosphere with no vehicles, just trudging through the snow each day, and getting to know the locals, they’ve been great.