Day 14 -- Germfask to Brimley, Michigan -- 143 Miles

Today we had but one goal in mind: to drive northwest along Michigan Routes 28 and 121 from our camp in Germfask to a spot on the southern shore of Lake Superior known as Whitefish Point. There we hoped to find a historic lighthouse marking the entrance to Whitefish Bay, and a nautical museum devoted to ship wrecks on the Great Lakes. You might recognize the name Whitefish Bay from the famous Gordon Lightfoot ballad, "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald," which went down just a few miles from Whitefish bay back in 1975. More of that in a minute.

The lighthouse at Whitefish Point was established by orders of President Abraham Lincoln in 1861, and as such represents the oldest active lighthouse on Lake Superior. The lighthouse and museum grounds have been extensively refurbished (confided a local resident whom I met in the restroom) This resident said you used to be able visit the grounds and the museum, but the rest of the buildings were off limits and had a rather faded, weathered appearance.

Now, the museum building, as well as every other structure on Whitefish Point, look newly painted and fabulously maintained. All buildings sport a bright-white clapboard exterior and bright orange roofs that I'm sure you can see for miles out into Lake Superior.

We eagerly strolled the grounds visiting all the various buildings and talking with the approachable and friendly docents in each. We especially liked the Light-Keeper's two-story house, where all the various rooms on both stories were fabulously furnished with the proper period antiques.

We wandered next to the U.S. Coastguard Station where the long boat was kept for emergency rescues in the bay and beyond. There we met a young man of Welsh lineage who was only too eager to answer all of our questions and to ask a few of his own. We could tell that he was delighted to hear that we had driven all the way from Nevada to see his beloved museum and Coast Guard Station

Once we had toured all the available buildings, we retreated to the gift shop to score a knickknack or two. Naturally I grabbed a couple of T-shirts for my onboard traveling collection. Before we left on this trip I had told myself "no more t-shirts" since I have a rather large collection in the RV already. "But," I asked myself as we strolled the gift shop today, "when will I ever be back here?" And so a couple of t-shirts came away with me.

Next we headed for the lake shore. I wasn't sure that the sun would behave, as much of the afternoon it had been a constant no-show. But thankfully, Mr. Sun poked his face out enough for me to grab an outdoor shot or two. I guess I'm lucky I saw the sun at all today since all last night the rain came down in sheets and buckets. This morning we got up to find our camp was rain-soaked, waterlogged, and muddy, and it was a real pain getting the gear all packed when it was time leave.

And now for Wikipedia's version of the story of the Edmund Fitzgerald, the ship that didn't quite make Whitefish Bay during a gale-force storm back in 1975:

"SS Edmund Fitzgerald was an American Great Lakes freighter that sank in a Lake Superior storm on November 10, 1975, with the loss of the entire crew of 29. When launched on June 7, 1958, she was the largest ship on North America's Great Lakes, and she remains the largest to have sunk there."

"For 17 years, Edmund Fitzgerald carried taconite iron ore from mines near Duluth, Minnesota, to iron works in Detroit, Toledo, and other Great Lakes ports. As a workhorse, she set seasonal haul records six times, often breaking her own previous record. Captain Peter Pulcer was known for piping music day or night over the ship's intercom while passing through the St. Clair and Detroit Rivers (between Lakes Huron and Erie), and entertaining spectators at the Soo Locks (between Lakes Superior and Huron) with a running commentary about the ship. Her size, record-breaking performance, and "DJ captain" endeared Edmund Fitzgerald to boat watchers."

"Carrying a full cargo of ore pellets with Captain Ernest M. McSorley in command, she embarked on her ill-fated voyage from Superior, Wisconsin, near Duluth, on the afternoon of November 9, 1975. En route to a steel mill near Detroit, Edmund Fitzgerald joined a second freighter, SS Arthur M. Anderson. By the next day, the two ships were caught in a severe storm on Lake Superior, with near hurricane-force winds and waves up to 35 feet (11 m) high."

"Shortly after 7:10 p.m., Edmund Fitzgerald suddenly sank in Canadian (Ontario) waters 530 feet (88 fathoms; 160 m) deep, about 17 miles (15 nautical miles; 27 kilometers) from Whitefish Bay near the twin cities of Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, and Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario—a distance Edmund Fitzgerald could have covered in just over an hour at her top speed."

"Although Edmund Fitzgerald had reported being in difficulty earlier, no distress signals were sent before she sank; Captain McSorley's last message to Arthur M. Anderson said, "We are holding our own." Her crew of 29 perished, and no bodies were recovered. The exact cause of the sinking remains unknown, though many books, studies, and expeditions have examined it. Edmund Fitzgerald may have been swamped, suffered structural failure or topside damage, been shoaled, or suffered from a combination of these."

"The disaster is one of the best-known in the history of Great Lakes shipping. Gordon Lightfoot made it the subject of his 1976 hit song "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" after reading an article, "The Cruelest Month", in the November 24, 1975, issue of Newsweek. The sinking led to changes in Great Lakes shipping regulations and practices that included mandatory survival suits, depth finders, positioning systems, increased freeboard, and more frequent inspection of vessels."

Now if you'll take my advice, grab a DVD of Gordon Lightfoot's Greatest Hits and listen to the "Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" for yourself. You'll find it's a very moving song indeed. While you're at it, listen to all of Gordon's outstanding songs. My buddy John introduced me to Gordon Lightfoot way back in 1972 when I was attending the University of California, Santa Barbara. Later, when the two of us were plying the Mediterranean Sea aboard a sixty-foot motor sailer, we had two cassettes of Gordons to remind us of home. After that, his music never left my subconscious. He's truly a great song-writer.

But there's one more episode in the Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald story, and it has to do with paying tribute to the 29 men who went down with the ship. The whereabouts of the wreck was discovered in 1976, but it wasn't until dive technology made it easier to reach the wreck that a plan was discussed to rescue the bell of the Big Fitz and place it in the Whitefish Museum of Great Lakes Wrecks. In the summer of 1995 the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society together with families of the Fitzgerald's crew, the Canadian Navy, and the National Geographic Society raised the ship's bell to honor the 29 men lost on November 10, 1975

Today the ship's bell has a place of honor in the Shipwreck Museum and serves as a further reminder that 30,000 men, women, and children have been lost to shipwrecks on the Great Lakes. To further honor those lost on the Fitzgerald, a replacement bell, inscribed with the names and offices of all 29 of the Fitzgerald's crew, was lowered to the wreck and placed in the exact spot where the original bell had been removed.

And that's our memorable adventure for today. Outside the window of the RV, where just minutes ago the sun was shining brightly, it's begun to rain heavily as if to remind me of just how suddenly storms can blow up over Lake Superior. So, as the rig rocks back and forth with the force of the winds off that august body of water, I'll turn my attention to thinking about tomorrow and our visit to Sault Ste. Marie just a few miles down the road. We've never been there before, but we've heard that the "ship watching" is terrific. They also have harbor cruises and a Shipboard museum we've heard about. To get into the spirit of Great Lakes shipping, I even bought a small pocket book at the gift shop today on Great Lakes ship watching. Should be fun and educational.

Well, that's it for now from the Happy Wanderers. When you come to visit the northern reaches of the Michigan Peninsula, we suggest you bring your umbrella, warm clothes, and be sure and visit Whitefish Bay. We guarantee that you will be dazzled. Until then, we wish you happy travels and exciting adventures in this awesome and ever-changing land of ours.

To give you some idea of our route and distance traveled, I have included below a graphic. The distance traveled is right around 2,400 miles.