Lillie May Comes Home - Summer 2018

 Lillie May was located in Key River, about 180 km from our home.  We drove up to finalize the deal and take possession.  The owner had purchased Lillie May from our area in Southern Georgian Bay and towed her to her present location on its trailer so that was our plan.  Upon closer inspection, Jeff was not comfortable with that plan at all.  He wasn't sure the trailer was up for the job.

So, plan B was in order.  The plan was, Jeff would tow the trailer home for some upgrades and we'd drive Lillie May home through the small vessel channel down the coast of Georgian Bay.  YAY!  A two day trip in our new little tugboat.

Unfortunately that trip would have to wait as the Key River area was closed to traffic due to forest fires.  Yikes.  It took a couple of weeks but eventually we got the green light to transit Key River and head out onto Georgian Bay.  It was a desolate trip, with the smell of smoke still in the air and charred remains of the forest lining our way.

Following the paper charts closely, we snaked our way through the maze of islands that make up the East Coast of Georgian Bay.  It was the Tuesday after the Labour Day weekend and we were pretty much alone out there, passing very few boats or cottages in this Northern Corner of the the bay.  

We putted along.  Without a speed gauge we were unsure how fast we were going, but we were pretty sure there was nothing fast about it at all.  We were guessing maybe three to five knots.  

Eventually we started to see the odd cottager or passing boat.  Invariably, out came the cameras as folks snapped pictures of our cute little tugboat chugging along.  We began to realize this was something we were going to have to get used to on Lillie May.  

All in all the trip home took two days, with one overnight stop in Killbear -- and about 5 gallons of diesel.  This little girl sips!