At some point today, Flash’s odometer hit 6000 miles. I was too busy keeping him upright and listening for one of the tires to pop to notice.

The good news is that the pilot with the chip – but little head – on his shoulder isn’t on board this run. Plaunt Transportation is a four-generation family business, and I recognize the third generation’s captain running the ship this time, and the second generation Plaunt (90 years old) is along for the ride. I don’t recognize the other crew either; must just be a change of shift. The captain gave no indication of knowing who I am, just professionally directed me to park my “motorcycle” next to the ship’s bridge, out of the wind. Which also happens to be a rather noisy spot, and no less prone to the deck tipping. I stood with my Buddy. No further troubles.

My visit to Bois Blanc Island did not get off to a good start. The ferry ride itself was uneventful, but ended badly. There wasn’t really anything to tie my scooter to, so I stayed with it on deck, just in case it tipped. It didn’t, but the lake was rough enough that it might have. Aside from a little spray, it was fine until we got to the island.

As vehicles were starting to unload, the ferry pilot nearly ran me over with his truck! He glanced in his rear view mirror (he says) and started backing up. I grabbed my scooter and dragged it away from him (it’s not easy to drag 200lbs of scooter backwards while on it center stand), but not fast enough.

The damage was cosmetic – the front fender is scraped – but Captain Careless didn’t even pretend to be concerned. He just gave me an “oops, sorry”, explained that he thought I was already off the boat and the bit about checking his mirror, and got back in his truck. You know, a few minutes earlier there had been a kid sitting on the deck just past my scooter; did Captain Oblivious think to check for anything like that?

As I pushed my scooter of the barge, I passed this guy sitting behind the wheel waiting for me to get out of his way, and gave him the finger behind me. He came after me, apparently planning to pick a fight because I… was rude to him. Which is SO much worse than running into someone’s vehicle. “It was an accident. I said I was sorry,” he snarled. As if that made it all better.

Bois Blanc itself is a nice enough island. A good place to come if you want to get away from it all, but without abandoning electricity and such. It provides a little different perspective on the Mighty Mack, and an obscured view of Mack Island.

I met a doe along the road out to the point facing Mackinac. She leaped into the forest before I could even stop, let alone get out my camera.

The roads on “Boblo” aren’t what I expected. The maps I’d seen distinguished between “roads” and “dirt roads”, but it turns out they’re all dirt. Parts are hard-packed sandy dirt which is fine, but other stretches are little better than gravel, which is aggravating to ride on, and also makes me nervous for my tires. I get some level of comfort from the Slime sealant I put in before I left, but that won’t help if I run over a big sharp rock.