Unending saga of Sault Ste. Marie

We are sitting in the boat, waiting now for a newly manufactured gas tank to arrive. The one that came from California a day late turned out to be too small (only 11 gallons) and the gentlemen, after much thought, decided the only way for us to get underway again is for a new tank to be fabricated out of stainless steel to the exact specifications of the old one. The joys of old boats! No one makes a tank any more of the appropriate dimension, so we will have one custom-made. Then, with ANY kind of luck, we will install it today and cast off for DeTour tomorrow. During our brief moments of temporary insanity, we have done all kinds of things for amusement. It is now Thursday. We had thought on Tuesday night that our troubles would end Wednesday with the installation of the new tank. As such, we were seized by an inexplicable urge Wednesday night to take a bit of an exploratory stroll after dinner. We discovered a most incredible power plant: Edison Sault Electric. It is an ENORMOUS, and somewhat frightening building built right over the water. It was built in 1888 and fully online with a newly-designed outside in 1898. Since that time, it has been providing the Sault area with power generated from its 80 turbines spanning a full quarter mile of the river. It is built entirely from stone upon pilings, under which fishermen in their small boats congregate frequently. Very close to this building is an impossibly run-down looking hotel called the Harbor House. Unlikely as it seems,it appears to be in operation. At the entrance to the basement of the Harbor House is a sign announcing "live music and cold beer" in a pub named the Happy Hideaway. Both happy and hideaway sounded good, so we ventured down into one of the funkiest places you can imagine. The bar was decorated in random holiday/tropical mode with various strings of lights and the occasional tiki-motif touch. There was a friendly bartender who offered 75-cent drafts of Budweiser. Who could refuse? After one or two, we were irresistably drawn to the small pool table - the size of Andy's for those of you who remember the pool table at Andy's - and put in a couple quarters. Now we are having fun! A nice couple from down the river struck up a conversation with us. Their names were Jason (an electrician) and Tracey (activity director at a local nursing facility). We had to stay and chat for some time, as at the very least we were not thinking about the bloody gas tank for once, and these two nice people were truly charming. This clearly resulted in a sluggish Wednesday morning, another unsuccessful gas tank experience Wednesday evening and a much less exciting Wednesday night. Today we are mildly optimistic that this last idea will work and that we will truly be back underway tomorrow. If so, we intend a modest celebration with beer and pizza tonight. As we will not be able to access the internet so easily, we will update this morning's post with the ultimate outcome of the newly fabricated stainless steel gas tank for Cassie.