On to the eastern side of Erie Canal…

 Tuesday, July 26, 2022

Woke up this morning to 58 degrees!!  At last!!!  We did our usual get ready routine and left for Lock 23, which was relatively close to us.  We were leaving the lock at 7:30.  Eight hours later we are tied up below Lock 25 having gone 53 miles. Needless to say, it took a while to transit the rivers between locks.  For one thing, much of this water had houses and docks along the side…read: slow going.  And then there’s always the time it takes to ready the lock when you approach and then to lock through.  But…we didn’t get hot until we stopped. ;-)

Again we had a lovely “back yard” for Maggie to romp around in….

Wednesday, July 27, 2022

Got out early again and traveled to Fairport, NY, today going though 5 or so locks. (They’re all alike now!)  The scenery was more remote…not as many homes by the water…so we made good time.  The only thing that started slowing us down was the railroad bridges we had to fit under.  Our boat measures 15.5 feet.  The bridges up here don’t have depth gauges so it’s hard to tell whether the water level is up (easier trip under) or down (will we still have a bimini top on the boat when we’re through).  One of the lock masters warned us of a 15.5 ft. bridge coming up. Gulp.  Turns out there we at least 6-10 inches (as it looked to me as I was standing on the back of the boat while Wayne drove slowly under.  AND A TRAIN CAME THOUGH, to make it worse.  We survived.  But we are going to have to go through a practice session on letting the bimini top down.

While in one of the locks, as we’re hanging on to our nasty lines and trying to fight the wind, the lady in the boat next to us started asking questions about our boat…and finally asked if they could come see it that evening in Fairport.  I told her that would be fine…but that we don’t make up the bed when traveling like this.  ;-)  

We got to Fairport and found a nice place on the wall right beside the bridge.  Great deal here for docking, water, and electric $14/night.  If you want to stay more than 14 days you need to talk to the dock master for info.  I was just getting ready to take Mags for a walk when Janet and Peter came to see the boat.  They have a Mainship, too, but it’s smaller.  It’s a sedan, i think.  Anyway, they came through to see our size and layout because they are interested in buying one. Nice people..from Florida…who want to live up here in the summer and store the boat in Brewerton, NY.

Thursday, July 28, 2022

Today was a nice catch up day.  Fairport has a a UPS store within easy walking distance, so I was able to make Amazon return.  I also got a few necessary items from the small grocery store nearby that sells mostly locally made foods…and visited my favorite store ever, Crafts Bits and Pieces.  It’s a thrift store that benefits elderly population here.  They also have a tool thrift store. I came away with two storage cases for my collage papers…and an antique tool that enlarges an image for drawing.  

AND…I visited the public library which is in the same shopping center as the UPS, craft, and tool stores.  I was hoping they had bags or t-shirts  that I could buy…but no.  The library has an interesting story about how it came to be in the shopping center.  They had a building that had been erected back in the 30's and by the 70's they needed more space.  The town decided to lease space in the shopping center.  In 1978 the library was moved by over 400 local residents, a box at a time.

For lunch we had hamburger from local restaurant and it was delish!  There was a nice breeze today and it felt especially good if you stayed in the shade, which is what we did.  Tomorrow we’re going to go under the lift bridge and head on over to Holly, NY for the night.  We’re planning on being in Buffalo, NY, August 4 and 5 to catch prescriptions and Amazon stuff.

Friday, July 29, 2022

Well...plans have changed.  Instead of going to Holly, NY, today we're going to Brockport, which is only a few miles from Holly.  We've been to Holly and decided to do Brockport this time.  ;-)

The trip was easy and pleasant.  Temps in the mid-70's and a good breeze blowing kept me in long sleeves until we tied up to the Brockport wall.  Cost for the night is $20 and includes water, electric, wifi (open, of course), and laundry.

The only grief we suffered today was going under a TON of bridges and sweating out clearing many of them.  It's a good thing water is down a bit on the Erie Canal or we'd be boating in a convertible look (top down!)  We also had several life bridges, beginning with the one in Fairport.  Easy, peasy.  Call the bridge tender and request a trip through.  One little hang up in Spencerport.  The bridge tender didn't answer our call.  We finally tied up to the side of the basin and Wayne went off to find the person in charge.  Meanwhile, Maggie and I took a short walk.  Bottom line, the bridge tender missed the call out (he came back to his office just as Wayne was going into town to find our if the bridge opened on request...or only on the hour, as some bridges do.  Anyway, we all got back to the boat and made it easily through.

Beautiful scenery as we went...and I'm just going to put some of the photos in now...

 Another stay on lock wall

Artful arrangement on by the lock

Fairport with boats on both sides of the

canal.  We're way back on the left side with 

beige top...

Ben, we found your boat...

 

ON THE ERIE...

Monday, July 18, 2022

Lonnnggg trip today from Norrie Marina to the Troy City Marina.  We left early and traveled 63 miles to get there.  Last time we stayed here they had a city dock that would allow one to stay for days.  They converted that to a marina with fee of $2/ft.  Still, it was worth it.  Water, electricity, easy access to downtown services.  That evening we did take out from a local bar for supper.  

Next morning we ordered groceries for delivery from Walmart and took laundry to local  laundromat for wash, dry, fold service (Big Lou's charged only $25 for washing, drying and folding or hangers!!)…that with the help of Uber.  And we planned out our routes up and across the Erie Canal.

Tuesday, July 19, 2022

Our spot at the Troy City Marina.. and leaving Troy that morning.

We left Troy City Marina at around 6:30AM, knowing the federal lock, a short distance from our location, would open at 6AM.  There were 3 boats ahead of us as we approached the lock and we ended up traveling with them to the end of our day.  They were all Loopers…one doing it for the second time (by the color of flag they flew).  

The beginning of the day was very pleasant…and, shall I say…cool and breezy.  Well.  We all know that can’t last!  The weather was pleasant as long as you were moving.  Stop, and the heat caught up to you.

The locks were our issue today.  One of the boats we were following had no sense of their effect on the rest of the “party”.  When entering the lock, no one knew where that boat was going to go: starboard tie up (right side of the boat tied to wall) or port (left side tie up.)  Everyone else had to adjust accordingly.  In the first lock, this boat ended up being tied up to the left wall from the front of the boat…but the stern (back of the boar) was slowly floating to the right side of the lock and in danger of hitting the boat tied up there!

The wind, which had felt so refreshing as we started out this morning, turned into a real issue as the day went on.  Looking at stats on the weather app, the average wind speed was 13 mph and wind gusts went up to 24 mph.  That made locking through interesting, too.  Bottom line, we decided to stop our cruise today at Lock 9.  We all had to line up on the stern side to tie up in the lock and we barely fit in as the last boat there.  We’d already decided to stay at one of the tie up areas by the lock and as soon as we came out we headed for the north side of the channel and a long wall with places to tie up.  We started towards it and the wind kicked in big time.  One of the lock attendants came over and helped up get onto the wall.  Sigh!  We’d had it for the day.

Shut down the engine and turned on the generator.  Things have been better ever since. ;-)  Took Maggie for a walk in the nearby field asap.  Later I took her out with her e-collar on (read:stops the dog with a vibration on the collar…or a zap of “juice.”  She got to run off leash with this set up for the first time on this trip!  This dog LOVES to run !!

Plans for tomorrow are to make it to Little Falls and tie up on a wall there.   Field beside the dock at Lock 9...

Wednesday, July 20, 2022

Today was a good day.  We left Lock 9 mooring early and traveled all the way to Little Falls, NY.   We went through 7 locks…and every one is different!  Some have large, 6” diameter poles that we can loosely tie up to for the trip up (all of the locks since we started have been moving higher and higher in elevation. Other locks have small steel lines in a recessed channel that you can loop a line around to hold the boat in place. All locks seem to have at least a couple of stairs leading from the top of the lock down to below boat level.  These we can loop a rope around and hold the boat close to wall.  Only hassle with that is that you have to take the rope off and loop it around a higher rung as the boat “climbs” the wall.  All locks have a bunch of  long lines hanging from the top of the lock for boaters to grab onto and try to keep the boat from swinging out as the water rises and you encounter the wind.  I don’t like those lines.  Too easy to “get away from you” which is when I yell WAYNE!!!!  I guess we learned a while ago that if you can “snug up” to the lock wall, the boat will move less and suffer less damage.  It was just hard to do that on most of these locks.  Funny, but I don’t remember that being the case last trip through….

The poor boat is a mess after all this tying up to lock walls.  The walls are flaky dirty and wet.  The rope I used to tied up to ladders or slide along the poles or metal lines is filthy.  Thank goodness for my “boat gloves!”  When we get to Ess Kay Boat Yard in Brewerton we’ll clean her up!!

We stopped today right before Lock 17 at Little Falls, NY.  We stayed there in the same place last time through.  We didn’t go into town…just gave Maggie a good walk on a nearby trail, settled in for the evening with generator running and air conditioner pushing out cool air. ;-)  Little Falls has some gorgeous stone banks...

Thursday, July 21, 2022

We were ready to go through Lock 17 and called the lock at 6:50AM.  Other locks we’d been through opened at 6.  This lock opens at 7.  Well, it was almost 7:30 before we entered the lock.  Hmmm.  As we entered the lock we heard a weird sound coming from the bow thruster.  We both sort of blanched at that because we’d had trouble with Journey on the last trip through, we thought this might be the same thing…and that would be…strange.  Turns out we didn’t have any more troubling sounds from it today and will check it out at Ess Kay Boat Yard if we go.

The rest of the day went well.  We had planned to go all the way to Sylvan Beach, NY, before crossing Oneida Lake, but the wind started picking up and it poured rain on us for a brief period.  We decided to just stop on the west side of Lock 22, south bank.  It’s perfect for us, and Maggie!  Huge field by the boat so I took her out for a romp, again with her “E” collar on for safety.  She had a ball!!

Our spot below Lock 22 and looking at sunrise there the next morning

Friday, July 22, 2022

Today we got up our usual “early” and traveled from west side of Lock 22 to Oneida Lake.  In doing so, we passed by Sylvan Beach.  Neat little town and a beautiful beach area park.  They have a free wall and we stayed here for a few days on one of our trips.

The weather was perfect as we crossed Oneida Lake, 20.51 miles.  The only “issue” came in dodging fishing boats!  They insist on being right on our course of travel!  ;-)  We were at Ess-Kay Boat Yard in Brewerton, NY, where we had a reunion with Kim who, with her husband, have run the boat yard since she graduated from college.  She was telling us that she had her sights on becoming a financial something, but when she told her father (the business owner then) he told her she’d be coming to work with him.  “I paid for your college and now you’ll pay me back.”  She’s been here ever since and is obviously very happy here and has a great business.  We’re going to be here until Monday or Tuesday (depending on when Amazon packages arrive on Monday).  Monday morning the crew here will change the oil and filters on the engine and generator.

Along the way...

 

 

 

Obviously I have a park along the banks of the Oneida Lake!

 

Other photos from our trip to Ess-Kay Boat Yard...and of the boat yard itself..

 

Saturday, July 23, 2022

Maggie and I got out for a walk this morning…down a 2-lane road with houses on one side and woods on the other.  Good for jumping outta the way when pickup trucks come barreling by.  Yes, even in Brewerton, NY!  Well, it is a very small town…

Ess-Kay has a courtesy car that we checked out for a couple of hours.  We got some basics at Walmart…then went to Wegman’s for groceries.  Nirvana!!  Stocked up on goodies and necessities…then back to the boat to settle in for a lazy afternoon…naps, too

Sunday, July 24, 2022

This morning Maggie and I went in the other direction on said road and toured Brewerton.  One main street with sidewalks a few shops, and a few “once were” shops.  Our walk took us to the waterside park, small and clean…and then we turned around and walked back.  About 45 min. and it did us both good.

 In "downtown" Brewerton I saw this gorgeous old church.  Apparently it's used now for things like weddings and art shows....

We have the car booked again for a couple of hours.  There’s still room in the freezer and Wayne needs a “spider brush” from Ace Hardware to fight the never ending battle against spiders on a boat…

Off the Ocean!!

Thursday, July 14, 2022

We left Manasquan Safe Harbor Marina at around 8:30 to let the tides work with us on our way out of the inlet.  The trip up the coast was easy (thank goodness!) and we got there in plenty of time to pause and circle around with our companion traveler today, Nowhere Fast, snapping quick shots of our boats in front of the Statue of Liberty.They then waited for Esperanza so they could take a picture of them. Both of the other boats were headed to a marina in the area…But we did our usual thing of anchoring in an anchorage near the park behind the Statue.

We were the only power boat in the anchorage and shared it with only about 4 sailboats.  Sweet!  We then celebrated our successful trip coming off the Atlantic Ocean by opening up the bottle of wine Chuck and Vickie shared.  Perfect ending to a perfect day….

View of Jersey shore while traveling up to NYC

 

 

 

Friday, July 15, 2022

Haverstraw Bay was our destination today.  We left the Statue anchorage around 7:00 in hopes of finding the NY harbor somewhat clear…and it was!  The last time we left here we left at 8:30 thinking we’d miss all the traffic.  Nope!  We had ferries blowing their horns at us all the way up while we were trying to get out of their way!  

Taking our ride up through the NY harbor I couldn’t take enough pictures of the architecture.  So many unique buildings…

We found our anchorage in the early afternoon, nestled in a little cove behind a park.  It was a quiet night…

Saturday, July 16, 2022

  View of the Hudson River as we left our anchorage this morning...

 

We were both up early this morning and left our anchorage around 7:00 to travel to a marina, Norrie Marina in a state park about 40 miles up river.  $1.25/ft for the night and $5 for power.  Deal of the trip, so far!!  The cruise up the Hudson was all scenic entertainment: passenger and freight trains running on both sides of the river; huge, gorgeous homes; West Point; and cliffs that would challenge a “climber”in spite of names like “Break Neck Cliff”.

We finally got to our marina and it’s a perfect place to relax for the afternoon and catch up on blogging. Tomorrow we’re hoping to get to Troy City Marina for a couple of nights before we get on the Erie Canal.  It’s a 60+ mile trip from here and we’re hoping the tides will cooperate…

NOTE:  Non-dog lovers might want to skip this part.  It’s about training a dog to “cruise” on a long boat trip.

Maggie hadn’t been on land since Thursday morning at Manasquan.  We have a grassy pad on the boat that she trained on early and last used about 3 years ago.  So, here’s the deal.  There are times when we anchor out in spots that don’t have good places to dinghy into and since we can’t hit land…we have a grassy pad that substitutes for real land…or so we hope.  So we didn’t take her to shore until this afternoon…in hopes that she would start using the pad.  She had peed on the mat, but that was all.  We were uncomfortable with her situation…but she would only pee.  Today,  when she got the leash attached to her harness she was, needless to say, thrilled.  And had a lovely time on land making up for the time since Wednesday morning.  As with most training like this, I think Wayne and I were more miserable than she!!

And it ain’t over yet….

 Sunday, July 17, 2022

Up early this morning to travel 63 miles to Troy, NY, and their marina along side the river.  As we thought would happen, our mileage wasn't the best due to either current or breeze.  Must have been mostly current because there wasn't much breeze... and it was HOT!  Again, the trip was interesting just looking at all that was around us.  One thing in particular was spotting 3 of the Hudson's remaining lighthouses.  You can read all about the lighthouses on this website:https://www.hudsonriverlighthouses.org/

Got into our slip in Troy shortly after 4PM.  Maggie and I took a short tour of the area and were pleased to see lots of people and activity.  And...the area looks very well tended.  Ordered take out from a restaurant nearby and relaxed knowing we had a whole day ahead of us for grocery shopping and laundry.  ;-)

 Monday, July 18, 2022 

It's raining in Troy today, but not so hard that Maggie won't walk in it.  It's 9:30AM and we've ordered groceries to be delivered and Wayne took an Uber with our laundry to drop off for pick up this PM.  Our next travel day, tomorrow, will take us to the Erie Canal so we've been looking at our trip records from last visit there...and the charts we have.  More later....

 

These are the three lighthouses we saw in traveling to Troy.  The last one shown, the white one, looked like a church as we left Norrie Marina.  When I saw, finally, that it was a lighthouse it made me think of all sorts of allegories with church, on a rock in the river, and a light guiding one to safety.

Sailboat row at Norrie Marina

Norrie Marina from shore

More pictures to come when I get to a spot with better wifi reception...;-)

 New York City, here we come!

Wednesday, July 13, 2022

Left Beach Haven, NJ, this morning shortly after 7 AM and had a lovely day of travel up to the Safe Harbor Manasquan River Club in the Manasquan Harbor area.  The trip took about 5 hours...and, though we both scraped bottom a bit coming into the marina, we both were left unscarred.  

We didn't know how hot it was until we quit moving!  Now we're cooling off inside with no plans to "see the area" any more than we already have.

And tomorrow, weather allowing, we'll make our way up to the NY Harbor where we'll hope to anchor behind the Statue of Liberty...as we have on our other two trips up this way by boat.  And after that, Hudson River here we come!!  It will be so nice to be off the ocean!

While we're underway Maggie hops from place to place on the bridge....

Houses along the way today...

And finally, last night's sunset at Beach Haven Yacht Club

All Shook UP!

 Monday, July 11, 2022

Today looked like a good weather day for going out on the Atlantic Ocean from Cape May, NJ, to a marina north of Atlantic City through the Little Egg Inlet.  Esperenza and Maggie Jo left Cape May at 6 AM for what would probably be a 5-6 hour trip.

The waves weren't at all what we thought they would be and we basically had a whirling, twirling, leaping ride all the way.  Oh! and then we got to the inlet, Little Egg Inlet!  We've never been in such uncontrollable a situation!  We'd called the Coast Guard for advice on conditions at the inlet: usability, shoaling, use of...anything to give us guidance through the inlet.  Nada.  Coast Guard answered saying "people use this inlet every day"...but they really can't comment further due to liability issues.  WHAT???

So fine.  We wallowed through the inlet, which was showing white caps all over (indicating shallow water).  Talk about uncontrollable!  We've never been in situation so scary as this.  But...we made it through without issues...it was just VERY uncomfortable.'

Again, we'd had trouble finding a place to stay and finally landed a couple of slips in the Beach Haven Yacht Club in Beach Haven, NJ.  Beautiful little town and the people at the yacht club were so friendly and helpful.  I think it was worth $4.00/ft. per night to stay....

Tuesday, July 12, 2022

Woke to a beautiful day.  Wayne and I walked up to the local grocery and got some supplies.  For a small store it had a great selection and a really good deli area.  Spent a lot of the day working on our Navionics app for navigation as we go along.  Finally got a workable outcome, but still needs some work.  Tomorrow we're going "inside" on the ICW so we don't have to worry about the ocean.  Our destination is a marina near the Manasquan Inlet.  This evening is stormy, windy, nasty.  Tomorrow should be better (?).

Our companion boat, Esperanza, has a gorgeous golden retriever, Ginger, an English cream in coloring, and Ginger weighs about 60 lbs.  Their boat doesn't really allow an easy way for her to get off the boat.  Until now.  They have a lift on the boat for their dingy...and they have a sling they can use to lower Ginger down...but they'd never tried it until today. Here's the video of Ginger being lowered from the boat to land with the lift:

https://youtu.be/EcnA5BTbm9w

Funny thing happened with Maggie today.  We were taking a walk in town and passed a yard with a "sailing captain" figure in the front yard.  Maggie apparently though he looked suspicious and started barking voraciously!
 

Howdy Pardner!

Tuesday, July 5, 2022

Yep, we did feel like we'd been riding a bull today as we left Fairview Marina and made our way up the Chesapeake Bay to the C&D Canal.  I should have known there was going to be a problem with the wind when my hat blew off before we got out of the bay...and we had to circle around with the boat and hook it in. (Thankfully it wasn’t my favorite hat, Ann!)

The wind and water got better once we found ourselves between two closer bodies of land and the wind provided a nice push on speed to around 10 MPH.  We were headed for Chesapeake City for the night…but couldn’t find a vacant slip.  Or rather, couldn’t find a marina that would respond to our inquiry by phone.  So we ended up traveling a couple of extra hours and stayed at Summit North Marina on the C&D.  We ended up traveling about 7 hours for our first day out rather than the 5 hrs we’d anticipated. 

The marina office at Summit North Marina seems like a mile-long trek...but I didn't measure it.  I took Maggie our for a walk that evening and saw a young guy fishing off the dock.  I chatted a short while with him to find out that he hadn't caught anything yet.  On the way back we were in the process of walking past him when I heard him cry out, "I got one!!"  We walked back to get a look and congratulate him on his catch...and I asked if he'd mind if we took a picture of him and his catch.  He was pleased to oblige:

Turns out it was a yellow perch...and he said it wasn't much good for eating, but it was his biggest fish that day.  Oh, and it was pouring rain!  Now that's devotion!

Wednesday, July 6, 2022

Not having far to travel today, we were in our spot along the floating dock by lunch time.  We met two couples doing the Loop…and met with the dock master at 3PM for an update on weather conditions across the Delaware Bay (he does this every day for those interested in the topic.  

Using a NOAA service, he showed maps indicating wind force and wave height.  At 4 that day the trip looked very do-able. 

Thursday, July 7, 2022

It was another story at 5AM this morning!  Three of us were planning to take off this morning…but ended up going back to bed after seeing 10-15 winds (and rising).  We called the marina at Cape May and cancelled for today…but are hoping for good weather tomorrow.

Delaware City is an interesting place full of history and historical buildings/houses.  Maggie and I have done some nice walks!  We found out pretty quickly that the majority of the stores in the “shopping area” by the Bay are only open about 3 days a week.  We can see the public library and the community park that surrounds it from our boat…and there’s a nice walking trail that runs along the waterway and off into a grassy area.

Speaking of Maggie, today’s her birthday!  She was born on the 7th day of the 7th month in 2017.  Easy to remember!  She’s 5 today.  Now for some photos from Delaware City...

Friday, July 8, 2022

Whoopy!! The weather looked great and we left, as did about 5 other boats,, for the trip across Delaware Bay to Cape May, NJ.  We were trying to keep an eye on a boat we'd gotten to know, Esperanza with Wayne, Hope, and Ginger the Dog aboard.  The trip was easy, but long.  We traveled over 60 miles and it took us 7 hrs.  Needless to say we were pooped when we finally got into our slip at Utsch's Marina.  A walk about with Maggie...supper...and to bed!

By the way, Maggie has decided to sit up with us when we're cruising.  One of the features we liked most about this boat is the bench seat at the helm.  Wayne and I fit there perfectly...and Maggie has moved there, too.  On our first day out when we were crossing the choppy Chesapeake Bay, she was in my lap with her head underneath my arm and her body shaking.  Fortunately, she's more comfortable every time we go out now.

 

Saturday, July 9, 2022

Today has been rainy off and on.  Mostly on.  Hope and I decided we needed a grocery run and a look around town.  I was trying to return an item to a "UPS store"...and it turns out that the only pharmacy in town, a CVS, would handle the return if you presented the box with a label already on it.  We decided to walk to CVS and then get an Uber to and from the grocery store which was in a small town next to Cape May, Rio Grande.  There printing self-serve wasn't working for me so that was a lost cause..  I'll hang on to it until we reach a larger town.  Did I mention it was raining on us the whole time we were out?

So, anyway, we'd gotten a good morning walk in...seen some beautiful historic homes, stepped into a consignment shop and a hardware store.  Instead of calling Uber we decided to walk back to the local grocery, shop, and then call Uber.  Worked like a charm and we came home with more than we could probably store in the boats.  I attribute that to the fact that we didn't get home until about 2 and were shopping in a hungry state. ;-)

We had hoped to leave tomorrow, Sunday, but the weather and waves are looking nasty...so we've booked another night and will hopefully leave on Monday.  As an aside, we'll be headed to Atlantic City, NJ, and will be "running on the outside"...i.e, the Atlantic Ocean.  Today, while Hope and I were out exploring Cape May, the guys were trying to find a marina to stay in there.  Turns out Atlantic City is having a fishing tourney all next week and TheWaynes were coming up with nothing available.  This Wayne kept trying and finally landed 2 slips for our boats in Little Egg Harbor for a couple of nights...with the provision that we'll only stay one if the weather is such that we can leave on Tuesday.  

Anyway, we'll have another day to spend here in Cape May now that the "necessaries" have been covered.  I'll hope for good weather so I can get pictures of this little town.  Today the town was PACKED with people who had come for the weekend to go to the beach and had been rained out!

Sketch for today

https://photos.app.goo.gl/J4eJhUZWkQ38aegF6

Ah, the romance of cruising...

 Now for a glimpse at the REAL cruising life.

We leave Fairview Marina in Pasadena, MD, this coming Tuesday.  As we were fixing lunch this  afternoon it dawned on us that we really need more food...and we've yet to wash clothes (full laundry bag sitting in the "guest room.")  

Food seems more important to us than clean clothes (oh, my, that says a lot about us, doesn't it!)  Now, in the southern states we often find "courtesy cars" that can be signed out for an hour or so with the understanding that we will put some gas in the tank as payment.  We don't find many courtesy cars up here in the northern states.  But!  Covid and Uber have made traveling without transportation a bit easier.  I decided today to order from Walmart here since I was also looking for a few "hardware items."  I placed an order which will be delivered (hopefully) to the marina between 7 and 8 this evening.  l'll need to stay awake 'til it comes...but I think I can manage that.  The charge will be $7.95 for delivery and a tip of $7 to the delivery person when it has been received.  All of this is handled online with a credit card.

Now, as for the laundry issue...the laundry is closed today (one washer, one drier) so tomorrow I plan to start the process as soon as the office opens.

Then there's my addiction to Amazon online ordering for everything.  Marinas will generally accept mail for their "transients", as we're called.  I have an order coming to a marina in Cape May while we're there Thursday and Friday of this week.

Can't say enough good things about this marina.  It's owned and run by a family and they live on the property.  If we lived around here, this is where we'd stay.  So long for now...

Never say never!

 When we sold our last boat, Journey, we had decided not to own a boat again.  Well...never say never!

Maybe it's the COVID years with it's limits on travel...But mostly, for us, it's the realization that we might find ourselves unable to travel where we want to due to health issues that might arise.  One day we looked at each other and ask ourselves if there was anything else in the way of travel or life changes that we wanted to do while we could.  We both admitted we'd like to travel by boat on extended cruises again.

So...we sold our house while looking for the boat we'd picked out, a Mainship 39'.  We'd been looking for a boat for a couple of months, but as soon as boats came available they were snatched up.  Fortunately for us, our broker connects with Facebook and saw a Mainship 39' for sale in Portsmouth, VA.  We expressed an interest and our broker called the seller to arrange a viewing of the boat within days.  We drove to Portsmouth and, after a tour and talk with the owner, signed a contract pending a survey of the boat.  As we walked out that day in Portsmouth to see the boat Wayne stopped on the dock leading to it and pointed to the side of the boat and it's name:  Maggie Jo!!  We took it as a sign that it was meant to be!

As for selling our house, it was an idea we'd been considering for several years now.  When we bought our house on Coachman Lane it was exactly what we wanted.  We wanted to do some traveling...by boat and car...and the Coachman Lane house had lawn maintenance built in and neighbors close to alert us to any problems.  As the 12+ years passed, though, we both became more involved with our hobbies: art for me and woodworking for Wayne.  We decided a little bit larger house would allow me a room devoted to art projects...and we could get a larger piece of land that would allow Wayne to build a separate structure for his woodworking.  Strangely enough, the couple that bought our Coachman Lane house had sold us our first house in Knoxville back in the 70's!  Again, we took it as a sign that it was meant to be!  Our only regret in selling the house is that we had fantastic neighbors!  Our plan is to keep in touch with them as you would any good friends....

 So!  We got to the boat last Tuesday, June 28, and are using this week to organize our "stuff" and acquaint ourselves with the workings of the boat and the navigation software.  Though we'd looked at the boat in Portsmouth, the owners were on their way to Pasadena, MD, so that's where we are now.  We'll leave here on Tuesday, July 5, and start our trip up to New York City, Hudson River, Erie Canal, Great Lakes and then the river system that will bring us back to Tennessee and the Knoxville area where we'll make some changes to the boat before we take longer trips.

Speaking of the boat, here's Maggie Jo...

 

Upstairs helm

Downstairs helm

Salon

Galley

Galley

Bedroom

 

 

 Head

 

 

 

 Spare bedroom AKA Storage!

 

 As for the name of this boat?  Well, we were tempted to call it Maggie May...but decided to call it Journey II.  We'll go by Maggie Jo until we get back to Tennessee, though.  

Tonight we're going to try out the new restaurant at Fairview Marina where we are docked.  The restaurant is named Sam & Maggie's...after the owner's dogs, I think.  More to come later when we start moving...