Northern Boating Trip 2026 (aboard "Tutta Bella" the motor yacht). (First day of trip)

Friday 4 September 2026

Hillman family dock

South Hero, Vermont 

We, Charlie Hillman, Will Patten and Marc Gervais gathered in the early morning to depart on this long anticipated trip to Quebec City.  Will is in Charge of the food, Charlie is in charge of the boat, and Marc is in charge of navigation and French communications.

Departure at 08:33 under a hazy sky, calm seas, 70 degrees temperature and a light North wind.  

Off we go.

Our destination for today is Saint John, Quebec, Canada 45 miles away at the entrance to the Chambly Canal on the Richelieu River.

Approaching the Canadian Border crossing just North of Rouses Point, New York.  The process is simple.  We pull up to the Customs pier, tie up, everyone get off the boat with their documentation and answers any and all questions asked by the friendly Crossing Agents.  The Lady Agent starts asking me if I am Canadian and then speaks to me in French. I explain that I am traveling with my friends to visit Quebec City and that we will be staying at the "marina port Quebec" .  Charlie answers questions in English by the male agent about Tutta Bella and any declarations concerning goods being brought into Canada.  The agent is happy with the USCG Documentation and clear answers on any alcohol on board. 

Will says I am traveling with them.  We are cleared in about 5 minutes.

Arrival at the docks in Saint John  in front of a new drawbridge at 14:33.

After a walk up to the Canal Office at Lock No. 9 we discover that a low railroad bridge in the way will be opening soon and that we should tie up at its entry dock to be first in line for a 09:00 lockage in the morning.  We followed the Lock Tender's advice.

The high point of the day for me anyway.  We had a fine dinner at a Fish and Chips Restaurant called Capitaine Poufs.  There is a concert near our original docking space but we can still hear the music here at Lock No. 9.

Southern Camping Trip 2026 (aboard "Elsie" the land yacht). cont. 56 (Last day of trip)

10 March 2026

259 Commodore Drive

Vergennes, VT

Barn Quilt.

Marc- We are back home in Vermont just one day before an ice storm is due to hit the area.  As we departed Hershey we passed through a lot of agricultural areas that strongly resemble the Champlain Valley in Vermont without the mountains in the distance.  Our first stop was in "Bird in Hand", Lancaster County to visit a quilt shop Sue discovered when we passed through here in January.

Goodbye Hershey.

Moving hay bales.

View from the Log Cabin Quilt Shop  parking lot.

They even have tie up posts for the Amish who come here in their horse drawn buggies (not shown).

One of several large display rooms.

Quits are available for purchase fully finished or in kit form. 

Amazing pattern.

Three dimensional illusion work.

I enjoy the contrasts here.

Sue - It's great to be home.  We lucked out with weather.  It was never too hot when we were down South, and it was not cold coming North.  We saw Spring emerging all the way north until NJ.  We arrived home to 60+ degree weather and the snow is gone.  We stopped at a Walmart in Queensbury, NY and the parking lot had mountains of snow that will probably take some time to melt.  We bought antifreeze there, as we know the trailer has to be winterized again.  We have no illusions that the weather will stay above freezing.

We had a nice Winter with friends and family.  You can't beat being able to get outside whenever you want, and not fear slipping, sliding and personal injury.  And the quilt stores were great.  So inspiring.  I will never have enough time to sew all the fabric I bought, but I will try!  Winter is sewing season, and I missed out on much of it.  I'll see what I can do to try and catch up.

Table runner that I've almost completed.

Thanks to all who followed our blog this Winter!  Hope Spring will come to you, wherever you are, SOON.

Orwell,VT sunset along Route 22A.

Southern Camping Trip 2026 (aboard "Elsie" the land yacht). cont. 55

 9 March 2026

Hersheypark Campground

Hershey, PA

Campground welcome center.

The Welcome center includes a store where many of the Hershey chocolate factory products are available for purchase (there is also always a free sample).

Marc-  Our travel day today was about 7 hours including a stop at a wonderful quilt shop called Wilson's, Your Favorite Quilt Shop in Hagerstown, Maryland.  We got to the campground just as the campground staff were leaving.  We went to our site and discovered that the water had not been turned on (it has been freezing around here not so long ago).  Sue called security and we were reassigned a site with water (some pipes are heated). 

Our journey was marked by seeing lots of farmland and increasingly green fields and cattle herds grazing.  There were few signs of winter except for a small accumulation of snow near a parking lot and then a ski area's snow covered trails off in the distant mountains of Maryland.  When we got to PA we encountered one massive warehouse after another.  They went on for miles.

Morning fog on Interstate 81.

Spring has arrived in Western Virginia.

Once in Maryland we saw far off ski mountain trails.

We were welcomed by very nice Mennonite ladies running this shop.

Doing embroidery quilting.

Strawberries

Detailed embroidery quilting.

A excellent example of an embroidered quilt.

Incredible detailed flowers.

My favorite.

                                                                        Dresden Plate

The owls were embroidered onto this pieced quilt.

Sue - We haven't gotten tired of visiting quilt stores yet.  "Wilson's Your Favorite Quilt Shop" was gorgeous.  They had so many quilts hanging, and typically had the line of fabrics below, along with selections of fat quarters from the line, and sometimes a pattern.  All of the quilts were heavily custom quilted with an embroidery machine.  One of the ladies gave us an introduction as to how it is done.  I was blown away.  Maybe when I get better at piecing I can look into getting one of these machines.  It would be awesome to do custom quilting.

Southern Camping Trip 2026 (aboard "Elsie" the land yacht). cont. 54

8 March 2026

Claytor Lake State Park 

Dublin, Virginia   

Sue crossing the New River on the New River Trail.  

Marc- The New River State Park is linear.  It is 57 miles long encompassing the old railroad right of way and incorporating several structurally sound railroad bridges, several tunnels through solid rock, and new bridges where needed.  It also has campgrounds, parking areas, cabins and playgrounds.

We had to wait for a park ranger driving across the above bridge in a pick up truck with about 1 inch to spare on either side.  A local university cross country team waited beside us to cross.  The wait was well worth it.  This is a nice trail that passes at a slight grade where the surrounding terrain is quite hilly.  We know this since we first travelled on a portion of the Northern trail before taking the truck down to the Southern terminus of the trail to ride there.  The hilly terrain is a series of tight rolling hills requiring sharp curves in the roadways and rapid changes in elevation.  The rail trail follows the gradual descent of the New River.  We needed this exercise since we will be driving the next two days.

Former Allisonia General Store.  Now a guest house.

Former Allisonia train station.  Now an Inn.

The Rail Trail leaves the New River to follow Chestnut Creek to the Manufacturing City of Galax.

The end of the Trail in Galax.

We even found a quilt shop but it was not open today (Sunday).

Mindy Donnelly gave us this book for Christmas and it has been very helpful.

Speaking of books, check out this Little Free Library at Clayton Lake State Park.