July 18, 2010 Back in the USA

Marc- Picton Ontario really is nice to visit especially when our friend Marie Bedard came along. The harbor is very nice with an active town with a good choice of restaurants and shops as well. This was one long travel day aboard the Lucy III. Sue returned via land with the van and met up with us in Clayton. She made stops in Kingston and Gananoque.

Marc- Yes we are back in the USA indeed. We arrived this afternoon in Clayton, New York from Picton, Ontario. Our departure was very nice and we even crossed the Ferry that Sue took from Picton to the mainland on route. Our long motoring trek up Lake Ontario started out with a 10 knot tail wind. This wind grew to 30 knots and six foot waves by the time we arrived off of Kingston. The Lucy III rolls a lot when not under sail. The wooden supports for the now horizontal masts creaked and groaned heavily with the motion created by the cross seas. the worst of it lasted for about an hour before we reached the protected waters behind Wolfe Island. This would have been a fine reach had we been fully rigged. There were many sailboats out as well as sailboarders and a few kite board people taking advantage of the wind. We opted not to stop in Kingston for lunch with Sue due to the waves as well as the forecast for afternoon thunderstorms. We arrived in Clayton an hour before the storms came through. We found our mooring, launched our dinghy, and then walked over to do our US Customs check in. The electrical storm hit just as we were getting ice cream. Most of the storm passed north of us providing just a show. The power grid must have been hit because the power went out in town after a particularly loud thunderclap was heard. Sue arrived by car in the middle of this and we stayed in the car listening to a Harry Potter audio story book: The Deathly Hallows. Sue had no difficulties bringing our old engine back into the USA by car.


Our boat is moored just below the two large boat buildings in this Clayton photo. This was a great place for a swim after the storm. I also checked out the mooring chain while Sue cooked an excellent pasta dinner. The mooring chain to float connection appeared worn and I added a six foot piece of chain with a new clevis. We will check the mooring anchor on our next visit.

Sara-
“Water is your best friend.”
“Juicy juice is my best friend,” Steph whined, and proceeded to moan, “Please, please, please…”
Once she got tired of that, my sister got up and started asking, “Can we watch Flicka? I want to watch Flicka. Where’s the case? I want to watch Flicka.”
The whole time she was going on like this her whining was executed with a bemused smile as if she were besotted with her own obnoxiousness.
“Oh no, there are bugs! Look, there’s a big on there! Look! Ahh…” And so she continued until she got something she wanted: her movie, and suddenly everyone else was making too much noise and she was all silent, wide-eyed attention to the glowing screen of my dad’s laptop.
That was last night, the last night of our trip. Now, after a long but wonderful drive during which we passed the border twice so as to visit my amazing aunt Dorothy, we’re back home. When we first arrived I was so excited to see the cats (and almost afraid that they hadn’t survived that horrible heat wave we had last week) that I danced out of the car, grabbed a bag at random from the trunk and bounded up the stairs where I waited, cooing and chatting at my cats through the door, until my dad arrived, laden with luggage, with the key.
It was crazy to be back, exhilarating. There was so much room all of a sudden! I went through a pile of college mail, chomped down an orange popsicle, downed a bottle of refreshingly refrigerated water, spun around singing about all this, changed into my running clothes, and announced that I was going on a short jog. My sister, equally eager to do something after all that groggy, listless sitting in the car, joined me and we went on a truly great run.
But, getting back to boating business…
I don’t really fancy going on about our last day, as it was filled with turbulence and seasickness, but I would like to mention that our last night, despite how annoying my sister was (as described above), was perhaps the nicest of the trip. The sunset, as sunsets in Clayton, NY tend to be for some reason, was astounding, really magnificent. It was the kind of sunset that just keeps on getting more and more beautiful until it flickers away and even then, though the sun has gone, the colors remain, brilliant and pure. Then the moon came and the wisps of clouds were pink, starkly harmonious against a sleepy blue sky.

Marc- We saved the best for last: another visit to Montreal to see our beloved Aunt Dorothy.

July 16, 2010 On our way back on the Lucy III, Hastings, Ontario

Marc- Having said our goodbyes to Jay and Joan on Windsong, we explored some sites in Midland, Ontario on our way back to Hastings by car. We had a beautiful fall day with plenty of sunshine and a warm temperatures of about 80 degrees. Midland is famous for having many murals including the largest mural in North America (80 feet high by 250 feet wide) painted on several connected silo's which dominate the harbor as we enter. Midland is known for the more than 30 murals painted on buildings all over town. Midland s also famous for Curling. It is a sport in which players slide stones across a sheet of ice towards a target area.

We later visited the Martyrs' Church and "Sainte-Marie among the Hurons" which was founded by French Jesuits as a mission settlement in 1639 in the land of the Wendat or Huron people. The mission of the Jesuits was to teach Christianity to the world. The mission was a large fortified settlement and by 1648 was home to one-fifth of all the French in the new world. The Church appears on the inside like an inverted canoe in reference to and in honor of the early explorers and local peoples. The Church also contains some extraordinary stained glass also honoring the native peoples.

Our name is common up here.


Marc- We now have a new Engine installed care of Stevenson's Marine. I did complete some of the wiring and cleaned up after the mechanics but they did an incredible job overall and for the amount quoted. We spent our first night back on the boat at the Hastings Village Marina. Another heat wave is upon us and we all missed the air conditioning that we enjoyed on Windsong. We also miss Jay, Joan, and their three chocolate Labradors: Rosey, Marley and Molly.
The next two days would get us to Frankford and then to the picturesque village of Picton. Marie Bedard joined us at Trenton and then toured around the island of Prince Edward County. They really enjoyed the Sand Dunes as well as the beautiful water. The Picton Inn is just what the doctor ordered for us. We managed to cool off by putting four blocks of ice in the sink and then we put a fan behind it. It worked surprisingly well even if Steffie refers to this as a medieval method.

July 11, 2010 Orillia, Ontario

July 11, 2010 Lake Simcoe, Ontario

Marc- It has been a few days without a log entry. The Lucy III remains in Hastings awaiting its new engine while its crew has been traveling on Windsong toward Port Severn. The engine from Moyer Marine has arrived in Clayton. It was delivered to the wrong marina, French Creek rather than French Bay. The French Bay mechanic went over to French Creek, put it in his pickup truck and then drove home without telling anyone. The engine mystery ended when he came to work with it the next day. We plan on going to pick up the engine Monday and bring it to Hastings for installation.

Sara- Talking to my Mom about Alzheimer's, I swatted at a fly and simultaneously swatted Jonathan Safran Foer's brilliantly compelling and disillusioning Eating Animals into the lake. Shocked to speechlessness, I watched as my book floated away, the boat motoring slowly and unflinchingly onward. “What? What is it,” Jay demanded of my horror-stricken gasp. “It's ok, It's ok. Just a book. Not a person,” my mom replied placatingly. Just a book? My colossal, charismatic despair seemed to indicate otherwise. There are other copies of that book, I attempted to reassure myself, but in vain (that was my book, with my annotations and squiggles and stars to mark especially important parts). “Oh, I knew it wasn't a person,” Jay boomed, “but we can go back. Don't worry.” Eyes wide with mad joy, I reached for my book, grass green cover approaching with painstaking torpor as Jay reversed the engines. “Now don't you jump in!” my mom called, passing me a hook that I promptly and eagerly used to retrieve my book. And it was in my arms again! All blubbering nerves, I plopped my regained treasure on a table where a much more sane Joan flipped through the pages, concluding, to my ecstatic exultation, that the pages were, excepting the index, mostly dry. After much paper-toweling and flipping and jumping and ear-to-ear grinning, the book's totally fine. (And even my pen, which I'd left in the book, was still there.)

So now that we've established that I'm crazy, perhaps we should return to July 4th when we stopped in Paradise. It was lock #6 and two great weeping willows whisped tenderly around in the warm breeze. We had power, a rarity in these locks, but I didn't touch my computer, not even to check Facebook. Instead I sat in the shade of the willow nearest our boat (which we'd nicknamed “Whomping Willow” after J.K. Rowling's imaginative, and occasionally extremely destructive, creation) and basked in the lovely atmosphere as I read On the Road, a book which, had it plopped into the water, I would probably have jumped right in after. Had it fallen by that lock, it wouldn't even have been such an insane move as the water there, though tinted green and weedy, was the purest I've experienced since Lake Champlain. Swimming in it, especially after having gone running with my dad, was a heavenly relief, a watery catharsis.

Marc- We seen some very interesting islands in the Kawartha lakes region. One island was home to a distinctive church. The area is also home to an assortment of summer camps. We've also seen many Blue Heron's on this trip.

Marc- The trip to to Port Severn aboard Windsong was significant for the several sections of standing rapids we passed increasing our boat speed by 2 to 3 knots each time. The "rough" water had more to do with a rapid change in depth than speed of the current. The Lockmasters all indicated that the hydro dams were releasing lots of water due to recent heavy rainfall. The Kirkfield Lift Lock as well as the Big Chute Railway demonstrated some very interesting engineering to bypass significant changes in elevation. At Balsam Lake we traversed the highest navigable waterway in the world at 256. 3 meters above sea level (the highest waterway connected to the sea). We all had to jump in for a swim here. The water was a very pleasant 85 degrees and crystal clear.

July 8,2010 Lakefield, Ontario

Marc- The Lucy III is still docked at the Hastings Village Marina awaiting a rebuilt engine from Moyer Marine. We were told that it was shipped out today and should arrive Friday. I am expecting that it arrives on Monday. We are currently aboard Windsong in Lakefield, Ontario after doing seven locks from Peterborough. Locking through the Peterborough Lift Lock was most exciting, We entered a huge tank and tied the boat to the side. We were next lifted vertically about 70 feet. The view over the side of the tank was most impressive. Sue had camera in hand to show how the lift lock works. Sue was invited to tour the engineering spaces as well as the control room. See Jay and Joan's blog for some excellent photos and descriptions: http://www.svwindsong.blogspot.com/

We do encounter some large craft in these waterways. The Kawartha Voyager is the largest at 120 feet long and 22 feet wide.

This was another super hot day of 100 degree high humidity weather. We passed by many kids swimming in the river, some swinging out from the trees, and yet others jumping from bridges. The local people have been friendly and helpful in providing suggestions for tonight's stop. The swimming here is excellent with the water temperature is 85 degrees. We are expecting a cold front to cool us off overnight.

July 7, 2010 Hastings, Ontario

Sara- The engine died, utterly and finally after 30 something years of rebounding from the grave, coaxed back to this world by my dad who knew it was gone the moment he heard the first shuddering crack! yesterday afternoon. Lucky for us, we’re traveling with the most wonderful people, our friends Jay and Joan who have offered us a spot on their fantastically spacious, air-conditioned, dog-inhabited (Molly, Marley, and Rosie are the sweetest, funniest chocolate labs) catamaran. They have at least two bathrooms so, though it may be a tad claustrophobic, we’ll survive quite nicely.
The mechanic came this morning to confirm what my dad already knew and now he’s gone and we’re packing. I’m packed and just sent Steph over to do the same. I’m not exactly sure how she’ll manage to cram her entire, extremely fashionable and voluble wardrobe back into her suitcase and onto Jay and Joan’s boat, but I’m sure (with plenty of help from my dad) she’ll manage it.
My mom bought the coolest, bluest bucket hat the other day; it’s huge with a wide, floppy brim. I wore it while playing UNO with my sister yesterday afternoon when the heat was driving us mad and am thoroughly convinced of its lucky, if not magical, powers.
I think Jack Kerouac’s On the Road is keeping me sane through all this craziness. It is a crazy book though, but in the best way, of course. This morning Mom, Steph, and I walked over to a 50s style coffee shop where we consumed bagels and hot chocolate while Steph, and then I read the end of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows aloud. It’s an absolutely brilliant book. We’ve been listening to all the Harry Potters on CD read by the amazing Jim Dale in the car and on the boat and all I can think is Wow... JK Rowling’s a genius!

















Marc- What a change in plans and now, thanks to the extremely nice Gehrig family, we are aboard the catamaran Windsong while our engine is being replaced. This is extremely good fortune for us since Windsong had two empty cabins and air conditioning during a very hot and humid week.