Day 286: Monday, June 17, 2013
Port to Port: Kingston, NY
Underway: 0:00 am Motor Off: 0:00 pm Miles Traveled: 0 Stayed At: Marina
Mile to Mile: If yesterday is any indication, our first full day in Kingston is going to be very busy. I got up fairly early and worked on the blog up by the Maritime Museum building (to let Cindy sleep a little more and to get a better wifi signal). A little while after I got started a hot, steaming cup of coffee magically appeared next to me (thanks Eddy) and the marina slowly started to wake up. I processed pictures, wrote some immortal prose, posted everything to the internet and finished a few other computer projects before we were scheduled to hitch a ride uptown to the mall to go to a movie. It was a little strange to go to a movie on a bright sunny day but Eddy (the Geek) really, really, really wanted to see “The Man of Steel” so, to make him happy, we all made the sacrifice and promptly proceeded to eat our way through a large popcorn even before the previews were done. Oh, the sacrifices we make.
The movie was a fun diversion from boat projects and napping but now we had work to do. Our ride was only one way so we needed to walk the 4+ miles back to the marina. This was probably a good thing since we needed to burn off the calories from 2 buckets of popcorn and make room for a long awaited, prescheduled ice cream stop later. After stopping at Home Depot, the auto parts store, a grocery store, a dollar store, climbing through a locked fence gate, and taking our lives into our hands walking along a busy highway for miles (way more risky that crossing an ocean) we arrived at the most important stop – the ice cream shop. We wanted to relax and work our way through a couple pints of some caramel, vanilla, crunchy ice cream but we noticed some dark clouds approaching so we bolted for the marina. We arrived at Spiritus minutes before a very brief downpour and sat inside eating our perfectly softened ice cream with real spoons in cozy dry comfort. Life is good.
While we were off galavanting in uptown, our friends Roger and Dorothy on Slow Churn arrived and tied up at the neighboring municipal marina. Cindy and I went over to say hi and chat as Roger changed the oil (while making funny grunting noises) and Dorothy made chocolate brownies in her shiny new stainless steel oven (I think Dorothy had the better of the two jobs). Tomorrow might be a Slow Churn kind of day.
After the storm passed, the sun came out and it was time for docktails – it was almost like geese flying south for the winter. At around 4:30 pm the tables gradually filled up with cruisers and their cups full of something or other and we enjoyed talking about boats, food, the weather, the unknown status of the locks and any other topic that randomly came up. After solving the world’s problems, we had a feast to prepare. It was a team effort and we soon were sitting down at the table on Spiritus enjoying grilled steaks and red potatoes, fancy salads, fresh corn on the cob and perfectly warmed and toasted bread all washed down with some red wine. (We need another 4 mile walk, I think).
We finished the evening with a long awaited round of Championship Level Doodle Dice and I finally won (although I think I had a little help after Linda forget to play her “miss a turn” card at a critical time). We were exhausted, happy and can’t wait to see what the next few days bring as we all patiently wait to move north. Who thought being stranded would be so fun.
