Day 293: Monday, June 24, 2013

Port to Port: Guess Where, NY

Underway: 0:00 am      Motor Off: 0:00 pm      Miles Traveled: 0      Stayed At: Marina

First Things First: First really noisy thunderstorm in a long time.

Mile to Mile: Everyone who is stranded here is finishing up different boat projects like varnishing their brightwork, stowing water and food for the trip north, sealing leaks in their dinghys, etc. These projects tend to sit on the To Do List for a long time because impromtu dinner parties, docktails and restaurant runs take priority. All the Loopers heading north should be well prepared for the trip through the canals after, for some people, weeks parked and waiting.

Eddy whipped up some scrambled egg breakfast burritos with Spam for breakfast. Our schedule today is mostly wide open so we stretched breakfast out for a couple hours before we headed off to finish a couple projects before hitching a ride with Bruce (Miss Darlin II) up to Walmart. We were his second trip up there today and he is taking another couple of cruisers up there this afternoon (there should be some kind of Looper Award for generosity – thanks Bruce).

With nothing pressing to do in the afternoon, Cindy and I finally had time to explore the Hudson River Maritime Museum – what a wonderful place. There are displays on everything from the history of the Roundout to the discovery and commercialization of the Hudson to ice boating on the river. We spent a few hours reading and watching our way through history. It reminds me a lot of the history of Lake Minnetonka. One thing that stood out is how much the Hudson we have experienced is very similar to the Hudson of 100 years ago. The types of boats we have seen haven’t changed much in all that time – ferry’s, tugs, fireboats, pleasure craft, barges, cruise liners and even kayaks were common then as now. We are lucky to experience history from these historic waterways.

Just as we finished the museum, the skies darkened, lightning flashed brightly and the thunder made the ground shake. Torrential rains followed close behind (just what we need is more rain). It is kind of refreshing – we haven’t have many rip roaring storms since we left Minnesota. Thankfully these are localized afternoon thunderstorms – not huge multistate all day rain events. At least the temperature dropped about 10˚. We went back into the museum after sitting out under the picnic table tents when it got a little windy. We are lucky to be “stranded” here. Some cruisers were stuck between locks on the Erie with no services and nothing much to do. It will be interesting to hear their stories.

We lucked out with the rain – just a few miles away they got lots of wind that damaged some homes, blew down some trees and knocked out power. Ron, one of the volunteers here, was right in the middle of it at his house.

After a easy to make dinner of beef tips, rice and sweet corn, we set up the computer on Spiritus’ fly bridge and enjoyed a movie on Netflix as we watched a fog shrouded moon rise over the hills across the river. It is going to be hard to get back into our normal travel routine after staying in one place for so long. It looks like Friday is the most likely day for the locks to open but we probably won’t know until Friday. Que sara, sara……