Day 325: Friday, July 26, 2013

Port to Port: Edmund’s Lock to Narrows Lock (No. 35)

Underway: 7:57 am      Motor Off: 3:40 pm      Miles Traveled: 24      Stayed At: Lock Wall

Mile 58 to Mile 82: We didn’t go lots of miles today but we had a wonderful travel day. The scenery was beautiful – mostly tree covered shoreline with a few cabins here and there and deep blue sky. With their reduced hours (9-5 vs 8-8 last year), the locks are busy and make long days impossible. The last lock-through is around 4:30 pm so you are usually forced to stop around that time. That’s probably a good thing.

The lock we stopped at was quiet and peaceful – the dock on the lower side was already full with weekend travelers staying a day or two. The upper dock was empty which worked perfect for us. The dock also happened to be low enough for me to reach the water line of the boat if I laid down so I decided it was time to get the eyebrow off the boat again – hopefully it will stay clean a while longer. We just moved the boat back and forth and I scrubbed the hull until it was white again. A nice project done. I took a quick dip to clean up and cool off and headed down the dock to enjoy some cheese smothered chicken enchiladas ala Jane on Carina. What a wonderful treat.

After dinner, the lighting was perfect so I took a walk over to the other side of the lock and took some pictures of the setting sun and stopped to chat with a couple of the boaters parked there. Two of the boats were beautiful old wooden boats – one was a 1940 Chris Craft – Nemesis – with a perfectly finished mahogany cabin the lots of chrome details. Jaccque and Judy were the proud owners and were enjoying a nice vacation cruise aboard. These old boats are works of art that we will never see again.

Cindy was already tucked in and reading by the time I got back. I tried to read but could hardly keep my eyes open after three pages – this cruising life is hard work. So it was lights out for me too. What a great way to end a semi-productive day.