In about 1970, we bought a new duplicate of our first Owens cruiser and still had it on Seneca Lake through the short unhappy life of CAREFREE LADY (see next section). Brother Dave, his wife Marie and I undertook another Inland Waterway cruise one summer; this time doing the northern half, from Seneca Lake to the north end of Cayuga Lake, north through the Montezuma Wild Life Refuge to the Erie Canal, east along the Mohawk to the Hudson, having traversed many locks. Down the Hudson to New York, south for a day on the open ocean, ducking back into the Inland Waterway in New Jersey; following the sandy shoreline, protected by offshore islands. Down to Cape May, and across the Delaware Bay to Lewes Beach.

When we reached Utica a couple of days into our cruise, we had the pleasure of welcoming our son Don and his family: pretty wife Elizabeth and daughter Melissa, and son Jared (Jake). They spent the evening with us.

We had gone the length of Oneida Lake with a twenty-mile-an-hour tailwind, the high waves and poor visibility almost causing us to crash into the concrete sea wall at the far end.

Sailing down the majestic Hudson, with its impressive old mansions and historic West Point, was a highlight of this cruise. I had sailed up the river on the Hudson Day Line, when I was a student.

Arriving at New York, we stayed overnight at an unusual marina right in downtown Manhattan. The inshore gates had locks and guards to protect from vandals. Next morning, we saw a number of nattily dressed young men, carrying briefcases and umbrellas, leaving their boats and heading for Wall Street. Boats were of all sizes and shapes, from leaky old scows to expensive yachts, and many seemed to be permanent homes. Cheap rent!

Dave said he'd always had a hankering (his words) for a New York delicatessen breakfast of lox, bagels, scrambled eggs and onions; so we explored a few blocks and satisfied his desire.

We continued through New York Harbor, passing skyscrapers and huge ocean liners, saluting the Statue of Liberty and sailing under the historic Verrazano Bridge into the open ocean; a thrilling day!

We successfully traversed the Atlantic and entered the Waterway. The next stage involved traveling many miles of the Sandy Jersey Shore, where the channel had to be continually dredged to remove drifting sand. While passing one of the busy dredges, we ran aground. After unsuccessful attempts to get off the sand bank, I decided to use our new radio-telephone to call the dredge captain for help. He didn't answer. Finally, a coast guard station from miles away said they'd send a rescue cutter. That woke up the dredge captain, and he grudgingly sent a small boat and two men to push us off. We called off the coast guard, with thanks.

Entering Delaware Bay at Cape May, we made the short crossing to Lewes Beach where Bob and family were vacationing. Dave and Marie then had to fly home to Iowa. We had almost covered the whole distance from Seneca Lake to Florida in our two cruises. Bob and his two boys, Dave and Steve helped me close the gap by cruising up Delaware Bay, across the Chesapeake Canal, and across Chesapeake Bay to Annapolis. We had to anchor overnight just off the ship channel, and I stayed awake while the searchlights of the many freighters kept playing over us.

On our way from Annapolis, the weather was terrible humid and hot -- over 100 degrees. We anchored one evening in a little bay. My Uncle Don, the veteran sailor, was with us. Whether he had a premonition I don't know, but for no apparent reason he volunteered to show us the "Bimini Method" of anchoring with one anchor forward and one aft. He explained that this allowed the boat to swing freely with wind and tide. Not an hour after we had anchored in this way, a sudden gale blew up which would certainly have blown us ashore and damaged the boat! We learned later that evening storms were quite common in this kind of weather, and I suspect that Uncle Don wasn't too surprised.

Right after we anchored, we all wanted to go swimming in the bay. I threw the rubber dinghy overboard. A few minutes later, I looked back and saw the dinghy floating away at a lively pace! Bob and Steven dived after it, and caught it. I went more slowly, dragging a pair of oars. We also learned the hard way that the bay was full of stinging sea nettles!

Uncle Don was good company, even though he was over eighty. He had a good sense of humor. Example: When the lady admired his physique and asked him, "Do you jog?" He replied, "Only when something big is chasing me!" His only fault -- and it was enought to keep us awake all night -- was that he could not bear to have even one mosquito in the boat.