We are beside the Statute of Liberty. We left at 530 am and could not see
50 ft in front of us due to fog. The ocean waves were 3-5 ft until we entered
the New York Harbor. As the fog lifted the buildings by the hundreds emerged
from the fog all of them taller then the 801 Building in Des Moines. New
York is still my favorite city. Today we went uptown and sat near the sidewalk
eating dinner and watching thousands parade past us. We will stay here
one more day to watch Danni perform in Central Park then go to Croton on
the Hudson and see our friends Jan and Burt for 2 days.
6-9-03
We are at the Catskill Marina in the mountains of New York. We made 77
miles today. We had a delightful two days with Jan and Burt. We will see
them on a cruise on Jan 2 for 10 days to the southern part of the Caribbean.
We saw a play off Broadway and saw a great movie Wings of Migration. It
was a full length documentary about the flight of birds all over the world.
The photography was unbelievable.
6-12-03
This is our third night here in Waterford, NY gateway to the Erie Canal.
We have been waiting for a new refrigerator to be delivered. It arrived
today and is installed and the old one is gone. After several hours work
we turned it on and it didn't work. So we did the female thing and read
the instructions and found that even though we didn't opt for a 12 volt
option that in order for the instruments to work we needed a 12 volt connection.
Fortunately the old refrigerator was near by and I "stole" the 12 volt
connection from it and the new refrigerator is working fine. Last night
Skipper Bob and his new bride join us for the evening. Elaine has lost
35 lbs and without saying anything negative about the old Elaine, I really
like the new Elaine. Wow!!! We really enjoy their company. Tomorrow we
get haircuts and finish cleaning up the boat and Saturday we will start
cruising on the Erie Canal.
6-20-03
I am composing this on the upstairs computer while we are cruising. We
spent 5 days at Waterford, NY waiting for the new refrigerator and another
5 days at Canajaharie, NY waiting for shipment of a motor part. We were
losing our fresh water system due to a leak. We have operated 5 hours with
the new part and (knock on wood) it seems to be doing ok. We will cross
Lake Oneida tomorrow then onto the Oneida Canal. Lately half of the days
have sunshine otherwise all is well.
6-23-03
We got a big surprise tonight watching TV. For the first time we could
receive on our satellite TV all 5 Des Moines' TV stations. It was like
being home. Additionally now we can watch the TV networks. We completed
the Oswego Canal today. Tomorrow we will cross Lake Ontario spending the
night at Sackett's Harbor then onto the Thousand Islands. They can’t be
any better than the scenery we saw today.
6-26-03
We are on the St Lawrence River at Cape Vincent. The river flows into Lake
Ontario at this point. The Thousand Islands start here. We are spending
two days at the free dock at the State Fisheries Lab. This is a quaint
village with many homes built in the early 1800s. We had our first warm
day 86 with 50 per cent humidity. The breeze off the 64 degree river was
very pleasant. We have fixed two problems with Snug one fuel leakage into
the bilge (due to a worn hose) and loss of our fresh water cooling system
due to worn out pipe. We plan to spend Sat and Sunday in Alexandria Bay.
The Boldt Castle is on Heart Island near here. Mr. Boldt was building this
castle for his wife when she died. He never finished the castle and today
it has been restored to nearly the condition it was in when she died. You
can spend 4 hours and not see all the rooms, different levels and underground
passages. We will cross to Rockport, Canada on Monday and spend the night
at friends Knight'N Gail's marina in Ivy Lea. They were in the slip south
of us in Marsh Harbour Marina this winter.
6-28-03
We are in Alexandria Bay, NY and love it. We have found our summer home.
We spent two nights on a free dock without electricity in Cape Vincent.
We are now in a fancy resort with all the goodies. (easier to spell then
amenities) We went to the Boldt Castle this morning by tour boat. It is
fantastic. We have lots of pictures. We had lunch at the Resort restaurant
and could look at the castle a half mile away. We got the hostess to give
us the same table for dinner tonight. The water is crystal clear and very
deep and very cool 64 degrees. Within the block of the water the air temperature
is refreshing any further and it is hot. The islands look like a Hamm's
beer ad. We won't be sending many emails for the next month from Canada.
Verizon says if we change our plan to include Canada we won't get to keep
our 3000 weekend minutes they will be reduced to 1000. So we will pay $1.00
a minute from Canada and email on the cell phone takes about 10 minutes.
7-8-03
I am at the library in Kingston, Ontario writing this email. Mona and I
love the 1000 Island area. We will be here for a week then cruise
the Rideau Canal then drive home to Iowa July 28.
7-19-03
We are at the library in Westport Ontario enjoying very much our travel
on the Rideau Canal. Hope all is well with you all.
8-02-03
I just got the laptop and msn connected after several hours of labor. We
are in Des Moines and I have completed 2 of my 65 working days. We hope
to meet Skipper Bob and Elaine aboard Snug in Delegal Creek Marina where
Don and Julie live on Oct 8th. It is just below Savannah, GA. We had a
great time in Canada and plan to return there next summer. We spent a great
evening last night with Jim and Sue Richardson at their home in the woods
in Ottumwa.
8-20-03
We returned yesterday from Mayo Clinic. Another good report. Now back to
work. Today I tried a paternity-custody dispute. Tomorrow a divorce. All
next week I am replacing a civil court judge. I still am doing weekend
jail court arranging people arrested on the weekends. Last night granddaughter
Claudia,3 and mother Diana had dinner with us and swam in the apartment
complex pool. She is a delight. Expect to be a great grandfather next month.
Life is good. However today it was 100. Oh for the Canadian summers.
CLICK HERE to begin the southbound trip
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