August 10

We started the day lazy, with breakfast and reading the paper.  An old friend, Glenn, had e-mailed me yesterday wondering about our schedule.  As we were just starting to wonder what we were going to do today, a car pulled in the driveway, and it was Glenn.  He had driven over two hours from Endicott, NY, to see us.  We visited for a couple of hours and then went to Sweeney's Irish Pub in Walden, NY for lunch.  After lunch, Glenn and Barb and I drove to Marlboro so Glenn could see the boat.  We dinghied out and showed Glenn around.

From there, we took a short drive through Newburgh.  Glenn lived in Newburgh when we met and both worked at IBM back in the late 60's and early 70's.  He wanted to take some pictures of the state of the city now, which is not good, so he could show some friends back in Endicott.  While Newburgh has made an effort at redevelopment, as seen in my pictures from the water, the majority of the city is suffering from poverty and decay. 

Glenn dropped us back at Bob & Kitty's house late in the afternoon.  We will probably see him again after our road trip, as he will be back in the area to visit family.

August 11

After breakfast today, we went back to the boat one last time before the road trip.  We have found that with the unpredictable winds, the wind generator is not going to keep up with the refrigerator's electrical needs.  We packed the remaining perishables into a cooler to take back to the house.  With the fridge off, there will be no battery drain except the bilge pump.

On the subject of the bilge pump, since we left Norfolk, it has gotten back to running a little more frequently.  Nothing like before, but more than a few times a day.  When I repacked the rudder stuffing box, I only put two rungs of packing material in, since that's all the West Marine store had.  The manufacturer called for four rungs, so I wasn't surprised it was leaking some.  I would feel much better if there was no need for the bilge pump, so we will see if we can find more flax packing.  There is no West Marine anywhere near here, so we stop first at a small marine store right next to the yacht club.  Surprisingly, they have flax packing, but not the size I need.  The guy tries to convince me I need a size he has.  I'm sure I need 5/16, so I finally get him to tell me where I might find another store.  The "other store" is right across the river.  That means driving ten miles or so to Newburgh, across the bridge, and back up to New Hamburg, where we find White's Marina.  The store here is like stepping into an old hardware store from the 50's, except it's all marine stuff.  They have the correct size flax packing, in bulk rolls.  They ask how much I want and I say three feet.  I happily pay $1.25/ft for my three feet.  I paid $13.00 for two feet at West Marine.  Back at the boat, I put another rung of material in the stuffing box, and there was no leakage.  So, I felt better about leaving the boat unattended for two weeks.

We relaxed all evening in preparation for our early departure tomorrow.

August 12

Oh-five-hundred came early this morning.  We were on the road a little after 06:00.  We drove west on I-84, south on I-81, and west on I-80 to Ohio, with a brief stop in Wilkes-Barre, PA, for breakfast at a Cracker Barrel.  In Ohio, we went to North Canton to Barb's parent's house.  We got there about 15:00, and visited for awhile.  For dinner, we went with them to the local VFW for the Friday night fish fry.  At the VFW, we met Barb's sister Mary Lou, her son Mike, and her friend Bob.  We spent a couple of hours there and then drove back to the house.  After some more visiting, we turned in.

August 13

This morning, we went out to breakfast.  We went to a nice little local cafe.  After breakfast, we went back to the house and visited until almost noon.  We left then and headed to the Cleveland area, via Middlefield, which is part of Ohio's Amish country.  In Middlefield, we stopped at a cheese factory and bought a few things, then went to Mary Yoder's Amish restaurant for a late lunch.  This is a large restaurant, but they specialize in family style Amish home cooking.  It was very good.

From there we went to Willowick, which is about twenty miles northeast of Cleveland.  Kitty's sister Babe lives here, in a beautiful old house, right on the shore of Lake Erie.  It is odd to be looking out at the huge body of water, and realize that the boat is nowhere near here.  We spent the rest of the afternoon visiting and relaxing.  This visiting and relaxing stuff must be hard work, because I was ready to hit the sack about 22:00.

August 14

We have a big day planned today.  I found that there is a West Marine just about eight miles from here.  I have a list of things I need, and the closest store to the boat is in New York City.  So, we'll hit this one instead.  We find the store with the help of the Map Floozy, which is what we have named the GPS navigation system in Bob's new car.  Unfortunately, they don't have the most important item I need, a new voltage regulator.   I'll still have to go into the city when we get back.

On the way to West Marine, we came across a car show of vintage Pontiacs.  It was a small local show, but since I have a connection to a couple of vintage Pontiacs, it was cool.  My ex-wife, whom we are good friends with, currently owns a 1967 GTO, which her uncle bought new.  It is pretty much original and in excellent condition.  When I met her almost thirty years ago, she had a 1976 Trans Am, which she had bought new and we had until about 1996, when we sold it in still-new condition.  I found two cars almost exactly like hers.  I thought the Trans Am might have been hers, except the interior turned out to be a different color.

The rest of the afternoon was spent doing - yes, relaxing and visiting.  Tomorrow we will head to Chicago.