The Muskrat Voyage

After a slow start we are now inching our way across the North Channel of Georgian Bay. The last few days have been lovely. Weather warmer and clear with no wind (Thank you Lord !)

The north is truly beautiful and the water so clean and sweet to swim in. You should be with me Marnie as you would probably be swimming behind the boat, it is so wonderful.

Coming through Collins Inlet we saw one beaver, numerous waterbirds of various types, and a lovely deer who swum out towards the boat then did a double take and retreated back to shore. Jim saw the back end of a really large bear disappearing and that is about it. Mind you, Collins Inlet is not very long.

The rock formations on either side were dramatic. Tall, beautiful surfaces of flat smooth rock dropping into the water. Apparently there are some Indian paintings on them but you need to be well versed in the art to detect them.(so they say) I did see where some ancient natives called Theresa and Bob had apparently signed their paintings in very neat lettering but could not see their actual art work.

Quite depressing to see those wonderful rocks defaced by "so and so were here 1998."

The last couple of bays we anchored in have had the most wonderful echoes. They go on and on. Last night Jim took out his saxophone (there was no one around for miles I would think) and we listened to the notes reverberating for ever. I tried a few notes and to my amazement the sky lit up with Northern lights. THEN a falling star came down.

Jim has been working quite hard at fixing various things. The back deck definately looks like a working tug much of the time. He has torn apart the zodiac motor , and just fixes whatever is needed. Perhaps we should have painted the boat gray instead of white as we spend a lot of time trying to get the grease and oil off.

All in all things are going well.

Jim gets a little irritated with my hysterics when we are trying to dock in a harbour with all those expensive fibre glass boats. This is when he decides to change what side we are docking on and I am running around trying to move the damn fenders from one side to the other and getting the lines all tangled. I think that anchoring outside the harbour and rowing in would be more exercise and more dignified, myself.

Am getting used to the boat "rocking" a bit more than the Maggie ever did when some people who will remain nameless, tried to make it rock, but still don't like those big wakes that the cruisers send up and why do they always want to come so close and then cut in front ?

Enough from me.....

Well that certainly is an entertaining version of what has happened. Gwen failed to mention that just before the sax notes that brought on the falling star and northern lights there were a few that sounded very much like a bull moose on the prowl. Lo and behold (I always liked that phrase ) today we saw a fresh set of extremely large moose tracks wandering down the beach when we went for a swim.

For those readers in the group with a technical bent... we have managed through removing most of the protective cage around the prop and tightening down the rudder controls to increase the top end speed to a blistering 8.5 mph with very little vibration. This extra mile every hour is more important than you may first think, since after one week we have covered 240 miles instead of a mere 210 at the old speed. Our slow progress has partially been due to several days of small craft warnings caused by 2 to 3 meter waves on Georgian Bay. It seems the Muskrat can handle one meter waves but Gwen Anne tops out at three feet. For the near future we are operating using her Imperial measure.

We have been taking a few pictures....actually hundreds but only a few are good and Kelly and Heidi have created a website to post them.....http://muskrat2005.tripod.com/ so since I'm tired now, check there if you want to see or know more,

Later Jim (and previously Gwen)

Well. here we are again. Not moving so fast and I think our plans have changed. Won't be heading to New Orleans, in fact I don't know if we'll ever get out of Lake Michigan !.The price of fuel seems to be going up daily. Getting into America was easier than we feared. No one looked in the boat or bothered with our passports other than to see that we vaguely looked like our pictures.

Have been in St. Ignace for the last few days ( since wednesday) waiting for the wind to die a bit so we can go on. Spent a night in Mackinac Island before this but it was a good thing we left there when we did as it is a wee bit expensive. The nice thing about it is that there are no vehicles allowed on the island and everyone either bicycles or walks. Even the police have bicycles..Kind of neat seeing the teams of horses at the dock unloading the Sysco trucks on the barges for the restaurants. The poor old taxi horses were looking a bit bored and defeated as they trudged through the streets with the carts piled with tourists. They ship the horses to the mainland for the winter . I think the majority of the people leave as well.

Some beautiful old buildings but I have never seen so many fudge shops in such a small area. Competition must be tough. The little tourist shops all have the very same items in them. Same T shirts, same sweatshirts, same bric a brac. Someone should seek out a different supplier. There was one shirt that caught Jim's eye. It looked like an old seafarer's shirt with the slogan "The beatings will stop when morale has improved"

We have tried to get under the Mackinac Bridge twice but had to turn back. Tomorrow morning is supposed to be calm so we will try again. If that fails I guess we will start looking for property here. There is a big Labour Day celebration in St. Ignace. Have the marina filled with little tents selling bits and pieces of stuff. Plaques for your kitchen wall, more plaques for your living room wall, signs for your garden , a big run on Hallowe'en and Xmas decorations and so on. It was labelled as an Arts attraction so we were a little bemused. Quite a good juggler though . Tonight there is supposed to be an 18 piece jazz band doing a free open air concert in the marina's little park. Not sure what kind of music they will actually play. They do say their will be some of the old big band and swing era stuff.

Anyway, that's all for now.

Gwen

Could be all for quite a while if the winds don't calm down. Technically we are still in Lake Huron...Lake Michigan starts at the other side of the bridge about 3 miles from here. It's starting to feel like a lot further than that.

Since the old Muskrat has never before seen rough waves we seem to be shaking loose a lot of junk from the inside of our 200 gallon fuel tank. I went to several auto and machine parts stores trying to get some replacement secondary filters as I have already used up the spares that came with the boat. It seems even though they're numbered they are unknown on all the computers I have run into. As luck would have it this grease covered fellow in the NAPA store overheard my futile request and came over. Turns out he is a boat mechanic for one of the numerous ferry companies here and had a friend ( a mechanic for a different ferry company) who had a whole barn full of old boat parts. As he put it..."Since you drive an old tugboat and aren't yachties (said with a sneer) I'll tell you how to find him". He did in fact have the filters and brought them in next day. Turns out they haven't really been in stock anywhere for the last 15 years or so. Most of the people we have run into here are quite friendly and helpful...we're just careful not to talk about Bush or the war.

So if it's true what the weatherman says about 1 foot or smaller waves we will be heading into 350 miles of Lake Michigan tomorrow.

Later

Jim

Hello All,

Well, the Muskrat made it through her first (and probably only) BIG LAKE.

One nasty little patch where she was tossed around and I spent most of that time holding tightly on the back deck watching the waves roil around me as Jim wrestled his way through the troughs.

We anchored out and were held up for one day only for bad weather. Thunderstorms etc. making it a wee bit too much for me and the "Rat"

The whole eastern coast of Lake Michigan is just one big sand dune. Some very unique and huge homes which gave way to Bethlehem Steel further south. The air became tinged with green and the chemical smell permeated the air. With the hot , humid weather it became quite unpleasant and a bit claustrophobic. What have we done to this wonderful planet?. We are still so lucky in Renfrew County to be able to have fresh water and halfways clean air.

Michigan City Indiana and South Haven gave us the first idea of what the higher end harbours were like. We were definately the "poor cousins" but do get an awful lot of people stopping by and asking questions. One little girl thought that perhaps we were a pirate ship.

Came into Chicago on Sunday and went to hear a good blues band at Buddy Guy's Bar. Big James and the Chicago Playboys. Lots of fun and Big James was certainly big. About 350 to 400 pounds I would think.

The shore line in Chicago is great. Bicycle paths for miles and miles so we managed to get some needed exercise. Stayed for two nights and Jim found some new parts for our bow thruster (which didn't do the job) and then we headed out to the Illinois river.

Coming through Chicago River was great. Bridge after bridge, wonderful buildings and all sorts of different boats. Very abruptly it all turns into industrial zone though. A lovely sign along the way warned you not to waterski, swim, use a sea do or get any water on your skin. Very uplifting.

As you come through the Chicago Sanitary Canal (what a great name for it) you slowly get away from the buildings and enter kind of a dead zone. Then you come into the Illinois River where I really don't think they should be eating the fish I saw them catching.

This becomes barge city. My, they are big and coming straight at you. The barge captains seem like a good lot though and wave and smile. More locks of course , but we have become quite good with them and haven't taken out any more chunks.(even sans bow thrusters which Jim say he will fix when we get to Preoria)

Later....Gwen

What can I say. Gwen did mention to me that since my cousin Dorothy in Michigan is on this mailing list I should curb my occasionally cynical slant on America. Hey, the pollution is bad here but it's not a lot different than Hamilton or Toronto on a low pressure day. After all, any country that sells 30 cans of beer for $11 or 5 litres of wine for $13 can't be so bad.

I may have mentioned in a previous letter that the Muskrat can handle one meter waves. Well we now know that even 5 foot waves can't sink her. It's not real comfortable but it sure gets the decks and windows clean. I do think that Gwen is getting really tired of me comparing the boat to those plastic punching bag clowns with sand in their feet....the ones that no matter how hard you hit them they always bounce back up.

Lake Michigan seems to have a lot of small lakes that have formed just a 1/4 mile or so in from the shore of the big lake. These usually have a breakwater and dredged entrance to them, so we were able to just anchor out in a protected spot many nights.

Still and all after a week of rock and rolling on the lake it was nice to get back into the slow blues feel of the river at Chicago. We rolled into the city about noon on Sunday Sept 11. One of the local radio stations decided that rather than spend the day concerned about old history they would do a tribute to New Orleans by playing tunes related to the city. It was a real trip listening to Ike and Tina Turner belting out Proud Mary as Chicago slowly appeared through the mist. (Even tho Gwen did insist it was really smog!!) If I ever had to live in a city, Chicago looked like a good choice to me......forty miles of lakeshore parks and bike paths and six different live blues bands to choose from on Sunday and another four on Monday.

Big James and the band were great and oddly enough one of the best numbers they did all night wasn't even a traditional Chicago-blues style.....Neil Young's "Down by the river"

The big tugs pushing their 12 and 15 barge tows are a trip. Amazing amounts of power and incredible control as they warp them around the bends in the river. They all seem to go out of their way to wave and check out our boat....probably have never seen such a small little version of a tug! One of my favorite styles of tug here has a telescoping cabin. They elevate the wheel house about 15' on a big hydraulic cylinder so they can see over and past the barges. When they get to a low bridge they drop down to deck level and sneak under the bridge blind, then pop up again. I think there is or will soon be a picture of one on the website

Tomorrow we go in search of a replacement flexible coupler for the bow thrusters ( yes Richard they are a truly amazing aid to steering ungainly boats). If nothing else we will get to know the parts stores of Peoria Illinois. Surely the home of Caterpiller Diesels will have the odd part.

Till next time

Jim

Well, the Muskrat is on the Mississippi ! We passed St Louis and are a few miles south at a place called Hoppies Marina. Quite a strange little place but very friendly people. Basically it is a big barge with a few tables and chairs set up on it. Hoppie is an older guy who is very helpful telling us about all the pit falls ahead. His wife reminds us of an older Audrey Bromwich. We walked through the little village, Kimswick, which is the second oldest village in Missouri. Apparently Ulysses S. Grant spent a lot of time here. No one seems to know why. Lovely old houses though and some odd looking log houses. Seemed to have more chinking than wood in them. Nice winding little road through the village with a stream meandering through. We walked to the grocery store which was one of these mile walks that is actually about 2 miles. People seem to have a strange concept of distance when they drive somewhere instead of walking. Get a lot of exercise and see a lot of things this way. Should know better by now and when they say it is just about a mile or so , we should take the bikes.

The river is big with a fast current and very busy on the waterway. Lots of tug traffic and pretend paddle wheelers filled with tourists. Still really hot. In the high 80's. Every state seems to have different ways of locking through. Some you just float around the locks in and others insist you tie up. You never know until you hit a new one what the procedure is.

Gwen

I guess this really is the mother of all rivers....wide enough that you think you are on a lake a lot of the time and more traffic than I ever imagined could fit onto one river. Probably one of the most efficient ways to move stuff around that I have ever seen. The old Muskrat must be pretty excited too. Up until today any speed over 8.5 mph and we started to sink under the waters. (Apparently there are definite speed limits for a displacement-style hull). Now thanks to the current of the river we actually hit the blistering speed of 12 mph. It was a little too exciting so we now ease back the throttle and do a smooth 10.5.

I have discovered one important thing about cruising with the tugs. Just like all airline pilots have to talk with a deep Texas accent, if you want to get on the radio when you're driving a tug you need the Loosyanna drawl. And when your through chattin' and gettin' yer overtakin' straightened out you never say thanks...just "preeshiate it"

After leaving Chicago we did stop in Peoria to get a part for the bow thrusters. Unfortunately it was the wrong part, which we discovered about ten miles downstream on Saturday morning. Of course when we returned to Peoria we learned that our parts store was closed until monday.Lucky for us this little German-based city celebrates Octoberfest in september...and all weekend long! Now both Gwen and I have been known to enjoy the odd beer, and I have even hummed along to the odd oom pa pa tune, but there are limits to my cultural tolerance. Somewhere after Gwen's third attempt to teach me to polka, we wandered down to the other end of the festival where much to my delight a 10 piece Blues Brothers clone band was entertaining. They had the tunes, the moves, the costumes and the accents down so perfectly that we just abandoned any ideas of learning to polka and joined the less German portion of Peoria on the dance patio.

By monday we got the part thing straightened out and headed back down the Illinois. By the lower end of the river marinas are getting scarce and you can't always find a sheltered place out of the channel to anchor ( our favorite way of overnighting). Luckily at Beardstown we found the Logsdon Tug Service yard where for $20 you can tie up to one of there barges or tugs. Surrounded by heavy equipment, barges and guys welding broken tug parts felt more comfortable than some of the high end marinas we have been forced to seek refuge in....and Gwen didn't make me put on clean clothes to go out and talk to people.

Tomorrow we continue on down the Mississippi. With the increased speed we are a little worried we might get to the gulf before hurricane season ends, so we have pretty much decided to take a side trip up the Cumberland river to Nashville. After a weekend of German beer-hall music country might sound real good.

Later

Jim

Hello From Nashville ! and Happy Thanksgiving to All,

We have drifted our way down the Mississippi, up a wee bit of the Ohio and came into the Cumberland through some of Kentucky into Tennessee.

The Cumberland is a lovely river. Finally the water was fresh and green with little places to anchor quietly out of the wake from the barges. There are still some going by but not nearly as busy . Jim seems to miss the barges though and is very happy to see one coming around a bend towards him. The horror stories we heard of the Mississippi seemed to be greatly exagerated. Wasn't bad at all and quite interesting a lot of the time.

The Cumberland is filled with bird life and no more of those nasty Asian Carp flopping into the boat all the time. I have never seen so many herons . Everywhere you look there would be a heron gliding over or standing motionlessly in the shallows. At one point there was a flock of pelicans flanked by egrets, herons and seagulls (of course) all sitting convivially around a little sandbar no doubt finalizing their plans to fly south . Have also seen a few bald eagles , such beautiful birds in flight, and MANY turkey buzzards looking like fat black chickens hopping on shore.

We dinghied over to a little island one night and as we came through the underbrush I heard some rustling and caught sight of a group of wild turkeys slowly melting into the greenery. No fuss, no noise, they just disapeared . They were probably thinking "There, they didn't see us, we don't exist , just keep going"

Kentucky was a bit of an eye-opener in some ways. People really into the Homeland Security bit. Signs in the marinas and charts encouraging people to watch for and report any suspicious behaviours such as boaters taking pictures of bridges and locks, anchoring in out of the way places, more than the usual number of people on a boat(?) and so forth. Most of these things we have been doing, not realizing that we are being suspect. Since 9/11 boaters are not allowed to tie up at the lock walls overnight. This is a bit of a problem for some people as on certain stretches of the rivers there are very few places to anchor out of the channel.

Stayed in one lovely little anchorage that gave a fantastic view of the Kentucky Federal Pennitentiary. Built like a castle and has the joy of being the jail that had the most executions in one day. Seven.

Have only been really stuck once. Through hard work and perseverance Jim managed to get us off the bank. Took about an hour or more with throttles roaring and mud being stirred. Had to take the anchor out in the dinghy and then winch ourselves off. Took a few tries but made it. The water was about 7 or 8 feet then Bang! we hit clay and just rode right up on it. Made us feel a little better to see a fisherman in his little boat do the same thing the next morning. Apparently some of the markers were missing .

Nashville is not at all what I expected but Jim can tell you more.....

Gwen

Gwen seems to have pretty much covered things up till now. It was a big shock however when we did our first upstream cruising. We had actually touched 13 mph once on a swift section of the Mississippi ( Our usual no-current speed is about 8 ) Going up the Ohio we slowed down to an average 5.5 mph with the throttle almost wide open. There is an odd type of dam in several places called a wicket dam. Basically it is a hinged section of the dam that is lowered when the river levels are high enough to maintain navigation, and boats pass through that point instead of the locks. Oddly enough when you funnel about a thousand miles of the now one mile wide Ohio river through an opening about 15' deep by 300' wide you get some amazing currents. We were slowed down to less than 2 mph and seemed to take forever to get through. A small sailboat behind us (under power) took about 20 minutes standing still until someone managed to tell him to try closer to the edge of the opening.

Anyway, here we are in Nashville. Kelly and Heidi are joining us sometime today for Thanksgiving and to spend a number of days cruising beyond here. Gwen and I spent a lot of time the last few days perfecting the Grand Ole Opry greeting of Howdy....thats "how" and then a two octave higher jump to the heavily accented "DEEE" Imagine my disappointment upon reaching here to learn that the reason they call this the music city is that every and all kinds of music are being played live almost every hour of the week. We did sit in on a Charlie Daniels style country band yesterday afternoon. There were four bars on the same block with live entertainment at 3 in the afternoon so we picked what sounded to be the best and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Last night we opted to save the hard core country experience for when the girls are here to share it and went to BB Kings bar instead. From 7 until 9:30 they had a six piece white blues band playing excellent electric blues . Then the 8 piece black band came out and started doing some old motown classics. Just as I was thinking the 3 backup singer/dancers could get tedious they reached back and pulled out their horns. After a half hour or so of tight playing, two women singers came on stage and blasted out all the old classics by Aretha, Diana Ross et al. When we left around 11:30 ( from exhaustion mostly brought on by dancing) the band still hadn't taken a break.

Gwen seemed to think that since she has agreed to go to Graceland when we pass close to Memphis, that she could probably pass on the grand ole opry. I'm afraid not! The more you see of Nashville the more you realize that whatever kind of music it is, it is done by pros. Too bad we just missed John Prine by a day or two. However earlier on I did see a train along the Kaskasia River in Illinois with Peabody Coal Co. written on the locomotive. Needless to say the Mulenburg County refrain bounced around my head for a few days after that. Bonny Raitt will be here in a few weeks but I guess we will have to pass on that too.Oh well who knows what Memphis might bring.

Till the next installment,

Jim

somewhere in America

http://muskrat2005.tripod.com/

Hi !

We are sitting in a quiet little bay on the TennTom waterway. After a week of lovely warm weather it has turned cooler and although the water is warm the temperature is in the low 60's. Apparently this is just a glitch and it should warm up soon. Nevertheless , Jim is getting the propane furnace going as it cools down at night.

Had a good time with Kelly and Heidi when they drove down to meet us at Nashville. A great night of jazz and blues as some New Orleans musicians have sought refuge there and were playing their hearts out. The bar we were in also provided dirty rice , beans and BBQ pork, so it was a full evening.

Spent a few days touring the Cumberland River beyond Nashville and although the weather wasn't great we enjoyed it. Saw Johnny Cash's house (for sale) and Reba Macintyre's that wasn't.

People are just too friendly here. We had been anchored out for a few days and stopped at a recreational centre in the morning as we saw washrooms and had the thought they might have hot showers (ours is more like luke warm). Anyway, we all took the dinghy over , Heidi in her bright red pajama bottoms and the rest of us a bit disheveled , thinking maybe we could catch a little hot water. No one was around and unfortunately the washrooms were locked and drained for the season..

As we were contemplating this change of plans a man drove up in his pickup and we started chatting as you do in these circumstances. (Jim had disappeared somewhere at this point.)

Anyway, we told him the story of our lives and he said, "just wait here ten minutes and I'll be back". He drove away before we could say a word and to our horror we realized what was happening. He went home and told his wife he was bringing four people home for showers and coffee.

Jim and Kelly were a little too embarrassed to go but Heidi and I thought "that since he had gone to all that trouble and really, you should allow people to do good things" that a shower and a little ride in a car would be nice. What a lovely couple. Nice bathroom too.....

They brought us back and we took them out to the boat and finally convinced them that we didn't need a ride to the grocery store to shop..

Cruised back down to Nashville and said goodbye to the girls and then headed back the Cumberland to the Tennessee river. A wonderful river.

Gentle and curving with bluffs, hills and flatlands. Lots of little bays to tuck away in at night . Sandy beach and woods to walk in. Happy to run into some more pelicans again as I hadn't seen them for awhile.

After the Tennessee we entered about 25 miles of canal. Straight and true and boring until we reached the TennTom.

Here's Jim......

Well here we are in the Tenn Tom waterway, familiar to anyone who saw the movie "Deliverance". It is very beautiful and a lot like the flooded-over lands of Bark Lake.....lots of deadheads here and there but also a variety of little coves and bays to very carefully explore when we need a place to anchor for the night. Tonight we are in Tishomingo county, about 12 miles from the town of Tishomingo Mississippi. Ever since I read Elmore Leonard's novel "Tishomingo Blues" that name has periodically floated through my head so it feels good to be here.

Apparently the first 24 miles of this waterway (the great divide canal) and the great wall of China are the only two man-made things visible from outer space.....I like Tishomingo County better.

About two days ago we stopped at the Birdsong Marina in southern Tennessee as I needed to find a small piece of plate steel to repair one of the motor mounts..... like a lot of art the Muskrat is still a work in progress. The marina couldn't really help me but mentioned that there was a welder back behind the storage area working on a boat. Turned out it was four good old boys ( and I use the term affectionately) working on their duck boat/ hunt camp. The welder looked at the piece I needed and said he could probably fix me up before the end of the day. We went off shopping and such and when we got back the piece was waiting for me but no sign of the guys or their boat. As we made our way back to the waterfront we saw them burling away trying to get there pontoon boat back out of the trailer launch ramp. They had welded on so much steel to one side of the boat that it wouldn't float free of the trailer. I offered to bring over the Rat and give them a pull but they soon managed to jostle it loose.

The overhanging part in the picture is known as the "boat scoot". This (and all the rest of the boat) is then covered with branches. The hunters have a raised bench with skylights and windows for shooting, but the bigger part of the boat was designed for hangin out. The boat scoot camouflages the boats they use to get out to the camp and hopefully to retrieve the odd waterfowl. I asked the four guys how many the camp could handle and they said about eight. I guess their wives will be joining them later.

But enough of hunt camps. Tomorrow we are leaving the boat at a marina near Tupelo Miss. (birthplace of the king), renting a car and......we're going to Graceland, Graceland, Memphis Tennessee.

Later

Jim and Gwen

somewhere near Tishomingo

http://muskrat2005.tripod.com/

We have seen Graceland.............

We rented a car for a couple of days and headed off to Memphis which was only about 90 some miles from where we were on the river. Cotton harvesting was starting and the edges of the roads were dotted with white fluff blowing around in the breeeze. As we crossed the Talahatchie River (not far from Tupelo) that song came into my brain ( you know the one where Billie Joe jumps off the bridge) and refused to leave for days. I got so tired of hearing it in the background of my mind. Think I finally remembered all of the words and then thankfully it left me.

We stayed on Beale Street, downtown , so managed to walk and take the trolley to most of the places we wanted to see. Such brightly painted little trolleys , with their shinning wood and brass inside . The city gets downtrodden rather quickly once you leave the downtown core. We've been noticing that people don't seem to walk much in these towns. Even the smaller ones. The sidewalks are broken up with the grass taking over and are pretty much deserted no matter what kind of neighborhood you are in.

The Civil Rights Museum was very well done ,situated in the Lorraine Motel where Martin Luther King was shot. Like all the other places now you have your headphones to guide you through which is nice in a way as you can go at your own pace but there is no one to answer any questions that aren't in the script. Cheaper than hiring staff I guess.

Good music at night of course (yes Tim, this is all we do, just bar hopping our way through the south) .

Graceland was a little odd and a little sad. Beautiful stone house with rolling pasture, white fences and a few horses. Inside the house was like going through a zippy nightmare. Avocado green carpets covering beautiful wood floors, fake fur furniture with chandelier lighting and so on. Then there were all the exhibits of Elvis's outfits, toys (cars etc) his two planes and so on. The grave sites were a bit much but then so was his whole life.

Since then we have been slowly heading down the river. It changes from one day to another from wide and meandering to straight and logical. Have stopped at a few towns to take our bikes out for exercise and get a feel for places and have found lots of bush to walk in. At the last information Centre we stopped at they had a display of all the birds and animals in the area. Two very large snakes, one water and one rattler so I am a little more careful walking now...............good that the snakes can't jump into the boat like those nasty fish were doing before.

Later Gwen Anne

Well here we are in Demopolis, Alabama, mile 2,500....the climate keeps getting warmer and that sweet southern drawl thicker. Somehow even the plainest of southern belles comes alive as soon as she starts to talk. Going back to Mississippi and Gwen's song, I guess the reason the people in the song were so downhearted at the dinner table after Billy Joe's jump was because of his stupidity. No one could kill themselves jumping from that little bridge...he was probably whining away in the hospital somewhere with a sprained ankle!

Memphis was truly the blues capital of America, and played a big part in a lot of the R&B and soul hits over the last century. We toured the Smithsonian Rock and Soul Museum where they did a very good job of tying together the progression from sharecropper and slave country blues through to the soulful juke joints of post slavery days and then onto the fusions of all the different styles into Rock and R&B. One of the things I kept noticing in alot of the pictures from the old days was the mix of black and white musicians, particularly in the recording session bands. It seemed from the Civil rights museum tour that Memphis was a fairly segregated and racist town at one point, but the musicians seemed to rise above that.

Spent two nights wandering up and down Beale St. where there was at least eight different blues bands to choose from...we were there on tuesday and wednesday so it was a bit slow!! Some of the bands were just playing for tips and hoping to be discovered, others were old established bands that seemed happy to have a steady job where they could go back to there own home every night. All and all a grand spot for the blues.

Graceland was something else. Elvis obviously was more talented at music than interior decorating, but with his money he could (and did) redecorate often, so he never had to live long with any particularly gaudy creation. It was sad to think that the stresses of the lifestyle burned him out by age 47 and also a little strange how all that part of his life was totally omitted from the history presented on the tour. A mostly usually reliable source (Lee) told us that Elvis is still earning $40 million a year so I guess they don't want to mess up a good thing with too much reality.

Have really enjoyed riding our little fold up bikes around some of the towns we have passed through. (even if we do look like escapees from the circus). There are a lot of old southern mansions still in good repair with some amazing grounds. I especially like the big wrap around porches equipped with ceiling fans.....definitely my kind of climate where you need a fan on your porch to enjoy sippin your mint juleps. Still don't know what they are though, so I guess our work here isn't finished.

From here it is only 200 miles to the Gulf of Mexico and saltwater and alligators and big waves (again) so things shoud get lively soon.

Till the next round

Jim

Here we are... stuck in Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again !!!

We are sitting in a marina on a river, called Dog River, off the Mobile Bay while waiting for the winds to die down . The bay is extremely shallow and builds up in a nasty way and since they have small craft warnings out we thought we would wait. It will take us about 6 hours to a protected anchorage so no point in rushing it.

The last of the river trip down to Mobile was uneventful and to tell the truth we were looking forward to getting out of the river mode. It was quite pretty though, with the scenery becoming more "southern-like" with all the cypress dripping with spanish moss and swamps and bayous just shouting "alligator" at us.

Coming through the city of Mobile on the river was great. We felt very small and humble passing all these huge ocean going vessels tied up at the docks, Working boats were everywhere, busily pushing things here and there like a colony of little ants beside the monster boats. It was a lovely warm day and we could smell the salt in the air beckoning us further south.

The river opened into the bay and the Muskrat did a little dance. Not sure if it was from delight or trepidation. We found our route and were quite amazed by the fact that if you got the slightest bit off channel the water was down to about 5 feet. At that point Jim removed me from the wheel and I went to make lunch. This ,of course. was the time that two dolphins came up to the front of the boat, playing merrily around daring Jim to hit them. I missed seeing them so took my sandwhich to the back to see if they would surface behind us. I was nonchalantly throwing a few crumbs to some gulls when this enormous pelican came roaring towards my sandwich looking for all the world like some prehistoric being. Head hunched down between his wings and glaring eye. Gave me a terrible start as his mouth slowly opened, and I ran .....Not at all like the nice white pelicans upriver that I was so fond of.

Found our way to Dog River and since we did want to see a bit of Louisiana we rented a car for a couple of days and headed west.

Mobile seemed to have recovered from Katrina fairly well. Damage to the marinas and a lot of boats but until you went to Dauphine Island you didn't see that much problem although there has been a major cleanup. The west end of Dauphine Island is still a disaster zone though. It is so low the water just smashed over it .

We worked our way west on little roads through the country side. A lot of cotton still in the field and on the roadside..Started seeing more and more wind damage, with areas where almost every house had a new blue tarp roof and the plantation trees snapped off at about 15 feet high. Apparently about 40 years ago the gov't planted all these pines that were supposed to have been harvested 15 years ago. Very straight spindly looking trees and they didn't take too well to the winds. We really should have done a bit more research into our little journey because I thought Covington would be a nice place to spend the night. The closer we got the worse it became and there were no rooms anywhere. All taken up by evacuees and workers.

We headed on to Baton Rouge which didn't seem to have any wind damage to speak of.

Leaving Baton Rouge we meandered along the Mississippi through the area where the Acadians landed. The french style became more apparent in the houses and of course names.

Sugar cane is probably the biggest crop here and there are fields and fields of it. We stopped at one of the old planation houses that are still standing. Houma House had 30 acres of garden and ponds surrounding it. Quite amazing but I guess they didn't have to worry about paying for hired help. The original owner had the dubious distinction of being the sugar king of the south and having the most slaves. Lovely as all the plants were it left you with the feeling that it was a "bit much" for one family .

The cane growers here are having a problem getting their crops off as so many truckers are making better money hauling debris away from the cities and towns. The small fish processing plants are not getting government help to rebuild so all the fishermen are out of work as well. There seems to be more work for preachers than anyone else in these parts. I have never seen so many little churches in my life.

Here's Jim......

I have never seen so many big piles of trash in my life. New Orleans is a city of over 100 sq miles and on every block there is anywhere from 2 to 20 enormous heaps of soggy insulation, wet mattresses, couches and just plain rubbish. The roadside areas where no one lives are often covered in twisted up pieces of roofing. The city was obviously beautiful at one time... a lot of the houses reminded me of parts of Roseau in Dominica with the gingerbread and profusion of shutters.

The French Quarter has obviously been given some priority in the cleaning up so we were able to find a small hotel with available rooms. Several of the bars and restaurants were open so we did get to sample some creole food and hear a bit of Dixieland jazz....just enough to make me really want to come back when it is completely up and running. It was also obvious that some of the more interesting things to check out are not just in the French Quarter, but those areas will take even longer to recover.

Driving into the city was a bit unnerving. None of the stop lights were working so everyone was just taking turns at the intersections. No street signs to speak of as they were all blown or washed away so we got a bit confused. Ventured down some totally demolished streets trying to find our way. It was like a war zone. One of the most depressing things was seeing the signs on the broken houses left by the searchers saying "one dead in attic" and so on.

The city is trying to recover with more businesses opening each day and signs for "hiring now" in most of the windows. People are rallying and putting Mardi Gras decorations on their houses in hopes of better times to come. The streets in the French Quarter though were still empty with only a few people wandering around.

Due to the lack of places to stay and the general devastation we passed on touring through the Dave Robichaud/ bayou section of Louisianna, but we did manage to get on a swamp tour and see some gators. The tour wasn't going to happen because there were only two of us, but at the last minute four guys from Memphis and Arkansas showed up. They were a tree removal crew down for the cleanup who decided to take a day off and see the bayous. It made for some interesting chat as they grilled the guide about the best ways to fish and hunt ducks without getting eaten by the alligators.

Gwen Anne thought it wasn't really very ecological for the guide to be attracting the gators by throwing out marshmallows. When the guide mentioned that they preferred food with four legs, like coons and dogs, I noticed she cooled out her objections to the marshmallow approach.

We drove close to Biloxi Miss.on our way home and it is easy to see why it is almost totally gone. We didn't go into the city but the size of the downed trees and the twisted mess of all the road signs and billboards along the highway certainly illustrated how strong the winds were.

We're back on the boat now....the shrimp boats come in close to here so we have been pigging out on fresh shrimp, with the odd po boy thrown in when we are too lazy to cook. Tomorrow we brave the waves again...quite a change after so many miles of quiet rivers. From here it is the northern gulf coast of Florida for about 600 miles and then we will park the boat and bail out before we get too close to Christmas and/or DisneyWorld.

Later

Jim

somewhere in the deep south

Well,. here we are tied up to a rough little dock in the village of Panacea on the north coast of Florida.The wind is howling with thunder and lightning crashing but we are well sheltered in this little bay. Tornado warnings are in effect but I think we will be okay.

Panacea got its name because of the sulphur springs that run through it . Apparently this is the spot Ponce deLeon thought was the Fountain of Youth,. Years back there were hotels and spas with people coming for miles around to be rejuvenated. Now it is a sleepy little place with friendly people making their way fishing and hunting. The seafood is excellent here because of the lime spring waters that run into the rivers. Apparently the Appalatchee Bay is world reknowned for its shrimp, lobster and oysters.

We came here by accident and good fortune.

After leaving Mobile we headed east through various bays and "ditches" on the intercoastal waterway. Crossing Mobile Bay was exciting as we had to turn back once , but when the weather held we headed out again. Anchored out in various rivers along the way then stopped one night in Panama City.

Dolphins everywhere !! Swimming along side and then jumping in front and dodging around to the back. It is so wonderful watching them.

The weather has been unsettled and we spent a couple of nights anchored in "Joes" Bayou" then headed on to Dog Island. White, white sand and our footprints looked as if we were walking through snow.

On leaving Dog Island we thought we would get up really early, before light, and make a run to Steinhatchee. We thought that if it seemed too far that we could turn off mid way to place called St. Marks. The weather seemed okay, the forecast pretty good so we set off with high hopes of making good miles.

The seas were a little higher than forecasted but not bad. The further we went the stronger the winds came and we were heading out into the Gulf. There are a lot of shoals here and really no places to go ashore.

Things deteriorated rapidly. The three to four foot waves forecasted changed to six feet and more.coming broadside to us. Because of the shoals there was not a lot of room to tack back and forth but Jim did his best. We were bobbing around wildly with things crashing in the cupboards and falling off everywhere. I found the only way to not get thrown around was to sit on the floor holding on to the counter. That worked okay until Jim's chair broke off its moorings and threatened to fall on me. Trying to read the charts and find a way to shore where we wouldn't get wrecked on shoals was a bit of a problem in all of this.

Just when things were at the worst and I really thought we would turn over, a shrimp boat hailed us on the radio. He was behind us and asked where we were headed. Jim replied "St Marks, but if you know of anywhere closer we would be glad to know"

The shrimper said that we really should get out of there and that he was going to a private dock that wasn't on the charts and to follow him. So we did. Even though it was still wild it was nice to know there was someone else out there watching us.He waited until we caught up and led the way.

We battled our way behind him and came into this little bay through a very winding course and then into a wee little dock where we pulled up behind him. The water calmed immediately and everyone tied up. The shrimp boat started shutting down and all these people came to buy the catch.

Once we had put things back in place on the boat we went over to thank the captain and ask if we could buy some shrimp. Within a few moments we had pounds of fresh shrimp plus he started shucking oysters for us . We sat on the dock and had a wonderful feast.

Talking with them later we found that the when the shrimp boat had seen us the captain had radioed someone else saying "there is a little tug boat out here that has no business out in this weather" . If they hadn't taken us to shore I don't know where we would have ended up.The channel to get here certainly wasn't on the charts. They also have told us that the Marine weather on the radio is not very accurate.here and not to believe it..

It turns out that the captain of the shrimp boat owns the little dock that we are at now plus most of the village. His name is Angelo and his father came here from Greece in the 1940's , started fishing, built a restaurant and bought land. A lovely guy, very helpful, lent Jim his welder to weld his chair back together, took us shopping and has told us to stay as long as we want. Angelo also has a place in Costa Rica that he goes to six or seven times a year plus some condo's here. Why he goes out to sea shrimping is beyond me !! We are just glad he does. He said he just loves to fish....

They call this the "other Florida" here. They don't have much use for places like Miami etc. It really is a slow moving, quiet little area.

Here's Jim !!

Gwen seems to pretty much have the news covered. In keeping with the song title for subject tradition I was tempted to title this letter "we all live in a yellow submarine" Thats how it felt when we would do a twisting dive down into the trough of a six or seven footer and the water would crash into the windows and cover the decks. In retrospect it is comforting to know that we can dive that deep and rock sideways to 45 degrees or so and still always come back to an upright position. Even so, we have proved it once and hopefully that will be enough. This area is an unexpected surprise, as we had both written Florida off as a disney world/snowbird filled wasteland.

The next 100 miles of the coast down past the Suwanee river is suppposed to still be the "old Florida" but all soon enough we will be at Tampa Bay etc. On the plus side we rejoin the sheltered waters of the intercoastal and it should be smoother sailing.

Till next time.... God spare life( as they say in Dominica)

Jim

somewhere in the Florida panhandle

http://muskrat2005.tripod.com/

Merry Xmas to All !!

We are now safely ensconced in our little house in Dominica. Lovely to be able to look at the sea without having to be quite so close to it .

We finally made it off the gulf after a few more rather disturbing moments, and it was such a relief to enter into the Okochobee River. Enroute we spent a day in Sarasotta which really is a pretty town ,of what we saw, very clean and friendly. Jim wanted to go to the Ringling Brothers Museum and see the clowns, so we did.

Not only was there a museum but their home and art gallery was on the tour as well. The house was something out of a strange dream, and as Jim pointed out "after all, they were circus people" An enormous mansion on the sea with Moorish style windows and a very eclectic style of colour and design. Each room was in a different mode with some fabulous pieces of wonderful light, colourful artistry mixed with very heavy Italian ormulu furnishings. Lots of gilt everywhere. 30 rooms not counting the 8 bathrooms.

The actual circus museum was good though , and the original wagons with their swirling colours and wonderful carving made you feel festive just looking at them. It must have been so exciting for a child (or anyone ) to see that procession come rolling into town with the calliope playing and the artists in their spectacular outfits. No wonder they were the "Biggest Show on Earth". There were over 100 wagons in their heyday.

The further south along the coast we went the more opulent it was. It became so that a house of probably a million or more appeared a little tawdry looking. We were happy to enter the river as it was just a wee bit too much to take in.

We had the boat hauled out at a yard , washed off the bottom, did a quick clean-up and were on our way to Ft. Lauderdale that afternoon. Stopped at the airport there and managed to get tickets the following morning for Dominica. What a treat to be able to do it so quickly. Pascal, Liz and Brian Keetch and David Boehme, from Combermere, were all at the airport to greet us.

Everything looks good. Gweneth has kept it all together and Haig has the grounds under control. The river place looks cared for so all is well and the guests at the cottages have been happy. Mona apparently had been a little depressed the week before we came, not eating and not even barking if someone came to Pascal's house, so they were a bit worried about her. The consensus is that after Brian and Liz came and we did not, that she felt she had been abandoned. She is back in her usual mode now , jumping into the river and the sea for her coconuts, barking at strangers and being her regular , although more mature, puppy. It is about time she matured as she is over 8 years old now !

Plans underway for our annual neighbourhood Xmas Party. It has become such a tradition that it is not a problem organizing. Everyone knows the format. The women bring food and the men bring drinks although we have had to suggest that there is more wine or beer than hard rum. We have Xmas Eve dinner,a christening and another dinner to go to on Xmas Day plus a wedding on New Years Eve so the holiday is shaping up.

Hope all is well with all of you and that you have a wonderful holiday season.

Much Love to All,

GwenAnne and Jim

Here we go again,

We dropped the old boat back in the water last thursday and surprise!! everything seemed to be still working......well except for the thirty year old fridge that has never really worked well, and the captain who is even older than the fridge. The area where we resumed the trip (around the south shore of Lake Okeechobee) was a side of Florida I was never aware of. This was once the northern edge of the everglades. Lots of swamps and gators etc. Now it is mostly criss crossed with drainage canals and elaborate pumping stations and dikes. Sugar cane and citrus groves seem to be the main crops. However the new big future is apparently in nurseries to supply all the palm trees and landscaping plants for the thousands of homes being built along the coast each day. Flying into the southern part of the state ( Fort Lauderdale/Miami) it was hard to see where there was an acre of land that hadn't been developed, but I guess the developers will always find some where to stick up another condo.

After three or four days of the cross-Florida Okeechobee canal we are now back in salt water and heading north for the first time in a long time. At least we won't be mostly driving into the sun and hopefully the summer weather travels faster than our average of 30 miles a day.

Tonight we anchored in a quiet cove north of Vero Beach in the full moon. About five dolphins were jumping and playing around the boat and if you faced the right direction you couldn't even see the multi-million dollar homes.

About sixty miles north is Daytona, but apparently we have already missed bike week. With any luck we'll be in Georgia or beyond for spring break!!

Thats all from me....for the return trip it's Gwen's turn to get the last word.

We are now in Daytona anchored outside the marina. It is quite handy as we dinghied in and went to the farmers market this morning. Lovely veggies and fruits and a real market atmosphere with kids, dogs and older people all chatting and enjoying the repartee. One couple had this miniature doghouse on wheels. It looked very much like a childs stroller with a covered section out of the sun and a screened in section at the front. Inside were two VERY special puppies .One with an attitude from hell. As the couple made their way through the crowds they were followed by barking and howling from every other leashed dog in the market. The little prince in his chariot was gnashing his teeth and making aggressive moves to every dog he encountered. All of 8 inches high he was lord of the market. One of the vendors watched them pass and then remarked to no one in particular "Look at that. People taking their dogs for a morning ride. Only in America"

The last day down the river was pretty neat. A lot of protected waterway, swamp and yes we have seen the round brown snouts of a number of manatee. I have yet to see anything else but the snout despite the miles of signs saying to avoid hitting them.

While we were in the town of Stuart we were walking along the riverside when we came upon an Ibis strolling along in front of us. The bird looked exactly like an ex-socialite who had seen some hard times. She was stepping very carefully along on her long thin legs with just a slight list to the left. Perhaps one too many martinis had been imbibed and she was desperately holding on to her last shreds of dignity . With the one long rather bedraggled feather floating down from the back of her head it was definately "the party is over"time.

We walked along beside her for a bit without her taking any notice. When it finally registered that we were there she calmly turned and walked back the way she came. Very odd bird.

We will stay here again tonight as we want to take a stroll down to the beach area. The weather is nice but I imagine the water will be a little chill for me to swim. Nevertheless we can check out all the tacky little places and "do Daytona" !!

Later,

GwenAnne

Let me tell you....I am so glad to be out of Florida and into Georgia. I have never seen so many condos in my life as there are from Fort Lauderdale up the east coast to Daytona. From there going north it wasn't so bad but it is just a matter of time. We ate in a little restaurant on a small lot with a dock and a few shrimp boats in Mayport (near Jacksonville). Both the shrimper properties on either side had been sold for 8 million, but this place is holding out for 10. They did admit that there soon won't be any fishing industry as no-one can afford to own waterfront just to fish!

Georgia is a lot like the York river conservation area near Combermere. Miles and miles of salt marshes with meandering streams and creeks leading to small little villages of fishermen. It is about 50 miles between any village or town that is accessible from the intercoastal waterway. Needless to say there are endless possibilities for quiet little anchorages on the side streams and rivers. It does take a little more thought deciding where to anchor as the tides here have a range of 10' from high to low.

Our old fridge (salvaged from John and Annie Halls camper trailer that they bought used about 30 years ago) finally gave out. The only way to get a replacement was to have one shipped by truck and try and guess an address where we would be in 10 days when it reached the east coast from California. We chose the Mayport marina outside of Jacksonville thinking we could kill time cruising the 150 mile long St Johns river if things got lost or delayed. When the fridge finally arrived we arranged for a berth at the marina for the night and were instructed to dock beside a 160' long luxury yacht with a pool on the upper deck. It turned out to belong to Tiger Woods who was in Jacksonville for one of the big golf tournaments of the pro tour. When I saw him heading out Sunday morning for the last day of the tournament I thought of going over and giving him a few tips on his game. Then I realized that he was so far down in the scoring that it was probably too late for any help from me....that and the fact that he did name his boat "Privacy"

Gwen did manage to teach his 4 month old uncontrollable border collie ( Tas ) how to sit. It was somewhat amusing watching Mrs Tiger take Tas for a walk around the grounds. When necessary she would call one of the 8 crew members on her cell phone and they would come out with a little plastic bag to handle the mess. I don't know what I miss the most....having a dog on board to deal with or a crew of eight ?

Well, enough from me. Here's Gwen to tell you about what really happened.

Like Jim said, it was soooo good to leave Florida behind. I like this part of Georgia but if not for the GPS we would be totally and completely lost. There are so many rivers and inlets to lure the unwary traveler in that you do have to keep your eyes open. We are sitting in the Crescent River just off of Doboy Sound. It is really fun as I can look out over the miles of swamp grass and see the top bit of a sail here or the masts of a shrimp boat over there just floating over the grasses. I have no idea where they are going or what bit of water they are on and they just disappear. A somewhat surreal feeling to the place.I have learned that the term "sound" is not to be taken lightly. For those of you who, like me, just thought that that was where the river ran into the sea ,it is much more complicated than this. This is a place where there are horrid currents that twist and turn you around along with large waves roaring in at you from the ocean. It is also a place where if you did not follow your maps quite closely you could find yourself actually in the ocean itself. Sounds are not always friendly and best crossed when there is absolutely no breeze at all. Nevertheless, we managed to cross a number of them without mishap and came from the St Andrews Sound to Jekyll Island.

This is a delightful island that has been taken over by the State of Georgia and they have dealt with it very well. Back in the early 1900's , Jekyll Island was the summer playground for the likes of J.P. Morgan, the Rockefellers, the Astors, Pulitzer etc. According to one source of information one sixth of the worlds money was to be found on this little island. They built a huge "club house" with 60 guest rooms for friends that didn't own a "cottage" on the island. The cottages were huge houses and none of them had kitchens. Everyone was expected to join in the social order of things and take all their meals at the "club house".

No wonder the whole thing did not last.

Eventually the next generation found their thrills elsewhere and the place was deserted. Houses fell to wrack and ruin except for a few which were refurbished and are now open to the public. The club house still stands and has been turned into a very ritzy hotel, of course, but the rest of the island is still lovely. No big hotels, condos or nasty souvenir type places. There are bicycle paths all over and you can ride through the swamp where yes, we did see an alligator sunning himself, and then along the beach. The paths were lovely, well maintained and some of the trees spectacular. Huge gnarly limbs dripping with Spanish moss. Some wonderful vines that I have never seen before with large white flowers were all along one area..Very little development has been allowed and it really is a beautiful spot. .

For anyone who thinks they may be able to sneak away for a wee bit and join us that would be lovely...... Jim has now organized things so that the shower is hot instead of just tepid. It does make a huge difference .

Later,

GwenAnne

than to be in Carolina in the springtime. We've decided that spring travels north at approximately 50 miles per day. For over a month now we have been surrounded by Azaleas blooming and new fresh green tree leaves that have just filled out. The temperatures at night are often spring-like, but the days feel more like a Renfrew county summer....high 70's to mid 80's.

Somewhere in the north of Georgia we woke up in the morning to discover the low tide had revealed an old abandoned crap pot (trap). After a bit of rewiring it became quite serviceable and we caught two nice blue crabs the next night. Gwen is a little leery of the legality of me crabbing, but I have seen a number of docks with a crab pot on them, so I feel it is probably just another inalienable right similar to being allowed to bear arms. In any case they sure taste good.

The old Rat had been running so smoothly that it came as quite a surprise at Charleston when it wouldn't start. Luckily after two phone calls I found a shop that stocked 32 volt starter motors in the size and style we needed Then yesterday the oil line ( one inch hydraulic hose !) sprung a pin hole leak and the pressure dropped. We pulled into Bellhaven, a small little town of two or three thousand and the first place I went into to ask directions happened to stock hydraulic parts and could make up any size hose you could ask for. Sometimes the gods are smiling! After muttering a bit about two breakdowns in two weeks, I realized that these are things I have routinely done for a 10 or 15 year old car, so maybe shouldn't be too surprising in a 53 year old boat. ( both the parts were original equipment)

Charleston was an interesting city to wander around in. We had seen a lot of the old south antebellum mansion stuff in Savannah Georgia when we spent a few days there. Instead of touring more homes we went to a naval museum and toured an aircraft carrier, submarine, and destroyer that the Navy had mothballed. I think after getting out of the submarine Gwen felt a lot less cramped down below in the Muskrat. In contrast the size of the aircraft carrier was overwhelming.....until you thought of trying to land a plane on the deck!

In a letter from Tim we heard a bit of complaining as to how we didn't seem to be enjoying any music on this leg of the trip, so we decided to remedy this by hearing some jazz in Charleston. The band ( the New Southern Jazz Band) was quite versatile....six musicians with an average age somewhere in the mid-sixties. And this was the NEW band. They knew all the old standards and seemed to be having a great time. On our way home we stumbled onto then into an Irish bar with your standard two electrified acoustic guitars and a tambour, (or whatever those funny Irish hand drums are called). With a strong Irish brogue, they were wailing out Pink Floyd's "The Wall" A few songs later they announced they were going to play one of the few country songs written about the clap. They then launched into a very Irish sounding version of Johnny Cash's "Burning Ring of Fire". Needless to say it was a long time later that we recommenced our trip back to the boat.

After Charleston we decided we had dallied long enough in the cities of the old south and should try to get some miles behind us if we really plan to get home sometime this summer. Unfortunately the big open-water rivers and sounds of Cape Fear, Pamlico and Abermarle are between Charleston and Chesapeake Bay. After much listening to the weather stations for perfect conditions we have managed to survive the first two, and hopefully tomorrow's promised one foot waves will hold for Abermarle sound. It is about 30 miles of open water and can turn nasty in a hurry if the winds pick up. After that it is a day or two through the Dismal Swamp canal to get to Norfolk, Virginia and Chesapeake Bay. On that cheery note I will pass the keyboard over to my trusty weather officer.

Later Jim

Today we are motoring smartly along the Alligator Canal. An extremely boring little stretch of canal where the only birds in sight for the whole trip have been five turkey vultures sitting on a dead tree. It is quite a jump from the miles and miles of very trendy and oversized houses that seem to have taken over the river fronts up until now. Not sure which is more interesting.I am really looking forward to the next portion of the trip. We will go through the " Dismal Swamp". It has such a ring to it .

We had a lovely ride down the Waccamaw River . It seemed very isolated with beautiful big trees hanging over the waters edge. Every buoy marker was decorated with a huge osprey nest and you could see the heads peering over the top at us as we sailed slowly by. The spanish moss dripping down the sides of the nests made them look as comfortable and cozy as anything , although I did read somewhere that the moss has itchy little parasites in it. We anchored for the night outside a wee little landing called Bucksport. I am not sure whether is means Buck's port, or Buck sport , as in hunting. There were about four little cottages of one or maybe two rooms sitting on either pontoons or rafts sharing the little bay with us. They all had tiny little verandahs and were tied to the shore by long, long ropes. It seemed to be a very simple way to have a cottage as long as you had a boat to get to it.

We have stopped in at some very pretty little rural towns that had a lovely warm friendly feel to them. The lots are huge with gnarly old trees,lovely gardens (but not too fussy) and everyone waving .It actually became a little irritating, all this waving. I was having a bit of a problem with my bike and having to wave back all the time was making my progress a bit erratic but you do want to appear appreciative. It is nice to dock for a bit, get some walking or biking in and then continue on down the river . One thing that always seems a little odd in these little villages though, are the notices. Whether it is at the entrance to a park or for a boat ride somewhere or whatever, there are these notices advising people that they are not allowed to bring concealed handguns or any other weapons with them. It is just something that wouldn't really occur to me--- to take my gun along to play on the swings .

Oh well,

Hope all is well with everyone ,

Later,

GwenAnne

It's been a monumental few weeks between anchoring behind the statue of Liberty last night and touring Washington DC for a few days not so long ago.In between we did some bouncy cruising on Chesapeake Bay and out in the open ocean coming around Sandy Hook into New York harbour. I hadn't really realized how big the Chesapeake is......you often can't see the other side... and the Atlantic was even bigger! Gwen had faithfully been listening to the marine weather reports and it looked like the weekend would be a good chance to cover the 35 outside miles from New Jersey into the Hudson river mouth. Unfortunately when we were still south of Atlantic City, NJ on Thursday we started to smell smoke. Our ancient 32 volt gear drive alternator had finally melted down. Gwen claims it was because I had mentioned that we had just passed the 5000 mile mark on our cruise and the boat just said enough.

In any case someone said we should go check out Lou Bianchino and Son who specialized in alternators and such. We taxied over and met this short old man who appeared to be in his late seventies and his son in their shop behind the house. He took one look at the old relic, pronounced it dead and then shuffled off into his back room full of odds and ends. In two minutes he was back with the identical part all painted up and new. His price was more in tune with what he must have paid for it 30 or 40 years ago and off we went. Unfortunately I couldn't get it to work after I installed it so I called up for some help. His son said they were passing nearby to take old Lou to the doctors so they would stop by. After hobbling up onto the boat ( due to a hip replacement) he and his son spent an hour or two testing and couldn't find the problem. They decided to take all the related parts back to there shop and test them there. Next morning it was back down into the engine room with the tested and working parts and after an hour or so of cleaning up corroded ground wires and such everything worked. When I asked Andy (the son) how much it would be for the extra work he allowed as how his Dad had started working on tug boats when they were still steam powered and that now that he was 92 years old he didn't get much chance to get out and work on them again, so there was no charge. Old Lou did want to get a few pictures of himself behind the wheel and on deck however. One of the things I will always remember about this trip is how we have been really blessed by running into exceptionally good and friendly people.....especially right when we really needed to.

When we finally got rolling again it looked pretty bleak for getting to New York. By Monday the Atlantic was supposed to be getting 5 to 6 foot waves and then steadily getting worse.

We decided just to motor on until we got to the end of the intracoastal waterway in New Jersey and then just see what was happening. When we reached the last ocean inlet on Sunday at 2 pm it looked not too bad so we decided to go for it. By seven that night we were safely anchored in a public anchorage tucked in behind the Statue of Liberty, happy to have seen the last of salt water for a while. We are now on the Hudson River about twenty miles from Woodstock and the Catskill mountains. The Hudson valley looks very much like the Madawaska valley....it's so good to see hills again.

As this part of the trip is a lot like home and areas we are familiar with we are probably going to just zoom straight along ( at 7 mph) up to Montreal around to Ottawa and then probably down the Rideau canal to Lake Ontario to pull the boat out. Needless to say we are looking forward to seeing all the familiar faces again.

Later

Jim

Hello to All,

Well there have been some lovely spots this last bit and some not so lovely spots.

The not so lovely ones are the miles and miles of coastline that have nothing but rather unpleasant monster homes of rather wearying design and no green space between them stretching on forever. The lovely ones are places like the Dismal Swamp that felt like we were on the African Queen, parts of the Chesapeake (when there was no wind) and now parts of the Hudson River that are quite beautiful.

The Dismal Swamp was quite weird in places . We went through in a group (not intentionally) of 4 Canadian boats. Earlier on when docked at Elizabeth City together , someone had commented on there being 4 Canadian boats in the same place. One of the owners, A Frenchman from Montreal (who knows Teddy Murray and Barry's Bay from dealing lumber with Murray Brothers) told the Americans who commented, that we were the Canadian Navy. As he said in the re-telling, both the Americans and the Canadians all laughed, but for different reasons.

In the same group of boaters there was a woman who spent a lot of her childhood in Round Lake so it was a bit of old home week. Her husband , Silver Donald Cameron (who some of you might be familiar with from his writings and CBC interviews with Peter Gzowski), and their dog were part of her boat.. Very down home Nova Scotians (both by default!)

Had a lovely couple of days in Washington. Toured some of the Smithsonian museums, outdoor galleries and of course walked miles and miles doing the tourist sites. Monuments and what have you. Nice evening with friends who live there as well.

The Chesapeake was a bit of a surprise as it is much bigger than I imagined and there are many more fishpots to snag than even on the gulf.

The Atlantic, after all my worries, was a breeze and the wakes in New York Harbour were worse than the waves out on that part of the sea.

New York Harbour at 5:30 AM as the sun was just starting to send shimmers off the buildings was wonderful. Very few boats on the water except for the most diligent, and the harbour itself was quiet and still. The city scape was really quite amazing, quiet and almost surreal, as we drifted up to the Hudson. Everywhere you looked there was some building that was familiar from photographs and movies. All in all it was quite amazing to see all these old buildings from the waterside and try to figure out where we actually were !

Continuing north on the Hudson has been easy. Pretty scenery, odd structures (of which West Point was most amazing) and as Jim said , HILLS.

It is soooo lovely to see some hills again !

Today we stopped at a town, Athens, which is filled with lovely old buildings from the 1800's. The sidewalks are of big slabs of slate and skewered every which way from the tree roots growing beneath them. The grounds of these houses are filled with flowering bushes and perennials. The smell of lilacs and cherry is everywhere.

One of the most endearing things is that no one feels the need to keep their lawns mowed to perfection or their gardens looking like a magazine. It is all very small town friendly and seems to be no angst. (Who knows what smolders below the surface though !

Anyway , looking forward to getting home within the next three weeks or so, but who can tell ?

Later,

Gwen