Back at Oak Orchard

Shumway stepped our mast on Friday and we raised our sails and rigged our lines and were already to leave but at that point it was already around 4:00 PM and we were to tired to start out. We decided we would leave around 9:00 AM on Saturday and have plenty of time to arrive at our dock and still enjoy the evening.

The picture is of the channel at Rochester Saturday morning as we were leaving. The sail boats were heading out for a morning race.

We arrived back at Oak Orchard on Saturday afternoon, June 16 about 3 PM. We had a good day on the water not too hot not too cold, the sun was shinning and the water was flat til about 2 miles from the channel. The waves were growing to about 3 feet and on our nose so it was good to enter the channel and land at our dock for the Summer.

Since we arrived we have been very busy. Saturday afternoon we met up with our sailing friends Rich and Julie and had dinner together with them and two more couples we know from sailing. It was great fun catching up on news from the North.

Sunday we went to Church in Brockport, it was our Pastor Theva's last Sunday before he goes to his new appointed Church in Buffalo. There was a gathering in the afternoon to celebrate his time with our Church. It was great to see so many of the congregation and to visit with them.

This week is rapidly coming to a close. We have been busy with appointments and preparing for our tax filing which we had extended. The boat needs some TLC since we arrived back and we are pressed to find the time. Larry is at this moment washing the deck and cockpit. I will work on the inside while he goes to his appointment with our investor. Julie has offered her car on Saturday so I can catch up on laundry before it comes out the closet and attacks us. Bless her!

We have a few leads on Summer jobs to build the cruising kitty and hope to start one after our cruise with the Grand kids. Like I said time is going fast and we hope not too fast.

Larry's brother is having a family get together on Sunday. Mom and Dad Hodge will come up from Florida and Patience will come from Connecticut. We are praying for warmth and sunshine. If the weather we are having so far is an indication of what is to come it will be a great Summer on the lake.

Back On Lake Ontario

We did leave Little Falls on Wednesday morning and traveled to Sylvan Beach to tie up on the wall. We locked through most of the locks by ourselves until the three power boats caught up with us at the last two. We said good by to them as we left the last lock, as they were going to cross Oneida Lake. They would cross in half the time it would take us and we didn't want to be arriving in the dark.

Thursday morning we cast off our lines early and headed for Oswego. It was another long day for us but we decided to go all the way and be done with locks for this trip. We had a good crossing on Oneida Lake it was generally calm and flat but the bugs were horrendous. We love it up North and down South but each has it draw backs! We arrived in Oswego in the late afternoon and went to the Oswego Yacht Club for our reciprocal for the evening docking. On Thursdays from 5 to 8 PM, Oswego has a farmers market during the Summer and this was the first night. We needed some provisions and took a walk to town. It reminded us of the many carnivals we attended back in Brockport with all the quick food vendors. After a quick walk around and a walk to the health food store we stopped at the Irish pub for dinner. We turned in early because we planned to leave first thing in the morning before the winds came up.

Friday we set out for Sodus Bay. The water was flat and calm which made for a good trip West on Lake Ontario. The prevailing winds are from the West which can make this a tough trip with the mast up let alone strapped down across the deck. We arrived in the afternoon and the club put us in a slip in stead of the wall. It was a great slip with a long dock and protection from the big surge caused by passing boats.

We couldn't have picked a better weekend to arrive. The cub was having an antique boat show on Saturday and we had already planned to stay til Sunday morning. Our boat wasn't going to be worked on until after the weekend in Rochester anyway. We had a great time at the boat show which ended with a wine tasting. During the event we met up with friends from the club that we met at the Hunter Rendezvous, Chuck and his Bride of four months Allison. They ask if we were going to stay over on Sunday and invited us to their wedding reception that afternoon. We had not planned to stay but could not pass on a chance to get to celebrate with them and get to know Allison. She is a great person and a lot to fun we are looking forward to getting together with them again this Summer. We had a great time at the reception and met many new friends of theirs. We were glad to have been invited.

Just as the party was to begin a front moved in and brought high winds as you can see from the picture. If you look close you can see the waves in the bay. The winds were so strong they took down the tents that were set up in the yard for the reception. The people in the picture were bringing more fenders for the boat on the wall, as it was being pushed by the waves on to the concrete wall. By the way, the power boat in the picture is of Mike and Pat on Libations. They were one of the threes boats we traveled the canal with us. It's great how when you meet on this trip you know you will meet again.

We left on Monday to travel the rest of the trip to Rochester. The lake had one foot waves and it was raining off and on and the flies came out in force. We put up the full enclosure to keep most of them out. The rest of them succumbed to our fly swatters. While we were under way Mike on Libations called to ask where he might get his engine looked at one of them stopped working. They had not planned to stop in Rochester but to go onto Brockport. Here we are together again.

Tuesday Pat and I went to do some laundry thanks to a friend they know in the area. He came to visit and let us take the his car.

Today is Thursday and the week is going by fast. Yesterday our daughter Jennifer took us to Oak Orchard to get our motorcycle out of storage and registered. It looks like we are going to be here in Rochester for a while so having the bike gives us some freedom.