Captain's Blog - 29th July 2011

So after a great weekend camping trip with the kid's.  It was time for a little quiet time for Deb and I.  It was also the weekend before Deb's birthday on Monday, and everyone knows how much Deb loves the boat and being away from the house.  So we were off on another weekend trip to our camp.  Which reminds me we really need a name for it, any suggestions?
We arrived at camp about 10:00 am.  We unloaded and setup camp for the weekend.  I'm impressed with speed in which we can get it all setup: tent, air mattress (I'm a wimp!), chairs, latrine, cooking area, and so on.  We did it in a record 30 minutes!  Any challengers?

So it was a blustery day.  Not too often we see white caps on the river, but it was a beautiful sunny day just the same.  Now that camp's setup, I took up my position as lookout.  Someone has to keep an eye out for . . . , well, you know stuff!  It was a quiet day, I just have to say, we love being at our like hideaway.

Love this picture!

Later that evening around 6:30 pm, our next door neighbors and friends Juan and April, joined us for a late night cruise.  They have been hearing us talk about camp, but have never been there yet.  We relaxed on the beach, had a few beers, a few laughs then decided to take cruise down river.  No-one goes on the boat without an opportunity to pilot, if they want to give it a go.  They had a blast, and found out what it is we are so drawn to, but it was getting late.  And with that comes dark water.  There was no moon that night and so I high tailed it back to the ramp to drop our guests off, while Deb stayed back at camp to get a small fire going on the beach to help light my way.   I have to say that is was the first time on the river, on a moonless night.  The bugs were unbearable!  They were as thick as soup.   Not fun while your traveling on a boat!  The fire worked out great and I once again back at camp.  A few toasted marshmellows and it was time to call it a day.  The next morning I took a look in the boat and there we dead bugs everywhere!  So I spent a bit of time cleaning the stiff pest from the decks.

After that I took up another project.  Feeling the confidence from the water patrol, I decided to erect a few pylons to help secure the boat and keep it from rubbing against the shore.  Looking more and more like home!

 After a relaxing day again, with just a few projects.  It was time to get loaded up.  Once we were all broke down and secured we headed back to the ramp.  Just north of the Tyngsboro Bridge, we came across a boat attempting to retrieve a sneaker that a small child had thrown overboard.  As we watched, we couldn't help notice that they were having a very difficult time maneuvering to pick it out of the water.  After a couple of chuckles we decided to give them a hand.  What we discovered, was that the sneaker contained the cell phone and wallet, placed there for safe keeping.  They hadn't considered the 2 year old factor.  Foolish men!
That about does it.  A great weekend, happy birthday Deb!