We made it back to Pennellville, NY in time to "launch" a vehicle and drive to Maine for my nephew, Owen's, graduation!
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| Here I am with Owen and my sister Susan. Thanks, Jerry for taking pictures. |
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| The Shepard family - Tom, Sydney, Owen, Kira and Susan. |
It was a challenge to go from NC to NY to arrive in time. After arriving in Beaufort, NC we visited with our good friends Donna and Jerry. When we're at Donna and Jerry's a treat is to go into town and visit The Bean. When there's a strong NE wind the water comes up over the street and going to the Bean requires boots:
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| The Bean on the right which is located across from the town dock in Oriental, NC. |
When the northerly winds died down we took advantage of southerly winds to go back to Beaufort, out onto the ocean, and sail around Hatteras and continue on up the coast to Atlantic Highlands, NJ.
I love it when the moon lights the night while on passage.
And a beautiful sunrise in the morning.
A view of NY City on a gray morning.
From NY Harbor, up the Hudson River to Kingston, NY where we put the mast down.
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We're in the haul out slip ready for Vince to move the travel lift and bring the crane over to lift the mast. The brackets and supports are on deck ready to hold the mast in position horizontally to traverse the Erie Canal where the bridges limit height above water to 21'.
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When we're motoring up the Hudson River we take turns steering. When I was on watch Jerry was down below looking at the insurance auto auction site from which he buys cars. He asked, "How much would you pay for a 1972 Airstream camper?" (I had and lived in a 27' Airstream Land Yacht years ago in my friend Bernadette's back yard). I rattled off a figure and within minutes he declared we just bought an Airstream.
The Erie Canal was frustrating for us this spring - we draw 6' 3". There are 2 sections where we had to plow our way through the mud to get through. Luckily the bottom is mud and with the engine revved up to max, steering back and forth back and forth, we were able to get through the shallow sections. This is the last season we'll be doing the Erie Canal. It appears the NYS Power Authority, which took over the operation of the Erie Canal in 2017, is having difficulty maintaining the canal system. In addition to the depth issue there are a number of locks operating with components that broke, have not been repaired, and are able to operate at minimum efficiency to fill and empty the locks. They have spent money for beautiful trails along the edge of the canal in many areas - great for walking and bikes but it doesn't help the boaters using the waterway.
We were amazed to see many locks along the Erie Canal with horses and buggies and Amish or Mennonite families enjoying the day. Not just a few people but hundreds at 5 or 6 locks.
It was a relief to arrive at our good friends Brian and Deb's home docks just off the Erie Canal near Phoenix, NY where Persephone has almost enough water at their dock. Brian loaned us his truck and off we went to Pittsburgh, PA to see what we bought.
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| 1972 Airstream Sovereign Land Yacht |
Everyone asks - "You bought a camper?! What are your plans?" Honestly, we have no plans! We just take one day at a time. The camper is parked in Fulton, NY at our friends Bob and Susan's place behind their barn. This is a no-hurry, work on it when you want project. It has a small dent in the roof where it appears a tree fell on it. Good thing Jerry can fix anything! And it provides a good excuse to hang out with Bob and Susan.
There's my update! Persephone will be at the dock for the summer where we will be able to work on some projects without having the 3 hour drive to Kingston as we did the last 2 summers.
Send us some news - what's going on in your world?
Karen and Jerry
