Adventures of Adirondack

Adventures of Adirondack

Saturday, June 30, 2012

Voyage of Contrasts / Guest Posting


On Jun 28, 2012, at 10:29 AM, Sheila wrote:

I arrived in Montreal in the dead heat of summer. Took a cab from the airport to the marina. The taxi driver had never heard of Port D'Escale even though the name is all over the Vieux Port (Old  Port) of Montreal. Got out of the cab and luckily sighted the Adirondack by looking over the railing into the marina.

Adirondack is a comfortable boat. We returned from walks in the 100 degree heat to an air conditioned room and had cocktails under the evening sky and ate scrumptious meals cooked on the boat.


Left Montreal on a beautiful day for a calm sunny ride to Trois Rivères. Spent much of the ride basking in the sun while sitting in the front of the boat. Anchored in a popular area near Trois Rivières. Went for a swim and took a lovely dingy ride around the area...not until after Jeff played Taxi driver in the Dingy to help 6 teenagers in bikinis make the trip from the land to the boat with 2 guys waiting in it.

The trip from Trois Rivières to Quebec City was anything but calm. Early in the trip 3 freighters overcame us and Jeff waited for them to pass in order to avoid the rough waters caused by their wake. He discovered that backing up the boat lessened the impact of the waves. After the freighter passed, I made the mistake of sitting outside near the captain without wearing raingear. After bouncing up and down for nearly 2 hours, I needed to make what had previously been viewed as a very quick trip to one of the boat's bathrooms. Jeff alerted me to be careful, but I didn't fully interpret his message until the boat lurched forward and I quickly sat down on the stairs and held the rails. I made the rest of the trip in very short bursts of relative calm, and entered the boat's kitchen sopped. It took another half hour for the ride to be calm enough for me to make the typically quick trip to the bathroom.

How we welcomed arriving in calmer waters and the sight of Quebec City on the horizon! We passed through the locks into the marina and spent the next few days exploring the city while walking up and down the hills of the Vieux Ville.


Appreciated the much cooler weather although we did get drenched by an occasional shower. I am sorry to be leaving, and wish the crew of the Adirondack many more wonderful adventures! It is only because of the rough seas that the calm can truly be appreciated.

Sheila Merzer


A Friend

Thursday, June 28, 2012

More answers

We had kind of a rough day coming into Quebec. We try to run with the tides and current (at one point we were going 13.4 knots, a personal best!) for economical reasons, but when this combination meets up against a strong wind, we get some waves. They were only 3 to 4 feet high, but short and choppy, which makes for an unpleasant ride. Anyways, Wes was shaking in his laser-equipped boots, especially at the last part of the run. He told me if I got him ashore alive he would tell me the whole story. We locked in (yes, you have to go through a set of locks to get into this marina), had a cocktail and he started talking. As I mentioned before, he had been appointed by the LEGO society to check me out as a candidate for Benevolent Overlord (BO), a position that would put me in a unique position to straighten out the world. (I just found out I don't have quite the uphill battle with health care as I thought I would, but there's still lots of room for improvement there.) His management team felt that observing my actions under fire would let them see whether they had made the right decision. That's why Wes steered the boat onto the rocks back by Bobcageon, to see how I would hold up in a crisis! It's all starting to make sense.....  Capt. Jeff

Saturday, June 23, 2012

It's a Circus Around Here!!



Montreal is a delightful city. We've been exploring by bike (both our boat bikes and the rental Bixi bikes that you can pick up and return all over the city), walking miles, some dinghying to look at other boats and eating interesting food. The friends with us brought their copy of the Lonely Planet guide so we had a quest to eat lunch at Schwartz's, the origin of the famous Montreal smoked meat and today we walked to the open 24 hour a day best poutine restaurant for brunch. Poutine is a dish of French fries with cheese curds (not fried) covered with gravy - quite the regional dish.

We hit a few museums, read entries from the walking tour guides as we wandered, and now know where the big IGA grocery store is for adding to the larder on the boat. It was very hot for the past few days, but has now cooled off.

The Cirque du Soleil is based in Montreal and they have a tent set up right by the marina with a new show, Amaluna. We got tickets and went last night - what an amazing group of performers!







Today is Saint Jean Baptiste Day - lots of people wandering the town and the marina is full of boats of all sizes. We replaced our stool to get on and off the boat and have named it "Montreal."







Tomorrow we'll take off early and head to Trois-Rivieres, which is half way to Quebec City. We'll probably anchor out and then catch the tide the next day to go the rest of the way. Sally

Friday, June 22, 2012

Finally, some answers

After seeing all the anxiety this issue has caused on the boat, Wes decided to be more forthcoming. He says he was hired by the Large Entity Gathering Organization (LEGO) group to help them take over the world, as they believe the human race is too stupid to survive and the human demise will make life more difficult for LEGOs all over the world. Wes was hired both to investigate me as a potential "Benevolent Overlord," (BO for short) and to manipulate our finances to force me to take the position, in case I was too lazy to save the world. Sally will then be the Benevolent Overlord First Lady (BOFL), "This is all a bit hard to believe," I said. He told me he'll tell me as much as his handlers will allow.

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

REALLY big trouble

Some entity has apparently taken over every part of our finances. Our home, cars, bank and credit card accounts, retirement, boat, canoe, bikes, stereo, TV, computers, everything. There are also a whole bunch of new accounts set up that we are responsible for paying off. I tried to buy some pencils for us to sell on the street corner to get a little cash for food and was turned down due to bad credit. People point at us when we go outside. No one will talk to us.

Everything seems to be owned by the "Large Entity Gathering Organization," whatever that stands for. I had a little talk with Wes about all this, as Sally is fit to be tied. I told him his days are numbered if he doesn't straighten this out right now. All he says is that it's part of the plan and I shouldn't get excited just yet. He did give me my phone back, though, but the account is closed.

La Belle Montreal and Vermont Visits

We had a great morning on the 16th at the Upper Canadian Village, a recreation of a Canadian village in 1860. They moved many old buildings in the late 1950s to the area when the area was being flooded with the damning of the St Lawrence River to make the navigable seaway into the Great Lakes. It turned out it was a special quilt weekend, so Sally Odyssey and I were very excited.












We left at noon to get on the boats and head to the next set of locks. There were a number of freighters on the route (which have precedence over little boats) so we spent four and a half hours on the wall waiting to lock down. We finally made it through and found a quiet place to anchor for the night.

We were up early the next morning and had better luck in the locks, but it still took a long day to finally turn the corner and head up stream to Montreal, passing the clock tower and finding our place in the Old Port Marina.


















We rented a car and have spent the last two nights in Middlebury, Vermont. The timing was perfect to see my dad, brother and family who live here, and my sister and her family visiting from points west, including Theo, my 3 month old great nephew here from New Zealand. It has been wonderful to see them all. Sally

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

BIG trouble, maybe

Wes won't give me back my phone. He says his company is going to handle all this stuff, that I shouldn't worry about it, and anything I do will just screw up everything. Sally just tried to log into one of her knitting accounts and found that there was a lien on it. I think she's getting a little suspicious, so I mentioned to her that there might be some bumps on our road to success. After all, a temporary inability to log into a knitting account might be a small price to pay for what's sure to come. She handled it with her typical aplomb, knowing that I can be completely trusted with these matters.

Monday, June 18, 2012

LOTS of questions

Wow, you'd think it was Monday or something and everyone is back to work. The cell phone was just ringing off the hook with questions from bankers, credit card companies, phone companies, computer places, just about everyone we have ever done business with and some we haven't. I just gave the phone to Wes and let him handle them.

Sunday, June 17, 2012

Some questions

I got a few phone calls yesterday from the bank, our main credit cards and someone asking about the new liens on our cars and residence. I answered them as best I could, but how do I know what's happening with this stuff? I asked Wes about it and he said there's usually some resistance when his company moves money around like this, but it's all safe and legal, 100% gauranteed and we have nothing to worry about. He's a little miffed that I questioned him about it. Now I wish I hadn't and hope I didn't hurt his feelings.

Saturday, June 16, 2012

The last steps to financial security

My buddy Wes is really taking this seriously. I'm not sure where he got all this training from, but he sure seems to know what he's doing. The only pieces remaining in his plan to organize our financials is a power of attorney form and applications for a bunch of credit cards which I signed yesterday. He says he will be then able to aggregate all our assets and leverage them for maximum income. I can't wait to see the look on Sally's face when she finds out what we've done. Capt. Jeff

Friday, June 15, 2012

Whee! We are moving right along!

Yesterday we were heading downstream on the St Lawrence River and at one point were going 9.4 knots over ground (we usually cruise at ~ 7.8!). All the water from the Great Lakes is flowing to the ocean and we are carried along with it!

We finished the Trent-Severn Waterway and had a night tucked in at the Trenton marina with time to go to the grocery store. Then on a rainy, blustery day we went all the way to Kingston on the north shore of Lake Ontario.

The next day dawned bright and beautiful. We got laundry done then took a trolley tour of the town. It's a delightful place: two colleges, an old fort from the War of 1812, lovely old houses, a penitentiary, and great gelato!

Off we went after a street vendor lunch entering the Thousand Islands along the Bateau Channel on the northern Canadian side. The area is full of islands (more than 1800, but that doesn't have the same ring to a name), many with houses on them. We were excited to pass under the Thousand Island Bridge - many years we crossed over the bridge on our way from Minnesota to the Adirondacks and recently always said, "Some day we'll on on our own boat under this bridge!"

We spent the night at a Canadian Parks dock on Grenadier Island. We had the place to ourselves and Jeff even caught a fish for dinner. Odyssey went over to Clayton for fuel and to see a boat museum.




Yesterday we briefly went back upstream to the American side of the river for cheaper diesel fuel (179 gallons) and a stop at Boldt Castle - a huge home built on an island just across from Alexandria Bay. It was built by Henry Boldt for his wife Louise who died before it was completed. He then stopped work on it and never set foot on the island again. The Thousand Island Bridge Authority is now reclaiming and finishing the buildings on the island and it is gorgeous.



We then turned again downstream and stopped at a free town dock in Morristown, NY. Today we'll pop into Ogdensburg for supplies then back to the Canadian side and on to Montreal! Sally

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Happy days!

On top of a couple perfect boating days, good old Wes presented me with one terrific half birthday present today. The returns on our brokerage account have gone up another 11%, and he's convinced me to give him access to all our financials so we can REALLY start raking in the coins. The company he works for has an easy format to do this, a special form with the name of each asset and account, the account number, password and other pertinent info like social security numbers, birthdates, all passwords we have ever used, our mother's maiden names, pet's names, etc. That way he will be able to organize all our financials for the maximum earning potential. It's so nice to have this sort of thing done by people you trust. And Sally doesn't really need to worry about these financial details right after retirement, right? Maybe we'll buy one of those big fancy houses on the river, so we can park those new boats right out in front. The mind boggles. Capt.Jeff

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Prosperity for all!

Wow, what a great day on Adirondack! First, we made it all the way to Kingston, Ontario, one of our favorite cruising cities. We started out in the rain in Trenton, at the end of the Trent-Severn, but it got better as we moved along.

But the big news is about our new financial status. As many of you know it costs money to care and feed a boat and its occupants, but this may not matter anymore, thanks to my best buddy, Wes! He just showed me how he managed the money from our brokerage account into a 21% return, in just a few days!!! Can you imagine how delighted I was? He carefully explained a complicated system of trading junk bond derivative mortgages for leveraged buyout capital options that looks like it just can't lose. He's hoping I'll give him access to the rest of our assets so he can really make some money for us. He says the people he works for really have taken a shine to our portfolio. I'm already shopping for a new boat, but have to do it on the sly so Sally doesn't find out. I want to really surprise her. Capt. Jeff

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Peace on the boat

Wes has been moping around a lot about the grounding incident. He's been doing all the dishes, cleaned the bilge three times and trying his best to make up for what he did. I guess I can relate, although I've certainly never done anything that stupid in my life. Imagine, driving out of a clearly marked channel. He is certain he will be able to cover any damages caused by his negligence if I just give him access to one of our brokerage accounts. So I finally told him I'm going to let him do it, but only with one account. And I guess Sally doesn't need to know everything about this kind of financial arrangement, does she? And won't she be pleasantly surprised when it all works out? Now Wes is tickled pink, relieved that I trust him again. I saw him do that shining thing with his feet right after I gave him my account numbers and passwords. I wonder what's that is all about?

We're in Hastings, ON, parked on the wall waiting to go to Campbellford to drop off Kate Christopher and Phil Williams, whom we will sorely miss. Not only have they been great help in the locks, but great company on the boat. We wish them fair winds and calm seas in their camper, "Roadtrek." I think they need a traveling companion like Wes. Capt. Jeff


Friday, June 8, 2012

Big Trouble in Bobcaygeon



After yesterdays debacle, wherein Wes almost sunk our boat, I'm seriously wondering if this might be the time to let him go, right after he steered our 28,000 pound vessel onto a rocky, marked shoal in broad daylight. He should at least be flogged. And then there's all those other questions like who was really driving the Costa Concordia when it slammed into Italy. And there are still those unaccounted for days in 1972 where he claims to being in the service. He's really after me for the trusty account numbers to show him I forgive him. I don't know and I think Sally might really pissed! The miracle is that the boat doesn't appear damaged, a long nasty scape on the bottom of the keel, but that's about it. Wes says he can make it all up to me in one transaction, but I have to feed him the passwords and account numbers, without Sally. Capt. Jeff

Thursday, June 7, 2012

I Left My Heart (and Part of My Keel) in Bobcaygeon

We've been having a delightful time. Our friends from Minnesota joined us in Severn and we set out on a rainy day going over the Chute - a railway that picks up your boat and takes it over a hill and into the next lake.

We've had some lovely days going through rivers and lakes, catching fish, staying at locks.









We worked  up to the height of land and the small lift lock at Kirkfield. Now we're going down river to Lake Ontario, so we go into the top of the locks and the water goes out and we head out into the next body of water.






Yesterday we spent the night in the cute town of Bobcaygeon in the heart of the Kawartha Lakes district. Lots of cottages and great ice cream at the Kawartha Dairy.

This morning we went through the lock ahead of Odyssey and headed out the canal leaving town. Jeff says Wes was learning to run the boat, but all I know is someone up on the fly bridge wasn't paying attention to the buoys. I was sitting on the front of the boat when I noticed it was getting very shallow on our port side - I yelled up to the Captain, when the boat crunched, stopped and tilted to the left. We lost a boat hook overboard and my knitting bag almost went in the drink. I had closed up all the cupboards, so nothing fell over in the galley.



Luckily Odyssey came along a bit later and was able to pull us off the rocks. We didn't hit the prop and there wasn't any water coming in, so we went on across the next lake after snagging our boat hook and finally made it into Stony Lake where we are tied up at a lovely public dock. Jeff used our scuba equipment and checked out the bottom of the boat and all we hit was the keel of the boat, so we managed to avert disaster and will have to watch Wes much more closely in the future. Sally

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

We're in Fenelon Falls, Ontario, a cute little town with lots of stores, a waterfall, power on the dock and WI-FI! All's going well and everything on the boat still works as designed. Wes is still one of the best boaters we have ever had aboard, even sharing some fishing advice that landed us a couple nice ones. I'm not sure just where he learned so much. He told me all about his early life as an orphan and it sure didn't sound like it included much fishing. He has shared so much with me these past days, much not suitable for a blog that's trying to be upbeat. He really trusts me, but I don't think he likes Sally. Capt. Jeff

Saturday, June 2, 2012

Still Waiting Above the Lock

We are at the dock above our first lock, waiting for our first guests to arrive tonight. A nasty marina day of wind and rain yesterday, perfect for laundry, some groceries and to equalize batteries. Tomorrow we plan to take off to a "railroad lock," where they put our boat and up to five others of similar size weighing up to 65 tons into slings and haul them overland to the other side. Photos to follow.

Interesting factoid - Last night when I went out to check the stars (pee overboard) I found Wes lying down, his feet facing the sky. His feet were flashing out some sort of lights skyward, almost like Morse code. I asked him about it and all he said was, "trust me." hmmmm...  Capt. Jeff