ROAD TRIP and FRIENDSHIP

ROAD TRIP and FRIENDSHIP

“You can’t stay in your corner of the forest waiting for others to come to you. You have to go to them sometimes.”
Piglet, Pooh’s Little Instruction Book. ~ A. A. Milne

With wintery cold clinging to April we felt a strong need to get out of our ‘corner of the forest’.  A road trip north and a long overdue visit with friends was just what these two weary sailors needed.

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SO cold!

First a stroll through the village.  You know you are no longer in the big city when people look you in the eye and greet you with a nod and a friendly smile.

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Artisan Shops

 

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Crispy Cold Trails

A hike at 1200′ left me breathless.  Yup, I that out of shape!

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Walk through the neighbourhood

Then we dined.  Oh! did we dine!  Amazing food. Laughter, tears and stories shared.

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Delicious Home Cooked Meals

 

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Brunch to Die For

 

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Freshly Baked Croissants

A special mention must go to Monique (I did promise you your own blog post dear lady).  Thank you for sharing your sailing stories and for taking the time to find us one of your beautiful creations in appropriate colours for R.E.D.  We are all adventurers at heart.

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Hand-loomed tea towel

And a big thank you to our welcoming generous hosts.

We came for the friendship but left with full bellies and good memories

…and caramels (at the time of this writing there remain just four, equally shared this time I may add).

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Deadly Delicious Evil Treats (our host’s secret recipe carefully guarded as it should be)

 

DINGHY RHODE TRIP

DINGHY RHODE TRIP

It was an offer we couldn’t refuse.  

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Pig the Navigator

We packed a breakfast picnic, brewed some coffee and headed out before dawn.

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Adirondack Scenery

Perfect road weather and beautiful scenery along the way.

 

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Achilles Tender

The chance to visit with friends and to inspect our prize – little R.E.D.

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Inflation Test

Once back home, Francois couldn’t wait to re-inflate and inspect her.  She showed some signs of wear but was in incredibly good shape for an eleven year old.

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Cleaners

What we used to clean her:

A paste of baking soda and Dr. Bronner’s Sal Suds

A combination of Mary Kate Hull & Bottom Cleaner and Aqua Tek Dinghy Cleaner

My plastic pan scraper (for the barnacles)

Several hours of Captain’s elbow grease.

A rinse with vinegar and water.

A final coating of Aqua Tek Vinyl Guard for UV protection.

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Barnacle Remover

 

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12 hours of Elbow Grease

Can you see the difference?

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Repaired and Ready to Go

Cover all washed and strap repaired.


I have to add a little side story about rinsing.  We live in an apartment condo with two elevators.  We had to deflate Little R.E.D. a little so she could fit into the larger of the two elevators.  Imagine the two of us dragging her down the hallway, struggling to get her into the elevator, inject a few choice words exchanged here, an expedition into the garage so we could spray her well with vinegar then rinse well with water to remove the last residue of cleaner. We dried her well with a chamois then repeated the elevator performance.  We have to really love this life and each other to be doing these things.


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The ‘After’

Who but crazy sailors would proudly photo op their new-to-them dinghy on their living room table?  But she does look good.

Indeed she does!

 

WAITING FOR SPRING

WAITING FOR SPRING

We paid a little visit to R.E.D. today

Beautiful sunny and really not very cold day…

almost felt like spring…

almost.

With the last big recent snow fall we wanted to make sure

there wasn’t accumulation on the tarp

which could pose a risk of

putting too much pressure on the stanchions and fibre glass.

Luckily with where we are positioned this year

we are fairly well protected by the other larger boats

so all was good.

We also took a few measurements.

…figuring where the future generator will fit.

Longer trips away from home port this coming year will mean

we have to plan for alternative power sources.

…a little over two months until spring thaw.

…and this, the epic pic of the day….

Francois sitting at the edge of the frozen lake

waiting for spring.