Day 9

We departed @ 9am and already we could tell it was going to be a hot hot day!! Dick started to have engine problems :S. I found a good place to dock where there were free docks and the washroom and shower facilities were at the fire station ;) (Grama and I thought it seemed like a good spot). But Dick wanted to press on ;_;. We went through 4 locks dropping 19.5’, 12.6’, 6’ and 6’. At the last lock the lockmaster told us of a place where we could dock for the night and Dick could get engine oil.
On our way there we past dozens and dozens (papa guesses about 5 dozen) of Mennonites in canoes, all young girls and guys. Papa laughed because all the girls were in there floor length dresses and here I was in a low cut tank top and a pair of shorts that the tank top pretty much covered lol. All the girls seemed really nice and would wave and say hi and were smiling and having a great time. The guys either would look really shy and pretend not to notice us or would make it obvious they wanted to come close and say hi. Near the end of the group there were a bunch of guys who wanted to show off and were crossing our bow as we came close. The last 2 guys in the canoes really wanted to show off and came very close to the bow and then tried to travel alongside us and told me we should tow them for a bit, I just laughed and shook my head, I knew papa was pissed. He was worried we’d hit them (if they had have touched the bow the boat would have instantly gone under forcing them under our boat). When they neared the stern papa gave them shit and there cocky attitudes disappeared and they turned red and didn’t look back at us.
We arrived at Weedsport and there was no dockage. We didn’t have a clue what to do because there wasn’t another town for miles and the hurricane Ike was supposed to be coming through tonight. Larry asked a guy (Kevin Baker as we later discovered) who was on his own private dock if he knew anywhere close by where there was dockage and the guy let us stay right there on his dock. Larry tied up and Grace C rafted off of him and then we rafted off of Grace C. Kevin even drove Dick into town to get his oil. Thanks Kevin =]. After they returned the group of us decided to walk up to the restaurant. We didn’t realize the road along the bridge we had to cross was a part of the interstate highway and there was barely a shoulder to walk on >_> but we all made it there safe and sound and had a good Sunday dinner together. Later on in the night the winds were going crazy! We were all worried about losing the Biminis and dodgers off the boats and about our lines snapping. So no one slept.

Niki