Day: 50
No travel today
As opposed to yesterday which was a day of leisure, chores occupied our time today. I started out the day by updating the blog to cover yesterday's excursions because I was too tired last night after being out all day to do it justice. While I did that, Clark continued his phone call and internet search for paper charts for the river portion of our trip. After countless referrals to yet another phone number or web site, Clark finally placed orders for his remaining missing charts. He is very diligent in having paper as well as electronic charts for the areas we are to travel. We have met several folks who can't be bothered to pay for paper charts, but Clark is a firm believer and user of the paper as well as electronic.
Finally, after procrastinating as long as possible, I made my way over to the laundromat across the street from the marina to do my wash. I have been doing a little each time previously, but today I had sheets, towels, and his and her clothes that needed to be washed. As I piled up the clothes to be washed, I thought of that old nursery rhyme.
Baa Baa Black Sheep
Have you any wool?
Yes sir, yes sir
Three bags full.
Because three bags full of laundry is precisely what I had to deal with. Clark walked with me over to the laundry to help carry it all. His mission while I did laundry was to track down the source of the water in the bilge which we believe must be related to the water pump running periodically for no apparent reason. While I waited for the laundry to do its thing, I called my good friend Janet to catch up on what's new. I really enjoyed our chat as I miss our lunch get togethers that we did regularly before I fled the state.
The agreement I had with Clark was that I would call him when the laundry was done to come help me drag it all back to the boat. However, I know Clark very well, and I knew that whatever venture he got himself occupied with while I was gone would be something that would be hard for him to drop on a moment's notice, so I dragged the three bags full across the street to the marina myself. Once there I was able to obtain a cart from the marina to roll the laundry the rest of the way back to the boat. I swear it must be a 1/4 mile from the marina office to our boat. The cart was definitely a plus for the hike back to the boat.
My assumption that Clark would be up to his ears in something not easily stopped midstream was right on the money. If Clark ever cursed, I am sure it would have happened today as he tried to find that sneaky leak we're dealing with. He did not find the source of the leak. He did however break two screws trying to put the outside shower back together. He had to drill out the broken screw the first time. I am sure he was not pleased when the second screw broke as well. So far his hunt for the source of the water has turned up zilch and remains a mystery to yet be solved.
As I waited, Clark put away the tools he had spread from one end of the boat to the other as he worked the leak problem. We had agreed that since we had a rental car today, we should take advantage and make a run to the supermarket with more than just 2 backpacks to carry home the stash. As we walked to the car, we saw that musicians had setup ready for a free 7:00 performance tonight. I knew that would be of interest to Clark, so I knew where he'd be after we got our shopping done.
I did a real good "buying in" today and replenished my "stores" hidden all over the boat. It feels good to have a nice supply of food to choose from. I even bought some frozen veggies in case we get caught in the boondocks again and run out of fresh. After we got back to the marina, we carried the groceries as far as the marina carts and then loaded them in and gave them a ride back to the boat as I had done with the laundry. Once Clark had finished helping me bring the goodies on board, I told him to go listen to the concert while I put everything away.
I got the perishables put away first. Many of the non-perishables are stored in the space under my bed. Whoops! The bed was still covered with the three bags of laundry that had not yet been put away. I had to stop the grocery job to put away the laundry before I could complete the grocery job. By the time I was wrapping up my storing of clothes and food exercise, Clark had returned from the concert saying it was over and that he had enjoyed the music they played. I could hear most of it from the boat as I worked, so I didn't miss a whole lot and I am not the music lover that Clark is. Besides, I enjoyed having the boat to myself while I was putting things away so I wasn't falling over or distracted by another person in the process.
The concert ended around 8:30, and I cooked dinner after Clark returned because I didn't know exactly when the concert would end, so we ate rather late. As we ate dinner, we remembered that we had to fill the car with gas to return it, so after we finished eating, we went off to find the gas station. We went back to the same one where we got all the free air for the bikes and car yesterday. Since we got free air out of them yesterday, it seemed only reasonable to purchase our gas there today.
It was after 10:00 by the time we got back to the boat. I decided to write up the blog for today. We are expecting our new exhaust elbow to arrive tomorrow having been sent overnight from NJ by our friends at Lockwoods today. Consequently, Clark dove into the bilge as soon as he got on the boat and started working on the engine in preparation for installing his new exhaust elbow tomorrow. One of the two old gaskets has welded itself onto the piping, and as I type this at midnight, Clark is slowly chiseling off the pieces of old gasket one tidbit at a time in a slow and tedious process. He needs a smooth service to make a good seal so we don't get more fumes for a different reason. As a result of his efforts, his hands are covered with exhaust soot and totally black.
To make matters worse, the whole time he has been working on the engine, the water pump has spoken up repeatedly taunting him with the fact that he failed to find the leak earlier in the day. I'm not fond of laundry, cooking, and grocery shopping, but I have to admit that, other than the break he took for the free concert, Clark definitely takes the prize between the two of us for the worst day today for sure.
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