Travel - 0
NM today - 0
NM Total - 642
Locks Total: 70 incl Big Chute rail transport
We decided that we needed to stay in Midland for two days because we had provisioning and planning to do before setting off to explore Georgian Bay. Day 27, therefore, was a work day and not much of interest happened to include in the blog. During the day, we did laundry, hit the supermarket (such as it is) - the one close to the docks is poor, put some oil in the engine, and washed the boat. At night we put away our Trent-Severn charts and pulled out our Georgian Bay charts. Clark poured over them for hours trying to sort out the proper order of chart usage for our planned route. When all was said and done, he decided he needed to purchase a couple of charts to fill in the picture including one that gave the entire big picture instead of bit-by-bit.
Today, day 28 (Monday), rain was predicted, Clark needed more charts, and we found out last night that we would receive an important, personal document via email today that we have been waiting for for over a month. Given all that, even though Clark was anxious to be on our way, we decided to take advantage of the marina's offer of "stay two nights, get a third night free".
Because of the threatening weather, Clark took off on his bicycle around 9:30 in search of his charts. He found out from a local mariner that he had three places that sold charts where he could check for what he needed. I decided that I needed some more food from the sketchy market, so I headed there at a leisurely pace on foot because I didn't expect to see Clark for quite some time. After shopping, while walking back to the boat, I saw a man with a Dollar Tree bag attached to his baby stroller.
I said, "There's a Dollar Store here?!" He confirmed that there was one in town but quite a distance away. He said he could walk there in 30 minutes, and he gave me three options for getting there. 1) take the street we were standing on, but he said that was straight up a steep incline to get there, 2) walk two blocks up then turn right to go uphill to the mall but at a gradual incline, or 3) grab the bus for $2. I decided to try for the bus but after ten minutes of waiting and no bus in sight I decided to walk. I could tell from my phone (Midland has free WiFi throughout town) that it was about 10 blocks to the mall. I figured I could make it.
I got about half-way there and decided that it was a really stupid idea to continue all the way there. I was not wearing walking shoes as I hadn't planned on a hike, and it felt like I was getting a blister on one of my toes. Plus, the weather looked like I would get doused with a good soaking somewhere along the way. Finally, and the most convincing reason to me of all, I wasn't even sure the Dollar Tree Store would have what I wanted when I got there. Abort, abort! I redirected myself back towards the boat.
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| Threatening Skies Over Midland |
By the time I got back to the boat Clark had returned from his chart search where he had been successful in obtaining all the charts he set out to get by going to three different stores. West Marine had a 30% off on everything, going-out-of-business sale, so he went there but came out empty-handed. He found what he needed at the other two recommended stores. He always gets the best info by asking local boaters!
Clark spread out the overview chart on the cabin floor and took his plotting tools and drew our course. With him spread out all over the floor, I wanted to get away, so while he was doing that, I took my Kindle out to the park bench near the boat and read for a bit and downloaded some more books to read. I don't know why since I have had very little time to read, but I'm thinking that since we will be at anchor a lot in the upcoming weeks that maybe I'll get some time to read. I went back to the boat after an hour of reading to find him just cleaning up from his chart work.
After lunch, the rain still had not come and neither had the important document. I decided to tackle the trip to Dollar Tree one more time - this time by bicycle. Clark stayed back at the boat to wait for his email. Google Maps said it is 2.6 km to the mall from the boat - not bad. However, I didn't realize that it is 2.6 km uphill the entire way. Some streets are steeper than others, and unfortunately I found one steep one that forced me to walk a portion of one block to a more level spot where I could remount and go again. The sun and humidity did not help my cause, so it was a long, hot ride to the mall.
I managed to find Dollar Tree and best of all I managed to find the giant clothes pegs that I had hoped to find. Railings on Sea Moss are one and a half inch aluminum rails instead of the standard 1" stainless steel on most vessels. Normal clothes pegs for boat railings don't fit. One day, earlier on this trip, I walked past Palmetto Paradise and saw Paula had huge clips holding her towels on the railing of her Mainship. I yelled, "Where did you get those?" She said, "Dollar Tree", and I've been hoping to find a Dollar Tree ever since. I bought 3 packs of pegs! Everything in Dollar Tree in Canada costs $1.25 to make up for the exchange rate I guess. I didn't care, I was so happy to find them that I would have paid three times that!!! Crazy, huh, how it's the little things in life that make us happy? I spent all of $4.25 for my day's treasure and got 18 clothes pegs.
Where the ride to the mall was hot, humid, and all uphill, the ride back to the boat was "SWEEEEET"! When I got back to my bike with my treasure in hand, I saw that really black clouds had gathered overhead and some rain was beginning to fall. I figured I was in for a wet ride, so I pulled my jacket out of my pack and put it on and started on my way. The half dozen drips I saw then were the only ones I saw on my ride back. The black cloud cover kept the sun from baking me, and the ride back was all downhill. My biggest challenge was making sure I didn't go down a street with the incline so steep I'd be afraid to ride down it! I made it back to the boat in record time with a big smile on my face!
As soon as I came on board, Clark announced that he had received the documents he had been waiting all day for, so, for the moment, all is right with the world from our individual perspectives. Being basically hot and disgusting from my bike ride, I decided to be decadent because I could and took a second shower for the day to cool down. It felt wonderful. I might be showering by jumping into Georgian Bay if the water temp allows in the next couple of days, so it was nice to take advantage of a real shower where I didn't have to conserve water while I shower as I do on our boat.
The rest of the day was spent "chilling" and chatting with other boaters about the route we plan, the weather, the wind, the wave height, etc. We debated leaving here tonight to get to our planned anchorage but decided that chilling here was preferable, and at no charge, we can't get a better price. Clark surprised me by offering to take me out to dinner, and I quickly took him up on the offer lest he change his mind.
But guess what!? The restaurant was back up that same darn hill I had already walked and biked up earlier in the day, so again I hiked about a mile or so straight up that hill. Dinner was very good and worth the hike. Clark had pickerel for the second time on this trip, and it was quite tasty as I tried it to check it out for myself. It was going on for 9:00 by the time we left the restaurant, but it was still light enough to see our way home to the boat without worries. As soon as we started walking down that beloved hill, Clark said he felt like jogging back to the boat - I did not feel the same way. He didn't jog, but he walked so fast that I nearly had to jog to keep up with him. Man did I get a workout today!
When we arrived back at the town harbour, Clark asked me about the monument that I had seen earlier. It is a Canadian Goose of all things. I couldn't take a picture earlier when I was on my bike because the goose had seagulls sitting on it. At almost dark, however, the seagulls had gone, and Clark got a lovely picture to finish out our stay in Midland.
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| Goose Monument in Midland at Twilight |
Reminder: As we travel into more remote areas of Georgian Bay, blog posts will be posted as WiFi availability allows.
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