tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18943489356021677432024-03-05T04:51:00.370-08:00Loopy KiwiLoopykiwihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345361910464994333noreply@blogger.comBlogger151125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1894348935602167743.post-46527315935917861482019-05-19T14:44:00.000-07:002019-05-19T14:45:43.863-07:00Finishing the Loop #11 – Maryland (again), Virginia (again), West Virginia and Washington DC<br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Wednesday 15</span><sup style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> May - Charles Town WV (via
Maryland and Virginia)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">On arising after a flood-free night, we found that both
our colds have finally gone and so had the rain. In fact it was a beautiful
clear sunny day – although still only 54F (12C). We headed to our next
destination, again, with a plenty of scenery and more evidence of livestock
that had been allowed out to play in the sunshine. We left Pennsylvania and
passed through the Maryland for a while, then brushed by Virginia for 5 minutes
- not that we needed to go back to those states, that’s just where the road
went. We arrived in West Virginia at Harpers Ferry, which was considered a
strategic location during the Civil War and changed hands 8 times during the
conflict. We stopped in the National Park for a few pix, but didn’t bother to
do the self-drive tour of the battlefield. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">By the time we arrived in Charles Town, we had crossed the
Susquehanna (for the second time), Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers – all very
historical, we felt. Again, we were too early for check-in at the motel, so we
took a drive around Charles Town – which is very quaint – and finished up at the
Hollywood Casino, which is at the racecourse and is bloody huge. Naturally,
they had a lunch buffet and, naturally, we had to give it a try – at $13.99
each you’ve just gotta, eh! By the time we were done, and I had lost $20 (and
Carolyn $14) on the pokies, it was time to check in at the motel.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Thursday 16<sup>th</sup> May – Chantilly VA<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We got away early and it was only a little over an hour
to reach the motel which is near Dulles airport and the Steven F Udvar-Hazy
museum (the off-site Air and Space Museum run by the Smithsonian). Carolyn was
feeling a bit poorly again, so we thought we would try to book into the motel
early (it was only 9am) or, at best, drop Carolyn and her luggage so she could
check in when a room became available. At first they told me that nothing was
ready but, when they checked the booking, they found a room that was available
as I was a Wyndham Rewards Gold member so they would check us in immediately.
Sometimes loyalty programs do actually provide real rewards. Go Wyndham Hotel
Group (that’s my plug for them)!!! After getting Carolyn settled into the room
(which is large and rather nice) I set off for the museum and arrived just in
time for it to open, and just as 4 buses turned up disgorging hordes of
schoolchildren.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Still, the museum is big enough to dodge most of them,
although they do have a tendency to not look where they are going, and they can
get a trifle noisy which can be annoying when you are trying to watch the
movies in the iMax theatre. I finally bailed out at 4pm and headed back to the motel to see
how the invalid was getting. Which, as it turned out, was not
too great, so we had another supermarket dinner and an early night.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Friday 17<sup>th</sup> May – Washington DC<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The rental car had to go back to Hertz today, and Carolyn
was still feeling seedy, so she decided to stay in. The battle of the $55
overcharge was a non-event, even though the agent said the car I had “upgraded”
to was considered a luxury model, not the “full-size” I had ordered. Anyway, he
sent an email to Hertz in Baltimore for an explanation of the additional charge
and when they hadn’t replied after 15 minutes, he just deducted it from the
bill. Hertz's shuttle bus took me back to the airport where I then took the 5A
Metro Express bus to Washington DC @ $3.75 (for us seniors). This took me to
L’Enfant Plaza, which is 2 blocks walk from the National Mall, and the on-site
Air and Space Museum. Again, I arrived just before opening and, if I had
thought there were boundless schoolkids yesterday, today's offering blew the
doors off that!! There seemed to be trillions of them, made worse by the fact
that this museum is tiny compared with the one at Dulles and every single
person has to go through security as tight as any airport. I had noticed
yesterday that the Dulles museum had signs that said the City museum was being
renovated and many of the exhibits were in the process of being relocated
temporarily to their facility, Sure enough, about half the museum was closed
off (which made the rugrat problem even more pronounced), so it was as well I
had seen most of it when we last visited back in 1989.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnTC3vc72DZC04JqKHOfXkOt4OfDkh8yfrEnTbztrX_NDk0etyGgzBCEVdHJxP8UcM0c63uUxykey41rmw_wNXZXInGv5_8fEiIhZr05Xq2RCEfr6h9nblTVC2pnguovhA6ZmIb5tbxnE/s1600/DSC01514.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnTC3vc72DZC04JqKHOfXkOt4OfDkh8yfrEnTbztrX_NDk0etyGgzBCEVdHJxP8UcM0c63uUxykey41rmw_wNXZXInGv5_8fEiIhZr05Xq2RCEfr6h9nblTVC2pnguovhA6ZmIb5tbxnE/s400/DSC01514.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I think these might be Donald's choppers - POTUS on the move</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Believing that maybe most of the schoolkids were probably
more interested in the A & S museum, I fled across the Mall to the Museum
of Natural History – the other one I had found so interesting on our previous
visit 30 years ago. Well, that didn’t pan out either – there were just as many
kids there as the last one. On top of that, the gallery that I was most
interested in, Dinosaurs etc, was closed for renovation and not due to open
until the 8<sup>th</sup> June. It was still interesting, though, and the
exhibits have changed quite a bit in 30 years. The Hope diamond is now in an
entirely different enclosure and far more accessible – visually, that is. I’m
curious to look back at my pix from 1989 and see what else has changed<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">By now, I was starting to run out of puff and figured I
would need to manage my time carefully to ensure the legs would last long
enough to get back to L’Enfant plaza and the bus back to Dulles airport. So I
decided the next place of interest might be the Holocaust museum, which is
right down the Washington monument end of the Mall on a side street. You know
how, when you’re a little kid, everything looks big and far away. Then when
you grow up, those big places look little and close together. Well, let me tell you
when you get old and stuffed, they go back to being big and far away. I
remember when we were here in 1989, we raced around the museums in the mall,
and from one to another as we only a short time there – didn’t seem that far
back then. Now, 30 years later, going from one to the other feels like crossing
the goddam Himalayas! To make matters worse, by the time I reached the
Holocaust museum, they were no longer issuing passes (tickets) to the “main
exhibit” for the rest of the day, as it was full up with a billion or so
schoolkids. So I took a wander around the rest of the museum then, having
decided that enough was enough, I headed my weary way back to the 5A bus to
Dulles. On the way I looked for somewhere to buy a late lunch (and a beer).
Well, in that part of DC there seems to be nothing but Federal buildings and
not a Bar or restaurant in sight – just streets lined with these cute food
trucks where everybody was having lunch. There being nothing else on offer, I
partook of a hot dog from one of them, then promptly walked around the next
corner to find a Holiday Inn that had a sidewalk bar and restaurant (big sigh).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Fortunately I arrived at L’Enfant Plaza in time to grab
the 1.25 bus back to the airport, which took 15 minutes longer than scheduled
due to the traffic (and we think Auckland’s traffic is bad – you ought to see
it here!). I then had to wait for the Hotel shuttle to pick me up, but did have
enough time to squeeze down a beer – very necessary, even at airport prices! I
finally got back to the hotel at 4pm. I think tomorrow will be a day of rest!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Saturday 18<sup>th</sup> May – Chantilly VA<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Funny, yesterday I could have sworn it was Saturday and
only this morning I discovered it wasn’t. No wonder the 5A bus didn’t run to
the Saturday schedule I was looking at – and <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>why there were so many kids at the
Smithsonian. It were a schoolday, weren’t it?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">On that subject, I was thinking about how come our return
to Washington DC has seemed a little anti-climactic. When we visited DC in
1989, it was one of our first visits to the USA and the Smithsonian is a
microcosm of that country packed into a (relatively) small area in one place –
hence its popularity with schools to send their kids to. Back then, we only had
2 days here and though we were younger, and (relatively) fitter, there was just
not enough time to get round all the museums in the Mall area, hence our desire
to return some day and spend more time. However, since then we have travelled
to the USA many times, and even lived here for a short while, and over that
time we have been to a lot of places and attractions that the Smithsonian
represents. I have been to the Space Centres at Huntsville, Houston (twice) and
Kennedy (three times), and even watched a launch from Cape Canaveral. I have
been to air museums at Dayton (twice), Davis Montham and Atwater as well as
those associated with other militaria, such as the USS Intrepid, USS Alabama
and USS Yorktown museums. Even an ICBM silo in Arizona at the Titan missile
museum and several plane “graveyards” in the deserts of Nevada and Arizona. So
there is not much that I haven’t already seen examples of, that is on show at either of
the Smithsonian aerospace sites.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Likewise, we have visited the Grand Canyon and Death Valley
plus Dinosaur museums at Vernal and Dinosaur National Monument in Utah, and Casper and Thermopolis
in Wyoming. We’ve been to Meteor Crater, Yellowstone and, of course, we live in a geologically
active, geothermal/techtonic country so there isn’t much shown in the Natural history
museum we haven’t experienced before. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Although we haven’t been to any of them, I doubt that the
Museum of the America Indian would tell us about any more than what we have
encountered on our trips though Apache, Navajo and Dakota Territories and
visits to the Little Big Horn and Crazy Horse Memorial. The American History
museum? Well, we’ve travelled the California trail, visited the Wild West at
places like Cody and Deadwood, been to Texas and the Alamo and hey, we’ve just
spent the last month travelling up the east coast, at times with our own Historian
telling us all about the Revolutionary and Civil wars, as well as all the
historic battlefields and other places we visited during our 7 months on the Great Loop.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Getting to the Smithsonian from where we are is not
difficult but does require an expenditure of energy – and then there is getting
round once you’re there, which is far more tiring than I remember from 30
years ago (as I found out yesterday). With Carolyn feeling unwell, it would not
be possible for her to make the expedition and therefore it is unlikely we will
try, even though we don’t leave for LA for 2 more days. I would have expected
to feel bad about “missing out” on seeing more of the Smithsonian but, for the
reasons already expressed above, I don’t. We’ll spend the next couple of days resting
up for the journey home and I’ll try not to feel too bad…. about not feeling
bad…..about not seeing as much of the Smithsonian as I thought we should.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Loopykiwihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345361910464994333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1894348935602167743.post-12249574053612597502019-05-15T14:23:00.000-07:002019-05-19T03:23:30.367-07:00Finishing the Loop #10 – Vermont, New York, and back to Pennsylvania<br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Sunday 12</span><sup style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> May – Albany NY</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">BTW and before I leave it behind, that “death by burger”
was priced at $18.99. However for $26.99, you could have (quoted from their
menu):</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><i>“DOUBLE THE DEATH*<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><i>Double everything on the Death by Burger. 36 oz. of meat?
Childs play. This is how to find your way onto the wall of fame or the wall of
shame. Includes a t-shirt regardless. Good luck!”</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Well, no Tee shirt, but the group next door clapped me when I finished the
smaller one and that’s good enough for me<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">As we departed Lincoln for Albany we found that Carmen
wanted to take us back down the I-93, which was the way we had come up, so I
had to put up with her nagging “recalculating” for several miles until she
figured out which way I wanted to go and steered us to the I-91 further west which
took us through Vermont and on into upper New York State. We had skipped
breakfast at our motel to get an early start ( and I was still somewhat
burgered out) so at 10.30 we stopped in at a truck stop to pick up a sandwich. However,
when we got to the door of the truck stop shop, we found a queue on around 40
people waiting to get in. It turns out this was also a Diner with a Sunday
brunch buffet and, not only was it Sunday, it was Mothers Day as well and every
mothers son was taking his mum out for brunch at the truck stop. Anyway, we
managed to fight our way through to get our sandwiches (and lemon meringue pie
– with REAL whipped cream) without being torn to shreds by the locals thinking
we were queue-jumping. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">As the day wore on, we passed through some interesting
countryside and the Green Mountain National forest<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and stopped in the early afternoon for a pit
stop at a cutsie little town called Peru. The JJ Hapgood Store and Eatery (est.
1827)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>there also had a mother’s day
celebration going on there, including a jazz band – well attended but not to
the same degree as the truck stop. They also had NZ wine on the shelves,
amongst other intriguing things, and the footpath and outer dining area (no-one
was out there – it was 46F) were paved with marble<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">The motel we stayed at in Albany, NY, was being renovated and
they had us in a nice big room that happened to be set up for handicapped folk.
We had done our laundry in the afternoon and while doing so I found that the
laundry area had about 1” of water over the floor that did not appear to be
draining down the floor drains. A cleaner guy came and mopped it all up but,
after I did the laundry, I noticed there was more water back in its place
(although not as much). </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">After dinner, we
were preparing to retire for the night when the toilet bowl began to fill and
overflow after flushing. Shortly after that, water combined with effluent,
began to bubble up through the drain in the shower. Being a handicapped shower
designed for a wheelchair, there was nothing to stop it running across the
bathroom tiles and onto the room carpet and eventually into the hall carpet. I
raced around and told the receptionist, who said there were no maintenance
people around, and she couldn’t contact the owners (being Sunday) so there was
nothing she could do. I raced back to the room, which was well flooded and
managed to turn off the water to the toilet – but stuff was still coming up
through the shower drain and the damage was done. The receptionist turned up a
few minutes later and suggested we might want another room. We suggested we
might, too. We got a smaller room in an adjacent wing of the motel, but felt
quite anxious every time we used the bathroom. There are obviously some serious
plumbing issues that need to be addressed there (and some management ones as
well). You'll be pleased to know I didn't take any pix.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Monday 13<sup>th</sup> May – Nazareth PA<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We got away good and early after a quick brekkie, as I
wanted to get to Nazareth in time to do a tour of the Martin & Co guitar
factory before they stopped for the day at 2.30pm. Our toll road avoidance
route followed the Hudson river south through some pretty picturesque
countryside and quaint towns. Unfortunately it was raining hard and the
temperature remained between 46 and 48F, so not a lot of incentive to get out
of the car and snap pix. One thing that did tickle me was that Rest Stops are
now also labelled as Text Stops and there are signs 5 miles before each one
saying” You can wait – Text stop 5 miles”. There are also signs that say “Caught
texting three times and you lose your licence”. Must be a big problem over
here! We also had a small fox run across the road in one state park area we
were driving through, which is the only undead item of wildlife we have seen on
the entire trip.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje9nfLGIsBB3rq3g2RDYsIeBb9mom0bKWk3Asie99HotYwHr-0hTn00j5DWnDDd18QKS6Uhl78GTzzqqNiUUdEd4ck02kYQRfaEAI6M8Br2d0lqiAPMUuUbaErpfn9llz0sRJf3UiRNVo/s1600/DSC01367.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje9nfLGIsBB3rq3g2RDYsIeBb9mom0bKWk3Asie99HotYwHr-0hTn00j5DWnDDd18QKS6Uhl78GTzzqqNiUUdEd4ck02kYQRfaEAI6M8Br2d0lqiAPMUuUbaErpfn9llz0sRJf3UiRNVo/s640/DSC01367.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Not the best pic, but from the top the sign reads "Text Stop, Rest Area, Truck Inspection"</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">At 12.30 we arrived at our hotel (which is apparently near the
Crayola factory......... you know, kids crayons) so I dropped Carolyn off and drove the 4.8 miles
further to the CF Martin factory. The 1pm tour was full so waited for the 1.30,
which turned out at first to be only me and 2 tour guides – although another 3
guys turned up about 5 minutes into the tour. Each guitar is built from scratch
and takes 8 – 10 weeks to finish. They make 200 per day, so there would be
around</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">8-10,000 under construction at any
one time in the 200,000 ft</span><sup style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">2</sup><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> (18,500m</span><sup style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">2</sup><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">) factory. There is
a lot of robotics and laser cutting, but there is also a lot of hand finishing
as well, and in the custom department (where the high end instruments can cost
up to USD150,000), each one is hand built. </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">If you like acoustic guitars, you gotta see
this place. It just reeks perfection and quality control – no wonder they are
such expensive beasts. I have lots of pix, but posting them all will make this a long posting.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzr5Hu4PQQ6cG1LFF_iK3Q_NF35k5Kwsxe8o4F8vWUUA5R9tXYgtuQ8FQR-OD-Juv_xGK5A5j20ZrhnPtv1WIT6pjLrhyphenhyphenau1XqSaI_-oSv-ayKRgaF2_u2YT6lK-JzNgPqkbIbeA5D7bo/s1600/DSC01407.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzr5Hu4PQQ6cG1LFF_iK3Q_NF35k5Kwsxe8o4F8vWUUA5R9tXYgtuQ8FQR-OD-Juv_xGK5A5j20ZrhnPtv1WIT6pjLrhyphenhyphenau1XqSaI_-oSv-ayKRgaF2_u2YT6lK-JzNgPqkbIbeA5D7bo/s400/DSC01407.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Apparently robots do a better job of final polishing than humans can (on the production models)<br />
Custom models are still done by hand.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">There is a gift shop (yes I bought the Tee shirt) and a
museum with guitars right back to the beginning. There was a private tour going
on while I was there and the guide took out the oldest guitar in the collection
(1834) and allowed them to play it – so I got to as well. It was slightly out
of tune, but still sounded awesome for a 185 year old instrument. I also had a
pluck on a new 12 string (Hotel California – what else) and could have bought
it on the “visit the factory special” for USD679 – but just too hard to get it
home. Which was a shame because it was a beautiful sounding guitar, and one of
the new build that uses carbon fibre reinforcing under the bridge that adds 4dB
to the sound output of an already naturally loud instrument</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We had an early dinner at a nearby Diner that turned out
to have the best Pecan Pie I have ever tasted (apart from my own).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Tuesday 14<sup>th</sup> May – Lancaster PA (via
Delaware)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">While reviewing our route for the blog a couple of days
ago, I realized that the Tiki tour that Carmen took us on through the
Pennsylvanian countryside to get us from Baltimore to Philadelphia on the 6<sup>th</sup>
May had completely bypassed the state of Delaware. The Interstate would have
taken us through it, but her “revised” route missed our crossing the border by
7½ miles. Rather than come all the way across here sometime in the future just
to visit that state to tick it off the list, I figured we had better drop in on the way back to
Washington and today was the best day to do it. Although the direct route from
Nazareth to Lancaster took a little over an hour, the diversion to Delaware
added about an hour more – but we had plenty of time today.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">So we got away at 8am and headed for 2 Fat Guys
restaurant in Hockessin, Delaware<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had
to put a target address in for Carmen, so that was it – and we figured we might
stop for lunch there, too. However, we got there at 10.30 and they didn’t open until
11am, so we toodled back into Pennsylvania and pushed on to Lancaster, which
was about an hour away.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Again, there was some pretty interesting scenery and
townships on the way and we even got to see some animal life, including 2 dead
deer on the side of the road. Most of the livestock is still being kept in
barns, although we began to see more as we neared Lancaster and Amish
territory. There was even a sign proclaimimg “lambs for sale”, but we never saw
any of them. We stopped at a bakery/gift shop that claimed to have “the best
Shoo-Fly Pie” in the USA”, and gave away free tastes. As Carolyn has been
determined to try it, we decided to stop and sample. It was OK – tasted like
pecan pie without the nuts, but the hint of cinnamon put me off (can’t stand
cinnamon). Next door was a traditional Amish restaurant which was serving
Wednesday buffet @$11.95 per person. Naturally we had to go and try it out –
very basic food, but very tasty and hard to criticize the price.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">The weather was not conducive to buggy rides around Amish
farms, so we drove around town for a look before booking into our motel. Later
Carolyn did a little shopping at a Target store, and we did a supermarket
dinner again. This was mine – ribs, baked tatie and salad. Its amazing what you
can cook up in a wee microwave in a motel room.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">BTW (and you can check on Google maps if you don’t believe
me) our motel is 6 miles from the township of Intercourse, PA, and you have to
drive through the village of Bird in Hand to get there – and Virginville, PA is
50 miles to the north – makes you wonder what these folk were up to round here,
back then?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Footnote to the motel
dunny flood saga of a couple of days ago. When we checked into the motel in
Lancaster, we couldn’t help but notice a pile of used loos stacked up against a
shed by the carpark. We also noticed that the motel had rooms with planked
hardwood floors, instead of the usual carpet. The confirmation that there had
been issues with flooding from their was the sign in each bathroom that stated,
basically, that; ”we have issues with flooding from our toilets”, and what to
do in such a case. I think that the Albany motel is not the only one that has
had problems <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsbheVTbhlwe5g-_0BY-53KcKmxvvbw9-56uJhJxHDI4UGIY6Sq5q5fRrHw58Z5EXHHizs68RRuX8-Wl2v2P2mRzbQ8Wxj0-0dYFo0ODQ2fqZSkojtwP1L8g3a8uowjIZAgJIF1-rYXa0/s1600/dunnies.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsbheVTbhlwe5g-_0BY-53KcKmxvvbw9-56uJhJxHDI4UGIY6Sq5q5fRrHw58Z5EXHHizs68RRuX8-Wl2v2P2mRzbQ8Wxj0-0dYFo0ODQ2fqZSkojtwP1L8g3a8uowjIZAgJIF1-rYXa0/s400/dunnies.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">New loos at reception waiting to be installed!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<br />Loopykiwihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345361910464994333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1894348935602167743.post-51025471000295849452019-05-12T17:57:00.000-07:002019-05-12T17:58:36.705-07:00Finishing the Loop #9 – Connecticut, New Hampshire and Vermont<br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I had looked at routes for the next leg of the journey on
Google maps when planning the itinerary, and every one that came up involved a
toll somewhere through New York City. So, before we departed our motel in New Jersey, we checked with
Carmen to see what she reckoned. By avoiding tolls, she calculated a trip of 707
miles, and by not doing so the trip was 114miles. It was mainly up the
Interstate 95, and but we were unsure of where the toll was incurred, but we
activated the EZ pass provided by Hertz. This brings about an automatic billing
of the toll plus a $5.95 “administration charge – but better than an additional
600 or so miles of travel. It turns out the toll was for crossing the Washington
bridge, over the Hudson River, which we did at snails pace. This was just as
well as the number of off ramps we had to navigate around would have been
nightmarish at 55mph. However, just as we got to a junction with a choice
between ramps 31A (Queens) + 31B (Albany - North), Carmen lost her signal! So,
knowing Queens was an area of New York City, I chose B as it seemed to be
heading the right direction., Well it wasn’t and it took us to Interstate 83
instead. However, this turned out to be a scenic route, that was built to take
traffic load off the main highway and ran parallel to the 95 anyway. Lots of
pretty architecturally designed bridges (some of marble that we saw being
chiselled off the roadside during road widening earthworks), and plenty of
laybys with restrooms. Thus, we arrived too early at Hartford <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to check in to our motel, so we went straight
to visit Mark Twain’s <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>house. An
interesting place, even though he didn’t live there all that long – he was away
when his daughter died there and he couldn’t bring himself to move back in. It
cost him $40,000 to build and he sold it for $28,000 It’d be worth a bit more
now!). We weren't allowed to take photographs inside - it was very dark in there and I suppose they worry about the flashes doing damage? - so you just get pix of the outside:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">On the way back to the motel and having not had lunch, we
stopped for an early dinner at an Italian deli but when checked in to our motel,
we found it was next door to a lobster & Prime Rib restaurant. The motel had
obviously been recently renovated, made more obvious by the plastic, c/w price
tags, still on the lampshades!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Friday 10<sup>th</sup> May – Lincoln, NH<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It was raining and 50F (10C), and getting colder as we
headed further North. It was only a 2½<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>hour drive to Lincoln, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>so we
stopped at several shopping centres on the way so Carolyn could buy more shoes.
We arrived Lincoln at<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>2pm, the rain had stopped
but<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the temperature had dropped to 46F
(8C) and there was snow still on the ground from a storm last week. And this is
at only 800ft above sea level, and not that far inland.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">The motel had an indoor heated pool and spa bath in room
our room, but we were both </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">too crook to partake.
It is also the 1</span><sup style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">st</sup><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> motel I can recall staying at in the USA with
central heating as well as air conditioning.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Saturday 11</span><sup style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> May – Mt Washington NH</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We awoke to a cloudy morning, but with some sun peeking
through. However it was a bit windy and we had been told; “if you can feel wind
in Lincoln, it will be howling on Mt Washington". We left at 9am for the 45
minute drive to the cog railway to catch the 11.30 train to the summit. This is
the first cog railway built in the world and second steepest, with one section,
Jacobs ladder, at 37.4% inclination and an average of 25% (ie 1ft rise to every
4ft distance). It used to be all steam locos but now they mainly use biodiesel powered
engines as well as a couple of aging steam trains . The railway was built in
1869 by Sylvester Marsh (any relation, I wonder?) so this year is its 150<sup>th</sup>
anniversary and it is still largely as it was back then. The temperature was 43F
(6C) at the Base station, elevation <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>2700ft, as we departed, but then…...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">….we started to encounter Rime ice at 5000ft, as we as we
reached the cloud line and the earlier train coming down. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">A</span>t the top
it was <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">COLD</i></b>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The temperature was 24.2F (-4.3C) with a wind
chill of 2F (-16.7C), and the wind speed was 58mph.This is well below the highest
wind gust ever recorded there oft 231mph, which is the highest wind gust ever
recorded. There is a weather observatory at the top, with a museum and café attached
Unfortunately both of these were closed as ours was the second train up this
season - <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the first being the 10.30am
train we saw coming back down on our way up.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">The steep gradient was a lot more obvious on the way down
and you could really notice it with the brakeman standing alongside. There were
some pretty spectacular views once we broke through the clouds, but pix were
hard to get as the windows tended to fog up and you couldn’t stand because of
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_-2yTHdlxnq-Eae1Hr7SV0NggR4qyBp1MuFftrWZGJNz3kuqqr7-yr9lYWPz7otRxDQsvZ6xDA2MgZzoNi-gTHj87NDJZb69pfspFtZCTTzwS8-NnSK3s0tpS5SqzFldz-yA8GWqqm04/s1600/DSC01361.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_-2yTHdlxnq-Eae1Hr7SV0NggR4qyBp1MuFftrWZGJNz3kuqqr7-yr9lYWPz7otRxDQsvZ6xDA2MgZzoNi-gTHj87NDJZb69pfspFtZCTTzwS8-NnSK3s0tpS5SqzFldz-yA8GWqqm04/s400/DSC01361.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The original "little engine that could" cog train that was used to build the railway. <br />
Named Peppersass because the boiler looked like a bottle of hot sauce with the same name</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Once we reached the bottom, the temperature had risen and
was a balmy 52F (11C) when we got back to Lincoln. It was recommended that we
try a restaurant in a nearby town, Woodstock (no, not that Woodstock!), so we
did and it met all the expectations we were promised. I had</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">a meal called “death by burger” which was a
burger with an 18oz (500gm) pattie and all the trimmings. I didn’t have my
camera so the pic following is one I lifted off the ‘net and happens to be the
one used on their menu. I can assure you that this isn’t the sort of pic you
see in a McDonalds advert – the burger actually looked just like the picture
and was just as big. A group at the table watched it arrive with wide eyes and
kept a close watch on my progress – so I felt obligated to finish it, and I
did. No breakfast for me tomorrow!</span></div>
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<br />Loopykiwihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345361910464994333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1894348935602167743.post-48123063705724295792019-05-11T14:56:00.001-07:002019-05-11T14:56:55.821-07:00Finishing the Loop #8 – Pennsylvania to New Jersey<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Monday 6</span><sup style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> May – Philadelphia</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> Although we have finished the
Loop from a boating perspective, we still have to reach New York Harbour to
have completed it entirely. Which means we won’t have done it until we reach Jersey
City, New Jersey in a couple of days. On our Loop trip, we would have crossed
from Baltimore to Philly via the Chesapeake Delaware Canal, to reach Delaware
Bay – hence our rip to Philadelphia by car.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">This began with the route march to the Hertz agency in
the Baltimore Hilton from our repositioned berth, then Hertz proceeded to rip
me for $55 by way of billing me for an “upgrade” that I didn’t request, they
didn’t tell me about, and I didn’t get anyway! I didn’t pick it up at the time,
but I will be having words with them when I drop off the car at Dulles airport
next week.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We set Carmen to avoid toll roads, which led to a scenic<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>tour up Highway one over the Conowingo dam on
Susquehanna river. We arrived in the early afternoon, but Carolyn was too sick with
the cold she picked up in the last few days to go anywhere.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So we didn’t get to visit the Liberty Bell
museum. – just went to an ACME (truly) supermarket for fixins for dinner in our motel room and
had an early night.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Tuesday 7<sup>th</sup> May – Atlantic City NJ<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Departed early at 8am for the 1hr drive to the old Silverton
factory site in Millville, NJ, where Loopy Kiwi was built. While it is still
there, there is not a lot to show what it once was, but I took a few pix for
nostalgic reasons anyway.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We continued on to <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cape May at the mouth of the Delaware Bay and
visited the lighthouse there. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">This end of Cape May is subject to major coastal erosion, and great chunks of the township have been washed away over the years the pic below shows a photo that was taken in 1944. The town trolley tracks that used to run up to 1918 would now be 1/4 mile offshore, and the shoreline has moved even further inland since the photo was taken. The WW2 bunker below, now on the beach, was originally 900ft inland.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">The ICW cuts across the peninsular with a canal and then
continues up the Atlantic coast.. The city of Cape May is mile after mile of
Hotels, motels, condos, restaurants and theme parks – all deserted and closed,
so it was like driving through a ghost town. However, we noticed that their “season”
opens on 10</span><sup style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> May, so I think it will be a very different story
after this weekend.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We followed the ICW up to Atlantic City, where we had
booked into Balleys Casino. However, registration didn’t start till 4pm (unless
you pay a $10 early check-in fee) so we took a walk to the nearby Tanger market
so Carolyn could go to Skechers to buy more shoes. Balleys is not only big, it
is also physically linked to Caesars Palace and the Wild West Casinos. We
decided to partake of Caesars Buffet dinner and had to walk through the Wild
West to get to it.. Which, after partaking of the feast of roast turkey and
other stuff, meant we had to come back the same way. Carolyn decided to play
the “1c” pokies, which are actually 80c pokies as the minimum bet is 80 tokens
@ 1c each, so <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>$20 disappeared in 5
minutes, so we soon flagged that away. It would appear also that I am coming
down with Carolyn’s cold…..<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Wednesday 8<sup>th</sup> May – Jersey City NJ<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">….Which I was.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">So, feeling grotty, we departed Atlantic City and drove
inland a little to to Egg Habor Yachts, the company that bought Silverton’s
assets when it went belly up in 2013. I took a few pix, then went inside and
met VP Sales and Marketing who, after hearing my Silverton story, took me on a
factory tour. There were only a few boats under construction and mainly sportfishers
with outboard power. One 42 footer was to be fitted with four 425HP Yamaha
outboards. They wouldn' allow cameras in their factory, so I asked if I could get a pic of the mold for the Silverton 453 (there
had been a few Silverton molds in the factory yard), but he told me it had been
scrapped (sigh)..<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">When we left, Carmen wanted to take us inland, but we
forced her back to the coast and up to Jersey City. The .motel was on the side
of a cliff, quite reminiscent of houses in Wellington and, although it didn’t
face the Hudson River, it was directly opposite Chelsea Pier, where we began
our Blount cruise to Chicago last year. So that constituted the end of the Loop. Yet another
supermarket dinner as we were both feeling to shitty to go out, which also
explains no pix of New Jersey – although there wasn’t anything photogenic about
where we were, anyway - unless you like looking at railway yards.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">The Great Loop is done!</span></div>
<br />Loopykiwihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345361910464994333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1894348935602167743.post-58355013175903845222019-05-06T12:19:00.000-07:002019-05-06T12:19:41.780-07:00Finishing the Loop #7 – Maryland<br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Sunday 5<sup>th</sup> May – Baltimore MD<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Further to the Kentucky Derby run yesterday, Carolyn’s
horse, Maximum Security, “won” the derby and she got 1/3 of the prize pool, the
massive sum of $15.50. However, there was an appeal by another rider and the
horse was disqualified (the first time ever in a Kentucky Derby) so she had to
pay it back - and only 1 guy won the whole $46. But we also “won” the silly hat
competition, although there were only 3 competitors so we all get a prize – not
that we have seen it yet.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">This morning we were greeted with a grey, drizzly day on
awakening at 6am. We were headed up the Patapsco River towards Baltimore with a
cruise ship, Carnival Pride, right behind us. In fact we were going too slow
for her, so she overtook us before we reached Baltimore harbor. Plenty of
activity as we cruised towards our berth, and lots of marinas up here – but
still no Silverton 453’s to be seen.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">However, when we arrived at our berth alongside USS
Constellation, we found another vessel the “Pride of Baltimore” docked where we
were supposed to be, and they insisted they had booked the berth for the next 2
days, just as Blount had. Since they were already there and didn’t seem
inclined to move, we had to go over to a marina on the other side of the inner
harbor and tie up there. No real issue, except the walk to the Hertz office to
pick up our rental car tomorrow just went from 4 blocks to 1¼ miles!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In the afternoon, I took a walk down to Harborview Marina,
about 20 minutes away, and caught up with a couple from the Silverton Owners
Club, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mark and Nicholle, who own a
Silverton 39MY, the baby brother to our 453. It was still raining when I left
so Mark gave me a lift back to the boat, which was in the process of shifting
further up the dock so the passengers who did the tour to Washington DC didn’t
have so far to walk back<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Tonight is the Captains farewell cocktail party and for
dinner we have Prime Rib – so we will be able to compare with Coinjock’s and
see who prevails.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEUI6mxMRo2KPVZpejwSCBspiOBkRTf3GqRQ7fqziCjI9gQXTlP6pNjzSU9TUATV8YnLnEi3eFLAdxPcBv6JFLN8eSN_clBwsnLJd_7IGaqtX6B2WOrjBC7V3Jl2Ne4-id2m9vMnboeZs/s1600/DSC01212.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEUI6mxMRo2KPVZpejwSCBspiOBkRTf3GqRQ7fqziCjI9gQXTlP6pNjzSU9TUATV8YnLnEi3eFLAdxPcBv6JFLN8eSN_clBwsnLJd_7IGaqtX6B2WOrjBC7V3Jl2Ne4-id2m9vMnboeZs/s640/DSC01212.JPG" width="360" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Angels in a blanket (scallops wrapped in bacon)</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Shrimp</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqXBDbY_bMtV8d48pVpKXx-bWdIYqcKlKol_y_DaFWwzJTdmdH_xb9NONG8ITlDd76qLVP-fFtUGsEA2VrkhuFXOgpk4QB2FD_XMamHzzGc8r2XUYAqEdk2gH24qnB2Q3RFU0v-y01w7k/s1600/DSC01214.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqXBDbY_bMtV8d48pVpKXx-bWdIYqcKlKol_y_DaFWwzJTdmdH_xb9NONG8ITlDd76qLVP-fFtUGsEA2VrkhuFXOgpk4QB2FD_XMamHzzGc8r2XUYAqEdk2gH24qnB2Q3RFU0v-y01w7k/s400/DSC01214.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Crab salad</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBNo7q1W9Tfzp_pvEToRyWx7WQD3LaoJ2JuV2sQRmjLHTpsZwU1PY0gYVQzFz9jwe8_xYbDEcAAuHU-Lcd8vXtXrD63fhfqzy3_gDohaFTT5EuRKzrKCNBfi3SJuUDMNvyeb9r36-_sXs/s1600/DSC01215.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBNo7q1W9Tfzp_pvEToRyWx7WQD3LaoJ2JuV2sQRmjLHTpsZwU1PY0gYVQzFz9jwe8_xYbDEcAAuHU-Lcd8vXtXrD63fhfqzy3_gDohaFTT5EuRKzrKCNBfi3SJuUDMNvyeb9r36-_sXs/s400/DSC01215.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Simosas, cheese and crackers</td></tr>
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It turned out the Rib was almost on a par with Coinjock's - just as tasty, but not quite as big. And we had the Captain at our table to ensure there was no misbehaviour. </div>
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PS. Coinjock is the Indian word for the Mulberry Bush - for those who were dying to know.</div>
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PPS. Not only did we have to give back the "winnings" from the Kentucky Derby, we never did get our prizes for the silly hat competition we were promised. Blount giveth and Blount taketh away. "Blessed Indian-giver" be the name of Blount!</div>
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<br />Loopykiwihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345361910464994333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1894348935602167743.post-61431261094734437312019-05-04T15:37:00.001-07:002019-05-05T07:37:14.174-07:00Finishing the Loop #6 - Virginia<br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Friday 3<sup>rd</sup> May (continued)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We reached the Nth River bridge at 2pm and, as promised,
it was manually cranked open for us. However there was also a Tow in front of
us, heading the same way we were and slowing us down considerably. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We had
several more bridges to clear, and 1 lock, with no room to pass before the
lock. So our skipper arranged with the tug captain that we would pass him at
the lock and enter it first – after telling him of our saga of the day before
and that we had passengers to meet in Norfolk. He was quite OK with that, but
the Lockmaster was not. He considered that HE was the one to make that decision
and insisted that the tug go first. There was a heated exchange between him and
our Captain, resulting in some name calling and our captain hanging up on the
Lockmaster. So the tug went into the lock chamber first and, although there was
enough room for us as well, the Lockmaster made us standby while he locked the
tug down the 3 (yes three) feet to the Chesapeake Bay, and it was the slowest
lock lowering I have ever witnessed. Once the tug cleared the chamber, the lock
gates remained open for another 10 minutes then after closing, the lock
remained at the lower level for another 15. Finally the lock crew came out of
their building where it appeared they had been having an afternoon break and
slowly filled the lock back to our level – about another 10 minutes. The gates
were opened and we entered and tied up, but the gates (which are usually closed
as soon as you enter the lock) remained open. We waited another 10 minutes or
so, then<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the Lockmaster got a call from
a couple of recreational vessels (probably Loopers) asking for a lock down, so
he said he would keep the gates open until they got there to lock down with us –
so that took another 20 minutes. Finally we were lowered the 3 feet to the
Chesapeake water level and wished a “safe journey” by the Lockmaster as we
left. Before we departed on our Great Loop back in 2013, a Michigan boatie had
warned us about offending Lockmasters, or Tow captains that probably had
friends or family that were Lockmasters, as you could be subjected to “delays”
as you reached the locks. There was a term for it, and I’m pretty sure that is
what we were subjected to because of our Captain’s personality clash with the
xxxxx Lockmaster. We were well and truly Lock-f**ked and had an unnecessary
hour added to our already long day. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzputxMd-Hs8nplNGp5cvBENRUHdjHRaElE5vPmMnHRJIznnhn7da_A4xcdYm5bDxQpqP87qSYD_AUVohuJAARWUU2dFyvXbXW7ildQ3cllTqFiBf084EZcEkWuNQVj17Z-wtCZ07_iKU/s1600/DSC01060.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzputxMd-Hs8nplNGp5cvBENRUHdjHRaElE5vPmMnHRJIznnhn7da_A4xcdYm5bDxQpqP87qSYD_AUVohuJAARWUU2dFyvXbXW7ildQ3cllTqFiBf084EZcEkWuNQVj17Z-wtCZ07_iKU/s400/DSC01060.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And the tug goes in</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR2go7DWan6uhB1OEGLz3tKAovOLZLFpwV1NzWkfF9toTZQn1s1qg72DLM1zylaN5ly3Tey2xpOPLXsidoXQT_JIWYtfIOUwK8cDRA1T31N2XOZjD58LiFbyXAvk7yuQNOnstlg2t8Abg/s1600/DSC01064.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR2go7DWan6uhB1OEGLz3tKAovOLZLFpwV1NzWkfF9toTZQn1s1qg72DLM1zylaN5ly3Tey2xpOPLXsidoXQT_JIWYtfIOUwK8cDRA1T31N2XOZjD58LiFbyXAvk7yuQNOnstlg2t8Abg/s400/DSC01064.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">and so do we (30 minutes later) - but lets keep the gates open for a while</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitUuv4S-j0pP6GaXFJFsssqfvDyGwEIIMoVCAhWg2-mOhEOnoUSKlxwPmvDpcOcmZAy8LxfqOAqYStGXqxlU5OLa3xKpYZ6bKdbob_eDUlGpbWM5gpL7I8n3pLQl6PwhsV56X_o8hgU80/s1600/DSC01069.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitUuv4S-j0pP6GaXFJFsssqfvDyGwEIIMoVCAhWg2-mOhEOnoUSKlxwPmvDpcOcmZAy8LxfqOAqYStGXqxlU5OLa3xKpYZ6bKdbob_eDUlGpbWM5gpL7I8n3pLQl6PwhsV56X_o8hgU80/s400/DSC01069.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt9BMHzzhc24LonaskaDvyu_pVDKO_DJG7qp8S6swjoKXiqESPNmKFE33p1mUr5Fo18LAa1gQcCv5sm1Fn5KY8Csjool2kWhMM_Byfaem6jT2zuZpYxEfvUTzvbWFgW-DRx5LH2qBvDuM/s1600/DSC01072.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt9BMHzzhc24LonaskaDvyu_pVDKO_DJG7qp8S6swjoKXiqESPNmKFE33p1mUr5Fo18LAa1gQcCv5sm1Fn5KY8Csjool2kWhMM_Byfaem6jT2zuZpYxEfvUTzvbWFgW-DRx5LH2qBvDuM/s320/DSC01072.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Here come some more boats - lets keep the gates open a bit longer!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn6XwSNrlazKbNurXfQlCIA6fY5LIvznV_4VL_I1l0NzB35yurf2XkzI2toynQ3n7lwtAFPbcmUVfOs5bsgK4Stj5fnCTatMe5XtoiJFhtw-IAj25cYqEFwJ_CLQ-2Wu-HSGCyUA7GCWM/s1600/DSC01075.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn6XwSNrlazKbNurXfQlCIA6fY5LIvznV_4VL_I1l0NzB35yurf2XkzI2toynQ3n7lwtAFPbcmUVfOs5bsgK4Stj5fnCTatMe5XtoiJFhtw-IAj25cYqEFwJ_CLQ-2Wu-HSGCyUA7GCWM/s320/DSC01075.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Everyone's in and the gates are finally closed</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjr4NKg3ir4ieKMibiP25Tx_cASpHW8ZkSzAZa-ZxTVJjqp3whhGeqZiOp5CBouYLcCb_W-ah7M47hyCZ_xJrAcFszaAwfkyQM9JYEP6nNICllUG2iDsLcGSqRRqpJS_IfnZb6FuDnq9g/s1600/DSC01071.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjr4NKg3ir4ieKMibiP25Tx_cASpHW8ZkSzAZa-ZxTVJjqp3whhGeqZiOp5CBouYLcCb_W-ah7M47hyCZ_xJrAcFszaAwfkyQM9JYEP6nNICllUG2iDsLcGSqRRqpJS_IfnZb6FuDnq9g/s640/DSC01071.JPG" width="360" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Lousy Lockmaster - We were glad to see the back end of him, too!!!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">To add insult to injury, the last bridge before Norfolk
was a lift bridge and lifted only at certain times in rush-hour traffic. We
arrived at 5pm and had to wait for it to be lifted at 5.30. If we hadn’t been
delayed at the lock we would have made the 4.30 opening. By the time we got to
the marina at Norfolk at 6pm, the passengers that had gone on the Yorktown tour
had been waiting over an hour for us and had missed happy hour too! But we had
a good fun day, the 7 of us that remained aboard.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNyh1L-Tu2-IDH-fLFRbmWOzWIv8QgQ2WZJtqtGaIwuo_uzVqLa31gdNhVbM4kOgAKbmmJnAqTQMtRc-iMKH2-QnktMZxs7euDJuhD7229nvKHDomBzlusuKgJc0ssM6N2cmawTvP6Npc/s1600/DSC01087.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNyh1L-Tu2-IDH-fLFRbmWOzWIv8QgQ2WZJtqtGaIwuo_uzVqLa31gdNhVbM4kOgAKbmmJnAqTQMtRc-iMKH2-QnktMZxs7euDJuhD7229nvKHDomBzlusuKgJc0ssM6N2cmawTvP6Npc/s400/DSC01087.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Waiting again</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyl-r1Fnh_odzF_c7DSc87uTXPj3JYl-iYvXyUUE59KUTFwiogLlvzalzAKCatbwj0_2yjY3gIfsJSh720JaaS-VRj2QWFCIn8RN71ypM5JbrWB32c19hN8Kph2JtNni4ijeCeo43LwE4/s1600/DSC01091.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyl-r1Fnh_odzF_c7DSc87uTXPj3JYl-iYvXyUUE59KUTFwiogLlvzalzAKCatbwj0_2yjY3gIfsJSh720JaaS-VRj2QWFCIn8RN71ypM5JbrWB32c19hN8Kph2JtNni4ijeCeo43LwE4/s400/DSC01091.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Past the last hurdle</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmlAVpR2JN4zh3S2-a57Z718gpZYp6B1VXOMT7q7sS119hfu-3Q_Oe-4a4wQ6Pizmpn-0uLvxalLwJw6_93Tx7cBQLHae-YbVoZqluSC0YWbh3y142mYOIoqTYY6lgq_jk51H0jEAz1ww/s1600/DSC01112.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmlAVpR2JN4zh3S2-a57Z718gpZYp6B1VXOMT7q7sS119hfu-3Q_Oe-4a4wQ6Pizmpn-0uLvxalLwJw6_93Tx7cBQLHae-YbVoZqluSC0YWbh3y142mYOIoqTYY6lgq_jk51H0jEAz1ww/s400/DSC01112.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">At dinner they announced the new plan (I cautioned earlier
about the best laid plans), which was the tour of Norfolk tomorrow would not
include the Naval Base, and that we would be sailing from Norfolk at 3pm,
directly to Baltimore and skipping Yorktown and Annapolis. Missing the other 2
ports was not an issue – we were still cruising Chesapeake Bay and that is what
this trip was all about – but I only wanted to see the Naval<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Base at Norfolk, not the rest of the tour, so
I cancelled. Apparently we sail right past the Base tomorrow, so will see
plenty of ships, anyway.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Saturday 4<sup>th</sup> May – Norfolk<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Waterside marina at Norfolk <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>had not only us, but a lot of Loopers, and
they kept arriving as the day progressed. Considering the number of marinas
around, plus plenty of sheltered anchorages, there must be a lot of Loopers hitting
this area right now. We got underway at 3pm and, as promised, passed lots and lots and lots of warships on the way down the Elizabeth river and into the Chesapeake Bay. Here are a few of them, but there were squillions more (no aircraft carriers though - they are all away)<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> We are now cruising up the Chesapeake heading the 150-odd miles to Baltimore. It is cocktail hour and we are sitting watching the prelude to the Kentucky Derby - run in about 20 minutes. There are mint Juleps on the Bar, a sweep at $2 per bet, and a silly hat competition</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">The race is about to start so I'm going to (try to) post this. I'll let you know if we win anything!</span>Loopykiwihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345361910464994333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1894348935602167743.post-57790342335603915722019-05-04T06:45:00.000-07:002019-05-04T11:39:36.913-07:00Finishing the Loop #5 - Carry me back to ole Virginney<br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Thursday 2<sup>nd</sup> May – Coinjock NC (again)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Shortly after posting the last entry (sailing up and down
the 4NM stretch of the North River), we were informed that the broken bridge
wasn’t going to be fixed today and we were heading back to Coinjock to wait
until it was – hopefully by the next day. We arrived there around 5pm and
everyone got off to stretch their legs and a few stopped by the bar/restaurant
for a drink. Now….we had been told by Jasmine, our cruise director, that Coinjock
was in the middle of nowhere and had nothing to see – which wasn’t a problem
since our first arrival had been at 9pm with a 5am departure the next day.
However, I had been told by several people in Beaufort, that Coinjock’s marina
restaurant was renowned for its Prime Rib, and I passed this on to the staff –
none of whom seemed to believe me, particularly John, our Tour Historian. So we
went to the bar and looked at the menu and (thankfully) not only was Prime Rib
on the menu, but it was described as “World Famous”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Accordingly, John felt duty bound to test
this claim out and ordered the meal as a take-out - he hadn’t planned on eating
dinner with us that evening, as he was supposed to be visiting friends in
Norfolk and hadn’t ordered dinner from the ships galley. Naturally I couldn’t
let him be alone in the skullduggery of smuggling contraband food aboard the ship, so I ordered
a portion as well. It was kind of difficult to hide the evidence during dinner,
so we confessed to the waiting staff what we had done and they seemed OK with
it and, in mitigation, we did also have some of the lamb racks that were on the
menu that night, as well as the key lime pie desert – and we did share some of
the rib with fellow diners too.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Anyway, two other passengers from Canada had also gone
ashore and had the fried chicken (which is also considered world class) from
the restaurant – they just didn’t bring it back to the ship like we did, but
still had the pie. We figured that fate had determined that we partake of the
Rib and had arranged the bridge to be broken just so we could return to
Coinjock to sample it – that’s our excuse so we’re sticking with it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Friday 3<sup>rd</sup> May – Norfolk VA<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">At breakfast the Captain gave us the bad news that the
bridge had not been fixed - the Army Corps of Engineers, who maintain it,
didn’t even work on it overnight. So the plan was for those on the tour of Yorktown,
which was most of the passengers, would take the bus from Coinjock and return
there in the afternoon. It was originally hoped that the ship could get through
the Nth River bridge and meet up with them in Yorktown, but they couldn’t rely
on that happening. So at 10am, they all departed and the remaining 7 passengers
(us included) arranged that we would eat out (Fried chicken, off course) and
give the galley staff a break. So the bus departed, and we settled in to a day
of waiting and wondering where to next. Then, around 11am, the Captain came
over the intercom and announced that the bridge had told them that they would
make a one-off opening for us and we were departing Coinjock “within minutes”.
Apparently Blount and the Coastguard had leaned heavily on the USACE and they
had begrudgingly agreed to manually opening for us. Which is just as well as
the alternatives were looking like we would finish the rest of the trip
overland, which would stuff up our Great Loop closure somewhat!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I can’t help feeling the 3 US Army Landing craft that
pulled into Coinjock for fuel and were heading upriver as well may have had
some bearing on the decision, as well – but I’m just a cynic.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">The new plan is to go to Norfolk and do the Naval Base
tour, then go straight to Annapolis, bypassing Yorktown. Since most of the
passengers are visiting there by bus today, they will have seen it and will
catch up with us in Norfolk tonight. That’s the plan, but we all know about the
best laid of them!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I still can’t get email on the ship and have to rely on
marina wifi to get it, so I can’t let always notify my NZ followers of a
posting. So just keep looking at the Blog from time to time to pick up the new
postings – it should get better once we get on land again, after Monday.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Loopykiwihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345361910464994333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1894348935602167743.post-19787550353955533662019-05-02T10:50:00.000-07:002019-05-04T07:15:50.494-07:00Finishing the Loop #4 - North Carolina<br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Monday 29</span><sup style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> – Wilmington, NC</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Woke at daybreak, being told by the skipper that we were
entering the Cape Fear River and were 10 miles or so from Wilmington. This is the
largest port in NC and the Cape Fear river is the only one that flows directly
into the sea. The city downtown area is dominated by the campus of the Cape
Fear Community College (CFCC), and there is a market area within walking
distance of the marina – although we found a free trolley to take us on a tour
round the area and drop us back to the boat. I did go take a peek at
Finkelstein’s Music and Jewelry store, but they only sold new, top brand,
guitars (Martins and Fenders etc) and had nothing under $150 –so I didn’t buy
one this time. Wilmington is also the home of the USS “North Carolina”, a WWII
battleship that is moored just over the river. There was a tour of it by the
cruise line, but having already seen USS’s Alabama (Mobile) and Missouri (Hawaii)
plus the Aircraft carriers Intrepid (New York) and Yorktown (Charleston), I was
about battleshipped out.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We departed at midnight – again heading out to open sea,
but I didn’t stay up to observe.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Tuesday 30<sup>th</sup> – Beaufort NC<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Woke at 6am entering the approaches to Winyah Bay after a "plate of porridge" (very calm) crossing of Onslow Bay, in the Atlantic<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">As we entered the Beaufort river, we could see the
aftermath of Hurricane Florence in September last year. There had been a 13ft
tidal surge which had knocked about many of the marinas in the area (and there
are a lot of them) as well as flooding houses and towns, as we were to see later
in the day.</span></div>
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boats, including a few Loopers<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">On arrival, we made contact with Don Shirley, my Nth
Carolina electrician buddy, and he picked us up to do a tour of the area. First
we visited his Silverton 453, which is at a marina on the Neuse River at
Bridgeton, which was also hit by Florence, but their pier poles are15ft above
HW, so there were few issues. However many other marinas weren’t so lucky and
there were plenty of broken boats lying around nearby In fact he told us that his
house at Havelock, 44NM up the Neuse River from the sea, had 12ft of his front
lawn <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>washed away.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_f8ean6UiQsaYqoctxViDJbDuzbQ00UwFgltSE4kZDGVL1j_NWIQf1fvo4QBAoU-xy7eeOUjgIUecGj621CsAe_PaKhlBPt8x4IyoGfMWdXTvNTcIBS7lRr6vCPgIAoxLrP94gHeJF74/s1600/DSC00992.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_f8ean6UiQsaYqoctxViDJbDuzbQ00UwFgltSE4kZDGVL1j_NWIQf1fvo4QBAoU-xy7eeOUjgIUecGj621CsAe_PaKhlBPt8x4IyoGfMWdXTvNTcIBS7lRr6vCPgIAoxLrP94gHeJF74/s400/DSC00992.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It is full tide - see how high the poles are!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We travelled over the river to New Bern, founded by Swiss
300-odd years ago and sister city to Berne in Switzerland. Home to Tryon Palace,
the dwelling built for the first Governor on Sth Carolina<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We were dropped back to Beaufort marina after dinner in a
quaint local restaurant <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Tuesday<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>1<sup>st</sup>
May – Coinjock NC<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Another early departure at 4.00am and we were to spend
all day on the ICW, so I got up at 5am to watch the world (or ICW, anyway) go by.
At daybreak we were through the Adams canal, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">and into the Neuse river where we saw our first tow on
this part of the ICW</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">We took another
canal to reach the Pamlico sound & river</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">
</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">(where Don Shirley’s house is – but further upstream) and then the Pungo
river & Pungo -Alligator canal. In this canal, we met our second tow who
was sporting a large blue flag, which read “TRUMP – making America Great Again”
(so someone supports him)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It was a great day – sunny and light winds – so lunch was
a BBQ on the top deck. This was followed by “Bloody Mary Bingo”, which is<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>self explanatory but was dominated by one
table of ladies, who referred to themselves as the “Bingo Babes” and picked up
all the minor prizes. However, there was a last minute dash to the line by
yours truly to pick up the final major prize and thus redeeming the men’s
status aboard. We continued on across the Albermarle Sound and into the North
River to the canal that leads to the Currituck Sound. About halfway along that,
we stopped at Coinjock which is a small town with nothing much more than a
marina. However the marina was full, including some large and posh boats and a
number of Loopers, and the restaurant has a reputation for excellent Prime Rib –
so it was well patronized, even at 9pm when we arrived. A long day of 16 hours
and 120 miles of ICW!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Currituck Sound, heading for Norfolk, Virginia where the is a tour of the Naval
Base (largest in the world) and for which I am booked. We entered the North
River, which runs to the Albermarle and Chesapeake canal and on to Norfolk at
around 7am. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Shortly after we passed a couple of areas of sunken boats
and were heading for the North River swing bridge, when we began to slow down.
The captain informed us that the bridge had a fault that would not let it open
far enough for us to transit (although smaller vessels could) so we would have
to stand by until they could fix it. The alternative route is through the
Dismal swamp canal, about a 60 mile detour, but it is too shallow for us to
navigate. The next alternative is to go back to Cape Hatteras and go out to sea
and back up the caost to the Chesapeake, and Norfolk. This is a round trip of
over 200NM – we are presently about 20 miles from Norfolk as the crow flies! So
as I am writing this (since I won’t be touring the Naval Base today and don’t have
much else to do) we are cruising up and down a 4 mile stretch of the North
river just over the border into Virginia – However if we have to detour, we
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">But the smaller boats keep going by…. They can squeeze
through the <o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">broken bridge.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Well, we've just finished lunch and the 4th lap of this section of the ICW. The tour of the Naval Base has been cancelled and we've been set up for lectures and movies and opened the bar for the rest of the afternoon while they fix the bridge (hopefully). If they can't...plan B might be an interesting change to our itinerary.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Still, worse things happen at sea!</span></div>
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<br />Loopykiwihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345361910464994333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1894348935602167743.post-82400115900117378612019-04-29T14:22:00.000-07:002019-04-29T14:22:28.896-07:00Finishing the Loop #3 - South Carolina<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Friday 26</span><sup style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> April - Beaufort SC</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The engines started at 3am, so I figured we were going
down the ICW and I wanted to see that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Sure enough, shortly after departing Savannah, we turned
into the ICW and followed it all the way to Beaufort SC (pronounced Bewfit) -
to distinguish from Beaufort NC (pronounced Bowfort). The wind was a gusty NE around
20kts, so it wouldn’t have been pleasant out in the open sea. We went slow through
the first canal in the ICW, known as Fields Cut, because that’s where the worst
shoaling was, but it was high tide so no issue. Daybreak was at 6.30 as we were
approaching Port Royal Sound, after which it was windy up river to Beaufort <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We were docked at the Downtown marina and took the Horse
and Buggy tour around the historic part of town. Lots of old “Antebellum”
houses and references made about the movie “Forrest Gump”, most of which was
filmed there.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-vsk66jxutQDrKupWE9JT5YdzYYvNv5b0scTcdhO7OP0ITeIJuyJa7cXs4PBt6mOhzHafZyqV6qaUk2q9ZVm00zd_OpADLAR1HyNcBLCxyv70NwFXWviy47Jwz0eEIISL2sYXtRWWqeU/s1600/DSC00868.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-vsk66jxutQDrKupWE9JT5YdzYYvNv5b0scTcdhO7OP0ITeIJuyJa7cXs4PBt6mOhzHafZyqV6qaUk2q9ZVm00zd_OpADLAR1HyNcBLCxyv70NwFXWviy47Jwz0eEIISL2sYXtRWWqeU/s400/DSC00868.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At one time properties were taxed on the number of chimneys, so they built chimneys <br />with more than one flue to get around the tax. This one has 6 flues on 2 chimneys</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh812YM3P83i9i4ajltor8VAbxxhMjf6ZV4bLOpO3-GIY2cgTYl_Yodmw2hTKVCgbGDHPRIls3-kOLKzddAL7CTJTM9c1wR6IkS45lbNKUYbIcG8jmZxngDA1wCqEi7jdH769VQAmYcyt8/s1600/DSC00876.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh812YM3P83i9i4ajltor8VAbxxhMjf6ZV4bLOpO3-GIY2cgTYl_Yodmw2hTKVCgbGDHPRIls3-kOLKzddAL7CTJTM9c1wR6IkS45lbNKUYbIcG8jmZxngDA1wCqEi7jdH769VQAmYcyt8/s400/DSC00876.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Then they put a tax on the size of the front porch as defined by the main entry front stairs....</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilPLE95YDxEaopBdaa6WZ3gsaBMQQ6juJrAQUPg3MWO__FouGp52lVg51SqC39aDOtMm9SJcc2ec4ZHLTGcp_ffYTm9DG0Rqwg__rQzyUlkjJpKc1C7NvcgVjWQHD5PeVuS7ZG-r1kQ1k/s1600/DSC00877.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilPLE95YDxEaopBdaa6WZ3gsaBMQQ6juJrAQUPg3MWO__FouGp52lVg51SqC39aDOtMm9SJcc2ec4ZHLTGcp_ffYTm9DG0Rqwg__rQzyUlkjJpKc1C7NvcgVjWQHD5PeVuS7ZG-r1kQ1k/s400/DSC00877.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">So they built huge porches, but had the stairs to smaller ones as the main entry</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQOYon-P48Fd3RGsAcdvikFOLvL-zXqbS4d6_9TQEIloB1AgJ8eCFuvIfiyZZvwOLyDZld-kjMESFf60L0wV5xdQ7f_zu6g26rFTGcVLLWZTCmpdYDC5q2sAkQKReuDXtrGGY8GGmvoAw/s1600/DSC00878.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQOYon-P48Fd3RGsAcdvikFOLvL-zXqbS4d6_9TQEIloB1AgJ8eCFuvIfiyZZvwOLyDZld-kjMESFf60L0wV5xdQ7f_zu6g26rFTGcVLLWZTCmpdYDC5q2sAkQKReuDXtrGGY8GGmvoAw/s400/DSC00878.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">These stair go nowhere. TRhe house burned down and the owners were so gutted<br />they never rebuilt and put a caveat on the property that said the stairs must remain<br />there in perpetuity...so they did</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Back at the ship, it was the “welcome aboard party”, free
cocktails and hors d’oeuvres (scallops wrapped in bacon, prawns etc) then the
movie “Midnight in the garden of good and evil” – which turned out to be a bit
boring and I went to sleep before the end – Frankly I would rather have watched
Forrest Gump! (but I had been up since 3am!)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">BTW, Beaufort was where we stayed for 2 nights after we
had put Loopy Kiwi on the ship in Savannah<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>and before travelling home back in 2013<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Saturday 27<sup>th<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></sup>- Charleston SC <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We departed Beaufort at midnight as a repeat of yesterday,
ie via the ICW at high tide, but I decided to forego the spectacle and didn’t
get up to see it until 6am. By this time we had wended our way along the ICW
and were entering the Wappoo Creek, just short of the Ashley river, on which
the Charleston Downtown marina is located. Lots of very posh boats in here<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In the morning, we took a cab ride downtown to the city
markets, while others took the all day tour of the city (we had visited
Charleston back in 2013 and been to some of the places that they were going
to). We then found a free shuttle bus that toured round the downtown on three
different routes, including one that took us back to the marina, so we used
that and were back at the ship in time for lunch with the other 3 people who
hadn’t gone on the tour. In the afternoon we watched<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the comings and goings of the myriad of boats
up and down the river full of youngsters on funning about – but it was
Saturday, after all, and quite a good one at that. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Over the river were a couple of yachts that seemed to be
parked as victims of the last hurricane surge that came this way<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We had a lecture on “the battle of Charleston” from our
historian, John, and then an early night as we are going “outside” overnight to
get to Georgetown and the Atlantic is expected to be a little rolly for a time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Sunday 28<sup>th</sup><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>- Georgetown SC<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Which is what it was, until we got out into deeper water
and turned North to run with a following sea. Again, we departed at midnight
and again, I didn’t get up to watch. At daybreak, we were just entering the
channel to Winyah Bay, which is the largest estuary in Sth Carolina and the 3<sup>rd</sup>
largest in the USA (The Chesapeake being the largest). There were a few Shrimp
boats about, one of which trawled across directly in front of us and across the
navigation channel, so our skipper had to go round behind him to avoid a
collision.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We continued on to Georgetown, 10NM further up the Waccamaw
river (these are real names – I am <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">not</i></b> making them up!). This is a small
harbour, barely wide enough to turn around, so that’s what we did on arrival so
the captain didn’t have to do it tonight , in the dark, when we leave. Several
boats moored nearby made this an interesting exercise.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I said the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>harbour was
small …..well…so is the town. And, being Sunday, it was also closed! I took a
walk up the main street and back down the boardwalk, and was back at the boat
within ½ an hour.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We pulled out of Georgetown at 8pm and headed back down
the Waccamaw and out to sea again for the overnight run up to the next Port of
call, Wilmington, NC.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Loopykiwihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345361910464994333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1894348935602167743.post-29324164305134392462019-04-28T08:02:00.000-07:002019-04-29T13:03:55.230-07:00Finishing the Loop #2 - Arrival<br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Monday 22<sup>nd</sup> April (Easter Monday) - Houston, Texas<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We had received notification last week that we had not
got our upgrades to Business class for which we had applied, so it suggested
that the plane was going to be full. To rub salt into the wound, on Saturday we
got an email telling us that “due to heavier than normal traffic,” access to
the Air NZ lounge would be restricted and we would therefore have to go to the
Strata lounge, operated by Auckland Airport Ltd. As it transpired, the AIAL
lounge was much quieter than Air NZ’s (and still had the free food and grog) and
since it was the old Air NZ lounge anyway, it was a bit like coming home again.
It also turned out that the plane had been changed from a 787 Dreamliner to a
777-300, which carries a lot more passengers but, as feared, it was completely
full and included lots of rugrats heading for Disneyland , or other US fun
destinations, for the school holidays..<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The plane bounced all the way to Houston, so not a lot of
sleep was got – but I managed to watch 3 movies and 4 episodes of the Les
Miserables TV series. We arrived at 3.30pm (45 minutes early) at Houston but
found there were only 4 Customs officers on duty to handle the 300 plus
passengers off our flight. The agents sorting us out were sending all the US
citizens to them first, so it took over an hour for us to get through onto US
soil, by which time our bags were sitting beside the carousel at the luggage
claim. However the Ramada was only a short shuttle ride away and it arrived
promptly and we were soon in our hotel where Carolyn went to the pool and I
went to happy hour in the Dolphin Bar. The meals were just as good and cheap as
last year – as was the beer.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Tuesday 23<sup>rd</sup> – Atlanta/Savannah, Georgia<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We were up again early (5am) for the 8.10 flight to
Atlanta, but were whisked through check-in and security (unlike yesterday) and
had time for breakfast before boarding. Another packed flight to Atlanta, but
only for 2 hours, and collecting our luggage and getting to Hertz on the “Skytrain”
was a breeze, although there was a lot of walking involved – Atlanta is a HUGE
airport. The Hertz people couldn’t have been nicer and there wasn’t a single
issue over card payment, unlike last year. We had a choice of vehicles and one
was a Dodge minibus with everything that opened and shut electrically, and lots
of storage room. It was a 3 ½ hour drive to Savannah, extended by a stop at a
Tanger Outlet Mall so Carolyn could buy (yet more) Skechers shoes. The
temperature was 87 degrees F (30C), but the pool was under repair, so that
disappointed Carolyn somewhat. There was a restaurant/Bar on the site, but it
was one of the few where smoking was allowed and the air was thick with it,
because everyone in the place was smoking – eating there was just not an
option. It’s funny how you get so used to not having smokers in restaurants and
how critical you get towards those that do. Anyway, just down the road was a
“Southern style” buffet, called the “Frog and the peach”, which changes its
menu every day, and only cost $9 each, including<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>tax! They also had a Tee shirt that Carolyn wanted to buy me but the
sales girl had left for the day, so we decided to go back the next day which
happened to be pork chop night.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We dropped in to a Walmart and I bought a 32GB Mini SD memory card for the handicam<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>- 7.48 US dollars there
versus <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>$47.99 in New Zealand!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We discovered this morning that the Sirius satellite
radio in the van was also a Garmin GPS, so we decided to use it instead of
Carmen (or own GPS). Well, it got us lost trying to find the Isle of Hope and
then Thunderbolt marinas (ones we’d berthed Loopy Kiwi at during the Great
Loop) and we finished up downtown Savannah instead. However, due to its mixup
between River St and River Drive, we actually finished up where we would be
embarking for the cruise the next day. This was just as well as we found a lot
of one way streets that made access difficult, so it was good to have a dry
run. Going back to using Carmen, we finally located Thunderbolt marina and a Walmart
near Isle of Hope<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>where we bought top-up
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">On the way back to the motel, we dropped by the Savannah
Port Authority, where Loopy Kiwi was lifted onto the ship for transport to NZ.
(see the posting on 19<sup>th</sup> April 2013 for details and pix on that). BTW, when
I input the details of the motel into Carmen, I abbreviated “Days Inn Savannah”
to “Days Inn Sav”. Carmen speaks that as “Days in Savings”, which sounds
quirky, but cute! Of course, we found that the phones wouldn’t work as we tried
to add the airtime and had to return to Walmart to remedy. It seems that if you
don’t use a prepay phone in the USA for 6 months, your numbers will be allocated to
someone else, so it took us an hour or so to get new numbers from Tracfone and
get them working again – I don’t think we would bother in future. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</span>- </sup>Savannah <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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to the cruise, and the rental car back to the airport in time to catch the
return bus to the river to arrive in time for lunch. Yesterday’s dry run had
given us good insight into what was necessary to achieve this so we headed down
to River St, arriving at 9am. Oops…….no ship!!! It was supposed to have arrived
last night but had apparently been delayed, so we were quite relieved when it
showed up round the river bend and docked at 9.30. Carolyn and the luggage embarked
10, while I returned the car and bused back – in plenty of time for lunch.
Surprisingly, there are.only 25 passengers for this cruise (the ship can hold
up to 80, and did on the cruise last year). To make matters worse (or better,
depending on your viewpoint), because the ship is returning from its Caribbean
winter season, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>there are 20 crew members
aboard (including 2 Captains) plus a photographer and a lecturer, so the crew/
passenger ratio is almost 1:1. After lunch we did a trolley tour of “Historic
Savannah” – lots of old houses and references to the movie “midnight in the
garden of good and evil” which was filmed there, as well as to “Forrest Gump”,
where the famous park bench scene was shot (the park bench is actually in the
Savannah museum!)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">At the safety briefing after dinner, we were told that
tide times were wrong for travelling the Carolina’s Intracoastal Waterway
during the day – the ship draws 7ft and the US Army Corps of Engineers who
maintain the ICW haven’t been dredging recently (no money). So the choices were;
leave at 3am and use the ICW at high tide, or go out to sea at 5am to reach the
next Port, which would be dependent on weather.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Loopykiwihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345361910464994333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1894348935602167743.post-88684641513042504672019-03-02T15:09:00.000-08:002019-03-02T15:09:22.766-08:00Finishing the Loop #1After the Blount cruise last June, we decided that it was worthwhile enough to warrant booking on their Savannah to Baltimore cruise in April 2019 and thus complete our Great Loop, since Savannah was where we had to stop and ship LK home back in 2013. We also received a 20% discount for booking within 3 weeks of our last cruise, so we went ahead and booked in August. We worked out an itinerary that will include the cruise, followed by a road trip up through New Jersey to New England, returning through Pennsylvania and the Virginias, then back to Washington DC where we will spend 5 days at the Smithsonian - something we have been promising ourselves to do since we first went there in 1989 and found 2 days wasn't enough to see it all. We then fly back to Los Angeles and home. At the end of this trip, there will only be 6 States in the USA that I will not have visited (Iowa, Oklahoma, Kansas, Arkansas, Nth Dakota and Oregon).<br />
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Not quite "crossing our wake", but almost. We will be "cruising" the New Jersey coast by car, rather than by boat, but that is the only non-boating part of the Loop, and we made up for that by doing West Lake Michigan twice! I also get to see where Loopy Kiwi was built, although Silverton aren't there (or anywhere else) any more, for that matter. We will also get to see Mark Twains's house, Mt Washington and its Cog railway, the Martin Guitar factory in Nazareth and visit the Amish in Lancaster, PA (something Carolyn wants to do). There are also plenty of military establishments, historical and Civil War sites to visit during the cruise.<br />
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We made the airline bookings through Air New Zealand and, despite the hassles with United as explained in the last posting on this blog, we decided to use them for the internal sectors in the USA. We figured that, because the baggage problem we had was a "one-off" it was worth the risk as it surely would not happen again??? <b>WRONG!!!</b> All the documentation from Air NZ showed us with a baggage allowance of 2 bags per sector each, but when we looked at the United confirmation, it showed an allowance of only 1 bag on the flight from Washington DC to LA. Long story short... I have contacted United and Air NZ numerous times by email and phone, and everyone agrees that the Air NZ baggage allowance should apply (ie 2 bags/person). However at the time of writing this, the United confirmation still states only 1, and that is what the system will see we we come to check in at Dulles airport. Suffice to say, I will be ready for a scrap this time, and they won't get away with ripping us off again (and the charge is an extra $250 per bag this time!). Watch this space.Loopykiwihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345361910464994333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1894348935602167743.post-79845777443895074152018-08-06T17:26:00.000-07:002018-08-08T15:06:58.696-07:00The aftermath – Hertz, United and other wild animals.<br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">You may recall in an earlier posting that, when we had
the rental car in Denver, I had avoided toll roads to the extent that Carmen
(our GPS) wanted to avoid driving through Yellowstone as there was a State Park
charge which she considered a Toll. So, when we got home, I was a little
surprised to find out we had been charged for a toll in Denver – a mere
NZD10.96 (USD6.90), so it wasn’t a big deal. However when I started to plan for
our next trip, I thought I had better figure out how the rental car/toll road
system works, because there are a few toll roads next time and we need to know
the rules.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">What Hertz (and most rental companies) do is they fit
their cars with transponders that automatically trigger the toll payment. They
then charge the toll on to you BUT with an additional “convenience” fee
(USD4.95 in Hertz’ case). This fee is billed every day that you incur a toll,
no matter how small, so it can add up over a long rental period. Some companies
have a ceiling, but Hertz do not – so it’s a good little money earner for them,
especially since the whole thing is processed by an independent company called “Platepass”.
The thing to do is avoid toll roads – which we thought we had. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">However you can also go on to Platepass’ website and check
the details of the toll charge, so I did. It turns out that the $1.95 toll was
incurred at 1:18pm on 1<sup>st</sup> July on the E470 freeway at Quincy Rd, south
of Denver. “Strange”, I thought, “we never used the E470 and never went South
of Denver”??? Furthermore, at 3.37pm on the same day, I was buying a Tee shirt
from the gift shop at the Crazy Horse memorial in Sth Dakota, some 400 miles
away! Since even Hertz cars can’t do 200mph, we figured there was something
wrong, so I emailed Platepass with all the above and asked for an explanation.
All we got back was a credit for the USD6.90!. Ain’t technology grand….and
easily manipulated!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Then there was United and their luggage rort, as
explained on the last post (4<sup>th</sup> July). A couple of days after we got
back, I rang Air New Zealand’s customer service and explained what had happened.
She looked through our<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>booking and said
that there was nothing wrong with the way it had been done, that we were
entitled to 2 pieces per passenger, and that United should have honoured the “legal
and binding contract” that was our E-ticket. They opened a complaint file, but
said I would need to approach United for the refund first as; “they were the
ones who had taken your money”.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The following day, I contacted United through their
website “comments” form – the only way you can make any complaint of this
nature. I gave details of the issue and attached copies of the relevant
documents.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I also rang my bank and told them the story, and got
pretty much the same answer as from Air NZ, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>as I had “authorized the transaction’ by
allowing then to bill my credit card. However they were quite interested when I
pointed out that the demand was illegal and payment was only made under the
duress of being denied boarding unless it was paid. Both the bank and Air NZ
sent me follow-up emails requesting copies of documents and the outcome of my discussions
with United. A couple of days later I got one from United saying they would
investigate, but had not received the documents, so could I send them again.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Two weeks afterwards, I got an email from United that
basically says; <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“even though Air NZ’s ticket showed the correct baggage allowance, our
system didn’t. The agent was doing her job in collecting the money, as she is
ordered to do – and we are sorry you were inconvenienced.<o:p></o:p></i></b></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We
don’t know how the mistake happened, but we’re not in the habit of giving money
back….you should have argued more at the counter. However, we can see that you
wouldn’t be allowed to board unless you paid so, as a favour, this one time
only, we’ll refund what we extorted from you. Next time, though, argue a bit harder
and ask to see a supervisor, even if you’re told you are already as high as you
can go.<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Thank
you for choosing United. I hope we have an opportunity to welcome you on
board again in the future. ” </span></i></b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">That last line is a direct
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demanded they give me an apology, which is probably why it seemed to be given somewhat
begrudgingly. A few days later the money appeared on my credit card statement.
With exchange rate difference and bank fees, I am still down $1.04, but I don’t
think I will chase them for it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">On a lighter note…I mentioned in a previous post (26<sup>th</sup>
June) that shortly after we left Denver for Casper, we turned off the freeway
because of traffic at a place called Firestone and bought lunch. On the way
back to the freeway, we saw in the distance what appeared to be the parachute
canopies of a bunch of skydivers. However, as we got closer, we could see it
was a flock of very large birds. They were pure white, but with jet black tips
on their wings, and looked like herons – but much bigger. I figured they were some
local wildlife and expected we would see more during our travels and would find
out what they were later. We never saw them again, and they completely slipped
my mind until something on TV last night reminded me to look them up. After a brief
internet search, I discovered they were Whooping Cranes that live in Alberta
Canada, and migrate down a narrow corridor to Texas each year. The
interesting thing is that their major route is down through the Dakotas,
Nebraska, and Arkansas, and they are rarely seen as far west as Colorado. What’s
more, there are only around 600 of them in existence, so it is rare to see them
at all. They are very endangered – 1n 1941 there were only 23 in the world, and
there is a conservation website where you report sightings of them (so I did). They
are America’s tallest bird, with a wingspan of 2.3 metres (7.5ft) and we got to
see 7 or 8 of them, in the wild and in flight!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">You may also recall that on 29<sup>th</sup> July , as we
were leaving Yellowstone, we came across a couple of animals that didn’t show
on the list, but looked like “deer or antelope”. It turned out I was right - <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>they are Pronghorn Antelope and, strangely,
aren’t antelope at all. They just look like them and, in fact, there closest
relatives are giraffes and Okapi. Pronghorns main claim to fame is that they
can run!!! They can reach up to 55mph and run at 30mph for 20 miles. The
cheetah (world’s fastest animal) can run faster at 60mph, but can only keep it
up for 700 metres, so the Pronghorn can pretty well outrun anything that wants to eat it (other
than us, of course – cain’t outrun a bullet).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">So there y’go<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Loopykiwihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345361910464994333noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1894348935602167743.post-89336319457096527862018-07-05T19:31:00.002-07:002018-07-06T20:48:31.988-07:00Going home<br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Another fine and hot day in Colorado. There is a large wildfire
burning not too far from the city – the largest in Colorado records - and today
is forecast hot (36C) and dry. And they are selling fireworks at every freeway
interchange to let off tomorrow for Independence Day. We drove to the other side
of the city to a large shopping complex that included a Skechers outlet shoe
store – Carolyn’s favourite. We did another couple of stores, but it was so hot
and the week of driving and altitude got at me a bit so we retires back to the
hotel and relaxed for the afternoon, until I took the car back. Speaking of
which, we were really sad to see it go – Carolyn wanted to keep it. It turns
out we lucked in as these vans are usually around double the price as the model
car we had ordered. But a few days before we rented, a huge hailstorm had hit
the rental car lots at Denver airport and around 500 cars were written off. Hertz were so low on
the model that we had ordered that they had started using other model groups to supplement
them, so we lucked in <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>at the right time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">By now we had enough stuff to bring home that it was time
to bring out the kit bag I had brought with us for that very purpose. We had
plenty of luggage allowance (2 checked bags each) showing on our Air NZ <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>E-tickets and as we were getting a rental in
LA it wasn’t going to be a hassle with just one extra bag................right????<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Wednsday 4<sup>th</sup> July.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Wrong...what we hadn’t taken into account was the “United
Airlines Effect”. We arrived good and early at the airport and began check-in
using their self-service kiosks. First we noticed our seat numbers had changed.
Moving on, we got to the “number of bags” section and put in 3, which we now
had. This brought up that we had an entitlement of only 1 bag each and the “additional”
bag would cost us $135 (US). We stopped the process, called for assistance and
showed them our documentation showing we had an allowance of 4 checked bags, and
were taken to an agent to sort it out. After about 15 minutes on her computer,
she announced that Air NZ had bungled the ticket booking (sounds familiar – always someone else’s fault) and that the details of our International travel were not
included in the United reservation therefore the additional charge applied. We
continued to protest, and she was "very understanding of our concerns", but was
unable to do anything about it as, until the $135 was paid, she couldn’t proceed
with our boarding. Which left us with the invidious choice of coughing up the 135 bucks or staying in
Denver forever (not much of a choice really) so with time to argue running out,
we reluctantly paid United’s extorted and exorbitant fee. Of course we will be
taking it up with Air NZ when we get home – I want my money back!!!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Once again, the plane was completely full – but we had
seats in an exit row (United normally charge an extra $35 for those), and we
were in group 2 for boarding – which meant we kept our carry-on luggage with us
instead of having it confiscated and put in the hold (but that’s another story).
However, it was a quick flight to LA, where we next had to deal with “Hertz and
the declining credit card” (sounds like a Harry Potter movie title, eh?).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">On arrival at Hertz, I allowed the agent to start the rental
process but, shortly after he did, I asked him to check my credit card in their
system as I had had problems with Hertz in other locations. He immediately
asked if it had been declined, and when I said, “yes”, he told me that Hertz
knew it was an issue, thanked me for the “heads up “ on it, and told me that he
had a remedy if it declined there……which it did. However, within 10 minutes of
knowing it declined, he had put his “fix” into effect, and we had a rental car,
without having to fall back on Carolyn’s credit card. He also told me that it
was a well-known glitch in Hertz’s system, but they didn’t like to admit to it
and found it easier to lay the blame on the customer.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The roads around LA were relatively quiet, but the some
of the drivers that were out were behaving like lunatics. Either they were
running late getting where they were going, or had partaken of too many independence
day lunchtime bevies. But we got to our motel in one piece then set out to do
the remainder of our shopping while it was cool and quiet. We were staying in Torrance,
which is about 12 miles south of LAX airport. It has a huge mall (Del Amo
Centre) and all the usual shops. One of the main streets, Crenshaw Blvd, also
runs through Hawthorne where Elon Musk’s Spacex rocketship factory is – so we
had to take a drive up there for a nosey.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">By early evening, we had pretty much done the shopping
and decided to go to a restaurant in Del Amo that we had been to before, called
BJ’s Brewhouse. However right next door was Vegas Seafood Buffet, an Asian buffet
restaurant that I had noticed on Google Maps, so we decided to take a look. One
look was enough to spy the crab’s legs and HUGE raw oysters, so in we went! It
would have to be the most amazing seafood buffet I have seen since I went to
one in Houston in 1984 (when Alaskan crab was readily available and dirt
cheap). The oysters were massive and very, very tasty – on a par with the best
Pacific I have ever had. They had dozens of Chinese dishes as well as sushi and
sashimi and teppanyaki. Plus Brazilian style skewers, roasted lamb and beef and
other western accompaniments. All for $28 per head. Sorry, no camera or even
phone – so no pix.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">By the time we got back to the motel, it was getting
towards dark – around 8.30pm – and the fireworks were starting. Within 15
minutes, it sounded and looked like you were watching CNN during the assault on
Baghdad during Gulf War 2. I got some good video footage, including fire
engines screaming past, but all too big to post here. This was still going on
when we retired at 10.30pm.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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relax before heading to the airport. We had been there before, many years ago,
but it wasn’t as “well developed”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(ie
squillions of T shirt shops expensive food stalls and tattoo parlours (as well
as wacky backy shops). But it was nice to be near the sea again. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We had to get
the rental back to Hertz by 2.00pm (or pay for another day) which left us at
the airport around 2.30pm for our 10.30pm flight. Fortunately here, you can
check-in and get to the lounge even that far out. We checked in our bags and
got our boarding passes and, whoopee, got our upgrade – so lie down beds on the
way home, which will do my swollen ankles some good, I hope.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">So here we are - I am writing this up in the Star Alliance lounge
in LA, waiting to board our plane so we can head home to winter. Yippee.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Loopykiwihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345361910464994333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1894348935602167743.post-70066476238378955792018-07-02T20:16:00.000-07:002018-07-02T20:16:18.382-07:00Cowboys and Indians<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Saturday 30</span><sup style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">th</sup></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Another fine day as we took the 1 hour journey to the
site of the Battle the Little Big Horn/Custer’s last stand. It was an
interesting place, and more interesting was the different perspective put on
the battle by the Indian people compared to what was in popular culture.
Growing up, when we played “cowboys and Indians”, the cowboys/cavalry were
always the goodies, while the redskins were the Baddies. It turns out it wasn’t
quite like that – Custer was a bit of a mean guy and self-proclaimed “indian
fighter”, who didn’t mind knocking off a few women and children to intimidate
the enemy. So, when they attacked here, Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse and Co.
weren’t prepared to let that happen – hence the defeat of the 7<sup>th</sup>
Cavalry and the demise of General George Armstrong Custer. Another interesting thing
I learned is that there is no such Indian tribe as the Sioux. That name isn’t
even a word in any language but was made up as a result of miscommunication
between the French trappers and the Chippewa people. Later the US Government
found it convenient to use it for the Indians in the Great Plains area, who
were actually, the Dakota, Lakota and Nakota tribes - It was the Lakota (and
their Cheyenne allies) that wupped Custer. Another thing I learned is that the
7<sup>th</sup> Cavalry weren’t all American born – about 40% were foreigners,
mainly Irish and Germans. Also they weren’t all wiped out – about 350 survived
and it was they who buried the dead over the next few days. There are marble
markers all over the fields that show where the soldiers (and a few indian warriors)
fell, but all the bodies were later exhumed (1881) and buried under the
monument on top of the hill – except for the officers whose bodies were exhumed
earlier (1877) and buried throughout the country. Custer is buried at West
Point (been past there in a boat!). A lot of horses were shot by their riders
at the bitter end and used as cover, and there is a separate burial ground for
them at the top of the hill – which I thought was kind of nice.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Unfortunately, the LBH site was interesting enough to put
us 1 ½ hours behind schedule, so we didn’t reach Devils Tower until 3.30pm.
Fortunately, though, Devils Tower is Devils Tower – a big hunk of rock visible
from miles around and you don’t need to get up close and personal (besides,
everyone has seen “Close encounters of the third kind”, haven’t they?). So we
just stopped by the roadside, and at the Trading Post (and had a beer) and took
the pics</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Then on to Deadwood, where we arrived around 5pm. By now
we had figured the 6 hour drive back to Denver on Monday was going to be a long
day, without taking into account a stop at the Crazy Horse memorial. So we
decided that we would try and fit in both Mt Rushmore and the Crazy Horse
memorial in the one day, tomorrow, since they were only about an hour away from
Deadwood. We had allowed tomorrow morning to sightsee around the “rustic old
frontier town” of Deadwood, but it turned out to be everything but. In fact
Deadwood is a microcosmic Las Vegas and was jammed full of young adults
partying. We went to a famous old hotel/casino for dinner and ended up waiting
over 2 hours to get a table. The only real bonus was that there is a $1 per
ride trolley bus that does a circuit of the hotels into town every 15 minutes
of so, which is great because you can’t get parking in town anyway. The Alaskan
crab legs at the buffet were plentiful and yummy, but their prime rib was less
than ordinary – I think I will give up on it in the USA. It used to be one of
the things I lusted after over here, but cannot remember when I last had a “memorable”
prime rib (other than when I cook it myself).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The streets don’t look that full, but that’s because
everyone’s in the casinos. BTW I won $3 on the pokies – Carolyn lost 20.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Sunday 1<sup>st</sup> July<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Since it was only an hour to our next destination, Keystone,
we decided to have a lay in until 9am (we had seen enough of Deadwood, anyway).
Once over there, we decided to go to the monuments straight away as we couldn’t
check in to our motel until 3pm. First we went to Mt Rushmore and found ourselves
in a mile long queue to the entrance. Now Mt Rushmore is a bit like Devils Tower,
in that it’s just a bit of rock carved to look like US Presidents, so we pulled
over to the side of the road, took some pix, and headed off for the Crazy Horse
memorial.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Originally we had planned to spend 2 hours here on our
way back to Denver tomorrow. However, we arrived at 11.30 am and left just
before 4pm. It really is a fantastic place and we were so pleased to have
changed our itinerary. Apart from the monument and the museum, we were also
entertained by traditional Indian singing and dancing, and a performance by
Brule, a band that plays a fusion of native American and modern music. The
memorial is a mountain carving (like Mt Rushmore) of Crazy Horse on his horse,
and was started in 1948. Rather than try and describe it all here, I suggest
you take a look at: <a href="https://crazyhorsememorial.org/the-mountain.html">https://crazyhorsememorial.org/the-mountain.html</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Keystone was a bit like we expected Deadwood to be, but
still very touristy. Tomorrow is a big drive day – 6 hours to Denver – but we
have decided also to take a slightly different route and come back via
Nebraska.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Monday 2<sup>nd</sup> July<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We left Keystone at 8am in 15C (60F) temperature, and
arrived at our hotel in Denver at 4.30pm in 35C (96F). We had stopped at a few
spots in Nebraska to check out the shops (Walmart, Kmart and Shopko) and
definitely not have been able to spend the time at Crazy Horse we would have
liked so, again, were very pleased we changed our schedule. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We have traveled
1800 miles in the past week and visited 5 new states; Wyoming, Montana, Idaho,
Sth Dakota and Nebraska (we had been to Colorado before – though just passing
through). Tomorrow is a rest day (and maybe some shopping) and rearranging the
luggage for the flight to LA on July 4<sup>th</sup>. Then some more last minute
shopping and home<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And we have already decided that we <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">will </i></b>take the Blount
cruise next year from Savannah to Baltimore and effectively finish the Great
Loop.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Loopykiwihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345361910464994333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1894348935602167743.post-35199542995190792032018-07-01T09:01:00.000-07:002018-07-01T09:01:33.838-07:00Yellowstone and Old Fizzer<br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Thursday 28th</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We got away from Cody good and early to enter the Eastern
entrance, cut through the middle of the Park and spend the night at West
Yellowstone, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>just the other side of the
Western Entrance. However, we immediately found ourselves arguing with Carmen
(our GPS) over the direction we were heading, as she was insisting we drive in
the opposite direction to the entrance to Yellowstone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After some deliberation we found she was set
to avoid toll roads and, as she considered the State Park fee to be a toll, she
was going to take us on a 5 hour, 300 mile trip around the top of the park to
get to West Yellowstone, where we would see nothing but freeways. A quick
change to the settings and off we went for the 133 mile journey as planned.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Once you leave Cody (elevation 5000 feet) you travel the
Buffalo Bill Highway through the Buffalo Bill State Park, past the Buffalo Bill
reservoir formed by the Buffalo Bill Dam – there seems to be a fixation about
this fellow around here. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Once in the Park, you climb to around 8000ft to cross the
Sylvan Pass before descending to Yellowstone Lake. There is still snow on the
surrounding mountains and at the summit of the pass, and a few kids were
skidding around on it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Coming down towards the lake we found a bunch of cars
just stopped on the side of the road and teams of people out of their cars an
milling about. We thought there had been an accident, but it turns out that
someone had spotted a Grizzly Bear in the trees and they just stop dead to see
it, regardless of the traffic. We later deduced that that was the best way to
know there was wildlife about – watch for the stopped cars and pointy tourists.
.Anyway, we got to see him too and was our first encounter with the Yellowstone
fauna.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">After the lake we continued around towards the “West
Thumb” on the way to the “Old Faithful” geyser and happened upon our second
encounter – this time with Bison (but not to be the last)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We stopped to buy some lunch at the General store by the
lake and found this guy just wandering around among the tourists and
businesses. In the store, we also got a taste of just how many people we were
going to encounter in the park.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">A couple of miles further on, we passed a small herd of
female Elk grazing in a paddock and then just a couple of miles further, we
came to another “tourist jam” looking at a large male in the forest by the
roadside.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">From there it was up and over the Continental divide
(8391 feet) and on to “Old Faithful”, arriving just as it finished playing.
However, it took us another 15 minutes of driving around looking for a car park
and avoiding the squillions of tourists who were leaving after the event. We
finally found a park, had some lunch and figured by the time we got to the
benches by the geyser, it would be about 45 minutes from the last eruption and
ready to go again. We got a good spot and sat and waited….and waited….and
waited…in the hot sun. Finally, after 50 minutes, “Old Faithful” sputtered into
life and promptly stopped. Another 15 minutes and a couple more sputterings,
and it finally burst into life. I have seen Pohutu erupt in Rotorua several
times and was expecting something far more spectacular – in fact it was
considerable disappointment. Unlike Pohutu, with its thumping and whooshing,
O.F just makes a noise like a squirting fire hose (and looks a bit like one
too). It didn’t even go as high as I have seen Pohutu go.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We both walked away feeling like we had been robbed – but
the eighty or so bajillion tourists around seemed satisfied. However as we were
leaving the carpark, we stopped at a pedestrian crossing for some of the horde,
and a huge Bison stepped out from behind a bus and casually strolled by in
front of us. We were so shocked we didn’t have time to get a pic of him, but
seconds later, another one did the same and Carolyn got video of him walking
right in front of us as bold as brass (it's 28MB, so too big to load onto the post)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">By now we were about Yellowstoned out, so we hit the road
for our overnight stay at West Yellowstone, which is in Montana, and just
outside the Western entrance to the park. Since it was only 3.30pm and the
motel’s check-in time was 4pm, we decided to drive to Idaho, since we had never
been there and it was only 9 miles away. So we did and stopped at Howard
Springs Wayside Area in the Targhee National Forest, Idaho, turned round and
went back to check in to our motel. So in less than an hour, we had been
in<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>3 different states, and one of them
twice!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYADxAU7VaAA5114WwbM7BzeSVW8tl0AKzj9-4W5uod9f962NyK03TYemX_QaVlLLOB0CEN01FR1bjcblFzvF9pnCGR3XHVT_qjqm8zQh15M52ypMw7AbeobG3tynlsC4A2tXUYifhUFY/s1600/DSC00701.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYADxAU7VaAA5114WwbM7BzeSVW8tl0AKzj9-4W5uod9f962NyK03TYemX_QaVlLLOB0CEN01FR1bjcblFzvF9pnCGR3XHVT_qjqm8zQh15M52ypMw7AbeobG3tynlsC4A2tXUYifhUFY/s400/DSC00701.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">West Yellowstone is a small resort town and we went
downtown to get some groceries. It took us 10 minutes to get a park at the
supermarket and every bar and restaurant had queues waiting to get in.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Up until now, we have had incredibly good weather – if anything
it has been too hot. However, the forecast was that this was about to change
and tomorrow the temperature in Yellowstone was expected to plummet into the
single digits (in degrees C) with thunderstorms - and this for the day that we
planned to drive the scenic Beartooth Highway, where the temperature was
forecast to be -1 at midday.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Friday 29<sup>th</sup><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">At 7am the sky was overcast and black. And, as forecast,
it 7.30 it started to hail, and then heavy rain which eased enough for us to pack
up and leave. It rained all the way to Mammoth Springs and the temperature was
5C, about 20 below what it was yesterday. We also encountered about 10 miles of
roadworks, with a half hour delay to even cross them, b ut there were still
plenty of tourists when we reached the thermal area – all about with their
brollies and raincoats. We weren’t much in the mood for picture taking, sorry<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXiaJy_rqzNzmTSbnYyHq2cDWR8s9XTpGEND_guSqswqKGSfRPZE51vhp643sU5c3-CqFNBmMcHGHj2H9xpOggkN3nSF8k6LPBHVSjoZE9vO2F-YIPETWVy2BV_OtepQAochY1p_qlql4/s1600/DSC00704.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXiaJy_rqzNzmTSbnYyHq2cDWR8s9XTpGEND_guSqswqKGSfRPZE51vhp643sU5c3-CqFNBmMcHGHj2H9xpOggkN3nSF8k6LPBHVSjoZE9vO2F-YIPETWVy2BV_OtepQAochY1p_qlql4/s400/DSC00704.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">At this point we had to decide whether to go straight out
of the park and go to Billings, or take the risk of going to the Northeast
entrance and over the Beartooth pass and see little, if the rain persisted. In
the end we opted for the riskier option, since the pass was something we had really
looked forward to. About 10 miles from the entrance to the park, the rain
stopped and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>we came across these 2
grazing by the side of the road, with the usual attendance of tourists.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">We don’t know yet what they are as they don’t show on any
of the lists of animals in Yellowstone, but they appear to be some kind of deer
or antelope. There were also herds and herds of Bison across the river flats,
but we had plenty of pix of them up close so we didn’t bother taking more.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">As we exited the park and began to climb towards
Beartooth, the rain stopped completely and the clouds cleared and we began to
get to see the surrounding scenery. Carolyn had bought a jacket at Mammoth
Springs and had decided to wear it afterwards.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">When we had a pit stop at Beartooth Lake, we were at 9000
feet and there was plenty of snow on the ground<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And by the time we reached the top of the pass at 10950
feet, there were even people skiing up there. However, the weather from
Yellowstone was quickly heading our way and just after we took the pix below,
it began to snow – so we thought we had better skedaddle. (BTW take a close
look at the guy in the middle of the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
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the valley below while the others looked on with binoculars – another good
reason to skedaddle!)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The road winds down the side of the mountains for 22
miles and drops from 10000 ft to around 5500 at the bottomof the valley, but
only goes a couple of miles horizontally. It was raining and the road was
winding and quite busy – so, sorry, no pics.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We continued our descent into Billings , Montana and, for
the first time in <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>over a week were below
“mile high” status at a mere 3160 ft.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">On the subject of elevations, we have been amazed how many cyclists we have seen on this part of the trip. From Casper to Cody, all through Yellowstone, and even over the Beartooth pass. Apart from the steep grades, you get breathless enough just walking around, let alone riding a bike. You don't have to be crazy to do it, but it probably helps!</span></div>
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<br />Loopykiwihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345361910464994333noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1894348935602167743.post-75833178627560303972018-06-28T21:06:00.001-07:002018-06-28T21:06:12.140-07:00The Wild West<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Monday <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>25<sup>th</sup><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">After a farewell cocktail party and dinner last night,
there was a performance by a singer/songwriter, Lance Brown, who was great. He
also taught guitar, so I asked him if he would take mine and donate it to some
needy student, which he agreed to do. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Blount had organized a shuttle to take us to the airport,
and we got out there in plenty of time to get trouble free to our
very-full-again plane.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We arrived in Denver at 1.30pm and went straight to the hotel
in its airport shuttle as it was too early to get the rental car at that time.
So at 4.30, I took the Hotel shuttle back to the airport and then the Hertz
shuttle to the off-airport rental lot – leaving Carolyn at the hotel having a nap.
And …Yup…Hertz declined my credit card again. I insisted that my card was OK,
having used it dozens of times in the past few weeks in the USA, but was told
there was nothing they could do so “go away and check with my bank”. As Carolyn
was not with me, we couldn’t do the same trick as Houston, so I tried to get to
another rental company, but the lots are huge and separated by barbed wire
fences. So I took the Hertz shuttle back to the airport and the hotel shuttle back
to the hotel and rang the bank in NZ. They informed me that there was nothing wrong
with the card and there was no record of Hertz trying to authorize a payment
with it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">So, armed with this information and with Carolyn for backup,
we shuttled our way back to Hertz and confronted them with this information.
The agent gave it a go, and the card was declined, however he then told me
(rather reluctantly) that Hertz were having a lot of problems with Mastercard
transactions being declined b y their new system– and accepted it was their problem, not mine. So
they persisted and after 3 attempts using different methods, they could not
break through the Mastercard barrier. So I said; “how about you bill my wife’s
card but waive the fee for me being the extra driver”. “Can’t do that”, they
said – but then another lady came over and told the agent to “just do it”. So, after some creative accounting, we finally got our rental car from Hertz for
the original contract price - a mere 2½ <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>hours and 4 different agents asking the same
questions. We were given a choice from the “full size” lot and selected a mini
van for ease of luggage handling. We didn’t realize until we got to the exit,
that it had 2 miles on the odometer!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Tuesday <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>26<sup>th</sup><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Early –ish (8.30) start for Casper WY, but half an hour
out of Denver, the traffic came to a halt on the freeway. We followed a few
cars that turned off heading for the boonies, and finished up at a place called
Firestone, where there turned out to be a large shopping centre. So we stopped
at a supermarket (not Walmart) and got the makings of a cut lunch, and by the
time we got back to the freeway, the traffic was flowing again.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Casper was a long drive and we were a bit weary to start,
but the van is quite comfortable and easy to drive. Not only does it have
cruise control, but collision avoidance radar – so almost all you need to do on
the freeway is steer! Tons of room and the seats recline – Carolyn found a
relaxing position<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">However, we arrived at the hotel before check-in time so
we visited the “Trail Interpretive Centre” which was much like the one we went
to in Nevada 2 years ago except it chronicled the settlers journeys up to
Casper and Fort Laramie, whereas the other one was for the continuation to Oregon
and California. It wasn’t quite as good as the Nevada one, but still pretty
interesting.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We also found that there was a dinosaur museum (The Tate)
attached to the local College, so we went up and took a look before going to
the hotel. They are presently working on a T-Rex that is encased in stone, but
is a full skeleton and will be the only one in existence when finished – the next
most complete T-Rex being “Stan” at 65% complete and parts of him are on
display here also.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Wednesday <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>27<sup>th</sup><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Our hotel room had a door that backed onto the indoor
pool area and dining room where a buffet breakfast was served from 6-9am. I
woke at 5.40 and looked out the window to see a queue from the buffet lining
out the corridor. When we went over at 7am, the buffet was wiped out –
absolutely nothing left. Apparently 2 busloads of tourists had checked out
early and dealt to everything that didn’t move. The kitchen began to refill the
dishes after they left, but we couldn’t wait that long and headed off for Cody
and the Wild West.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The route took us over some rolling hills covered with
oil wells and buried pipelines…and not much else. I had noticed that we only
had 93 miles worth of fuel left, but figured (this being oil country) that
there would be plenty of gas stations along the way. Wrong. Halfway to the next
town, I calculated that we should make it with 12 miles left in the tank…but no
guarantee. Then we flew past a small hotel in the middle of nowhere <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and Carloyn reckoned she saw gas pumps
outside. So we turned around and, sure enough, they had a battered petrol and
diesel pump – with petrol at 3.259/gallon. So I opted for $10 worth to last us
till the next (cheaper) stop. She duly worked it out on the calculator and out
in 3.7 gallons and off we went. We carried on to Shoshoni and then through a
spectacular gorge to a town called Thermopolis, where we stopped to refuel. On
the way I got to thinking that $10 worth of petrol should only be about 3
gallons at $3.25 and got out my phone and calculated that it should have been
3.07 gallons, not the 3.7 she put in. That meant we paid 2.70 a gallon for it,
which was a whole lot better that the $2.95 we paid in Thermopolis. However,
honest as I am, I wasn’t about to go back the 73 miles and tell her of her
mistake.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Thermopolis, apparently, is famous for its hot springs
(hence the name). However, it also is a Dinosaur dig site and has a very large
museum – they just don’t make it easy to find. But find it we did, and we could
have gone on a 2 hour tour to the dig site, which would have been neat, but we
didn’t have the time. So we took more pix on dino bones, (some of which were a
bit different and pointed out defects caused by disease, injuries and just
plain old “old age”), bought the T shirt, and headed off to Cody.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Where we arrived at 1pm and were able to check in
straight away. This gave us time to go to the Buffalo Bill Centre of the West,
which is truly awesome. It has 5 separate galleries and is huge. One is for
Bill (of course), one for the plains Indians, one for art, one for natural
history and one for guns. There was too much too see and too many pics to talk
about here. I stopped taking pix of the gun gallery as there are over 7000 of
them on show, so I will just post up a selection of the more interesting ones<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Before we got back to our hotel, we checked out the Cody
Cattle Company two doors down. Here they have a live concert and a dinner and
for the “Trifecta” price of $47, you get those plus tickets to the night rodeo
just down the street. So that’s what we did. The Show was a group named “Triple
C Cowboys” and the leader, Ryan Martin, is one of the most amazing flat picking
guitarists I have ever seen. I got video, but the acoustics sucked, and I see
he has stuff on you tube – so check him out. The food was basic “Chuck Wagon”
stuff, but delicious and plenty of it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Then on to the rodeo (and another T shirt). It was very
showey and a little tacky with the advertising, and the commentator sounded
like a cross between Billie Graham and Michael Buffer (the guy that announces
on heavyweight boxing). But it was a bit of fun and Carolyn was right into it,
until the young boy on the penultimate bull ride got stomped by the bull right
in front of us and was stretchered off after10 minutes to a waiting ambulance. It
wasn’t so much the sight of the guy being worked on as it was the near eulogy about him that our commentator was giving us – including a somber “Amazing Grace” in the
background!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">However, the kid waved to the crowd as he left – so he
weren’t daid – and apparently it’s the most common way these guys get injured –
trying to ride around on something that don’t want to be rid!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />Loopykiwihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345361910464994333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1894348935602167743.post-64482082740729163022018-06-25T14:55:00.000-07:002018-06-25T14:55:34.237-07:00Week 2 - Buffalo NY to Chicago<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Monday 18</span><sup style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> June</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We left Buffalo the night before at 6pm and cruised
overnight to Cleveland OH. The wind had picked up a little in the morning and
it was a little bumpy as we neared the harbor, so the skipper took us in the
Eastern entrance of the 5 mile long breakwater to get to the river that we were
to moor at for the day. This was on the west side of the river, opposite the
city – so not a lot to do unless you took transport over there. However, on the
way in we did see the vessel Niagara, a US warship going back to the
revolutionary wars, and a B-17 “Flying Fortress” (another WW2 bomber) overflew
us as well and landed at the small airport we passed on the way in along the
breakwater. I got pix of the Niagara, but was too slow to get the B-17 – so
you’ll just have to take my word for it (although another passenger got a pic
and said he would email it to me)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We left Cleveland at 10pm that night after a pump-out and
refuel (we pump out at every port as the ship can’t go too long without doing
so, with the number of passengers aboard).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Another overnight passage had us at Wyandotte, MI by
morning. This cutsie little town is in the Detroit river, just south of the
City of Detroit so there was a tour to the Ford factory and museum that Dennis
went on, but we didn’t. Instead I walked to the laundromat a mile or so away
and did a pile of much needed laundry. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Later that day, the skipper announced that he had decided
to leave Wyandotte at midnight, instead of 6am the following morning, as he was
concerned that a front moving over Lake Huron may give us some uncomfortable
conditions on the 30 hour transit of the Lake to Mackinac Island. I figured on
playing some guitar that night, but couldn’t find my thumbpick. I then
remembered putting it in my pocket the night before (along with my songlist),
so I checked the shorts I had worn – which, of course, had been through the
wash at the laundromat. The songlist was papier mache in the pocket, and the
thumpick was gone – obviously now resident of the 2<sup>nd</sup> washing
machine from the front door of the Wyandotte coin laundry.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The earlier departure was a disappointment as I had
wanted to see the river and Lake St Clair, but we would now be transiting them
in the early hours of the morning. However we would be going down the St Clair
river and past Sarnia (Canada) by dawn, so I planned on rising early to get
these.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">I rose at 5.45am and found we were still in the St Clair
river, around 2 hours from the entrance to Lake Huron. This river flows very
fast – around 2 -3 knots – and some quite large ships use it as it is the main
thoroughfare between Lakes Superior, Michigan and Huron to the Welland canal
and St Lawrence seaway.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Around 8am, we passed under the bridge between the USA
and Canada at Sarnia and entered Lake Huron. This where we had had to go in
2012 to get a 3 week extension on our permission to stay in the USA<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>when we first started the Loop (see “ further
down the blog”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Since there would not be much to see for the rest of the
day, after breakfast I put my mind to the thumbpick issue and decided I would
try to make one. So with the materials of a plastic picnic knife from one of
the hotels we had stayed and a bic lighter from one of the ship’s staff, I
managed to craft this implement – which may not look flash, but works.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">The skipper’s fears of bad weather proved unfounded as
the wind dropped and by mid afternoon, the lake was oily calm, and this continued
all night as we headed towards Mackinac (pronounced Mackinaw) Island.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">However, by the time we arrived at St Ignace for a pumpout
before proceeding to Mackinac (no pumpout facilities there), the wind was
blowing around 15 kts ENE – which is a cold wind over here! It kept up for the
short trip to the island and stayed until mid afternoon. Not only does Mackinac
not have pumpout facilities, it also does not have any motor vehicles. What it
has instead is horse drawn carriages and lots and lots and lots of tourists.
There was a ferry coming in about every 10 minutes (some 2 or three at a time)
and they all seemed to be full. The township is small and mainly made up of
tourist stores, tour agents and fudge shops (for which the island is renowned)
– a bit like Waiheke on steroids!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH2c65gn_q-ejyQS600QRvUlo-nqZMvbXNVHNlto_RpJ1rc-Qq49Pgh1Q9DYvrvRHU6Xn7Xj4m_K7v5KYMQgogpGNFn8LRhZ2hE73IK1wq5CW9FbQKN85y-CEe7M7CQlxYR_JR4wW6Hfk/s1600/DSC00457.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH2c65gn_q-ejyQS600QRvUlo-nqZMvbXNVHNlto_RpJ1rc-Qq49Pgh1Q9DYvrvRHU6Xn7Xj4m_K7v5KYMQgogpGNFn8LRhZ2hE73IK1wq5CW9FbQKN85y-CEe7M7CQlxYR_JR4wW6Hfk/s400/DSC00457.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Leaking sump???</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">That night we were treated to a Gordon Lightfoot "Tribute" singer - who, of course, did the "Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" as one of his songs. He was actually quite good</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Friday 22nd</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We were due to leave at midday, but again, the skipper
decided to leave early to take advantage of the current good spell to get
across the open water on Lake Michigan. So we first went back to St Ignace for
another pumpout, fuel up and to load on a new clothes drier to replace the one
that died yesterday (there was a shortage of towels caused by that). We got
underway at 10am and passed under the 5 mile long Mackinac bridge which crosses
the Mackinac Strait and officially separates Lakes Huron and Michigan.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">The Ship is known as a “thousand footer”, or “Laker”, as
they are too long to go through the locks in the Welland Canal, so they just
ply the Great Lakes delivering goods to the ports on them – a lot of iron ore
is shipped to the smelters around the lakes by them.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It turned out that the skipper needn’t have worried about
the conditions, because it was flat calm again all day and during the night<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>run to Manitowoc WI. Around 3am (although we
were not awake to appreciate it) we (showing as the green line) crossed the start/finish (Magenta) line of our Great
Loop journey. This was a line drawn between Sturgeon Bay WI and Frankfort MI,
where it officially<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>began in 2012.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Saturday 23</span><sup style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">rd</sup></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Another warm sunny day – many of the passengers went to
the maritime museum and submarine “Cobia” (one of 28 that were built in
Manitowoc) directly behind the ship. We had seen it when we were last here, so
instead we took a walk downtown and to a small farmers market before stopping
at a famous (in Manitowoc) ice cream shop for the obligatory sample of the
goods.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Manitowoc is the harbor for a steam ferry that runs
across to Ludington MI, several times a day. Its the only coal fired steamer
left on the Great Lakes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We departed for Chicago in fine calm conditions at 4pm,
but immediately turned back as one of the crew had been left behind. An unusual
sight on our departure was that of a recreational vessel being towed in by a US
Coastguard vessel –normally they refuse to do this duty and leave it to private
companies like Towboat US.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Sunday 24<sup>th</sup><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Another POP (plate of porridge) trip overnight to Chicago
and the end of the cruise. We arrived at 6.30am and slowed right up to take
advantage of the photo opportunities given by the conditions. We tied up at
Burnham Harbour, just south of the city downtown, the place where I stayed with
Donna and Alan Huber On their Carver 466 "Alchemist" while shopping for Loopy Kiwi. It
was also overlooked by the apartment of the AGLCA's "Harbour Host" where we went on Labour day in
both 2011 and 2012 for a Loopers Rendez-vous. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">This cruise was 1450 miles long and we have technically
“crossed our wake”, even if there is a piece missing in the middle (and it was
in a different boat). We leave for Denver tomorrow and I should be able to get
this posted to the blog there, as it has been pretty awful trying on the ship.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Then off to the Wild, Wild West!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Loopykiwihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345361910464994333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1894348935602167743.post-44912350165619325162018-06-17T12:05:00.000-07:002018-06-17T12:05:14.651-07:00Oswego NY to Buffalo NY<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Friday 16</span><sup style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">th</sup></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It had been quite windy yesterday down the Oswego canal
causing waves to break across the breakwater at the port.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Although the wind had dropped overnight, it was still up
enough to slow our trip down to Rochester on lake Ontario today, and we arrived
a couple of hours later than scheduled. After lunch, Carolyn and I caught a bus
into the city ($1 pp return fare) and went for a wander downtown. There was not
a lot to see, so we looked for a bar for a cold beer and found East street with
several such establishments. There was one on the other side of the road that
had murals of people playing musical instruments and a sign out from that said “come
on in and ask Stan to play his Oud”, so we figured it was a bar with live music
and went in. Turned out to be a guitar shop and, what’s more, while they didn’t
have any $20 guitars, they did have a couple for $100 that were very playable.
We went back across the road to a real bar and had a beer and a think about it,
then I went over and bought the best of the 2, an Ibanez, complete with gig
bag, so I’ve now got something to play on the ship. It turns out it was so near
new that the scratch board still had the protective peel-off plastic mask on
it. It also has a nice tone and is very loud for a small guitar…and, yes, it is
made in China!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">The skipper advised that we would be getting away earlier
than usual, in case of headwinds or issues locking through the Welland Canal,
as it is very busy at present. So we departed at 10pm for the night crossing to
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Due to traffic, we didn’t get to enter the first lock
until 10.30, so it became obvious we would be unlikely to get through and reach
Buffalo, NY by our scheduled time of 5.00pm. The locks are much bigger than the
Erie Canal locks and about the same size as those on the TennTom waterway, and
locking right through takes an average on 11 hours. Some pretty big ships come
through here<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">While we were in Lock 1, we were overflown by a Lancaster
bomber and, considering there are only 2 flying in the world, it is a pretty
rare sight (BTW I have video footage to prove it – just no stills….. it was so
unexpected)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">As anticipated, we did not leave the canal until
about<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>6pm and duly arrived at Buffalo
around 8pm. Being a Saturday night, there was a lot of activity downtown
including a loud concert and fireworks displays (although no-one could give a
reason for them!) I gave the Ibanez a try out and found it quite a nice instrument.
Nobody threw themselves overboard during the performance, so it can’t have been
too bad!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Sunday 17<sup>th</sup><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It was forecast to be hot and it was. Most of the
passengers are heading off on excursions to Niagara Falls but, since we were
there last year, we have decided to stay aboard. I went for a wander down to
the Military Park, about a mile down the road, but decided to not visit the
Destroyer, Cruiser and submarine exhibited there as I am about done with
running up and down steep gangways and ladders and squeezing through tight
spaces for a while. But it was an interesting walk – the Erie canal’s original
entrance was right there (it has been recently restored after being buried for
about 100 years after they made a new entrance further up river). I also came
across a couple of cheeky squirrels that were the first I<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>had seen so far this trip and the first for a
while with the bushy tails.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">BTW, and although we expected it, the stateroom is kinda
tiny! This pic shows the two beds, one partly hidden by the bathroom and
shower. Its quite a bit smaller than the staterooms on Loopy Kiwi, but its comfy
and has the same airconditioning units, so we know how to drive them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Another thing I’ve not mentioned so far is the meals: For
breakfast there is a buffet with cereals, fruit salads etc and then we are
served a hot course, which is usually 2 items per day, such as eggs benedict
and hash browns.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Lunch is a soup, followed by a sandwich or salad, and
cookies</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Dinner is an appetizer, then a choice of 2 mains and 2
desserts, and a hot cookie.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Last night it was ribs – and they were as good as the
best of Muldoons. The other main was chicken, both served with a baked potato
and corn on the cob. The desserts were pecan pie or strawberry ice cream and
cookies were butterscotch chip. There is no shortage of food and almost
everybody had seconds of the ribs. Tonight is key lime pie!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">There have been some strange dishes served and some interesting
combinations but, so far, nothing I have been served I have disliked, and most
of it has been excellent!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Beer and wine are complimentary with dinner. Happy hour
between 5.30 and 6.30 is BYO, but they provide all the mixes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />Loopykiwihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345361910464994333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1894348935602167743.post-59461441783536435902018-06-17T08:47:00.000-07:002018-06-17T08:47:43.290-07:00On the Loop again - NYC to Oswego NY<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Sunday 10<sup>th</sup> June<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">A quick cab ride to Chelsea Pier, where we embarked
aboard Grande Caribe for the cruise to Chicago and the continuation of our
Great Loop adventure of 6 years ago. Shortly after embarking, we found Dennis
and Kathy (who had boarded yesterday) and, since Grande Caribe is a “Bring your
own grog” ship, Dennis and I went off foraging for beer. This we found at a CVS
Pharmacy about 15 minute’s walk away – we also tried a guitar shop to see if
they had a real cheap guitar I could<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>use
on the cruise and ditch afterwards – but nothing was available, so there went
that idea.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The cruise got underway at 4.30pm and stared by going
downstream to the statue of liberty, before turning back up the Hudson. We got
better views of the landmarks from the boat, as in the city there are just too
many tall buildings to see the tall buildings! Even something as large as the
Aircraft Carrier “Intrepid” was hard to pick out from amongst them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">This is pier 60 that the cruise started from – the
structure behind the superyacht (named “Kisses”) is a golf driving range!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">There was a “Welcome aboard” cocktail party with hors d’ouvres
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>that night and we stopped overnight at a
small<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>park area called Bear Mountain.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Monday 11<sup>th</sup><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">From Bear mountain, the first stop was a short distance
to Westpoint Military Academy, where some passengers were ferried ashore, as
the ship was not allowed to dock there – being an operational facility. The
river is around 150ft deep at Westpoint so we didn’t anchor and instead stooged
around for the 3 hours or so that the passengers were ashore. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While doing so, we got our first sighting of
Loopers – in this case they were easy to identify by the lack of mast on the
sailboat, and the AGLCA pennant. We have seen a bunch more since, both on the
water, at locks, and stopped at marinas on the riverbanks..<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Westpoint has a large sporting complex and is renowned
for having a good rugby team (rugby is considered a good discipline-building
sport for the military) and you can see the emphasis on this quite clearly on
one of the buildings</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">The Hudson is kinda big and therefore big ships are quite
common. This one passed us by and looked a lot closer in the flesh than it does
in the pic.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The stop for the might was in Kingston (not<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the one in Jamaica) and we tied up alongside
a cutsie museum, where we had free entry. Lots of model boats that I got plenty
of pix of for John two dogs, and other interesting facts…such as where the
Chipmunk gets its name. For those of you that don’t know this remarkable fact,
it is derived from the Lanape indian word “Chitamun”, which means: “he who
comes down a tree headfirst”. So add that to your store of useless information
(or pub quiz questions)!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Tuesday 13<sup>th<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></sup><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We were all woken by the grinding of the bow thruster
(yes it IS noisy) at 5.30am as we got off to an early start to get to Troy and
our first lock to enter the Erie canal system. In order for the Grande Caribe
to use the canal and get under the fixed bridges, it is necessary to clear off
the upper deck and lower the pilothouse so the bridge clearance is 18 ½ feet
(which is actually LOWER than Loopy Kiwi at 19 ½ feet)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3IKo3fCXv9auwQxKGSpM8MFSAFSyYmib23kwMeF6-elT3YFNZBjWd72FJhsiH-bkUIVlcbxbF4nuz4o5s8KZAmf2yaknpuqRHkF0h7Tp-ocEN9LiAqfZC8HQBjWyA5mBL9RFan3y_TH4/s1600/DSC00262.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3IKo3fCXv9auwQxKGSpM8MFSAFSyYmib23kwMeF6-elT3YFNZBjWd72FJhsiH-bkUIVlcbxbF4nuz4o5s8KZAmf2yaknpuqRHkF0h7Tp-ocEN9LiAqfZC8HQBjWyA5mBL9RFan3y_TH4/s400/DSC00262.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I did ask them to pay me the $300 dockage fee, but they wouldn't cough up!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">This was the lowest bridge we went under at 19ft, and I
have video showing just how close we were, and shortly after we went into the
lock immediately in front of it, a couple of trains went over and their weight
drops the bridge by another 4 -6 inches!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">After 11 locks, we stopped for the night alongside lock
11 at Amsterdam, NY (not Holland).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Wednesday 14<sup>th</sup><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Another early start and another 11 locks to Sylvan Beach
on the edge of Lake Onieda, New York. A lot of the canal to here is man-made
alongside the Mohawk river and is straight, narrow, shallow, and pretty boring.
We arrived at Sylva beach, a popular summer resort in New York state, at 8.00pm
and found it was closed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Thursday 15<sup>th</sup><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Yet another early start across Lake Onieda, through one last
lock on the Erie canal, before turning right into the Oswego canal where there
are 7 more locks to Lake Ontario. Interestingly, they are numbered 1 through 8,
but during the building they found they only needed 7, so they just left out
number 4, rather that redo the drawings. The sky had clouded over and the wind
had got up, so it was a cool trip to Lake Ontario. WE arrived at 2.00pm and
were provided a shuttle service to the local liquor store, laundromat, and
WALMART!!! while the crew put the wheelhouse back up and reassembles the rest
of the ship.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Wifi on the boat is dodgey at best so I’ll try getting
this off today – but who know how well it may work.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Loopykiwihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345361910464994333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1894348935602167743.post-46725110739465225352018-06-09T19:02:00.000-07:002018-06-09T19:02:10.915-07:00The Big Apple<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Thursday 8<sup>th</sup> June<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The Comfort Inn at Maspeth's airport shuttle also provided a service to
the nearby subway station, so we decided to give the famous NY public transport
system a go to get to our midtown Manhattan hotel (although the shuttle driver
raised his eyebrows when he saw the luggage we had in tow). Anyway, we took the
lifts to the platform, got on the # 7 train to Times Square/42<sup>nd</sup> St,
and in 25 minutes were in the heart of the Big Apple! Getting out of the subway
was not so easy as there were no lifts, and people freaked out a bit when we
left Carolyn’s bag at the bottom of a set of stairs for me to return to and lift
up, although it was within sight the whole time – but people tend to get
spooked by “unattended” bags around here. Mind you, it was just as well this happened
right there, because at the next entrance down, there were about 10 guys hanging
about in full assault gear, and big machine guns, with “NYPD Terrorist Unit”
written across their backs. We found the hotel easily enough, but check-in was
3pm and it was only 11.30, so we left our bags and went for a wander back up to
Times Square. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">There, we mistook this guy for Durry, a friend of ours,
but it turned out to be someone else entirely<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">And had a feed of famous NY pizza and something called a
Stromboli – Carolyn liked it but I wasn’t that impressed</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">By the time we had a beer at one of the squillions of
Irish pubs in NY, it was time to go back to the hotel and check in. It is a
funny little place, only 4 rooms per floor, but 20 stories</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">high – we were on the 19</span><sup style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">. The
rooms have been/are being done up as it seems to be reimaging and will be known
as the Lord & Moris (yes, only 1 “r”) from July 1</span><sup style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">st</sup><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">. They are
also quite cramped and the edge of the bed has a sharp square corner which bit me on
the ankle and made it bleed. I complained to the reception, and they gave me a
bandaid, so when it bit me again 2 days later (the other ankle, and even more
blood) I dealt to it with the small rasp on the multi-tool I always carry for
repairs and maintenance purposes.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We have good view of the city from the hotel, and it is
amazing just how crowded the streets are, both night and day<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Friday 9<sup>th</sup><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The subway costs us seniors $2.75 each for a return
ticket, so we took the #1 train down to the Staten Island Ferry for the ½ hour
free (yes, FREE) ride across to the island, past the statue of liberty. There
we had lunch at a waterfront bar, which had some interesting cocktails on
display, like this strawberry margarita for $25.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">After the return ferry trip, we stopped off at “Ground
Zero” to see the 9/11 memorial, bought the T shirt, and got a pic of some more
heavily armed cops (although these ones were not in body armour).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">As this had necessitated leaving the subway, we had to
invest a further $5.50 to get back to the hotel – the senior fare works as: you
buy a regular one way fare and they make it a return. So we had a couple more
rides spare for Carolyn to get to the Guggenheim tomorrow. Which makes it all
sound like we’re penny-pinching but, believe me, you take all you can get,
cause there ain’t nothing else cheap in this town!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We stopped by a 7 eleven across the street from the hotel
and came across an exotic dancer, who we had seen performing on our way to the
subway this morning. Even the locals appeared astonished at his garb…..only in
New York!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Saturday 9</span><sup style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">th</sup></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I headed for the “Intrepid” (WW2 aircraft carrier) museum,
a 1 mile walk, to look at more air and space memorabilia. Carolyn headed for
the Guggenheim, a two train subway ride away, armed with maps and clear written
instructions on how to get there and back. The streets were not so crowded
today, but it was quite warm at 28C (82F), and it was still relatively quiet, (people wise) when I reached the museum at 10.30 (not so later on). I headed
back at around 1pm and stopped at another Irish pub just 3 doors down from the
hotel for a lunch of bangers and mash. The hoarding outside said that it was a lunch
special for $10, but when the bill came, it read $16. It turns out I was having
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Brunch</i></b>,
because it was Saturday. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Lunch</i></b> is only weekdays – you gotta
read the fine print. But still, it was worth it as it was the best meal I have
had in the USA. I got back to the hotel at 3pm, Carolyn turned up at 5.30,
having gone the wrong direction on the way there, came out of the station on
the way back so had to buy another ticket, hadn’t taken the address of the
hotel so was directed by a policewoman to another Comfort Inn, got lost on the
way back from that and couldn’t get her phone to work to call me. Finally some
kind folk in a Deli looked up the hotel and set her in the right direction, but
she was about walked out so we went back to the Irish pub and I had the second
best meal of the trip so far – Shepards pie that actually had lamb in it
(although there was beef as well!)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">That’s about it for now. We’re off to the Chelsea Pier <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>tomorrow to meet up with Dennis and Kathy and
board the “Grande Caribe” for our continuation of the Great Loop, up the Hudson and canals to the Great Lakes..<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />Loopykiwihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345361910464994333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1894348935602167743.post-60710755618606238482018-06-08T14:59:00.000-07:002018-06-08T14:59:27.121-07:00Heading back to the Loop<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Sunday 3<sup>rd </sup>June 2018.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Arrived good and
early (2.00pm) at Auckland Airport for our 7.30pm departure to Houston to find
that they wouldn’t open the check-in until the new security folk (TSA) had
arrived at 3.30, as there is now an extra level of security for people travelling
to the USA. So we had to go hang round the airport till then, and finally got
to check in at 3.45 as the TSA folk had turned up late. The plane was chocker,
so no upgrade to business class – but a nice flight all the same.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">14 hours later, on arrival in Houston we noticed a change
in the temperature from home. 12C when we left and 34C when we arrived. We
caught the shuttle to Hertz to pick up our rental, and promptly had my credit
card declined. To get sorted, we used Carolyn’s card which meant I had to sign
up as a supplementary driver, which cost an extra $27. Arrived at the Hotel and
found they had us booked in twice – once for one night, the other for three –
but at leats my credit card worked. So far things were not going too well.
However it was happy hour in the bar ($3 beers and half price appetisers) so
things got a bit better after we fed and watered.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Monday 5th started as badly as the day before. We went to
Walmart to top up our US phones that we bought on our last visit. So we
purchased <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>2 top-up cards for $19.99 each,
but at the end of the update, the phones said “unregistered SIM”. We showed
this to the sales guy, who said we had to buy new SIM cards at $9.99 each – so we
did, and we got him to fit them and make them work….which they didn’t!!! So he
rang the supplier, Tracfone, and patiently waited 45 minutes to talk to a
technician. After 15 minutes of discussion the conclusion was that the 2 year
old phones were obsolete and we would have to buy new ones. This Walmart did
not have the $19.99 replacement in stock, so we decided to call it quits, get
our money back, and go start again at another Walmart. HOWEVER…in his attempts
to make everything work, the sales guy had managed to redeem one of the top-up
cards onto one of the unusable SIM cards, and Walmart could only give us a
credit for one of them, and the 2 SIM cards. So off we went to another Walmart,
$19.99 (plus tax) down the tubes and bought 2 new phones, with cards, and got
them to make them work before we left, which takes about 15-20 minutes to set
up. How come Jason Bourne or James Bond can just walk into a convenience store and
buy a phone walk out and use it, then just throw it away, without all this hassle
–<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>but <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>at least my credit card worked the whole time
during all of <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>these transactions. And, BTW, it reached 39C that day!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">That pretty well soaked up the first day and jetlag took
up the rest, so we deferred our site seeing/shopping until the following day,
Tuesday 6th. This was a trip to Johnson Space Centre, about 1 hour south of our
hotel while Carolyn went to the Tanger Outlet Mall about 10 minutes further on.
Just 2.9 miles short of the turnoff to the mall we ran into gridlock caused by
a prang on the freeway, which took 20 minutes to get past. Then after dropping
Carolyn off, I returned to the freeway only to run into another prang 2.9 Miles
from Johnson Space Centre!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Anway,
finally got there, did the tour and bought the T-shirt. It’s a bit different to
how it was last time I visited about 16 years ago. Like most of these things
these days, it is targeted towards kids – but I suppose they are the upcoming
taxpayers and NASA has to keep them interested enough to continue to get money
from them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Finding Carolyn at the Tanger Mall was no problem
because, of course, we had phones to ring each other that worked.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Wednesday 7<sup>th</sup> and it was “off to the big apple”
and, again, it started badly. First was my own fault for wearing shorts with
metal domes on them which ended up with me having to go through the Homeland
Security Xray machine. Then we got to check-in at United to find we had no seat
assignments, despite having confirmation printouts from Air NZ showing seats
12C and D were assigned to us. Of course they blamed Air NZ and told us to
recheck at the gate and, even though the plane was overbooked, they were sure
we would get seats! Anyway, it turned out that we got seats – just not the ones
we booked – and they gave us priority boarding as a fob-off (which is actually
really useful on full flights because there is never enough space for the
overhead luggage unless you get on first).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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New York, the Hotel shuttle arrived quickly and took us to a pleasant hotel
with excellent staff – even if it is across the road from one of the biggest
cemeteries in New York. </span></div>
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good arrangement with local restaurants of all types with delivery service – we
opted for Chinese from “Yummy Yummy” which was delivered in<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>about 10 minutes and was…….(yummy).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />Loopykiwihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345361910464994333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1894348935602167743.post-64629975515077713702018-04-23T19:05:00.000-07:002018-05-29T15:54:52.101-07:00And here we go againAfter the last visit to USA and Canada, we were pondering on where we should go on the next one, next (now this) year. We had really enjoyed Canada and getting to see the parts of the Great Loop that we missed on Loopy Kiwi had us hungering for more. The cruise was disappointing in a way as, typical of most cruises, it was all about the Ports of call rather than the journey and we didn't see as much as we would have liked (particularly the St Lawrence Seaway) because most of the travel was at night. I was favouring a road trip through the midwest to see many of the states that we had not yet visited and was beginning to "rough out" an itinerary. However, Carolyn noticed an advertisement in the local paper for a cruise on the inland waterways from New York to Montreal in a small purpose built cruise ship:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmmLqM4FzFEZWcDYWEfLzjpFyTTq6nhnZZlzsCQOJ-RdnDt3Lv83RbhO08ht6lqgBbTmhb3rTgf0nkNKD40bFDMTkCtDI0Mp57kftOFxFAgpdp2HgMUsv5mJUqSFGkuN3_ut0TeteH8D0/s1600/Blount+ad.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="766" data-original-width="1467" height="206" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmmLqM4FzFEZWcDYWEfLzjpFyTTq6nhnZZlzsCQOJ-RdnDt3Lv83RbhO08ht6lqgBbTmhb3rTgf0nkNKD40bFDMTkCtDI0Mp57kftOFxFAgpdp2HgMUsv5mJUqSFGkuN3_ut0TeteH8D0/s400/Blount+ad.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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The problem was, when I looked it up on the Agencies website, the itinerary was pretty much what we had done just the previous month - even though the cruise followed a different route. However, with a bit of Googling around, I soon found the website of the cruise line and found that they did a bunch of cruises on the inland waterways, including one that goes from New York to Chicago, via the Hudson River, Erie, Oswego and Welland Canals, 37 locks, and Lakes Ontario, Erie, Huron and Michigan - in other words a substantial part of the Great Loop and much of it we would have travelled on in Loopy Kiwi.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFLLVzUo4UZIDOecB6pGaiQZJsoDQN-rYiu6edONZKucWWzE7vGzx-CmgLz6v1ycW5K3rpvEvKCsbQnlXl0NM9B-ZTI7FJ0aQzTjUJMte5qF5vReZviUTBmoPRwL5iCcjYFPWWl3v7wps/s1600/Great+American+Waterways+2018.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="537" data-original-width="1000" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFLLVzUo4UZIDOecB6pGaiQZJsoDQN-rYiu6edONZKucWWzE7vGzx-CmgLz6v1ycW5K3rpvEvKCsbQnlXl0NM9B-ZTI7FJ0aQzTjUJMte5qF5vReZviUTBmoPRwL5iCcjYFPWWl3v7wps/s400/Great+American+Waterways+2018.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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I won't go on about the cruise line, Blount Small Ship Adventures, because it is all on their website at <a href="https://www.blountsmallshipadventures.com/">https://www.blountsmallshipadventures.com/</a> so you can look it up. We were looking at the "Great American Waterways" cruise. It so happened that our friends, Dennis and Kathy, had seen the same advert in the paper, so when I told them about the NY - Chicago cruise they decided they would like to join us. Since there was a special discount for bringing a friend (which they got too!), and another for booking before the end of August, we decided to go for it and chose the one leaving NY on June 10th.</div>
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It was then a matter of arranging flights to suit and, sure enough a month or so later, Air NZ came out with some specials to the USA. We booked to fly to Houston and spend a couple of days, then on to New York for four days of sightseeing before catching the cruise. I still wanted to do some of the mid-west, so we decided to fly to Denver from Chicago at the end of the cruise, pick up a rental car and drive around Colorado (CO), Wyoming (WY), Montana (MT) and Sth Dakota (SD) looking at the sights, before flying to LA and home.</div>
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Here's a close up of the road trip, with the major sights numbered, ie</div>
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1. Plains Interpretive Centre, Casper WY (something like the one we visited in Utah a couple of years ago.)</div>
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2. Cody WY. Where Buffalo Bill came from. Has a night rodeo that we intend to go to.</div>
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3. Yellowstone National Park, WY. That says it all</div>
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4. Little Big Horn N.P, MT - where Custer tossed in his chips</div>
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5. Devils Tower N.P, WY. Made famous by "Close encounters of he third kind"</div>
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6. Deadwood, SD. Old famous cowboy town.</div>
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7. Keystone SD. Mt Rushmore with sculpted Presidents</div>
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8. Crazy Horse Monument. A bit like Mt Rushmore, but bigger and not finished yet.</div>
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9. Bear Tooth Pass, WY. This was added late as a detour to our original route, recommended by a fellow boatie. It is an alternative exit road from Yellowstone N.P and climbs to almost 12000ft. It is supposed to be the most spectacular scenic road in the USA.</div>
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We will also visit Molly Brown's Museum in Denver and I will probably go to Wings over the Rockies museum there as well.</div>
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Booking that far out has led to a few interesting happenings and our itinerary has been subject to many changes in detail. Air NZ changed their schedules and we had to stay an extra day in Houston; both United and American Airlines have changed their flight numbers, departure times and have even cancelled flights for our US internal travel; and our hotel in New York that we booked in September advised us earlier this month that it had cancelled our reservation because it wouldn't be open in time. We were advised just a couple of days ago that there were changes to our Houston flight again because of the current Boeing 787 Dreamliner/Rolls Royce engine debacle, but that turned out to be a false alarm. Hopefully nothing else will impact on the itinerary in the remaining 40 days before we leave.<br />
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Blount also do a cruise up the ICW from Savannah (where we shipped Loopy Kiwi to New Zealand from) to Baltimore (almost New York). If this cruise goes well, we will look at doing that segment next year - which means I will have (almost) completed the entire Loop - although not in sequence!</div>
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<br />Loopykiwihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345361910464994333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1894348935602167743.post-55030916823891101282017-11-22T13:16:00.000-08:002017-11-22T13:16:06.545-08:00Re routing holding tank discharge on a Silverton 453<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Since we bought Loopy Kiwi in
2011, we have been plagued with the odour of sewage in the master stateroom. It
was particularly noticeable as the tank filled and worst on the starboard side
– to the extent that clothing in the bed and vanity drawers was being affected.
It was obvious that this had been ongoing since new, as there were a number of
deodorant plug-ins situated around the boat by the previous owner. The use of Noflex reduced the smell significantly and</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">replacing the
undersized and blocked vents (which I have already posted earlier on this blog) also helped, but the odour issue has remained as a frustrating annoyance. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">There are other problems with
the design of the sewage discharge system, such as siphoning of seawater back
through the macerator and the susceptibility to the outlet becoming blocked
with marine growth because the underwater thru hull reduces the 1” pump outlet
to a mere ½” hole in the hull. I also knew that there was a kink in the
dockside discharge hose that may have been contributing to pumpout problems. A few months ago, I
drew up a map of the sewage system and, looking at the layout and
knowing the fall (or lack of it) in the 7.2 metres of discharge hose, it seemed
obvious to me that areas of the pipework were remaining full of effluent
resulting in the smell permeating the hoses. <o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">I have recently learned that several other 453 owners are experiencing the same iss</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">ues and, in fact, I believe that if any 453's share the design of the sewage outlet to me, they must also share the problem.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">The final rankle was the
actual procedure required to discharge overboard at sea using the macerator: To
prevent the siphoning mentioned above, I kept the macerator seacock closed. It
is situated on the outboard side of the port propeller shaft, so it is good
practice to be stopped when opening it. So we have to stop the boat 2km out to
sea (we are required to be that far offshore when we discharge), I have to go from the helm down to the engine room, via the sundeck, salon, hallway and guest bedroom and open the valve, return to the AC/DC panel in the hallway, switch on the macerator and sit and watch the ammeter until it flickers to show
that it is pumping air (the only way I know of to know that the tank is
completely empty). It takes around 10 minutes to empty a full tank and it is
rarely flat calm 2kms offshore. I then have to go back into the engine room and
close the seacock before returning to the helm and getting underway again - a total trek of around 50 metres (seriously) and up and down 3 flights or stairs.
Remaining underway makes things more comfortable, but that requires even more
stair time to co-ordinate stopping and starting with the co-pilot to open the seacock safely.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">I have installed and
modified holding tank systems in both my previous boats (which could be discharged without leaving the helm), so I decided I would
try and line all the ducks up and fix the odour, siphoning, blockages and user
un-friendliness in one swoop. A word of caution here to other 453 owners: doing
this modification requires access to the rear of the holding tank in the
transom space behind the bedhead. I am lucky that in order to make my boat “NZ
electric” I removed both cablemasters from that spot which gives easy access,
particularly for a little guy like my good friend, Charlie. On the Silverton Owners Club forum, a member recently posted a video showing that accessing this area is quite doable with a single Cablemaster. However if you have 2 cablemasters it would be difficult, if not impossible, to access the aft bilge and do the modification
as I did.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">We did this while on the
hardstand last week when we came out to re-caulk the rubrail, antifoul and polish, so the boat was propped up in a more stern-down attitude than it
would be on the water. We had a pumpout before we were lifted, and another on the hard, to remove as much
effluent from the tank as possible.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">The first act was to remove
the hose between the macerator and the transom pumpout fitting. The transom end
is easy to access by removing the mirror in the master bathroom. The pump end is also readily
accessible, although it is necessary to demount the pump to get at the hose
clips on the Tee piece that connects to it. I was hoping that when the hose
disappeared into the bulkhead and behind the bath that we could simply pull the
hose through. Unfortunately, when we took a pic of the space, we found the hose
was cable tied to each hull frame all the way through.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">I figured we could perhaps
reach them by removing the gauge panel under the sink. I took all the screws
out and the panel could move, but cannot be taken out without removing the
front of the cabinet – which we never found out how to do. However, we DID find
that the panel beside the toilet was removable – it was siliconed to the shelf
and the RH side – but once we cut through that it could be simply pulled off.
It is attached with those snap in clips like other removable panels in the
master stateroom.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">I could reach the first 2
cable ties and Charlie could reach one from the other end. But to get to the 2
remaining ones required us to make a special tool, which we used to saw through the "buckles" on the cable ties, rather than the "straps". The weight of the saw puts load on the blade so you only need to be able to push and pull to cut through the ties.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Once done, we taped up the
ends of the hose with duct tape and pulled it up through the mirror hole and
out the portlet onto the ground. I had slightly underestimated that piece in my
map – it was a little over 6 metres long. We tied each end to one of the Acrow
props holding the boat and filled it full of water and Noflex to percolate for
several hours. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">We then disconnected the
hose from the macerator while holding the pump up – it is a low point and
contains effluent. We taped the opening and pulled it through into the
bilge at the bottom of the stairs. While it was down low, we cut the tank end
of the hose just short of where it passes through the engine bed rail. We then
put a bucket under the end and lifted the other end of the hose through the
hatch to drain it – about 10 litres of effluent came from it. We flushed it out
with fresh water then sealed the aft end and added Noflex, which we left for
several hours. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">We then pushed the aft end through
to the other side of the engine bed to get a straight pull at it, but no amount
of pull could get it to even look like moving so we cut the pump end off as
short as possible and sealed both ends with plastic bungs. The 2.5 metres that
we cut off absolutely reeked both inside and out and was immediately thrown in
the bin.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">By this time I had figured
that the other length of hose we had removed was in good enough condition to
reuse instead of replacing it with solid pipe as I originally intended and, as
it would now be installed with continuous fall back to the tank, there was
little danger of permeation due to it holding effluent. We also reused the Tee
and the original macerator and added a valve to the inlet of the pump (it is
there to stop smell coming up the pipe if the pump is ever removed as both it
and the pump are above the level of the full tank). We installed a 1” thru hull
about 4” above the waterline and the macerator discharges through it. There is
also a valve in that line, adjacent to the pump, which can be closed during
dockside pumpout to prevent air being sucked in to the discharge pipes. The
first section of hose from the pump is clear plastic so I can see when the
discharge stops. The feed from the AC/DC panel is continuous (I used the old
cablemaster supply) and there is an on/off switch beside the pump, which is
conveniently located in a cabinet beside the master bed. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">So the discharge procedure will now be: Go 2km out to sea. Leave a co-pilot in charge of the boat. Go to the master stateroom (still 3 flights of stairs, but less distance), open the valve and turn on the switch. Watch the gauge drop (you can see it from the pump position) and watch till the sight glass empties. Switch the pump off, close the valve and go back to the helm. Ideally, I would like to have a stop/start station for the pump at the helm, as I had on my previous boats. I have already purchased the components to do this, but I would need to be sure that I had a method of knowing that the tank was completely empty before installing it.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">The old macerator position
provided a thru hull and power supply for another project I had been meaning to
do for some time, and that was to fit a salt water washdown pump. We mounted the
new pump where the macerator had been (even used some of the mounting holes) and
used the outlet hose as the washdown inlet. We ran the outlet to a tap on the
transom via the route that the old sewage discharge hose had taken and mounted
it behind our outboard bracket, where it is easy to get to but protected. I am
considering taking a supply from this to a valve that can rinse out the
macerator discharge hose, or the holding tank, or both – but will wait and see
how it works out first.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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I guess time alone will tell how successful the modification is, but I am supremely confident it won't make things any worse!</div>
Loopykiwihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345361910464994333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1894348935602167743.post-10949193912927885372017-11-21T17:49:00.000-08:002017-11-21T17:49:57.715-08:00Vancouver and homeFriday 7th July 2017..<br /><br />On Monday, we arrived in Vancouver on time and got to our hotel at 8am, but couldn’t check I until 2.30pm. So we went down to the casino for a scrummy buffet breakfast and then got one day passes for the public transport to ride around on trains, buses and ferries all day, until we could get into our rooms<br /><br />When we went to the Casino, the security guy at the entrance told us to sign up for their Encore Rewards card, as it would give us 10% off the buffet when we ate there. So we did that, but then found out that it also put $10 on each card to use (for gambling) in the Casino. So after the breakfast and day tripping around Vancouver, we went back to the Casino for a buffet dinner (BTW we also got Senior Citizens rate for that as well). After a sumptuous meal, we all went and used up our $10 on the pokies. I made $12.65, Richard made $40, Lyn made $76 and Carolyn lost her $10, plus another $20.<div>
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The following day, Richard and Robin (sister Lyn’s son and granddaughter – who we had met up with in Reston) had to fly back to NZ so that Robin could go on a 10 day school trip starting the following weekend (bizarrely, the trip is to New York!), but we managed to check out what the Casino lunch buffet was like, as well. Which was appropriate since it was 4th of July and was Lyn's actual birthday (as well as America's).<br />
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Wednesday, it was off to Vancouver Island. We took a commuter bus to Tsawassen Ferry terminal ($1.80) then the ferry to Vancouver Island ($17.20) then an all day pass on the bus from the ferry to Victoria ($5.00). We spent most of the time in the Royal BC Museum, then returned the same way we came, except by a slightly longer but more scenic route suggested by our bus driver. Total cost of the trip was $43 per person, compared with the $205 that the tour people wanted for the same trip. The weather was glorious – no clouds, no wind and flat calm. We were told that Orca (killer whales) had been seen in the area and as we entered a part of the trip known as the “narrows” I spotted a whale sounding, but it was not an Orca (no big dorsal fin). I found out later that Humpbacks were also seen in the area, and I am sure it was one of them (one of the pix is the entrance to the narrows, but it doesn’t show the whale). I also saw a bald eagle flying and lading in a tree and managed to get a pic of that! On the way back, we had a buffet dinner on the ferry. Cheaper than the Casino and, I reckon, a little better, and what a stunning view!!!! Coming through the narrows, again I saw a whale and pointed it out to other diners. But, by the time they reacted, it was gone – so of course they didn’t believe me. I don’t care – I have seen plenty of whales, Orca and dolphins before, so why would I make it up!<br /><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMFvr6uUb62I6_bk3yVNO-2VlusnNKPIaKxrecbhAwL_dhmyjFbG2tTJOR0bLUHgNR3jnsUKr_LFENq8R1ZBdZ9-GhfxxEHNYJsAiW2kyMDjZoSxcURAcqpdXxZV6AQX7ZfvqU4Dea3ag/s1600/DSC01838.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMFvr6uUb62I6_bk3yVNO-2VlusnNKPIaKxrecbhAwL_dhmyjFbG2tTJOR0bLUHgNR3jnsUKr_LFENq8R1ZBdZ9-GhfxxEHNYJsAiW2kyMDjZoSxcURAcqpdXxZV6AQX7ZfvqU4Dea3ag/s400/DSC01838.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tsawassen Terminal - "Spirit of Vancouver Island" in background</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju5fgzkXm0bIVvfUH6IGOIB0dGNMCzXnrbKMZ1fnXrrsKdUfUNlwncZB1BWrRzePzxNwdc32TT1EA5jFrJ0w9eRv9BG1fnwJQ5Je_CyONCbSykkQDRy6MhwH93T4_vUyctSX4vNU5C7TU/s1600/DSC01845.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju5fgzkXm0bIVvfUH6IGOIB0dGNMCzXnrbKMZ1fnXrrsKdUfUNlwncZB1BWrRzePzxNwdc32TT1EA5jFrJ0w9eRv9BG1fnwJQ5Je_CyONCbSykkQDRy6MhwH93T4_vUyctSX4vNU5C7TU/s400/DSC01845.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The narrows - where I saw the whale on the way back</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3K9TaiZeQg5jFR7FJrWpTeD8SJImd-o-GLIcc0N2zC8TijH6Hg14lsKKXq0kBP7rSc0-Mn8wlSxCxkxajDbOhUzfbR4SidGegIUbRGjagF2EbfOuj2PzOLqjAXlxdnAXfuTY4n3Leoqk/s1600/DSC01847.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3K9TaiZeQg5jFR7FJrWpTeD8SJImd-o-GLIcc0N2zC8TijH6Hg14lsKKXq0kBP7rSc0-Mn8wlSxCxkxajDbOhUzfbR4SidGegIUbRGjagF2EbfOuj2PzOLqjAXlxdnAXfuTY4n3Leoqk/s400/DSC01847.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">There IS a bald eagle in the tree on the right</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV9lJHVmJL9LPycjvUcOf32HPVjoBH56FX7qr2DjGQMaUsOsDudixAhEbl2BUkU_SMR2FEAusG247MmPT1vwE3BKc3s1YbK0yZNLmDXAROJgH5iLDs_7J6g2z5KuMsetRVoO76t2eIwFg/s1600/DSC01848.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV9lJHVmJL9LPycjvUcOf32HPVjoBH56FX7qr2DjGQMaUsOsDudixAhEbl2BUkU_SMR2FEAusG247MmPT1vwE3BKc3s1YbK0yZNLmDXAROJgH5iLDs_7J6g2z5KuMsetRVoO76t2eIwFg/s400/DSC01848.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Swartz Bay Terminal</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUTQzDqXN79FDxCQgP2TxUGrhyh4bmeV4ehuXuCcKA7-ihhukeqEOuXBxOOFD4oROiRW7ALTgtmYgXqzuylGrqM_ygo5p8vtO9PYZ7cmEdkTdk_vU2omSjK3n_Z1jILPg74QTH0qZ82ZY/s1600/DSC01852.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUTQzDqXN79FDxCQgP2TxUGrhyh4bmeV4ehuXuCcKA7-ihhukeqEOuXBxOOFD4oROiRW7ALTgtmYgXqzuylGrqM_ygo5p8vtO9PYZ7cmEdkTdk_vU2omSjK3n_Z1jILPg74QTH0qZ82ZY/s400/DSC01852.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The local bus</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil01g70rq3kdCJUfVWvCC0OhcuDw-4MXs5CLLOmR3djpZM5I9Y-5x3vYQ5xDdjTs_AnhNBmodz0TrKPR3ee3xBGZ2HgS7rIZxg9oauQTq_s6VUTNL6tcaZaUDTBImKHYsMKM1swUw4ksY/s1600/DSC01853.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil01g70rq3kdCJUfVWvCC0OhcuDw-4MXs5CLLOmR3djpZM5I9Y-5x3vYQ5xDdjTs_AnhNBmodz0TrKPR3ee3xBGZ2HgS7rIZxg9oauQTq_s6VUTNL6tcaZaUDTBImKHYsMKM1swUw4ksY/s400/DSC01853.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Empress hotel</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_2Ckp5rfRrTkVUCcv6gTm3iznaIccHfEgLQVLZW_Yq7PHoMtoDgcJNBlj3gBHgpf7FjZPGd2WsV4mMtSL6FQLLHAORFbsoa7riWmi98olwHZ0oTKsstPM0EWA4AjmGP1P0x6eiHTOiro/s1600/DSC01883.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_2Ckp5rfRrTkVUCcv6gTm3iznaIccHfEgLQVLZW_Yq7PHoMtoDgcJNBlj3gBHgpf7FjZPGd2WsV4mMtSL6FQLLHAORFbsoa7riWmi98olwHZ0oTKsstPM0EWA4AjmGP1P0x6eiHTOiro/s400/DSC01883.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Spirit of British Columbia" at Swartz Bay</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKl041TcnAg6ywdhbeOvzXIadIncMVjZ8SI04KjpxXLqRdiZYc34XrXN_TwsxZjL4ssbUZR-4zZcTNfe28cD1oTyWbA9EFh-XDafEg65iwsJiL2d16K3IYvflmK60j5R_Kqbl7Z3lWf8A/s1600/DSC01884.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKl041TcnAg6ywdhbeOvzXIadIncMVjZ8SI04KjpxXLqRdiZYc34XrXN_TwsxZjL4ssbUZR-4zZcTNfe28cD1oTyWbA9EFh-XDafEg65iwsJiL2d16K3IYvflmK60j5R_Kqbl7Z3lWf8A/s400/DSC01884.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The bus driver who recommended our return route</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
Thursday I went and visited the factory where they make Noflex Digestor (the sewage stuff for boats that I import into NZ). I was intending to rent a car for today so we could do some last minute shopping, but when I got to the airport to pick it up, I found I had made the online booking for pickup at Toronto, not Vancouver (Duh!). The rental company wanted nearly double the price that I had been quoted, so I decided to flag the car away and we sent to Walmart on the bus instead. Richard had gifted Lyn a Premium economy class upgrade for the trip home, so we went to the airport early but, although I had an Air New Zealand lounge pass for Lyn, they wouldn't accept it as it was a Canadian Airlines lounge. However, for a payment of CDN25 they would let her join us, so we had a relaxing time preflight.</div>
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The flight home was long (13hrs 45min) but uneventful and we managed to get some sleep. It was raining when we arrived and 8 degrees,</div>
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And that was Canada!</div>
Loopykiwihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345361910464994333noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1894348935602167743.post-24445560713976494042017-11-21T17:05:00.000-08:002017-11-21T17:05:07.557-08:00And the Trent Severne Waterway!!<div class="MsoNormal">
Sunday 2nd July 2017…<o:p></o:p></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDvND-GTHkgiVxLX-QwIq4ix20AfvVfucEzWTsicvHLXakuipUupt04MfsnRHlPiZNrU-_2uF38c9z4NprzscBifK0BBCVi2Jir6EwtsPZ6anRAK79ghz8woMX0hUxgqD0p1_zLIF0w4E/s1600/DSC01711.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDvND-GTHkgiVxLX-QwIq4ix20AfvVfucEzWTsicvHLXakuipUupt04MfsnRHlPiZNrU-_2uF38c9z4NprzscBifK0BBCVi2Jir6EwtsPZ6anRAK79ghz8woMX0hUxgqD0p1_zLIF0w4E/s400/DSC01711.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Business class on Via Rail</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo_xfVRICRBnYVpyDb6febcrpnfwUcbNJFQc90BjWR2DtiMBQT2I81OsD4bzt0Mlp4m_HMtH1okn389CYWfzKqQpd6OJZztoQ5TXEQlUdvpt2TPXFKqtbEdsfxW-R2dOkQd-iMEAcbVtM/s1600/DSC01720.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo_xfVRICRBnYVpyDb6febcrpnfwUcbNJFQc90BjWR2DtiMBQT2I81OsD4bzt0Mlp4m_HMtH1okn389CYWfzKqQpd6OJZztoQ5TXEQlUdvpt2TPXFKqtbEdsfxW-R2dOkQd-iMEAcbVtM/s400/DSC01720.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lake Ontario</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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The train trip to Toronto was relaxing and interesting as we
travelled some of the parts of Canada that we would have seen had we continued
on the Great Loop. We had got business class fares as it allowed us more baggage, plus access to the lounge, free meals and drinks and still less than half the price of the cheapest airfare. We timed our journey to coincide with sis Lyn arriving at Toronto airport from Winnipeg, where she had been visiting her granddaughter (actually at a wee
place called Reston 3 ½ hrs drive west of Winnipeg). We were due to arrive at
Toronto station at 2.07pm and Lyn was coming in at 3.40pm, so there was plenty
of time for us to get to the airport and meet – shuttles run every 20 minutes
from the station to the airport and take 25 minutes to get there. Yeah right….. our train was 40 minutes late
and it took another 30 minutes to get our luggage, so by the time we got to the
airport it was well past her landing time – and then I found out that the meeting
place I had arranged to meet and insisted she remain at (ie the luggage
carousel) was airside and I wasn’t allowed in there! Luckily as I arrived, the
doors to the arrival hall opened and there we were staring at each other! By
the time we got the rental car and headed off for Peterborough, it was rush
hour in Toronto and we had to travel right across the city making 1 ½ hr trip
become 2 ½ hrs.</div>
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This part of the trip was about doing some of the things
that we missed by not finishing the Loop. First, we took a 2 ½ hr cruise on the Trent-Severne waterway at Peterborough that took us through a
conventional lock first, and then the famous 113 year old lift lock that Loopy
Kiwi would have gone through. While not as thrilling as it would have been in
our own boat, it was pretty choice all the same, and Lyn got to see what
“locking through” was all about. </div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtKLhqySBQlXomMW-isAXj1bRC_Qnp2z87WQXH4_1Lx5e0c-85fiGKKTeZbA_fEoQZTkpb9JmzIAjcyiN6ZcyZDlD9MebL32Zt7g8CdFDsrh8l7v-cSYv0YUBhAZaRTCbDjM9rH2m5fT4/s1600/DSC01722.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtKLhqySBQlXomMW-isAXj1bRC_Qnp2z87WQXH4_1Lx5e0c-85fiGKKTeZbA_fEoQZTkpb9JmzIAjcyiN6ZcyZDlD9MebL32Zt7g8CdFDsrh8l7v-cSYv0YUBhAZaRTCbDjM9rH2m5fT4/s400/DSC01722.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Liftlock Cruises dock</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP6i0hP3qQ065DwGMccrXpQ0aBuUe20Hv6WWw2JO6c_e46lOg8ULVDP3P0q7Th-b3mf2XW96KMe_ZAVeSCcuuLqlLLBZth2foNJGyP9UxSbnKZynAHl7onwgWgnfgn8lNfjTLEd-lTQiU/s1600/DSC01725.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP6i0hP3qQ065DwGMccrXpQ0aBuUe20Hv6WWw2JO6c_e46lOg8ULVDP3P0q7Th-b3mf2XW96KMe_ZAVeSCcuuLqlLLBZth2foNJGyP9UxSbnKZynAHl7onwgWgnfgn8lNfjTLEd-lTQiU/s400/DSC01725.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our cruise ship</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKDzftxL06HmIPHCUTcZmXv8DyxajZtFxHk6rdtGemgKACdHcXxGQsqHB7Xn-pCe4MvEgOeFG-4LzRDEx29h4Q7AhD2LRMVHFBeapYXAg9XV5bw0YpB8R2ip1oCv91n0QFvVd4cDNTwHc/s1600/DSC01731.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKDzftxL06HmIPHCUTcZmXv8DyxajZtFxHk6rdtGemgKACdHcXxGQsqHB7Xn-pCe4MvEgOeFG-4LzRDEx29h4Q7AhD2LRMVHFBeapYXAg9XV5bw0YpB8R2ip1oCv91n0QFvVd4cDNTwHc/s400/DSC01731.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lock 20 - Conventional lock</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKoIVu2dyt3vovL-ajzxEhwbI6CsYYWj59Zz-K7wET9RukmMJZVdGwIWC1nv8bGcBhvdMZo0QSRLQYGWrLFweiPchvNMToxbnyuDj16ERop06jfihdCqKkaPbAkUSc3-T1IHk4TP7ZuYU/s1600/DSC01734.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKoIVu2dyt3vovL-ajzxEhwbI6CsYYWj59Zz-K7wET9RukmMJZVdGwIWC1nv8bGcBhvdMZo0QSRLQYGWrLFweiPchvNMToxbnyuDj16ERop06jfihdCqKkaPbAkUSc3-T1IHk4TP7ZuYU/s400/DSC01734.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lock 21 - Peterborough Lift Lock</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfKB9Cw9vbObCUhUTb2bsqTqU__yTk0zoy7ako4JUJzha9NDYKc_lIKTKzVw6FscN_c82uWdlUKvqmQNd62NhChdnmTYJNC4VUgKa1qLwevAUXZJBZHTKWw4pEYUFkUa0ziVAAVe3uweM/s1600/DSC01736.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfKB9Cw9vbObCUhUTb2bsqTqU__yTk0zoy7ako4JUJzha9NDYKc_lIKTKzVw6FscN_c82uWdlUKvqmQNd62NhChdnmTYJNC4VUgKa1qLwevAUXZJBZHTKWw4pEYUFkUa0ziVAAVe3uweM/s400/DSC01736.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDGC-N-lA98_HUfk6pE0UanrI2fjqr_TPNAjlEWX67bANAWz-y5hnS9duFqJO5IHRTW0PkMzuqbYfcreID8bfHdS04LsceYyUgQOa0ldeCJbhl_veec9-I3PxuUi3jyqjTHFRGXX3LQNo/s1600/DSC01740.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDGC-N-lA98_HUfk6pE0UanrI2fjqr_TPNAjlEWX67bANAWz-y5hnS9duFqJO5IHRTW0PkMzuqbYfcreID8bfHdS04LsceYyUgQOa0ldeCJbhl_veec9-I3PxuUi3jyqjTHFRGXX3LQNo/s400/DSC01740.JPG" width="300" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgao9Zzm0DVMSypp3EyYyarHeFqfD-LzlXmxDNrQ3CIZspUG_s3AgWPaHNtj8e_NpM28xWQHMigp-rgVWX0msLVaI3LiHxpoEUbNvNcZPoOpfZ66tE6xmf1U9mjYvxSUmX-IQdfpXoVH6A/s1600/DSC01742.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgao9Zzm0DVMSypp3EyYyarHeFqfD-LzlXmxDNrQ3CIZspUG_s3AgWPaHNtj8e_NpM28xWQHMigp-rgVWX0msLVaI3LiHxpoEUbNvNcZPoOpfZ66tE6xmf1U9mjYvxSUmX-IQdfpXoVH6A/s400/DSC01742.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgtoS4FuiS-8oZt98xLoik_UObNu9HgWaFTI3H5WAc6ARohH5sDjltq_eOez4qMrJ36pOoROvktOj-2KLD1RDpKBuDjHJ4e7XYx3ZKIN6CQkEhkvKqcvYXK3Zghyps-4uNYomN-w_S2-c/s1600/DSC01743.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgtoS4FuiS-8oZt98xLoik_UObNu9HgWaFTI3H5WAc6ARohH5sDjltq_eOez4qMrJ36pOoROvktOj-2KLD1RDpKBuDjHJ4e7XYx3ZKIN6CQkEhkvKqcvYXK3Zghyps-4uNYomN-w_S2-c/s400/DSC01743.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The guy that built the lock lived here</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We then drove another 3hrs north to Big Chute,
where boats are put on a railway carriage to get them from one part of the
waterway to another, as we would have done with Loopy Kiwi. We didn’t expect to see this in action, but just after we
arrived, a small runabout was loaded and transferred, so we got to see the
whole operation. Another 2 ½ hrs back to Toronto and our airport hotel made for
a long day.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwRmnG8litgmzQpzyLo-LI-yKBJTLsQiW7WZfu2owlohsuWKT1ok4ifd0PbY5IM6fBtRq1h9RkHFzU-DGsb3C75dC81lJww839TyffMlvqmBs9Cc3Nr96ZkcY4epSY_dlnDpTU2rmSgCI/s1600/DSC01747a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="368" data-original-width="653" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwRmnG8litgmzQpzyLo-LI-yKBJTLsQiW7WZfu2owlohsuWKT1ok4ifd0PbY5IM6fBtRq1h9RkHFzU-DGsb3C75dC81lJww839TyffMlvqmBs9Cc3Nr96ZkcY4epSY_dlnDpTU2rmSgCI/s400/DSC01747a.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgW7DvPy4zIzmgNLVabQ3LUUY-rqpP5pgSqVtrVxJPTd7HWUVw-1BIYVoEVpMkvXP-XVEtB7FBkutAj4Kyw8VMMHudgP7vmkiXr-9VYYtxkpqROR4Umjv4oF6lLTG9o2O8Y9EBFQEVVR8/s1600/DSC01747b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="368" data-original-width="653" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgW7DvPy4zIzmgNLVabQ3LUUY-rqpP5pgSqVtrVxJPTd7HWUVw-1BIYVoEVpMkvXP-XVEtB7FBkutAj4Kyw8VMMHudgP7vmkiXr-9VYYtxkpqROR4Umjv4oF6lLTG9o2O8Y9EBFQEVVR8/s400/DSC01747b.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY2lBRKkUpitb76f0T_3fU-Nm8wwS4yQAZyegqbok9OqjCv82nXimWtMgfllMKzVHg8VcFuR-ndq9dLVO1SKB_a8Cx0aI3FuxUZA9ic38CX6In_rQ3Cs6SF6Cms06CCycVAGTlUnOBIPk/s1600/DSC01749.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY2lBRKkUpitb76f0T_3fU-Nm8wwS4yQAZyegqbok9OqjCv82nXimWtMgfllMKzVHg8VcFuR-ndq9dLVO1SKB_a8Cx0aI3FuxUZA9ic38CX6In_rQ3Cs6SF6Cms06CCycVAGTlUnOBIPk/s400/DSC01749.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The next day was a trip to Niagara falls and, regrettably,
coincided with the first day of the Canadian school holidays – so Niagara was
packed! Lyn and I did the cruise to the falls and got suitably soaked, despite
the classy plastic ponchos they provide. Unfortunately, my cameras also got
drenched and the handicam hasn’t been quite the same since. There were too many
people to try and do anything else there, so we hightailed it back to Toronto
to ready for our flight to Winnipeg the next day.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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Which, of course (being the 30<sup>th</sup> of June), was the day before Canada Day, and Canada’s
150<sup>th</sup> birthday, and when we arrived at the airport, we were told
that we were on standby as the flight had been overbooked. After some tense
waiting, we did finally get on the plane which was chocker. After our arrival
in Winnipeg, we faced a 3 ½ hour drive through some of the flattest country I
have ever seen with mile after mile after mile of corn, soya bean and canola
fields till we got to the bustling burg of Reston, Manitoba. And here, the next
day, we celebrated the combined birthdays of Lyn, her 2 grand daughters, and
Canada with a party at the local bar. </div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYrDxve00wJ4_wdBIG0BqTxuY01IF6yVSjjOUTCfsm-iha25SvlUAVjc4AJpBzoulz3_ZlGHJTGIl0eNoOa52XLxx_tDStZjYsVjXWGlh-R7DV2LeeFFS9a9zdd7RVimmsYoODC0iOYT0/s1600/DSC01783a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="653" data-original-width="368" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYrDxve00wJ4_wdBIG0BqTxuY01IF6yVSjjOUTCfsm-iha25SvlUAVjc4AJpBzoulz3_ZlGHJTGIl0eNoOa52XLxx_tDStZjYsVjXWGlh-R7DV2LeeFFS9a9zdd7RVimmsYoODC0iOYT0/s400/DSC01783a.jpg" width="225" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The bustling burgh</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKuL34nuNXx6gq0svD6n1_o2VejKJiOBeZc17t_L9xVa6bATn9DnWrCBVHnC3kumdOdJmiqZsKG6txRT_mE6VY2kpcgFz9wbomvXX6N1s8tXs2K1MKh5qhQ0yuOApjFXbsMIeIVS-UqB0/s1600/DSC01784.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKuL34nuNXx6gq0svD6n1_o2VejKJiOBeZc17t_L9xVa6bATn9DnWrCBVHnC3kumdOdJmiqZsKG6txRT_mE6VY2kpcgFz9wbomvXX6N1s8tXs2K1MKh5qhQ0yuOApjFXbsMIeIVS-UqB0/s400/DSC01784.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our accommodation in Reston (surprisingly luxurious)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0_g_5zp_5hg05zOlX0whtNnbQO34cdrFga0UoK6RtPL2a46VzEbNdKAqDW7TehgGWxbDZXRjbs_51SELjkGeH7hpkgWCw-fPiDmhnM-94_qnXG6gtR7chtZjI4D5Xme2vAxRZO02zaBs/s1600/DSC01783b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="368" data-original-width="428" height="343" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0_g_5zp_5hg05zOlX0whtNnbQO34cdrFga0UoK6RtPL2a46VzEbNdKAqDW7TehgGWxbDZXRjbs_51SELjkGeH7hpkgWCw-fPiDmhnM-94_qnXG6gtR7chtZjI4D5Xme2vAxRZO02zaBs/s400/DSC01783b.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The sign reads: "We now serve red and white wine - $5"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl2Jar96duzYB9SIs45BNiGli0oodBeNPViMiMJ0k33kWpXXqidWwE7SAhBh3CWnkhQktS5A9YRM0Kb0qHKrcDARds_dYW2CRG6VcRMO9LM7vYVhpE050W6CANcgr4MgpC6pfNUkIqRdM/s1600/DSC01783c.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="653" data-original-width="368" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl2Jar96duzYB9SIs45BNiGli0oodBeNPViMiMJ0k33kWpXXqidWwE7SAhBh3CWnkhQktS5A9YRM0Kb0qHKrcDARds_dYW2CRG6VcRMO9LM7vYVhpE050W6CANcgr4MgpC6pfNUkIqRdM/s400/DSC01783c.jpg" width="225" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yummy home-made pizzas for supper.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Today, we drove the weary way back from
Reston to Winnipeg , visited an Aviation Museum and stayed at a hotel right at
the airport (which, by the way, had the best ribs so far this trip – and lots
of them!!). The reason for the airport hotel is the 4.00am start in the morning to catch a 6.20am flight that
gets into Vancouver at 7.20am. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
Loopykiwihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345361910464994333noreply@blogger.com0