Where did the good Summer weather go?

 I thought Summer meant calm weather in the North East United States! Wow, how wrong can you get? We had Hurricane Irene and flooding that wiped out the New York State canal system, and then the remnants of Tropical Storm Lee about a week later. No one had a chance to recover from all of the water that Irene left behind before the down pours from Lee arrived.
 The Rondout Creek crested at a new record but thankfully all of the marinas survived in good form. Catskill was not as fortunate and suffered extensive if not total damage to all of the creek side facilities. I suspect that the Erie canal is done for the year, and probably will not open until Spring. There is so much damage resultant from the flooding that some marina operators that survived have closed up shop for the season early, asking their guests to haul out. If the flooding did not adversely affect travel plans with closures I am convinced the debris left behind did. It choked marinas and bent running gear all along the Hudson.
 There are rumors about the Internet that boaters trying to make their way South are going to gather in Toronto where they will meet a ship to bring them South. They originally intended to get this done in Oswego, but the Jones Act has prevented this from happening in the United States. Hopefully this works out and these folks only suffer an inconvenience as opposed to a total change in their Winter plans.
 Anyway, Freedom seems to be riding out the Summer, on the hard, in relatively good form. With any luck she will be ready for us to re float her early in October when we head South. Once afloat and provisioned we will head over to the Bahamas again hoping to rekindle friendships and enjoy the hospitality of the locals.
 Our prayers and well wishes are with all of those that were unfortunately dealt a cruel slap in the face by Mother Nature and we hope the emotional and financial injuries heal quickly.