It's a Floater!

 Freedom is back in the water. It was a challenge but "here we go again". Billy I know how you and Deb feel.
 We left Kingston NY on Thursday and stopped in Md. to visit with some friends. This was an easy leg of the trip that only took about four hours. After a great lunch and dinner prepared by Karin plus a good night's sleep we cannon balled to Wando Sc. where Freedom was laid up. Here are a few photos of the SUV we rented to haul "stuff" down there.

Believe it or not there is a 3 cu. ft. freezer in there loaded with frozen food as well. The cooler and our luggage went in just before we left. All of this had to be lifted about 10 feet to get it onto the aft deck of Freedom, and then it had to be stowed below.
 The gates at the marina normally close at 4:00 PM. We arrived Friday at 3:58 PM and checked in at the office. They said one of the employees would be there until 5 so we had one hour to unload and get all this set up on Freedom. We did not like the idea of leaving the freezer at ground level where the animals could get to it. So that was also brought aboard. The cooler and freezer were the worst of it but we got it done and the car back outside the gate when Larry decided it was time to leave for the day.
 So after a couple of nights aboard Freedom on the hard, and a night at a hotel, we launched Freedom on Monday.
 I cannot say enough about the staff here at the Charleston City Boatyard. They are all great friendly folks that hustle to get the job done. They have the equipment to do the job and they do it professionally.
 Anyway after checking all of the sea cocks, hoses, rudder shaft logs, drive shaft logs, and etc. we settled in for the night. We figured that it was best to lay over a night just to be near a lift if anything went wrong.
 Fortunately everything went well and today we took Freedom down the Wando to Charleston Sc. and the City Marina (Mega Dock). The ride down could not have been better. There was not a cloud in the sky and the water was flat calm. Within 20 minutes we were surrounded by dolphins that welcomed us back into the water. At the marina we are well inside where we can provision for the long haul as well as get some maintenance done.
 The front window has to come out again so we can get a new refrigerator installed.
 But all in all things are going well. We're bushed but things are going well.

If you know the boat you can find us on the web cam!

http://www.charlestoncitymarina.com/web_cam.html

Here's a snapshot of Freedom from the webcam.

Wow, the summer is over

 In spite of Freedom being on the hard, we have had the pleasure of spending a number of wonderful boating days with some great people.

 Out of all of those people, Ray and Jean, you are the best.

 Twice you took us up to Ravina and we had a great time at the Yacht Club with all of the wonderful folks at that place. We would not have had this opportunity without your thoughtfulness. It was fantastic to be on the river, let alone letting me drive and dock the boat (your mistake). We had some adventures with fuel issues where it was one boat or the other, and rocks came into play, but we all pulled through and we all had a great time. No one was hurt and no damage was done! Maybe next time I'll have better aim with the champagne corks!
 We loved it.
 Beyond but not surpassing that, several acquaintances have their blogs going and have sent us email detailing their ports of call. While this might sound like a vicarious delusion of some sort, there is actually quite a bit to be learned from their travels. Some times it's as simple as being able to find a loaf of bread, but other times it could boil down to locating diesel in a remote spot of humanity.
 In any event, as the Summer winds down and Freedom approaches launching on the 19th we want to express our profound thanks to all of those that either included us or told us about their travels.
 It was a great (if boatless) Summer!

Keuka Lake (Finger Lakes NY)

 This past weekend it was time for our annual pilgrimage to the Finger Lakes region of New York State. The ride out around the Ashokan Reservoir on the back roads was as always pleasant and scenic. We didn't see any bald eagles or turkeys but there were plenty of deer hanging around the shoulders of the roadway. Once on Rte 17 the ride was much more monotonous but better in the Saturn than the M3 (sold last fall). The expansion joints are still there in spite of the construction to remove them.

Anyway, we arrived at the Keuka Overlook B&B http://www.keukaoverlook.com/ and we were warmly greeted by Bob. He was in the middle of a tasting for some folks that stopped by to sample yet he took time to graciously extend himself to greet us. Terry was out of town for a bit but thankfully that did not last long. She showed up Saturday afternoon after we returned from sampling the regional wines.

The area was quite busy this weekend with many limos and buses full of people stopping in at the wineries to sample the efforts of the local vintners.

The Riesling and Chardonnay that Bob has put together are quite good and compare with higher priced wines from California and Europe (FTF).

 

This past weekend we had great weather that lined up perfectly with the Ravena Coeymans Yacht Club chicken bake. As usual the folks at this working yacht club put up a great time that included 2 dinners, two breakfasts, lunch and plenty of beer.

There was a horse shoe contest, a fishing contest for the kids, and DJ's both nights. Everyone left with smiles.

On the way up aboard the Ray Jean Too, while leaving the creek we ran into the Dutch Flotila working its way up to Albany. They were fine examples of wooden boats brought over for the occassion.

http://http//onhudson.typepad.com/onhudsoncom/2009/04/floating-docks-to-receive-flotilla-of-dutch-wooden-boats-port-of-albany-september-26-as-part-of-huds.html

Since they travel quite slowly we also had the opportunity to review them on the river as they had made their way up beyond Saugerties by Sunday morning.

No room at the RYB for this transient

Well it seems the RYB has finally met its match. They had to turn away this tug.

Actually it was up at Feeney's having some work done. The interesting aspect of this tug's passing was that they had a man up on the crow's nest when they went under the 9W bypass bridge. We actually happened to be on the bridge going to the mall when it was getting ready to pass under it going up stream. On that day out of the corner of my eye I see this worried mate up on the 'nest and I know it's going to be close. But since we were on the bridge we could not stop and snap a photo or shake hands as he passed under.

Haverstraw by car

This was not exactly the way we wanted to travel but it worked.

After about an hour and a half we were at Haverstraw Marina sitting at a table over looking the Hudson. It was a great view in a good environment and if the food had any quality at all the stop at the marina would have been worth while.

From there we drove back north stopping along the way at West Point only to be refused entrance with the car. It used to be that one could freely (remember that pursuit?) drive around West Point but 9/11 changed all of that. So we bypassed West Point and continued up Storm King Highway where we took a couple of more photos. Looking North you will see Bannerman Island which has an anchorage just south of it on the eastern shore.

Hooley On the Hudson etc.

Last Sunday Hooley on the Hudson was held down town at the water front. There was a great turn out on a wonderful day providing plenty of good times to be had. The Irish put on a great show with an all (young) lady band playing folks songs and singing early in the day. As you can see there was quite a crowd enjoying the music and Guiness which was ice cold.

Several vendors provided snacks and various wares representative if the Irish. A great stop if you can get a slip at the town dock for this event.