The Cruising Adventures of Wild Blue and crew...

Marcia and I are in a Passport America campground in western Ohio, just 15 miles east of IN; staying here for $13.00 a night. It's kind of tacky with lots of permanent campers, but very quiet on a Wednesday night.

Last night we were looking for a campground in central IA after a 500 mile day. Nothing looked good in the books and we were tired. At the next exit there was a "Campground" sign with an arrow pointing north, nothing more. I had a good feeling so we got off at the Dexter exit and followed the signs into real farm country. Finally, we came upon a very rural, deserted-looking campground with water and electric, but it appeared closed with nothing and no one around. Suddenly, an elderly woman came up, welcomed us, collected $15.00 and drove back to her nearby farmhouse. We spent a quiet and enjoyable evening all by ourselves. While we have always enjoyed quiet, "mom and pop" campgrounds, we had never camped at a "grandma" campground before!

This is our last night on the road after 21 days away from home. Tomorrow we'll sleep in our own bed again. Then it's time to unload the camper and load up Valkyrie for a long weekend on Lake Erie shortly and then the Erie Canal CBGT cruise in August.

Jim - Sorry to hijack your thread! Enjoy YOUR travels!

Nick, Marcia and Boomer
Lazy River Campground
Pioneer, Ohio
 
Hi Nick,

I'm not ready to squawk 7500 on the transponder. :wink: Sounds like you had a great three weeks. I'm glad the Passport America worked out for you. We've only been out two nights so far this trip, and the PA saved us about $28 so far. Granted, they are not everywhere and not always the finest, but when all you're looking for is a night off the road and a plug-in, I just can't see paying $40 or more. If we're looking for a particular destination, then the location is more important to us and we'll refer to the Trailer Life Campground Guide.

Fred, we'll check out your suggestions and pass on your greetings. Thanks!

Up early this morning... no sunrise cruising... but Izzy has been fed and I get my computer time.

Best wishes,
Jim B.
 
Hi Jim,

That country you're going through is pretty foreign to me so I'll follow along and continue to enjoy the posts and pix. BTW, that last
".....Up early this morning... no sunrise cruising... but Izzy has been fed and I get my computer time."
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shows a post at 0347. That is early enough for a sunrise for sure, hope you are getting plenty of sleep on the other end of the night. You travel safe and enjoy, and thanks for taking us along.

Harvey
SleepyC
 
Hi Harvey,

That post shows 5:47 on my computer. :wink: May have something to do with us being 2 time zones further east. When we go into Eastern Time, I may be a "late sleeper". :roll:

Wild Blue is in a marina right now. Well, in a campsite that is part of a marina. We're on the shores of Kentucky Lake, still in Tennessee. The sun is up, so are we, and we'll hit the road again. We plan to meander our way today, so that we arrive at Seneca Lake State Park on Monday (didn't want to fight the weekend crowds).

It actually cooled off to 69º last night, the first time we've seen that low of a temp in quite a while! Actually got to turn of the a/c for a few hours in the middle of the night.

I knew I shouldn't have posted on the thread about fresh water pumps... pump #3 has taken a dump. :amgry I'll see if I can find something along the way. When I get home, I'm going to re-plumb this thing and put the pump inside.

Other than that, all is well. Izzy even got to go for a walk in the grass last night.

I'd post a photo or two, but out here in the boonies, the connection is pretty slow. I'm surprised we get any data signal at all, the photos show no bars.

Best wishes,
Jim
 
Jim,
We are on the latter stages of the Trent Severn right now. Couchiching, lock 42 of 44. The Trent Severn is great and easy cruising. Only one big lake, lake Simco, to cross and the rest is canals, rivers and small lakes. Plenty of places to stop. Marinas, lock side walls, small and not so small towns. Provisioning is easy. A lot of the towns have a grocery store and liquor store with in a two block walk of the lock. Do bring your bikes. There are riding trails in some of the towns, like Campbellford, Peterborough, Bobcaygeon and Orillia. Most of the other villages have plenty of quiet country roads that are fun to explore. You'll have no trouble finding places to use them. We store our bikes, folded up, in storage bags in the cockpit. They store very nicely on the sides just behind the step.
If you are coming up the Trent Severn and need fuel, try to get it at Campbellford, between lock 12 and 13. The have road station pricing on the water. Usually they are about 20 cents a litre cheaper than any other place. If you are buying 200 or so litres it can save you the price of dinner out!
The season lock pass cost us $220 and the season mooring pass cost $245 Canadian. If you are taking your time on this stretch of cruising they can be good value. If you are moving through faster the 6 day lock pass is about half of the season pass and you can pay nightly for mooring at the lock stations. We've stayed all but two of the 30 nights we've been on the Rideau and Trent Severn at the locks. They don't have showers but the toilets are clean and have hot water that I often use to fill the solar shower to use on the boat. They all have grassy areas and picnic tables. We have found them a great place to stay. Marinas have been running about $1.25 - $1.40 a ft. The one surprise we found is how expensive pumping out the head is. Usually around $20! The last place we filled up said its free if you buy $300 of fuel! :roll:
Any way the Trent Severn has been very interesting and relaxing cruising. Don't miss the Canoe museum in Peterborough and be sure to take the time to tour the museum at the Peterborough lift lock they're worth it.

Cheers
Ron
 
Thanks for the info, Ron. :thup

In our continuing saga of the sucky pumps, it's not always easy to find one of these sucky pumps while still trying to make some miles. Jabsco (ITT) was absolutely NO help whatsoever. The woman in customer service couldn't tell me where a distributor might be located. You could tell it was Friday and she wanted to be somewhere else. All she wanted to know was if this was a warranty issue... and if so, I'd have to take it up with the folks where I bought it (just a scant 1200+ miles away from my present location). I was just looking for some information: cross reference to an RV pump, other pumps that use the same housing, etc. Her response to every question: "Uhhhhh, yeah, I wouldn't know that." I asked for tech support and she said, "Uhhhh... I can help you with that."

Gotta love the internet. We are down for the night near Louisville, KY, and did a search to try to find one of these sucky pumps. No joy. But, a search of West Marine turned up a similar pump that should work, and the WM only 250 miles from us (and along our route) has one in stock. They are holding it for me, and I'll pick it up tomorrow. They even have it on sale.

In checking with a multimeter, I am getting power back to the pump, so I assume there is no problem with the wiring or switch... just that sucky pump. Yeah, the one with the big proud writing on the front: "Made in China." If I can find a US made pump, I'll buy that when I get home and have the time to mess with redoing the plumbing.

On the bright side, we are spending the night in Grandma's RV Park... didn't meet Grandma, but the place is nice and neat, we are close to the bath house, it is spotless, and there's even a sign by the shower that says, "If you get the floor wet, you dry it!" Makes sense to me. :wink:

We bailed early today so we could do some checking on the sucky pump situation. When we took Izzy for a walk, there is a field nearby that has a couple lamas, a few mules, and some horses. The lamas must be used to getting fed by RVers; when Joan walked Izzy near their fence, they came running... kinda freaked out both the cat and the Blonde. :mrgreen:

The guy in the motorhome next to us commented to Joan, "Well, that's the strangest thing we've been parked next to." No idea if he was referring to the boat or me.

Oh, well... time for a couple adult beverages, some satellite radio, and some computer time. :roll: I may put a couple chairs out in the cockpit and put on some Jimmy Buffett... and if the guy with the big coach next door comes out, ask him if he has radar on his RV? :mrgreen:

Best wishes,
Jim B.
 
severe_weather_florl103.jpg


I DON'T KNOW EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED OFFICER, ALL I SAID IS THAT FUNNY LOOKING RV LOOKS KINDA LIKE A BLUE BOAT! NEXT THING I KNEW, THIS LITTLE GREY CAT WAS ALL OVER OUR CAMPSITE AND NOW LOOK AT IT! :cat :love

You go IZZY!!
 
Charlie,

I thought that we got Sadam Hussein and now you post a picture of him in an RV park, still causing trouble. Man, this really proves that you can't trust the gumint!

Nick
"Valkyrie"
 
Captains Cat":1ey48zab said:
Didn't even catch the likeness.... Sorry to hijack the thread Jim, hope you're having a great trip North!

Charlie
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:mrgreen: No problem. It's only a hijacking if the thread gets off topic... heck, you got Izzy, land-lubbers, and a reference to a boat in there... pretty close from my perspective.

Besides, everyone knows Saddam never wore sneakers.
 
We stopped at the West Marine in Dublin, Ohio... my new friend, Don (the store manager), had the pump waiting for me. It was a long day - we covered 450 miles. We're at a "family RV park" tonight near the Ohio/Pennsylvania border. The definition of "family RV park": lots of screaming kids, barking dogs, and smokey campfires.

On the bright side, the new pump is installed and functioning... nice to have hot and cold running water again. On the really bright side, the camp store has hand dipped ice cream cones. :D

Another interesting tid-bit: this is the first day since we arrived back in Texas that we haven't had to run air conditioning. Some clouds, some rain, some sun, but the high today was 70º. Walking back to the boat tonight, I got to experience chilly. It went good with the ice cream. :wink:

Best wishes,
Jim B.
 
JamesTXSD":1wrayztl said:
Another interesting tid-bit: this is the first day since we arrived back in Texas that we haven't had to run air conditioning.
Click to expand...

Finally away from Houston, we are boondocking in the parking lot of a chuch we used to attend in Longview. It cooled down enough for us to turn the generator and AC OFF last night before we retired. Enjoyed the windows open and the fresh air. I am glad your cool will last today, our heat will be back as soon as the sun comes up.

Walldog, Willie and Jake in the Land Yacht.
 
Hi Herb and Wilma,

It was 60º this morning when we walked to the showers. A refreshing change.

Hope all is going well with you two. Drop us a note when you have time.

Best wishes,
Jim & Joan
 
Good morning Jim and :gift :cake :hot to :smiled . Thanks Barry for the heads-up.

Great story of the from the RV park. Didn't happen to mention to the coach commander that you also carry your own 135hp blender for mixing those adequate adult beverages did you. OK, you can save that one for him next time.

We didn't have the AC on here on the left point yesterday either. Went down to Ediz Hook (Port Angeles, WA) yesterday for sunset and watch the cruise ships go by. 57 degrees, with winds from the west at 20 -25 and 4-6 ft waves. Didn't seem to phase the Pilot boats. As I was watching the sun slide down through the clouds, I was thinking it was so much like the soft warm trade winds from Hawaii.

Good to hear you are back in hot water again :wink Hope that pump thing quits hassling you for a while and aren't we glad there is a West Marine on every corner (sort of)?

Now back to our regular scheduled programing.......

Harvey
SleepyC
 
Wild Blue has landed! Seneca Lake State Park is a beautiful place. Interesting arrival today... who knew there was a "Strongman Competition" today (a triathalon - running, swimming, and biking) with about 5,000 competitors and spectators... all in this relatively small state park. We were able to get in with the boat, find the park manager, get a slip assignment, go out and top off the fuel in the boat, launch, and get tied off. We'll take tomorrow to get re-supplied, find a laundromat, and get a bracket welded on the trailer (I-86 in New York is now in the competition with I-10 and any road in Oklahoma for the crappiest road in the USA).

We are getting the boat tidied up, set off the SPOT to let our kid know we're OK and where we are, and are going to settle in for the evening.

2130 miles. The truck averaged 13-14 mpg.

The bimini is up, the chairs are set up in the cockpt... time to kick back.

Best wishes,
Jim
 
Here's a view of Wild Blue back in the water...

WBinE.jpg

Look in the background behind our boat... there's another C-Dory 25, Red Rover. and next to that is a 21 Ranger Tug. Folks here have good taste in boats.

And Izzy playing in the grass next to the boat...

IzzyGrassE.jpg
 
I have been by that marina every fall for about 10 years and I have never seen a C-Dory, or a Ranger Tug! Now two C-Dorys and a 21 Tug!! Cordell is from Geneva, and as a kid he had a 12 foot Thompson with a Mercury Hurricane that he kept right about where your boat is docked. He earned the money for the boat from his paper route, and would think nothing of running to Watkins Glen and back in a day. The Hurricane is out in the garage and looks much like it did in 1950, and it runs great.

Have a great cruise, and I look forward to following along.

Robbi
 
I spent 2 years finishing up my college degree at RIT in Rochester, so did some exploring near Seneca. Would love to go back with the Tom Cat, but probably earlier in the summer before it gets really hot and humid. Maybe not so bad on the water?

Warren
 
Glad you made it to Seneca it was always our favorite launch spot. Just down the canal you will find Barrett Marine on your Starboard side. They are a Ranger Tug dealer and a good place to purchase your Erie Canal permit. Have fun. Wish I were there.

Fred, Pat, and Mr. Grey(the cat)
 
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