June 22 – 26 Enjoyed another day in Fairport visiting with family, Steve & Barb from Canandaigua. They were great hosts, fed us extremely well, took us to run errands and showed us their lovely community.



They Say it Comes in Threes

From Fairport we moved on to Albion, a sleepy little town, but we enjoy. By Monday we arrived in Tonawanda. The plan was to stay here a couple of days. We had read that everything we would want was within walking distance – groceries, drug store, laundry, even a bus that would take us either to Niagara Falls or in to Buffalo. Also this would be were we would step the mast. Well, as we pulled into town, we went past the dock that we would be staying at, noted the Walgreens and the MacDonald’s where we could catch the bus. Clay said he wanted to check out the marina where we would be stepping the mast before we got settled. We continued further West through a bridge to the marina. Upon arrival to the marina, we were getting fuel and the nice gentleman said that he was available right then and there to step our mast if we wanted. We looked at each other and said – okay! We spent the next couple of hours attaching the stays and putting everything back in order. At that point, Clay said, let’s wait until we get back to the dock to put the sails on. So the crew got on board, shoved off and headed back East towards the bridge. (#1 of 3) I (Lori) was forward on the deck when I heard this guy screaming “You can’t go under the bridge with your mast!” Panick struck, the engines went in reverse but the boat continued forward. I began to try to decide which direction I should jump if the mast started to come down. Just as the boat started it’s backward motion, we kissed the bridge with our roller furling – just a little klink of a sound. Our hearts took a few seconds to start pumping again to get the blood back to our faces! At this point, we made a quick turn and headed West into the Niagara River. We had to stop and regroup, our plans had totally fallen apart. We ended up anchoring off of Grand Island and heading for Buffalo the first thing in the morning.

Buffalo

Our first day on Lake Erie will be a memorable one. The lake was calm, almost flat and sky was overcast with scattered showers. About an hour into the cruise the engine started hesitating. All systems seemed to be functioning, oil level fine, water temp fine, but the hesitation persisted and progressed. (#2 of 3) Clay checked the fuel filter – we evidently had gotten some bad fuel. He changed the primary filter and started the engine again. The hesitation continued, so Clay rechecked the primary, clean fuel and then decided to check the secondary, which was clogged. We had a spare so he changed it and tightened it. The engine ran beautifully, so we continued our trip to Dunkirk. (#3 of 3) As we progressed to Dunkirk we could smell diesel fuel and surmised we had spilled some, gotten on ourselves or were just overly sensitive… wrong! Clay had over tightened the filter housing nut and rolled the o-ring which allowed fuel to drip into the engine compartment at a considerable rate. Unfortunately, as the engine compartment filled, it followed the path of least resistance and ended up in the bilge and bunk areas. Needless to say this was a huge mess. Immediately we began pumping and sponging up 4 ½ to 5 gallons of $3.00 per gallon diesel fuel. Much to the dismay of Clay’s frugal heart, the fuel could not be reused. It was placed in what ever capped container we could find and a 3 gallon pail. When we arrived in Dunkirk, Clay marched off to the Fire Department for assistance in disposing of the fuel. They eagerly put him in contact with the Hazardous Waste Disposal person who showed up the following day. The fire department was glad Clay did not call this in on the phone as they would have to respond in mass and make out reports to the EPA, Coast Guard, Great Lakes Fisheries, etc. The spill was contained, so it was not a threat to the environment, only to those who had to deal with it, us. We found a local marina that would accept the our waste fuel and engine oil. We purchased two gallon containers of vinegar to help cut the smell, which it did after the fuel was removed in the areas affected, scrubbed with soap and water. This was not one of our better days, although no one was hurt, our pride was substantially diminished. There are moments when the aroma of old diesel fuel still haunt the boat, bringing an immediate visual observation of the aforementioned filters.


From Dunkirk we moved on to Barcelona – the port Lori has been anxiously awaiting. Barcelona is a very small little community just north of Chautauqua Lake where lots of Lori’s family live. Clay got to meet people he had heard of but never met, all within a period of 48 hours. The family lived up to it’s previous billing. Warm and friendly people who enjoy feeding out of town relatives and allowing them to clean their dirty laundry. The world should contain more of these people – actually it does and some of her relatives I haven’t met yet. I enjoyed meeting them and look forward to seeing them again in the future.



An added bonus to docking at Barcelona, was a special visit from Chris, Jen and our special little granddaughter Annabelle. We last saw her on April 1st, three months later she is crawling all over the place and pulling herself up on furniture so she can walk. She is a delight and it was hard to let go. We tried to convince her parents to leave her with us, but they wouldn’t bite. As much as we are enjoying our trip, we definitely miss seeing her grow up.



We bid adieu to Barcelona and headed for Erie. Presque Island looked beautiful, but we didn’t have time to explore, maybe we’ll have to come back again. We pushed on to Conneaut where we stayed on the north face of a quay. We planned to just stay the night, but unfortunately the winds picked up from the North pounding us into the dock, so at 3 am we were out moving the boat to the west side of the quay into calmer waters. We decided to stay another day, so Lori headed out on her bike to the grocery store. While she was gone Clay decided to go for it, so when Lori got back we threw the groceries on the boat and shoved off.

Again, the winds picked up and we didn’t make it too far, we only got to Geneva before we decided to stop. Geneva had a beautiful facility, I believe it was a State Park. We walked into town that evening where it was a carnival like atmosphere and had dinner at a hot dog stand. In the morning we headed out again. The lake was much calmer so we decided to try for Cleveland and we made it.

We arrived Thursday afternoon at the Edgewater Yacht Club. Lori’s brother Todd came in Friday afternoon and picked us up and took us back to Streetsboro along with our dirty clothes. Yeah Todd! We spent the afternoon doing laundry, some shopping and then had a nice dinner with Todd, Jane and Stacie. While with the Lesher’s we were able to pick up our email. We found out that over the past weekend, there was terrible flooding along the Erie Canal. They are estimating that the canal will be closed for eight weeks. There are a lot of boaters who are taking the same passage that we are that have been stranded in between locks or still on the Hudson River. Many are having to either turn around and head back south or have their boat transported. We are extremely thankful that we were well past this and feel for those who are having such grief along what is normally a beautiful passageway.











Saturday afternoon they brought us back to Cleveland and we took them out for a nice boat ride on a very still Lake Erie. We had hoped we would be able to put up the sails, but the wind would not cooperate. Stacie, Stephanie and Eric (Stacie’s beau) seemed to have a good time. Clay even let Eric steer the boat. It was hard to stay good bye, but again we’re off in the morning.