Fri Aug 27 - Sat Aug 28: WE GOTTA GET OUTTA HERE

In which we flee, like rats leaving the motionless boat ...

Some of the closed locks along the canal have reopened - but not the ones we need (lock 8 and beyond), so we decided to rent a car and drive back to Colton’s Point Marina in MD (where we picked up the boat this year) to get our trusty minivan that has been waiting for us patiently.  We will need it at the end of this trip, and we had nothing else to do while STUCK. This seemed logical and all, but it required 18 hours of driving over 36 hours of trip.  Grump grump ...

We picked up a rental car at the Albany airport and headed south on I-87 which took us through New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania and finally Maryland.  It was a fine day for a drive - but warm!  We stopped at a rest stop along the way (honestly can’t remember what state it was in) and as we stepped out of the car I was reminded of the time we spent in Arizona.  It felt like an oven. 

The rest of the 9 hour drive was uneventful.  We took a route that skirted the big cities trying to avoid Friday afternoon traffic.   At about 5 pm we ran into a major thunderstorm and spent the next hour s l o w l y traveling in driving rain. We arrived at the marina and our car at 6:30. 

Weeds!

Since the car had been sitting in a field since about May 10, Rick was ready with jumper cables and an air compressor to inflate tires.  He checked the oil and coolant (while I did nothing), put in the key and the car cranked right up!  What a great car - we were very grateful.  EXCEPT...(isn't there is always an 'except'?!)...the air conditioner would not work. We had NOT anticipated a 9-hour-drive back to New York, on freeways, with the windows down.  Time to regroup - we checked into a nearby hotel, had Mexican food for dinner and tried to reframe things in a more positive manner - with the help of rum & coke.

The next day we did it all over in reverse!  With the windows down!!  In the rain!!!! We dropped the rental car at the BWI airport and started the drive back to Schenectady.  We had planned to take some side trips, but without AC we lost that desire. 

 

You have to admit this would have been a good side trip, right?!  Blesses

d are the Cheesemakers...

We took a different route back to the boat so we could see some other parts of this area (through the open windows!) and to find less traffic.  We stopped for groceries and arrived back at the marina to find the Saturday evening concert was in full swing! Sure enough - a week had gone by and it was Sat again.  Longest week of our lives...

Once we found a parking place and lugged all the groceries MILES to the boat, we enjoyed the concert.  This band is a Billy Joel cover band, and they are good enough that they sometimes travel with the man himself.  Then, with no warning, at 9 pm there was a gigantic explosion in the sky.  It turned into a firework show, to celebrate the last concert of the summer, and was almost directly over the boat.  And what a show it was.  (Rick:  When I was a kid firework shows were 15 - 20 minutes long.  It's ridiculous that nowadays firework shows last 45 minutes, with multiple endings and over the top grand finales.  Yes - he actually used the word 'nowadays'.  He is practicing to be a good curmudgeon later in life… I will be giving him such shit about 'when I was a kid ...')

Over-long or not, it was a grand welcome home and SOME OF US enjoyed it!

ON TOP OF US!

One possible ending ...

Several minutes later - the real ending!