Sailors Are So Nice

The Bohemia River, N 39 28.807 W 075.56.044

Monday July 3

This morning I drove the rental car to Chestertown, about 15 miles away. My mission was to return the car to Enterprise Car Rental. When I got there, I was shocked to find the office closed. They had promised me that they would be open on Monday. I called the Enterprise 800 number and they assured me that all rental offices were supposed to be open today. As I sat in the parking lot contemplating what to do, a second car pulled in. The driver, Jim, was also trying to return a car.

Eventually, Jim and I both decided to drop the keys in the mail slot and to leave the cars there. More important, Jim said that his wife was driving down to pick him up and that they could give me a ride back to Georgetown. What a nice guy. Jim's wife Diane soon arrived and we set off. Along the way I found out that they were sailors too. They also owned a house on the Sassafras river. We also had things in common in that Jim was a nuclear engineer who at one time worked at G.E. in Schenectady. What a coincidence.

Jim and Diane drove me to their house, and then we took their runabout boat and they drove me up the river right up to Tarwathie. Along the way they explained some of the local lore. There was a big house along the river that we had admired with David and Bobby last week. It seemingly had tens of acres of green lawn. Jim said that the house belonged to the Black & Decker estate.

Needless to say, Libby was totally surprised and confused when a strange boat pulled alongside with me in it. That was a very nice deed you did Jim and Diane. Thank you.

Being 4th of July weekend, it seemed like every boat in the Chesapeake was out on the water today. Traffic on the Sassafras river was heavier than we had seen in Miami near the government cut. Nevertheless, we putted along at 4 knots and by 1700 we arrived here at our anchorage.

Tomorrow we'll traverse the C&D canal to the Delaware River Bay. The tidal currents will be favorable in the morning. Most likely, we'll anchor halfway down the bay. The weather is oppressive. Very hot, very humid and almost no wind. The way to survive this weather is to start jumping in the water by mid afternoon.

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