The Randalls

The Saint Lawrence River
N 44 16 W 76 02

Friday, 0845
Thursday morning started very wet. The slight rain turned into a real downpour. I was roaming the village in search of a WiFi and I found myself walking in water up to my ankles as I crossed the street. Steve and Barb arrived just after 0900 and they said the the drive up was tough because of the rain. So much for the weather forecast; it said that rain would hold off until the late afternoon or evening.

I needed parts for the outboard and Steve drove me around town to find a Mercury dealer. We hadn't used the outboard for nearly 3 months and it wouldn't start. I took it apart and I found the carberator all full of gum. I also found that the inlet pin that attaches to the float spring had a broken flange. Previously, the gas tank had broken. The flange where the cap screws on had broken right off. We did find a dealer and I ordered the parts. $123! for those two little things. It made me
pause. That old engine is probably only worth $100 total on the used market. A new engine of the same size costs $900. The sum of the spare parts from the Mercury catalog must add up to $50,000 to $100,000. No wonder that we are becoming a throw away society.

Back at the boat, Steve and Barb brought pictures of their travels and family over the past several years. It made the perfect activity to do while sitting out the rain. Barb also brought some of her famous decorative cookies, personalized for Tarwathie and Dick and Libby. I'll post pictures of those cookies when I get the chance.

The Randalls also brought our new GPS chip that I had shipped to their house. We installed it in the Lowrance and after a few minutes fiddling with menu options, we got it working. What a relief to have GPS chart plotting again in these rocky waters. I'm ashamed to admit it, but we're pretty dependent on the GPS. Now however, we're having trouble with the Lowrance just as we are about to depend on it totally. The disc that controls up-down-left-right movement of the cursor is giving intermittent
trouble with DOWN. If it fails entirely, we still have the critical functions but we will not be able to enter route plans.

Around noon, the rain abated and we set out for the Antique Boat Museum. Although I was there with Nick the day before, it was worth the second trip with Libby and the Randalls. Steve is a wood worker and also a fan of antique engines, so he enjoyed it especially. Libby and Barb were disgusted with the houseboat La Duchesse that I expressed admiration for the previous day. Libby called it a monstrosity and she cited our devotion to the KISS principle in life style. She certainly does have a
point. La Duchesse is more built on the max-out principle, 180 degrees out of phase with KISS.

The day continued to get nicer. The sun came out and a little wind came up. We returned to the boat and went sailing. We sailed up to the neighborhood of Barb's friend with the waterfront house called "Boatek" on Bluff Island. Then, another thunderstorm rolled in and threatened, so we returned to the dock. We ended the evening with dinner at a local restaurant.

We also got permission from the dock master to spend the night at the public dock despite the sign that says "3 hour docking limit." Clayton is indeed a friendly and hospitable town.

Thank you Steve and Barb. Thanks for your friendship and thanks for the day.

Today, Friday, it is rainy and chilly once again. The winds are 15 from the NE, despite the weather forecast that insists that winds will be from the West all day. I'm very unimpressed with the local weather forecasts.

We're heading down the river today. How far and to what destination we don't know. We'll pass the famous Bolt Castle in about an hour, but we think that Nick would think it an enormous bore, so we won't stop.