July 21 – Saturday
The weather was a perfect “10” after the 3 inches of rain that fell the two previous days. Blue sky, light breeze, ideal temps – a perfect day. We left Ayling’s about 07:45 and the captain had overestimated the running time to the first lock therefore we arrived ahead of schedule for the first locking. We idled around and drifted until time to enter lock #20, the first of three located right together, and by 09:20 had cleared #19 and #18 as well. The next obstacle was a swing bridge a few miles away and as we approached Burritt’s Rapids Bridge, we dutifully sounded our horn 3 times and then watched as a young woman walked in circles turning a shaft that “wound” the bridge open. Just past the bridge was lock #17, our final one for this day, and it was waiting for us with open gates. We were the only boat locking down and the lock master was particularly friendly and chatted a lot, so we had him take our photo as the water lowered us. One of the pics we took from the deck has the red and white Canadian flag in the background, flowing straight out against a brilliantly blue sky – hopefully we captured the image as it appeared to us at that moment.
It was an un-interrupted run of 12 miles to our planned stop at Hurst Marina near the village Kars. This stretch of the waterway twists and turns with the natural bed of the Rideau river and the shore varies from large stretches of marsh, to sloping farmland with barns and silos, to developed waterfront home sites – some lavish and others comfortable weekend cottages. We are within 20-25 miles of Ottawa, so by car this is almost a suburb area for the Capital city. There also was the added traffic of weekend boaters and fishermen.
Hurst is a well run marina / boat dealership and Dwaine, the dock master has a good staff, we were in our slip promptly. Our timing was good because this weekend Hurst is having their “Aqua-Palooza” event – a kind of open house boat show special. They are SeaRay dealers, and gave us a gift bag containing a bunch of stuff including T-shirts advertising SeaRay boats and we can’t wait to wear them around Spring Cove when we get back. The Aqua-Palooza excitement grabbed me (RCB) such that I was tempted to talk with the salesman about a trade-in value for FLIGHT, on a nifty 520 Sun Dance Express cruiser with Bose stereo system, tilt steering wheel and extended swim platform equipped with a powered lift to haul and launch a pair of jet skis. If the deal works out we could be home by Wednesday! Polly could shop in Ottawa for a nice bikini that matches the accent striping on the boat.
Soon after we arrived, we attended to FLIGHT’s needs and then off-loaded our bikes before having a nice lunch at the Swan Pub adjacent to the marina. My (RCB) lunch included a half-pint of Alexander Keith’s India Pale Ale which came in a spiffy glass with the brewer’s logo imprint. When asked, the waitress told me there would not be much fuss made if I inadvertently walked out with the glass, so I did. She got an extra nice tip. Thus far my souvenirs include a haircut and a stolen beer glass (Polly did buy me a nice T-shirt, but with her own cash, I think). We jumped on our bikes and rode the mile and half to Kars where a small local fair was underway. At $5. a head to just stroll through, we passed, and spent the same amount on ice cream and a lottery ticket ($16 mil)at the village store, gas station, video rental, post office. They also sell propane and had a bench outside where two young girls were playing cards. Before the store, we pedaled down a gravel road leading to Long Island Marina, a small boat facility where we were greeted (and checked out) by a 15-16 year old young fellow who was the attendant. We chatted about the recent heavy rains and he mentioned that, the day before, in the heaviest rain, he was riding his bike the 6+ miles to the marina. When I commented that it would not have been a good day for biking, he matter-of-factly stated, “but I had to get to work, we must check the boats so they don’t sink”. My confidence in the younger generation spiked up a mile – I would like to read a newspaper profile on this young man. Unfortunately, stories like that would not “sell cars” as my news editor-brother-in-law would say.
It is a small world! Soon after we returned to the marina, the boat that is based in the slip next to us returned and it was a couple we had met briefly when we were in Smith’s Falls. They left on the same morning and were in all of the locks with us when we had the “big house boat” experience. Trish and Graham live in Ottawa about 20 minutes from their boat. They came aboard FLIGHT, along with Dwaine, the dock master who had expressed an interest in having a look aboard. Graham & Trish had been out for the day and they use their boat as much as possible. Graham likes to shed his banker suit & tie for shorts and bare feet, and bare his tattoos, whenever he can. They are looking forward to the time they can do some long distance cruising and were curious as to how we handle personal business while away. We told them it starts with having four great adult kids to dump the details onto, and from there, we just forget about it.