A Waterless Boat Journey

"Every man should pull a boat over a mountain once in his life."

-Werner Herzog

A brief one today, because I need to drag the old Chris Craft along the northern tips of the Finger Lakes from Canandaigua to Cayuga so the guys at Cayuga Wooden Boat Works can take a look at the engine. As I mentioned a couple weeks back, when we finally dropped her back in the water for our first pleasure cruise since Memorial Day, I watched the oil pressure drop and the engine temperature rise in tandem, and decided we should return to the dock before getting stuck somewhere out on the lake with no engine. This was just before the trailer popped off the hitch and crashed into the tailgate of the truck. We've been sort of snakebit on this latest boating adventure.

Today the trailer will be properly pinned, and we're hopeful that Phil and Ken can find the trouble with the engine and get us back in the water for our last lake weekend for awhile. We go back to Florida the weekend after next, and from there until well into football season I'll be traveling back-and-forth with sufficient frequency that it's hard to say when I'll have a full weekend on the water. Maybe Labor Day.

On an unrelated note, Peg's garden is sure taking off.

She's growing all sorts of great stuff down there, with the eggplants thriving above all the rest. The cucumber plants have done well, but thusfar we haven't seen any cucumbers. Peg thinks the squirrels are eating them, but I've never heard of squirrels dining on anything but nuts. Then again, what do I know?

Time to shower and head out. From here it's an hour to the Cliff to pick up the truck, then to the CYC to hitch the boat for roughly an hour's drive to Cayuga. Then the great unknown--Phil and Ken love to talk, and they want to see if they can fix the boat while I'm standing there, rather than forcing a Friday afternoon pickup. If I leave the boat I'll likely drive down through Ithaca back to Corning; if not, I'll bring it back to the dry storage lot and reverse the morning's journey. While I'm at it I'll handle a couple calls (no rest for the wicked), and maybe dictate a little, bringing my computer along so I can send out transcription from the dining room table at the Cliff.

Away we go.