Lunch in Hudson,NY

I am having trouble uploading pictures today. I hope to get this solved soon, Sorry

We jumped into the rental car and drove across the Rip Van Winkle Bridge to the small Village of Hudson,NY. We had lunch at a good Mexican Restaurant called "Mexican Radio" the fish tacos were excellent. Once back on the boat I made a soup for dinner, went through he refrigerator and put all of our left overs into the pot and it really smells good!. The sun is pouring into the boat and it is 78 degrees in the cabin and a mild 64 outside. We all did a little laundry and anxiously await the arrival of the shaft seal.

Depending on the time the repair is accomplished, we will head either t0NYC or go part way to Kingston,NY and overnight before pushing on to NYC. Mike Murphy is keeping in touch with the offshore weather and we are looking at 2-4 foot swells and 10-15 knot winds. Should be No Problem as we had much worse crossing Lake Ontario.

The part is on it's way,Yeah!

I just got off the phone with Skip at Tidesmarine in Florida. The part is on the way! It should arrive by tomorrow morning, James should be back and we should be able to get it installed as soon as it arrives, and we can be on our way down the river.

More later,

Ross

Trip to Woodstock

We left this am at about 10am and headed through the small country roads to Woodstock. This little town reminded me very much of Carmel, cute trendy shops and lots of folks plying the sidewalks. The leaves on the trees were very colorful, but they are definitely at the end of their season. We awoke to over 20 bass fishing boats in the river where we are tied up. Seems that there was a fishing club tournament going on.

We plan to eat aboard again this evening and be on the phone to the shaft seal folks first thing in the morning.

To reach me by e-mail, Please use smartloans@sbcglobal.net. My other address is down for some reason.

Larry wants everyone know that John is growing a mustache. He is thinking about a beard, too.

Ross
with Larry & John at rest in Catskill, NY.

We have a cracked shaft seal

11/3/07 4:06 pm 50.4 degrees outside air temp. We sit at the dock waiting for Monday to order a new shaft seal. We determined that the seal is cracked and that is what was the cause of our water in the bilge. Once the part is here, James form PDQ will install it and we should be back on the road. We have rented a small car to use while we are "stuck". We plan to tour the surrounding areas tomorrow. We might even go to Woodstock.

We also heard this morning that the manufacturer,PDQ has declared bankruptcy. Not what I was hoping to hear. Oh well, we will make the best of the situation.

More later,

Ross
with John & Larry.

Catskill is a cute little NY town

4:40pm EDT 59.9 degrees Outside Temp.
We sit today waiting for the PDQ team to arrive from Waterford. We walked to the marina that PDQ is using to get the boats prepared for their trip South. We were told that the 44' Sailboat has blown both engines and is tied aside the Powercat. We wanted to be back at the boat for their arrival, but we had lunch downtown and then took a cab back to Wal-Mart for a few more items.

Catskill is the home of several small ski hills and the folks here are anticipating the snow. We just want to be headed down river. There are many antique shops, and small stuff stores. This area is known for the summer resorts where many a comedian got their start. Very quaint area.
We ran into a bit of history this morning while walking to town. Martin Van Buren, the 8th President of the US was married in a house here and the Real Uncle Sam later lived in the same house.

I just called the PDQ folks, and they are to be here in 30 minutes.

More later,

Ross
with Larry & John

Castelton to Catskill

11/01/07 6:30pm Outside temp 50 degrees.

Rather than wait for the PDQ crew to mosey down the Hudson, and be stuck in Castelton, we decided to move to the town that will be their destination, Catskill. We have tied up at River View Marina, a 5 star resort in comparison to the last 2 nights. I spoke with the PDQ head fix it guy, James Powers and we both figured that this is the best of options. The 20 mile trip was very leisurely. The sky was very overcast and while we could see the beautiful colors of the leaves, we were not able to get any good pictures as it was just too gloomy. I will try and get some shots (with my new little Nikon digital) tomorrow. We walked to town from the marina, about 1/2 mile and found a very nice restaurant for lunch. I jumped into a cab and went to a Wal-mart Super Store and re-provisioned the boat. It is our intention to cab into town and have dinner. We tried to get television stations, to no avail. I bought two $5.00 movies at Wal-Mart just in case.

We are most anxious to get into NYC and beyond, but need to get the problems fixed before we can go any further.

More later

Ross
with John & Larry

The locking experience

While we are along side in Castelton waiting for the PDQ Crew, I thought I would add a few pictures and describe the trip through the locks. We would stay on the boat tied up in either a small town or simply along the wall at the lock we were goinig to go through at 0700 in the morning. We would get up at 0600, have some coffee and a light breakfast and have the engines running at 0646 waiting for the lockmaster to open the lock. We would then move the boat into the lock, with the other boats that we were traveling with. John & Larry were on the deck and would grab a rope, pole or ladder with a boat hook. Their job was to keep the boat near the wall, but not rubbing against it. They really had a tough job.

Once we were either lifted or dropped to the next level on the river, the lock master would open the door in fron of us and we then motored slowly out of the lock. We traveled throuogh 30 locks, and we were really glad to go through the last lock in Troy NY.

The pictures show us entering a lock, then at the bottom of the lock and then the door opening.

More later

Ross
with John & Larry