July 12, 1999 - Turkey Point Ontario to Toledo, Ohio
It is interesting to revisit these days as I re-read and scan images. This feeling of independence was something that is rare and seldom duplicated. We were on our own, had sold the house and stored everything else, and had no timeframe for ending the adventure. At some point it would come to a logical conclusion but that was still along way off. For now we were having a time of our life, exploring new places and meeting new people. The boat was running well and we had no schedule other than to be off of the Great Lakes by the beginning of September as that was when the weather patterns begin to change. Our little boat did not have autopilot and the GPS we had was a small handheld unit that was numbers only, no graphics, so everything was plotted on paper charts, and we had stacks of charts.
Heading to Canada across Lake Erie, taken from LaTiDa
Tuesday, July 13, 1999 • N 41 39.08 W 83 31.87
TOLEDO, OHIO
It has been a while since we have had the opportunity to really sit and catch up so here goes. We had a great trip out the Niagara River to Lake Erie. As we passed Buffalo we call our friend Bruce who was on the 37th floor of his office building and said good bye to the US of A for a while.
Passing Buffalo, NY and going into Lake Erie, heading to Canada.
Heading northwest along the Canadian coast we ultimately came to Port Maitland, Ontario. Entering the harbor (river) we sought out a place to stay and a phone to call customs. We found an abandoned dock and walked along the water and found a bait shop where we called customs and cleared OK. We hung our Canadian courtesy flag on our starboard yardarm and celebrated with ice cream and chips.
Port Maitland, Ontario - we found an abandoned dock.
Early the next morning, with storm warnings looming, we headed westward once again toward Turkey Point and family. The crossing was uneventful, we beat the storm in, and we arrived to find the channel had just enough water to float Vera II. We tied starboard side to the wall, next to the bar and took our bikes and went in search of Laverne. (Carol's cousin) With no success we were so depressed that we had to visit the bar right next to Vera, we knew that sooner or later we would meet up with Laverne, and sure enough within a few minutes he was snooping around the boat looking for us.
Shelta Jean & Laverne in their cottage at Turkey Point, Ontario - Canadian cousins eh….
We visited for four days, and had a wonderful, wonderful time filled with laughter, stories and sausage. We did have one memorable event. The first night of our stay, around three in the morning there was an awful crashing noise and as we looked out from Vera's salon windows we could see a pair of headlights shining right back in. Apparently some guys got very drunk and ran their Camero (It's always a Camero) at us at about 100 mph and ended up against a telephone pole. After almost two hours they were extracted from the car and shipped off to a hospital. Talking with the authorities the next day we were relieved that no one was killed. It was very close to the boat. The day before we left we did a huge grocery shopping as we returned to the boat to stow everything we discovered that our refrigeration no longer worked! It's always something.
The view out our window at the dock. Luckily no one died.
So we are now using ice and coolers to keep everything cold. The ice budget has grown. The crossing from Turkey Point, Ontario to Erie, PA was an awful crossing and Carol and I both feel that had we known that the seas (lake) would be so bad we never would have started out that day. We left in a small chop but two hours later when we rounded Long Point the waves grew to five to seven feet and right on our beam. We rolled from one side to the other for a very long three more hours. It got too rough to even leave the flying bridge, the upper helm where we were steering. We were taking spray over the fly bridge, 15 feet above the waterline. We got soaked and cold, but it was a relief from the heat we had in Canada.
Rough going on Lake Erie. We had about 40 miles of rough seas at 7 mph.
Finally we entered the harbor of Erie, PA and a state park at Presque Isle. Waiting at anchor for us was La Ti Da, a friendly face in such adversity. It was a safe harbor to wait out the storm. We waited two days for better weather and just enjoyed each other's company.
Mexican night aboard Vera Segunda - Robin loved to cook.
Robin and Cindy have become good traveling companions as Cindy helps me with the mechanical things and Robin is an excellent cook who always surprises us with something spectacular. Our plan was to make it to Sandusky, Ohio for the weekend, as Ann and Gordon were going to drive up from NYC to visit with us and other friends there. However weather kept us traveling slowly. Ashtabula, Ohio was a great town which had the best chicken wings and we had visions of Carol's father wandering the streets. He was a sailor in the merchant marine on the ore boats which take coal from Ashtabula to Duluth, Minnesota and return with iron ore. We hope that he enjoyed this town as much as we did.
Ashtabula, Ohio - what a grand time we had here.
Now that’s a big boat!
From Ashtabula we made it to Fairport and from Fairport to Cleveland, where we stayed for two nights at the Forest City Yacht Club. We meet wonderful people all along the was but sometimes you meet people that defy explanation. A woman at the Forest City Yacht Club loaned us her Ford Explorer (Eddie Bauer Edition) for the weekend! She never even asked our names, they were going cruising for the weekend and since we were cruisers she just handed over the keys but not until after she gave us a driving tour of the city. We love Cleveland. We visited the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the William Mather, an ore boat Museum. We drove to the Flats (a must see in all the guidebooks) and kept going, (very commercial) and did a good provisioning for the boats.
Heading to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
And then a storm blew through that was spectacular. High winds and sideways rain slammed through the area and sirens could be heard all over. We later learned that there were several tornadoes and a lot of wind damage in the area. It was good to be at the dock and out of harms way. Saturday morning Ann and Gordon arrived and it was very good to see them. They drove us to Cedar Point where their friends keep their boat and we partied all after noon and even got a trip into a marine store and a hardware store to get a few things for Vera II. Ann and Gordon spent the night aboard and we all went our for breakfast before saying our good byes once again. Life is good when you have good friends.
Friends reunited, me,Carol, Anne and Gordon in Ohio
Ann and Gordon cast off our lines and we headed for Vermilion Ohio, which we dubbed the Florida of the Midwest as half of the town seems to be on the banks of canals just like we have seen along the ICW in Florida. It was a very charming and scenic town bursting with boat traffic and many, many classic boats.
Tied up in Vermillion, Ohio - LaTiDa along side
After fueling in Vermilion we headed for an island in the Erie Islands above Sandusky named Put-In-Bay, which we had been told, was a great harbor. Again the computer generated voice on the marine weather channel lied to us saying the weather would be great. We had several hours of a rolly uncomfortable sea and the harbor rolled most of the night. We did enjoy the town visiting "Mr. Ed's Bar" and the International Peace Memorial as well as finding more ice. I know that this is the favored cruising destination in the area but we found it garish and noisy and elected to stay onboard for the evening.
The view of the harbor from the Peace Tower - little Vera 2 is out there somewhere.
We left Put-In-Bay this morning for an easy ride to Toledo. Toledo has a long channel leading for ten miles through very shallow water. We also had a couple of bridges to get open, but once we got downtown we found free dockage...with electricity! I have an appointment tomorrow with a refrigerator guy to get our fridge fixed and then it will be off to Detroit. Yet another state. So for now, we hope that you all are well and happy and we will be in touch again soon.
Tied up in downtown Toledo
Bridges Passed Under/Through 285
Locks 43
Miles Traveled 1191
Average speed 6.8 mph
6 States
2 Countries
"If you have never been scared on a small boat then you haven't traveled very far in one." Eugene V. Connett 3rd
NOTES AND MEMORIES
Port Maitland - The entrance into Canada once we passed Buffalo was interesting as we had no destination and had no idea just how exactly to contact Canadian Customs. We followed the Canadian shoreline a couple of miles offshore, checking our progress on the chart as we went along. We found a river inlet at Port Maitland and traveled a ways upstream and found the abandoned dock pictured. Our cell phone did not work in Canada and finding a place we could call was a comedy - ultimately the guy at the bait shop was dubious about us contacting customs but ultimately relented. We were happy it worked out as there was nothing else open or even close by.
Cleveland - LaTiDa had scooted ahead as we left Ashtabula, they could travel at 30 knots, out top speed was 7 knots. As we approached Cleveland, a storm was moving in from the north. As we entered the Forest City Yacht Club it struck. And we both were struck by the kindness of the folks at the yacht club. Several people came down to help us tie up and get settled. This experience was very much a reaffirming experience as to the good nature of people. As mentioned, woman named Candy loaned us her car for three days when we asked how long of a walk it was to the Rock and Roll Hall of fame.
Ashtabula - It was in Ashtabula that I lost my wallet. As you may or may not know when you travel by water, everything us uphill. Ashtabula is no different and we walked all over for a couple of days, going to the local hot spots, and shopping and groceries and just exploring. So when I discovered I had lost my wallet we searched Vera Segunda , several times, everywhere and then began to try to retrace our steps. We found nothing and were completely exhausted. One last search. And there, down in the bilge, under the oil pan was my wallet.. the relief was immediate, and to this day it is still a puzzlement, I still have no idea how it got there.
Put-In-Bay - What a tourist trap, likely the low spot of the entire trip. Everything was way overpriced and the streets were always crowded with revelers to apparently thought this was paradise. Yuk.
Anne and Gordon - What good friends we had in Anne and Gordon. They met us just about everywhere. Essex, CT, New Jersey (we stayed at their marina) Up the Hudson, Frankfort, NY and Sandusky Ohio. They drove from Jersey City to visit for a day over 500 miles to Sandusky…amazing Thanks for being such good friends.
Toledo - Getting things posted to the web was always a challenge. You had to find a direct line, modem days, so you couldn’t go through a switchboard. We hooked up to credit card lines in bars and stopped on libraries but here in Toledo I went into stealth mode. I dressed in my finest clothes and put my computer in a briefcase and went into the hotel that was right in front of Vera Segunda. Through the back door of course. I walked up to the concierge and asked for an executive conference room He very politely directed me down a hall and into a private conference room with a great internet connection. Sometimes things just work out. He never asked what room I was in.
So that is about it for Episode 2 - I guess I could have scanned many more photos but this seemed a good sampling- it is amazing to me just how many photos I actually took considering it was film, and how expensive photography was back then, oh for an iPhone…