This and that

I originally started this blog as a lark, but it's become my obsession, my connection to you, my journal, my creative outlet, and yes, my lifeline. Thanks for accompanying us on our journey; I enjoy sharing it with you.

You may have noticed that I’ve gone back and edited some of my entries of the past few days and added photos and hyperlinks. I’m discovering that the words flow easier for me during the day because I'm not tired and rushed. I've also started to mention days of the week instead of "yesterday" or "tomorrow." This is to help me because we lose track of time, date, day of the week. I go back and look at some posts and don't remember for sure if they're in the correct order.

Navigating the St. Lawrence River is totally different from navigating the Great Lakes. In the Lakes you pretty much set your instruments to get you to your destination, keep an eye out for other boats, and keep on truckin'. In the river there are channels marked with little red and green buoys that you must stay between or risk running aground. We rely less on GPS in the river because it can be off by as much as 100 feet - a huge distance when you're trying to avoid shoals and underwater obstructions. We are amazed that there has been minimal commercial traffic on the St. Lawrence; we thought we'd be dodging freighters all the way down (or is it up?).

We have the current in our favor and now tides are becoming a factor as well; they bring currents of their own and can be a help or a hindrance, depending on whether the tide is coming in or going out. Wayne is "playing the tides," which means timing our travel so the tides work to our advantage. Where we stayed last night there is only about a foot and a half rise and fall between low and high tide; in Quebec City, only 70 miles farther downstream, there is a tidal range of eighteen feet! In a few miles we will pass through the Richelieu Rapids, a two mile stretch of the river that can have a current of up to eight knots.

Well, that was a non-event. I just went up to ask Wayne how soon we'd be to the “rapids.” We looked at the cruising guide and the charts and discovered they were behind us.

In Lac St. Louis (a lake), before Montreal, Wayne had me take the helm for a while so he could put some things away. I carefully watched the buoys to make sure we stayed in the channel, but darned if I didn't get us off course (and in shallow water) by about a mile and a half. I couldn’t figure out how it happened until I read in our cruising guide later in the day: "Be sure to follow the charted, buoyed channels carefully to avoid the shoal areas. You will require diligent pilotage as the channel zigzags over the lake so that distinguishing one buoy from another can be tricky."

After visiting Montreal, a truly bilingual city, I was starting to think I might escape having to use my French while in Quebec. Not so. Our stay last night in the small town marina of Trois Rivieres seemed devoid of anyone fluent in English, so we made do with my French. I drew the line when Wayne asked if I could explain to the management that we didn't have electricity because of "reverse polarity;" I could not have explained that in English, much less French.

My sister Ricki called me this morning to tell me about the first evening of the all-class reunion at our high school, Irondale High School in New Brighton, MN. They're celebrating the 40th year since the school opened; I was in ninth grade that year and graduated in 1971 (the second graduating class), Ricki in 1973, and my other four siblings all before 1980. I am disappointed to miss the reunion and asked Ricki to give this blog address to anyone who might be interested. So if anyone from Irondale is reading this, hi! Thanks for checking in! I would love to hear from you, so please leave a comment at the end of any of my blog posts.

Which reminds me...A few people have emailed me, which is great - keep 'em coming! - and said they are too shy to leave a comment on the blog where everyone can read it. If that's a concern for you, there is an option to comment anonymously.

Someone (who asked to remain nameless but her initials are RJS) also said, "Will you please fix or remove that horrible distorted photo of you and Wayne at the top of the page?" Well, I have tried several times to fix it, but no luck; the photo looks fine on my computer but appears distorted after I post it (wouldn't you know that the only distorted photo on the blog is the only one of Wayne and me). So I'll remove it and try again. Blogger is not without its bugs  and frustrations. I’ve spent hours trying to correct such things (different fonts, colors, photo placement, etc.) but some things can’t be fixed no matter what I do. So be it.

Wayne and I were talking about the trip and all the great places we are undoubtedly passing up. I commented that after the trip people will probably be asking us "Did you do this? Did you go there? Did you stop here?" We didn't have nearly enough time to do research before we left and our resources are limited now, so if you know of any "must see or do" places along the way that are sailboat accessible, we would be grateful for suggestions.