Thursday, June 18, 2009

Today’s Plan A was to travel 30 (statute) miles to Kirkfield and through Lock 36, another Lift Lock similar to the one at Peterborough; however, we had to go to Plan B because the engine wouldn’t start! Gale called the marina that helped us out yesterday and the mechanic, Ralph, arrived at our boat at 9:30 am. He and Gale worked on the problem until nearly 11 am and determined that the solenoid installed yesterday was different enough from the original one, that it was causing another problem. We could not find the old part on the boat while Ralph was here– so we called the Westerbeke dealer in Ontario and ordered the part. Fortunately, they had it in stock and were able to “overnight it” to the marina. We will see Ralph again tomorrow after the part arrives.

Maureen, Gale and Lucy walked up to a nice coffee shop around noon and Maureen found a comfortable couch and table where she could use the business’ wireless signal. She spent the next four hours there while Gale and Lucy went back to the boat. At 5 pm, Jeff Ronco (Don’t Blink is the name of his boat) came over for happy hour bringing some snacks to share. We first met Jeff in the lock at Young’s Point, but he had remembered seeing us at Peterborough. He lives in Rochester, New York, and was traveling solo but was hoping that his wife would join him on the next trip. We enjoyed visiting with Jeff and learning a little about his life.