July 17, 2001 Here we are at lock 31, the town of Buckhorn. Summer has arrived! It is about 80 degrees and the winds have died down to normal. And wouldn't you know it, now we are wishing it was cooler again - - never satisfied ... We had a great second day (Saturday) in Hastings. We woke early to do laundry and, by pure coincidence, there was a restaurant next door (the Captain's Table!) who was having a $2.99 (Canadian) breakfast special - - 2 eggs, bacon, homefries, toast, and coffee. So we had to stop while we were waiting for the laudry to finish ... ! On the way back to the boat we walked through the farmer's market and got fresh veggies, homemade chocolate chip cookies, raspberry tarts, ... and an egg (so that Brian could make his infamous salmon patties for dinner!). It was a great morning. Then we worked on the boat a bit, including Brian changing the boat oil - - always a favored job (... not ...)! Saturday evening, we discovered that the community center was having Bingo so we went up to play the early bird games. We then spent some time talking to the very interesting dockmaster. He even let me manually close one of the locks! Yes, Brian got a picture of me walking around and around like a mule. We've met some great people the past several days including a couple on "Wazatug" who have been cruising the Great Circle for 3 YEARS, and a couple from Trenton, Ontario who are on holiday, cruising the Trent-Severn. Both were very nice folks who we enjoyed talking with. The Trent-Severn continues to be beautiful. We've been traveling through lakes, narrow rocky channels, farm land, marsh-type land, etc. It varies so much that it is never boring and always interesting. The dockmasters continue to be helpful and friendly. The lock in Petersborough is a lift lock. This means that we more-less tied up on a big baking pan at the bottom. The dockmaster then adds an extra foot of water to a second pan at the top and because of the extra weight, the top pan comes down and the bottom one goes up. The trip (~65') is very smooth and fast. More than a little cool. Last night, Norm and Alana (people who my sister deals with in a work capacity and who live in Buckhorn) stopped by the lock where we were moored to say hello and to hear about our adventures. We are meeting them for dinner this evening in town. It was wonderful to have someone to show our pictures to!!! Brian doesn't "ohh and ahhh" over them any more. Again, all is well. The little spiders continue to come out of the walls at night (I think just to frustrate Brian by camping out on the boat). But other than that, we wouldn't change a thing. Jeri and Brian
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