Temp this morning was 49....bbbbrrrrr...so glad the sun came out to warm us up...West wind has died down but we were chilly all day as we headed off to find our way to Jackson Island...yes, we got to draw our own line on the chart...scared me...but Captain Floyd was in his element...we took this cut thru Little Detroit and managed to arrive safe and sound. Tomorrow we head to a marina in Blind River...and it is Canada Day...so we hope to help celebrate. Then another day to Thessolan and we are about ready to enter Lake Michigan!!!!

Leaving Killarney the water is pretty open (another cold windy rough crossing) until you reach the village of Little Current, which has a one-lane swing bridge that opens on the hour for 15 minutes. Yep, we missed it by 15 minutes, so waited for 45 for the next opening to occur. Then swung right into the North Channel. Floyd is in heaven here...I'm more than a little anxious...water is deep and very rocky...and it seems that there are so many ways to get from one place to the next that the Chart Gods have chosen to NOT give boaters a line to follow. But I like following the lines!!!!!! This is primitive wide open space...you also get to pick where to anchor. They give suggestions...but as we learned the first day, it is good to compare the books. One said Sturgeon Cove was a delightful stop...the other book said don't go there unless you are with a local...rocks at the entrance are an issue. We changed our original intent and settled in Bell Cove...which all books listed as deep and safe...we struggled three times before we could set the anchor..but it was delightful...shared the space with an older racoon...took a dinghy ride to Sturgeon and decided after seeing those below the surface rocks that we'd made a wise choice...

Trip to Killarney was rough...I never really get motion sickness, but this morning I suffered. We are ever so glad to use the lower helm and thrilled to have a working auto-pilot. We did pass the "Crabby Indian" in the rock formations...LOL...Killarney didn't have much to offer...Well, there was Ice Cream!!!! But it is really just a narrow spot, a couple of buildings and a marina...and were we glad to be there when the rain came!!!! JOLLY ROGER didn't appear but we made friends with Eldon and Dianne aboard MAINE VISION...they are Loopers but were heading the other direction. We spent a pleasant evening at the restaurant chatting...returned to TUMBLEWEED in the pouring rain...and the next day we headed into the North Channel. We understand that Internet connections and cell phone coverage is pretty spotty there...so we'll post when we can...

OMG...silly...we dropped anchor three times this afternoon before it set to our liking...Then Floyd went down to clean up (yes, he was just a little gamey...) just as he was finishing the anchor alarm sounded and we rushed outside to check and what did we see???? Mary and Roger from JOLLY ROGER motoring around in their dinghy...fishing.....seems they are anchored in an area just around the bend from us...HA...we left Parry Sound just behind them two days ago...but since they travel WWWWAAAAAYYYYY faster than us we thought they were long gone....wrong!!!! we'll probably be together tomorrow night too...they'll just get there a couple of hours before us!!!!

Spent last night on the hook in Alexander's Passage. Today was sunny so instead of resting, we travelled about 30 miles and are on the hook again. Plan to be in a marina tomorrow in Killarney. We have just a couple of days on the North Channel then cross back into the States at DeTour City on July 3rd. Just in time to celebrate Canada Day July 1 in Canada...and Independence Day July 4th in USA....is that good timing or what???

As we waited ten minutes for the 3:00 pm Parry Sound bridge opening, it started to sprinkle...winds turned cool...we could see the marina. We docked at 3:10...and by 5 the serious rains had started. Saturday morning was in the 50's...cloudy and rainy...we decided it was a good day for laundry and book reading. Hoping that Sunday weather will be better...we are heading north ...gonna be on the hook for a couple of days working our way to Killarney. Then North Channel and back to the USA...people in Canada have been most pleasant...but we miss American grocery stores...oh, and their postal people are still on strike!!!! So no mail...poor Dennis had a birthday without getting his card/check from Mom....that's just not right!!!!

Well, so much for the exploring part...even with bug spray, the misquitoes are the size of a small cow and travel in herds...they just about carried us off. The afternoon and evening rain turned temps cool...in all it was a pleasant quiet evening...neighbors changed and re-arranged. We are heading to Parry Sound by way of Sans Souci. A planned stop on Fryingpan Island at Henry's world famous Fish Restaurant. Good news is....I've been able to get caught up on blogging since Floyd ran off the chart in the computer. Now he is totally dependant on that CHART PLOTTER THAT I FIXED and paper charts...oh, and a great first mate with binoculars who scouts out the marker bouys and rocks from the bow....when she's not blogging!!!! HA...

Arrived in Frying Pan Bay safe and sound....we have a couple of neighbor boats...but we are here to explore and rest up...cloudy and rainy...good for napping...I've been trying to catch up on blogging but the connection is obviously not strong enough for me to attach photos...I'll go back and do that tomorrow when we are heading the Parry Sound...that's my plan and I'm sticking to it....cause the other option is laundry!!!!

Spent the afternoon touring Discovery Harbour, a reconstruction of a 19th Century British naval base complete with sailors and soldiers dressed in period. Historic buildings , boardwalk, and boats were the highlight of that experience. We returned to TUMBLEWEED to find JOLLY ROGER parked next to us ...loopers from Galveston, Texas. Spent a pleasant rainy evening swapping stories with Mary and Roger Cater at the Town Docks, brand spankin' new. We made plans to head out on Friday to Frying Pan Bay at Beausoleil Island...a quite rural National Park area in the Georgian Bay.

Lock 43 claims to be the biggest on the Trent-Severn...but Lock 44 is truly the most amazing. We spent the evening hours walking all around and analyzing the contraption. We saw a boat arrive at the bottom end and relaxed thinking that we could watch them come up in the next morning before we took our turn. Alas, they disappeared in the night...so it was us, the men and that BIG machine....no sweat...in fact, we think it was the easiest of all locks. I had no chores...fenders were in and no need for lines...Floyd drove in, they said stop....I politely asked if while we were high and dry, would they check our props and shafts for weeds...they said sure...found and removed some...and next thing we knew, we were headed out below...one more tiny lock (the smallest in the system) said good bye to the Trent-Severn...hello, Georgian Bay...went straight to Penetagueschene. Piece of cake.

Tuesday morning the UPS delivered Floyd's chart disc right on schedule so we said good-bye to Graham and Debbie and headed out to stay at Lock 43....but when we arrived and noticed all the goose poop...we kept right on going...spending the night in the shadow of the BIG CHUTE...the railroad car with straps...that lifts the boats out of the water on one side...up and over and down 50 feet to the other side...Looking forward to that...

Sunday afternoon as we were working on the aft deck, a parade of 7 of these little cars came a round the bend...what a great sight!! Folks have fun with their toys. We also noticed that we had become the talk of the town as every time the ISLAND PRINCESS came in from cruising, the tour guide took great delight in discussing that "boat from Wichita, Kansas in the harbor...how do you get here from there???"

Sherry insisted on taking me to a really special produce market and grocery store on Monday...we said good bye to SEGUE...Margaret and Jim from TAHOMA came over for a cook out...we found that we were in Carver heaven...but most important IFIXED THE CHART PLOTTER... story goes like this. Orilla marina gave us a packet of info...in it was the name and number of a Raymarine electronics specialist...while I was napping on Saturday, he arrived. Fancy gagdets and all...worked up and down...cleaned card readers and tested...but it still seemed to freeze up...not really wanting to read the chart chip....and just a suddenly he left. I asked Floyd what he found...he admitted that they'd made no progress...the thing just kept freezing up when trying to read the chip....seemed logical to me to ask...Could it be that chip? well, the look I got said...you're a girl...what do you know about this stuff...but to humor me, he tried a different chip. Yep, that did the trick...after a little research we determined that the chart chip for New York, Erie, andTrent-Severn that we had successfully used last summer was the culprit...called the fancy electronics guy to let him know...he was much chargrinned...refered to me as the GODDESS of the water...and admitted that he would begin advising all his customers to take chart chips out of the chart plotter when storing boats. He did refuse to say that he would tell folks that a "girl taught me this"...guess he thought that was a little much...HA...doesn't matter, I'm getting lots of mileage outta this story!!!!

Port of Orilla was a big and weekend busy marina. Close to restaurants, bars, grocery and a fabulous bakery. We were ready to stay put for a while...and they offered a bargain "pay for two, get one free" plan. So we settled in for the weekend....and it was a good thing. Right off, we made friends with Graham and Debbie on the boat next to use. Their friends Sherry and Doug arrived on Saturday...SEGUE and TAHOMA were a few slips over...but we knew we might be in party city when a boat arrived with a mirrored disco ball mounted in the fly bridge...there really were parties all over the docks on Saturday evening...but just like clock work they faded to nothing at 11... we managed to find a battery filler for Floyd, get charts shipped in UPS and of course a trip to the bakery...I swear we gained weight just looking at the counter...fabulous stuff...

Spent the night at Lock 39 with SEGUE...we could see locks 40 and 41 from where we were...finally a chance to meet and talk with Richard and Angela...and their dog, Stella. It was a very rural area...another uneventful evening...rain in the night made for great sleeping and a cooler start the next morning. We rode through lock 39 with a couple of MICE!!!! I mean really....just swimming and floating on the stuff in the water...we were on to Orilla.

We had thought that we'd stay along the wall at Lock 36 for the night...but the day was young and SEGUE was headed on...so we did too. Locking through a couple more proved to be interesting. Couldn't help but notice the new wood on this lock door. Lock master informed us that it was just installed this spring. He then commented that we were from Kansas and he'd actually visited Kansas. Oh, really...where???? Would you believe...Neodesha!!!! (where my parents were raised and I was born...just down the road from Fredonia, where I grew up.) Seems that he was once a Cobalt boat dealer/salesman and had attended their annual convention held at Grand Lake, Shangri La Resort, and drove their rental car to Neodesha to tour the plant. SMALL WORLD!!!!

OOPPPS, Lock 36 at Kirkfield was before the bridge and narrow channel...so exciting that I almost forgot to tell you about it!!!! This is the down trip on a similar locking process as Peterborough. The structure is not enclosed and you sure get the feeling of "hanging out there"...suspended nearly 5 stories in the air...going down!!!!! What a thrill!!!

And then suddenly the channel narrowed...and continued to get rocky. Our friends on SEGUE were motoring behind us all day. We just hoped there were no boats coming toward us...and if there were, please make them small.!!!

What you lookin' at???? What...you've never seen a boat from Kansas in these parts??? Welcome to the club! We get that everyday...Kansas...how'd you get here from there? We always reply that the first 600 miles on the turnpike were hazardous!!!!!

Storms that pass thru here cause some interesting damage...we've seen this all along the way...

It's the hole in the wall bridge!!!! Ha...our antennas didn't even touch!

And can we talk a bit about prices in Canada!!!! Everything is more expensive...sales tax is 13%...and gas is sold by the liter. So do the conversion on this gas....times 3.785 makes it $5.71 a gallon. We haven't paid that much yet and hope to get back to the states soon so we don't have to.

Oh, the things that remind us of home!!! Can you believe that every time we see a yellow house we think of Muriel...You'd be amazed at how many we see...we know she would have loved this one!!!! At least in the summer!!! Sure don't want to be around here in the winter months....

We are always on the look out for interesting bird nests...this one was the highlight of the day as we entered Fenelon Falls.

Had a relaxing late start the next day...Floyd had to practically stand on his head to use that turkey baster...we motored a little over an hour to stop at Fenelon Falls...town, falls, lock...all right there...quaint and interesting stop. Passed the folks on SEGUE and TAHOMA as we locked through...they had stopped at the top of the lock while we had stopped at the bottom...we gotta work out this timing problem.

We spent the night in comfortable temps on the lock wall in Bobcaygeon. The place was packed both below and above the lock. Rental houseboats everywhere...boy, are they fun to watch!!!! But you are better off to avoid them. It seems anyone can rent one and no experience necessary to drive off in one. There we again found two boats we had seen in other locks and marinas...SEGUE and TAHOMA. Seems like we see them but can't get our schedules worked out...they are eating when we aren't...they are going to town as we are coming back...we talked briefly and hope to spend time together somewhere. We finally located a turkey baster so Floyd can fill the new batteries if needed. We ate at a neat little restaurant..."Just for the Halibut"....oh, we had haddock!!!!! Also met and talked with folks in our twin boat, PASSION III...interesting to note the differences and similarities.

I'm about four days behind on blogging...Floyd has been using a computer program to navigate the water ways....but now that I've fixed the chart plotter I should be able to catch up...wait til you hear that story!!!!!

How would you like to attend this church???? Maybe by jet ski????

This day also proved that we were 100% right to postpone our trip so that we could take our time. The scenery proved to be very delightful...interesting...and the route well marked so that we didn't have to worry too much about running into one of those rocks. That would not have been pleasant!

We spent the night tied to the Young's Point lock wall in some one's back yard....literally!!!! The real attraction was the ice cream store next door. Love this Canadians and their Kawartha ice cream...it appears to be everywhere. But we weren't very happy when our neighbor had the nerve to mow his grass the next morning before we left. Really????

Many of you know that Floyd and I play a silly air kissing game while driving in the car...one person finds a yellow car and the other person owes them a kiss. Taxi cabs and construction equipment are excluded. Since we've been driving the boat, I have encouraged him to find an acceptable alternative. Can I mention he has been more than a little resistant of my yellow paddle boats, canoes and Adirondack chairs? Well, this yellow findwas a turning point...got my kiss without complaint!!!!

Next site was Trent University which sits right on the river...lovely to look at...and extra nice to think about NOT being a student....

Trent University sits right on the river...lovely to look at...and extra nice to think about NOT being a student....

The rest of the day we travelled and locked through with the PURRFECT TOO. A couple from up around Kingston.

LOCK 21...Peterborough...one of the world's largest pan locks. Designed to lift or drop boats 65 feet in two water filled tubs. Movement in one chamber must force and equal and opposite movement in the other chamber. Each chamber holds 3 million 400 thousand pounds of water. That's a whole *&%$load of water....and can I just say, all my worries were for nothing. It was actually quite fun...smooth ride up for us....and yes, that tourist figured out our camera. I thought we got some great shots. We began to look forward to Lock 35 at Kirkfield Pan lock...the 65 foot drop.

To say I was a bit nervous was a huge understatement...that Peterborough lift tub lock was intimidating to watch...I was not thrilled to be going in it. First was another of what I call the "baby" locks...and there I not only dropped my boat hook in the water (good thing Floyd had added that piece of noodle to make it float) but I also meet my two lucky omens. First was a 5 month old standard white poodle, Charlie...reminded me of my new grand puppy, a 3 month black standard poodle, Pippa. The second was a tourist couple who said they were going to follow us to the Peterborough lock and offered to take our camera and take photos of us in the tubs. While FW thought maybe we had just kissed our camera good bye...it worked really well.