July 10…busy day today…9:10 and we are through that short bridge and headed west…it is like being on a boat driving slowly through Eastbourough…or Crestview…no fixer-uppers on this route…lovely park areas and well kept BIG houses…Dow Lake Marina is tiny…but our gas stop offers Dakota a chance to play with a four month old bearded collie named Vera. Don’t worry Pippa, you are still number one in his books…but they romped and wrestled enough that he was worn out the rest of the day. And that’s always good…but particularly today…after lunch the scenery changed to more rural settings…9 locks and 40 miles later we arrive at Burritts Rapids. Lock #17…where we have planned to spend the night on a lock wall with electric and a restaurant. But evidently lots of others made that plan as well. The Captain from TRAVELER offers to let us raft to him as they are full and don’t want us below the lock on the blue line…after talking to the Lockmaster, they found a lonely spot. So up we go (which is what we wanted to do anyway)…and they made room for us on the opposite side from everyone else…and managed to find one plug for our electric. We are delighted…in the shade…across the canal from the party animals (hehehe)…Dakota can run a little. We relax and practice our social skills (though the boaters below the lock on the dock aren’t too happy with us because they let us go up…they’ll have to wait til morning.)  Clean up and it’s time to try Lock 17 Bistro. It is better than most.

On the walk back, we stop by the camp fire to chat with the locals…it’s good to be among those who speak English, hey. Hehehe…plaid clothing and “hey” …they are a different breed. Oh, and they HATE the Frenchies…they have other bad names for them. Next weekend starts the holiday time for those workers in Quebec…last two weeks of July most of the big companies shut down so the Frenchies can have vacation. We hope to be into the Trent-Severn by then…thus avoiding the rush of boaters that swarm the St Lawrence. We got to experience that rush on our last trip into Canada…once is enough.

Floyd soon has serious second thoughts about that evening cigar on the aft deck…yep, the national bird of Canada invades….Mosquitoes as big as your thumb…We can’t light the OFF lantern fast enough…and we hear them laughing. A quick change of plugs, we crank up the AC and battle for our lives inside for about an hour. Floyd even kept evidence of his kills…Dakota and I offered trash can burials. Soon we are ALL are out like the lights.  Tomorrow is another busy day. Since it is Saturday on the Rideau Canal, we expect to encounter lots of other boaters.