"The Moment of Sheer Terror"

By Kelli Rappard

Moving into Lock 6 on the Oswego Canal we all were very confident with the 3 of us handling the Tumbleweed. The wind had other plans for us... The Captain drove us straight into the spot he wanted us to be... I easily grabbed the cable and was in the process of hooking the line to the boat cleat. I heard a thud and looked back to the end of the boat and saw my mother hanging onto a boat hook wrapped onto the cable with HALF of her body hanging OFF THE BOAT!!! The thud was Floyd jumping from the fly bridge to rescue my mom!!! Even with the two of them pulling on the boat hook and trying to get the boat back to the wall, the wind kept pushing us away. All I could do is hold onto the line that was keeping the bow in place... after BOTH Floyd and Linda had the top halves of their bodies hanging off the side of the boat they let go of the "Captain's Favorite" boat hook... and down it went... to the bottom of Lock 6. All I could think was "oh crap, they almost fell off the boat and I have no clue how to drive this thing." At least they had sense enough to let go of the hook. I guess now I know why my mother refers to this trip as "Hours of Pleasant Boredom with Moments of Sheer Terror" and I now know what to get Floyd for Christmas... a new boat hook.

We've been frustrated by boat problems before so why do we let these things bother us??? Parts didn't arrive until Tuesday (not Monday)....mechanic said no problem he'd have us up and running by 5...that didn't happen either...Wednesday we just knew we'd be on the water by noon ...nope not really...but the 5 o'clock test run was great. Went to fuel and pump out...Prepared to head out Thursday morning...and just like clock work that happened. We had a fun day Thursday on the Oswego Canal...a trip we had made before. We taught Kelli how to handle lines and she began to see the ease of it. We waited til later in the day to show her a moment of sheer terror. Any way, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday we entertained ourselves with dinghy rides, laundry, grocery shopping, reading and feeding the ducks. Not at all bad.

Monday Monday...we planned to sleep in...one of us actually did. Laundry and grocery shopping...then Kelli and I plan to take the rest of the day off. Floyd is taking us into Syracuse to the Dinosaur BBQ for supper tonight. Yummmmmmy!!!!

Niagara Falls on Sunday...while I was a little anxious about the weekend crowd, they just weren't there. Again, we walked right in and never really waited in a line. Interesting to note, we spent time with Kansas folks...15 relatives touring for two weeks in a mini bus....their idea of fun. It was a beautiful day...yes, we got wet.

In the meantime, Kelli and I have been enjoying Mother-Daughter bonding time by taking in NY tourist sites. We spent Saturday at Cooperstown Baseball Hall of Fame. Floyd and I had been there last August but I was amazed at the difference. No Crowd...last summer we waited in line, fought for a place to park and battled crowds trying to view the exhibits. Kelli and I didn't have any of that...well, just that one guy who kept backing into us as we tried to read the display. We parked right on the street, walked right in, and had a pleasant afternoon walking down memory lane Baseball style. Couple of hours in the car to and from...made that a day.

One thing about this boating adventure...NOTHING ever goes like you planned it. We are dead but in the water. We are able to live aboard but wary of using on board toilets as we can't predict when our next pump out can happen. The exercise back and forth to the marina facilities is just an extra weight lost program...we had thought that parts were in and we were waiting for Craig the mechanic to come back to work on Monday. Now we find out that some parts had to be back ordered...so once again clueless about when this adventure will really begin. One the plus side Kelli is here...and we aren't the Swiss boat with the cracked hull clogging the marina travel lift...they'll be here for a good long time. At least our parts are local. And we aren't traveling with a chocolate Lab and on foreign soil...counting my blessings...

Meeting other boaters is the delight of the trip. Last night we had the opportunity to eat with two other couples...fellow Loopers...swapping stories sometimes even makes you feel better about the misadventures you've had...HAPPY HOUR V and LOLA MARIE will probably be playing hop scotch with us for the summer and fall. Lola and Larry (retired Purdue U) are talking about keeping their boat on the Tennessee River so we were very interested in that. Mike and Gail are from Australia, came here and bought a boat specifically to do the Loop...what stories they tell about mail issues and having to return to Australia regularly to renew that Visa. We had a ball.