We left Campbellford just before 9:00 and locked on the second lockup, this lock is a Port tie, not our preferred side.  We then went through Crowes’s Bay and then on to Healey #15, another Port tie when locking up. 

Once we were through, we tied up on the wall,  about an hour later there was a huge rain storm.  We were joined on the wall by Virginia II, which we had seen several times over the past week.

  On Monday morning, we went through the Healey flight locks, 16 and 17, and once again did a cross over, when both boats were at the same level.  We then continued on to Hastings and were through the lock and tied up on the wall by noon.  Three locks and 13.5 miles.  We were joined on the wall  by many other loopers as well as Virginia II. 

On Tuesday we left Hastings around 7:30, as we had 38 miles to the next lock, as well as the crossing of Rice Lake.  We were through Scott Mills by noon, Ashburnham by 12:50, Peterborough Lift lock at 1:50, followed by Nassau Mills at 2:50, Otonobee at 3:20, we moved on to the bottom of Duoro, Lock 24 and tied up at 3:30

Long day 8 hours, 5 locks and 42.7 miles. We visited with Roger and Sue, which we had met the night before in Hastings, and had travelled through the locks with.

The flower garden’s here at Duoro, are the nicest I’ve seen, lots of Asiatic lilies in bloom.

   On Wednesday morning we locked through, Duoro at 9:35, followed by  Sawer Creek  at 10:15 and Lakefield at 10:45 and tied up at  11:00.  A short day, 3 locks and 2.3 miles.  We wanted to plug in to power for the day, as our batteries were in the low 20’s, and it was going to be a hot day, so fans would be required.  We walked into town, for some other essentials—beer  for Andy and coconut ice cream for me. Around 3:30, Virginia II  (Doug & Liz& Cassie) arrived and tied up—I’m absolutely sure that they are following us. We later had a visit with them at the picnic table,  Also Stuart and Rod from Sea Turtle joined us, and Andy gave them the Cole’s notes version of where to go in Georgian Bay and the North Channel. We also met Vicki and Aaron on the boat No Fixed Address—they are full-time live-a-boards, as well we met  people on a boat called Prairie Girl,  from Saskatchewan.

  I will be leaving my tomatoes plants here at Lakefield Lock 26, I can’t take them home in the car, as they are much bigger than when I brought them here in June.  Becka and the lock staff will take good care of them and share the tomatoes with other boaters passing through this lock. I had thought that I had brought a prairie pride and a brown cherry onto the boat, but the second tomato doesn’t look like a brown cherry , so it may be a rio grande—got my labelling wrong.

We woke to rain on Thursday, so I spent some time purging and packing on the boat.  Once it cleared before noon, it became very hot outside, getting up to the mid 30’s.  So we fired up the air conditioning to cool off the boat.  We spent some time at the picnic table, in the shade.  I pulled out the hose and washed the bow of the boat,  I would still like to give it a coat of wax in the next day or two.  Lots of boats came through the locks today, and the wall here is full.

Liz had gone into town in the afternoon,  when she returned she brought over a gift for us, as a thank you for helping them tie up on numerous occasions.

On Friday morning, we left around 10:00 and headed for Young’s point, we were followed by Virginia II.  Once through the lock we tied up on the right and Virginia II tied up on the left. 

We continued packing up stuff, in the afternoon we went to Lock side trading for ice cream.  Around 4:00 we were invited to the picnic table near Virginia II for Caesars and snacks.  Liz had made mini pizza’s using naan bread, they had peppers, onions , cheese and smoked meat on them- very tasty.  For the sauce she had used BBQ sauce with a couple teaspoons of Dijon mustard. Can’t wait to try this at home.  We had a lovely visit with them, I can’t call them stalkers anymore, as they are now friends, and we hope to meet up with them next summer on Georgian Bay.

In the evening Andy did a little fishing beside the boat, and caught several fish.

On Saturday we had planned to leave to go to Burleigh or Lovesick but a combination of rain and wind  kept us at Young’s point for one more day, which was fine as there was more cleaning and packing to do. We left on Sunday morning and headed for Buckhorn, passing through the locks at Burleigh, Lovesick and Buckhorn.  There was no room at the Buckhorn lock so we continued on to BYH, pumped out and then tied up near the gas dock.

Andy brought the car around and we started packing up the trunk.  Later that evening we were entertained by the Fuderer family, as they all came down to the gas dock for high level cage diving, I asked Peter about it and he said it’s a tradition in their family.

On Monday morning, we were up early and went to Lakefield for the 6:00 opening of the laundromat.  I didn’t want to be bringing clothes and bedding home, that could just stay on the boat. Once we were back on the boat, we continued packing up the car and I defrosted the freezer. We learned that our alternator had not arrived- as it was shipped to Ivy Lea and not Buckhorn, so it will likely not be installed until spring.  We left and went to Bobcaygeon, for my last coconut ice cream from Kawartha.  We then drove up to Bancroft, as we were going to stay a night with Brian Hayton, before heading west.  We spent the afternoon visiting, and I did a little bit of weeding in his flower beds.  Brian and Helen Vermeersch joined us for supper—Brian fried up some fresh pickerel that he had recently caught along with fries, coleslaw and fresh beans from the garden.  Helen had brought berries and Kawartha ice cream for dessert—so I got to have ice cream twice in the same day.  After they left Brian and Andy played cross-crib, but I was tired, so I went to bed. In the morning, after coffee and a bagel, we headed off, stopping in Parry Sound for gas, and arriving at our hotel in Sault Ste Marie around 4:00.  We met the Gillespies for drinks and snacks at the Water tower hotel around 7:00.  Had a great visit and caught up on what they’ve been up to. On Wednesday we left the hotel around 7:30,  it was very foggy out, Andy could only see a few meters ahead of the car.  We gassed up, as we left the Sault, the fog started lifting. There wasn’t a lot of traffic in the morning, but it increased as the day progressed.  We stopped at the A&W in Marathon for lunch, and then stopped again in Nipigon for gas. Lots of road construction in this area, it looks like they are twinning the highway all the way from Nipigon to TBay. We stayed at  Super 8 motel in Thunder Bay, as my friend Teresa’s partner Maureen, had come down with Covid.  So we didn’t want to risk visiting them. On Thursday we left the hotel around 8:00, and started the last leg of our trip home.  Stopping in Dryden to top up the gas, and then several stops because of road construction between Dryden and the MB border. Doug Ford is spending lots of money in northwestern Ontario!

We arrived home around 3:30, unpacked the essentials from the car and turned on the AC in the house, as it was very hot out.  We ordered take-out for dinner.  On Friday, I pulled some weeds in the garden, we went to the lawyer’s office to sign house sale papers and then drove to Morris to sign the forms for our new tenant’s policy at the apartment and Andy renewed his driver’s license. We also changed the address on both of our licenses.  On our return to the city, we drove by the apartment, and saw patio furniture on some of the balconies, so we know that some people have already moved in. In the afternoon,  I spent a lot of time on hold on the phone as I tried to inform our utilities of our upcoming move.  After dinner, we visited on Dave and April’s deck catching up on what been happening on the street as well as our boat adventures.  On Saturday, I spent a couple more hours out in the garden pulling weeds, it was definitely easier than previous years, as Dave had sprayed roundup on them. The lawn is full of weeds as well, I pulled a few, but may have to spray them as there are hundreds! In the evening, Andy went to the airport to pick up his cousin Maureen, who had flown in from Victoria for the upcoming family reunion at Camp Morton. On Sunday we did some shopping, and I spent another hour pulling weeds from the lawn. I also baked a sour cream rhubarb pie for dinner, using rhubarb from my garden. While pulling the rhubarb, I noticed a couple of shoots of asparagus, which I thought was quite weird, as I’ve only ever seen asparagus in May.

The plan for tomorrow is to see if everything that we need to take to the reunion will fit in the car-it’s going to be a challenge as there is 60 lbs of fish, sausages, baking, other food and beverages, as well as bedding, cooking supplies, 2 sets of golf clubs, prizes and clothes for the two of us. If we can’t fit Maureen and her stuff, one of the other cousins will take her to Camp Morton.