Brown Eyed Girl: Back in the Water in Midland

Midland, ON

Bay Port Yachting Center

July 13-19

If you have been reading the blog you know a rock jumped up and bit us. We limped into Midland, Ontario last Friday the 13th (should have known better) and have been out of the water until today around 3:00 P.M. I guess it could have been worse, but it was not a fun week. It was miserably hot so we could not stay on the boat and we were bored silly most of the time. Thanks to Beth, Dean and Ziggy for letting us stay on their boat for the first two nights. Sunday and Monday we stayed in a Knights Inn in Midland. If you ever get to Midland, DO NOT stay at the Knights Inn. On Tuesday we moved to a Comfort Inn which was way better and then on Wednesday night we stayed on the boat because the weather was cooler. Today is Thursday and we are back in the water with the air conditioner going full blast.

I wish I could say that hitting an object and having it fixed in a strange place is not traumatic and is just "part of boating" but that's not true. You feel terrible and you want to go home and hide, but since we don't have a home we are making the best of it. The money issue is bad enough, but then you have to listen to strangers tell you that "You need to stay in the channel son" or "There are two kinds of boaters in Georgian Bay, those that have hit a rock and those that will". We may look back on this and laugh one day but I doubt it. I am done feeling sorry for myself and happy hour starts now so we will move on.

The best part of the week was that we got a visit from some other Loopers who live in Canada. Garth and Kathy from "Algonquin" and Sid and Evelyn from "Something Special" came to visit on Wednesday. We had a great time and I can't tell you how much we appreciated their visit. Sid and Evelyn drove over 3 hours to see us.

I also want to say what a fantastic service department they have at Bay Port which is headed by Scott. I honestly don't know how he does it, but he seems to please everybody and I know he works 7 days a week. If his boss is reading this then give Scott a raise. Scott had the busted parts off the boat the first night we arrived here and his crew was "Johnny on the spot" to put everything back to together when the parts came in. The real heros are the guys in the trenches. Earl and Cody did all of the work on the boat with the utmost professionalism and expertise. Cody is a young Earl and he was just as meticulous as the master about his work. Ed, the travel lift operator was fantastic. Ed was always available when we needed to be moved and he was an expert. Page drove us around several times and was a joy to talk with. I don't know every one's name- but kudos to everyone.