July 10, 2024
We left Whitehall and headed north on Lake Champlain – so lovely! Almost no wind – the water was like a mirror. You can see the trees, mountains, and even clouds twice! We enjoy seeing the homes along the way, watching the birds as they fly across the lake. The first few miles of the lake are more like a canal or a river, rather than a lake. We proceeded up the lake to Otter Creek, which was the detour to Vergennes that was recommended. The opening to the creek was a bit hard to see at first, plus the depth at the opening had silted in a bit. But, we got through and spent an hour at very low speeds going down the twisty turny creek, past campgrounds, some homes. Finally, we came to the town. It had been advertised that the town provided docks with free electricity. The only electrical outlet we found was actually across a driveway in the park! Dan, knowing his bride was desperate for some A/C = it was very hot and humid, ran our 50 foot cable plus an extension across that driveway! He pulled two trash barrels from the little park to sit on the cables, hoping that anyone who came along wouldn’t run over our very expensive 50 amp cables. Bless him – I had air conditioning, and that was all I cared about!
The view from our dock was of the waterfalls in the town, from the damn located there. Very lovely. The town wasn’t very far, but we were toast after a long day’s travel and the heat. Discovery of the charms of the town will have to wait until we are by this way again!
Next day, Tuesday, July 9, we left Vergennes to make the relatively short cruise to Burlington, Vermont. For the first time since we left Brewerton, NY, we will be in a marina. We will stay two nights, allowing us to catch our breath, get some laundry done, relax a bit. The Burlington harbor is lovely, protected by a long break wall from the lake. The view across the lake is of the mountains that rise in different shaded distances. Still really hot, we were disinclined to walk the long hill into the downtown of Burlington. So, we had a nice dinner on the harbor and enjoyed a stroll along the water front. Next morning, we were at it pretty early after breakfast – washed all our dirty clothes plus the bed linens! Our next task was to take the one e-bike back to the local Costco store via Uber. Long story short, we had tried to return this via Costco’s on-line customer service. Got no response, then yesterday I was told it wasn’t going to be approved. We just boldly packed the bike in an Uber, walked up to the returns desk, and without any questions at all were given a full refund! Yippee! Unfortunately, they didn’t have e-bikes in the store, so we are still down to only one working bike. At least, we aren’t having to store the useless bike in our cockpit, constantly in the way.
It started raining hard as we returned from Costco, so we had a cozy evening on the boat.
Interesting note about the last Uber driver, who was from Kenya. He said he has been here six years, before that in Boston, and before that Kenya. I asked if he had family still in Kenya. “Yes,” he said, “my wife and children.” I asked when he last saw them – last July. I felt so bad for him! I asked him how he came to be in Burlington. He said his wife had gotten a visa to be here. “OK, I’m confused!”, I said, “I thought your wife is in Kenya.” Then he said, “I have two wives!” Plus, he told us he plans to obtain two more wives!! I told him he gets the award for the most interesting person we’ve met today!
Tomorrow, weather permitting, we will proceed to a marina at Rouses Point, the last stopping point before Canada!!
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