August 7 Albion, NY to Ogden, NY 18.6 miles

 

 Enjoying a blueberry crew rowing a cantalope shell!

 How could I destroy this?!

Ingrid's crew won the breakfast event at the 2008 Olympics.

 

This was a day of hot sun, straight ditches and getting physically exhausted. We had a hard time saying goodbye to our hosts at the Orchard View B&B, Ingrid and Roger Lamont. Roger had suggested coming and helping me move the car in the middle of the day so that we would arrive to find our car and trailer. This took some time since Roger hadn’t actually seen this ramp before but was assured that it existed. It was on a little pond off the canal by the parking lot of a golf course. It was well protected from wakes and very quiet. 

 

By the time we had made the move and Roger brought me back to the boat where Heather had been waiting patiently it had been close to two hours. But this was a two hour rest in the middle of the day and that was unusual for us. This helped us go18.6 miles and get to the golf course in Ogden in good time. We pulled out the boat while a group of kayakers were getting ready to go out for a paddling lesson. We asked the leaders about ramps further East and they were a bit discouraging about finding anything in the Rochester area past South Greece which was only another 8 miles.

 

I listened to the instructions the kayakers were getting and wondered if these adults really needed to be talked to like school children. I guess I have never taken a class in something as intuitively simple as paddling a kayak. If one sees another person paddling a kayak what else is there to learn? Yes safety considerations need to be reiterated with any new sport but I found myself saying that I could not have tolerated such a class. Just show me the boat and let me get going!

 

 

Ingrid and Roger LaMont, Hosts extraordinaire! 

Fishing need not be about catching fish. One of many relaxing along the canal. 

 

Our next B&B was on a country road outside of Brockport near Sweden Center. We arrived at Whites B&B as it was starting to get dark. Chris showed us our room which was decorated with Victorian furniture and lots of pictures of my grandparents’ era. I could almost feel that I was visiting my grandparents’ house in Saranac Lake, NY where I spent many weekends and went to school for a few months when a small boy. We were not the only guests but the house was large and rambling and we did not meet our fellow guests until breakfast the next morning. The thunderstorm that had threatened but never hit us on the water was just starting as we got inside and settled in. Again I was much too tired to write and so this days log is being written from my sketchy memory weeks later!