Chesapeake, Virginia – 6 kilometres walked
The dock slip provided for a very quiet, very stable, and very good night’s sleep. I didn’t feel a movement on the boat until 6am when a barge came rumbling through, creating a minor wake. We are the only non-Quebecers on the dock so were expecting a massive party last night, with poutine and Rothmans, La Fin du Monde high-alcohol ale, a Mitsu party soundtrack blowing through scratchy, distorted sailboat speakers, the finest French wine, and probably some Montreal Canadiens hockey songs. None of that happened, hence the peaceful sleep.
After our leisurely tour of Chesapeake’s commercial offerings yesterday, today we got down to the business of provisioning but not until after a lovely breakfast of blueberry pancakes where we discovered that it’s far better to put the blueberries in the batter before cooking instead of first cooking the pancakes then gluing the blueberries to surface with maple syrup. The pancakes don’t just taste better, but somehow the added blueberries perform a sort of tire-balancing function and allow you to stand them up on their end.
After walking to the plaza we visited the laundromat with a small sack of clothing and all the coverings from our cockpit cushions which had suffered staining damage from many days and evenings and overnights on SeaLight, making merry with friends with food and drink, or sometimes just spilling stuff on our own. But could the commercial machines handle the damage? On the fabric I could see splashes of red wine, smears of pasta sauce, oil from dropped olives, nacho cheese Dorito fingerprints, droplets of engine oil, cleverly concealed dried boogers on the undersides, stains from juices of many fruits, Omega-3 oil from dropped sardine snacks, plantain grease, cigar ash, saliva drool from Ana’s afternoon naps, circles of ocean salt crust, lager and IPA splashes, but thankfully no beet stains. Beets are not allowed in SeaLight’s cockpit – they must be consumed while hanging one’s head over the sink and wearing disposable coveralls with splash guard sheets hung around oneself like a kill room. But it’s worth it, not least for the resulting toilet art the next morning.
While the laundry machines were spinning we went to Krogers and found a bunch of great stuff on sale, enough to pack our freezers and fridge to the top. Upon our return to the laundromat, we were thrilled to find that the washers had removed all the stains from the cushions and we were mesmerized by their beauty…except for the one little motor oil stain I was correctly blamed for. We walked our goodies back to the boat and I left Ana there to unpack while I returned to refill one of our propane tanks. I wished I had brought a rum and coke as I could have taken a final photo to add to my artful series from yesterday, which I have named: Chesapeake Downtown: A Rummy Cruiser’s Perspective.
After lunch we took a walk across the bridge to the other side of the ICW where we’d heard were some nice walking trails. We first walked to the free docks and saw that our Quebec friends in sailing vessel Hibiscus II had just arrived and they were just heading out for a stroll of their own to a nearby playground. We had a nice chat with Isabelle and Jonathan while the four kids waited patiently, keeping themselves entertained. We invited them all to join us on SeaLight for drinks and snacks after dinner.
Our walk through the trails was lovely and reminded us so much of a similar trail not far from our home in Paris that we visit frequently, particularly in the pre and post boating seasons when there’s just not much going on. One thing I am going to really miss is the luxury of having new places to explore every day as it really does make life feel like a never-ending adventure.
The Quebecois Clan arrived around seven and we had a wonderful evening with them. Now when I imagine spending time in a closed space with four little Quebecer kids, I feel anxiety and fear taking hold of me, with visions of tabernac screams, food being hurled, slurs and insults delivered with impunity to the Anglais, punch fights, farting and belching – you know, all the kinds of things common to Question Period in the Canadian House of Commons. But no. The four kids (one girl, three boys, from ages 12 to 5) were model guests – quiet, polite, happy, and kept themselves fully occupied down in the cabin with games and colouring while we visited with their parents in the cockpit. And we had an excellent visit, sharing stories of our sailing journeys, and talked a lot about Quebec and their candid impressions of their province which were, to say the least, insightful for us, and like nothing we’d heard from other Quebecers in the past. We really, really enjoyed the time with them but were sad this would likely be the last time we’d see them on the trip as we’d be taking different routes north on different timelines. We were also sad that we were not able to speak to them in French and were really wishing Magnus and Stella could be here to prove we’re doing our small bit to keep the vision of a bilingual Canada alive.
Ana sent Jonathan and Isabella a note the next day thanking them for visiting us and urging them to keep doing whatever they are doing with child rearing, as it was delivering spectacular results. I wish I’d taken a photo at the end of the night as the kids had put all the games away, stacked the cards and colouring books, and left it all on a tidy, organized pile on the table, with not a crumb from the snacks or spilled drop from their drinks in sight. I think they may have cleaned the dishes in the sink too, and possibly remade all the beds with military precision.
They invited us to visit them in Quebec sometime, and as they live in Gatineau very near my brother's place, I am sure it will happen.
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