Together Again

New Bern was a wonderful stop for us. We had not been there for several years and had never arrived by boat. As it happens Rodger and Kathy from Talisman were on our dock, just a couple boats away, so it was good to see them. They are also going to Maine this summer so we are sure to see them again soon. Iain and Jan, and Ted and Alice finally caught up with us. Actually we stopped long enough so they could. We wanted to see Iain and Jan before they left for Canada. They are such good friends and we were so excited to see them and spend some time together. We managed to get the flavor of the marina and town. They have a wonderful farmer's market on Saturday mornings. Linda bought lots of fresh vegetables. We attended church at the United Methodist Church and immediately felt very much welcomed. After church we stopped at a coffee shop, a popular spot for locals to discuss the topics of the day. There we met Curt and Linda Wright, former cruisers that just moved to New Bern a year ago. Curt is an accomplished artist with paintings on display and for sale at the coffee shop and of all places, Painted Post, New York. Curt and Linda lived in Dundee, New York during their working careers. One interesting event while in town was rescuing some baby ducks. We were all out walking when we came upon a father and son working on removing a storm drain grate. The mother with her eight duckings had crossed the street in front of his car. The ducklings were having trouble getting up and over curb. One decided to go parallel to the curb, the others followed and then one by one disappeared into the drain. Iain was the hero as he hung upside down in the drain and recovered the ducklings one by one. The young boy then carried them to the mother duck as she was frantically waiting off to the side. Once she had all her young they were on their way again. We even had police assistance. The officer stopped to see what was going on and immediately jumped in to help.

We are now in Hampton, back where our adventure together all started. We had planned to anchor here again, but the city widened the channel such there is really no room to anchor. We decided to stop at a marina for the holiday weekend. That decision turned out really good for Ted and Alice as they then invited their son Scott and his wife and two children to come spend a night on the boat. The children are very young, (four and two) so being in a marina made it possible.

Ted, Alice, Iain, Jan, Norm and Linda

Coming up the Virgina Cut. Our last day we had six bridges and one lock, but it was a beautiful day for travel.