Day 185, Year 8: Windbird’s Trek to Cape Cod, Day 8
Date: Tuesday, May 7, 2013
Weather: Mostly Sunny Day, Evening Rain, Winds NE 12-25, Temp Upper 60’s F
Latitude: 37 30.632 N
Longitude: 076 18.111 W
Location: Chesapeake Bay, Anchored Behind Cherry Point, Mouth of Piankatank River
Captain’s Log for Tuesday, May 7:
“We had three bridges and one set of locks to go through this morning before we got through Norfolk and headed up the Chesapeake Bay. And two of those bridges don’t open between 6:00 and 9:00 am. So we started out at 8:00 am, went through the first bridge and then entered the lock. This was a first for Lynda and Lee so they enjoyed the new adventure. All went well. Then we got to the second bridge in time for the 9 am opening, but there was a hitch. The railroad bridge just before the lift bridge is supposed to be normally open. It was closed and the lift bridge couldn’t open until the railroad bridge opened. A train was obviously coming – but when? We circled for about half an hour. Finally the train came and both bridges opened. One more to go. Luckily it opened on time and we were off for a 63 mile run up the bay. The day turned out to be mostly sunny and warm in our enclosed cockpit. By late morning we were raising sails and motor-sailing north with East-Southeast winds in the mid and upper teens. We motor-sailed because we had lots of miles to go and the bridge stuff really set us back. Except for bucking a negative current all afternoon, it was a delightful day. Only thing that would have made it better would have if we had not had to run the motor. We anchored in a new place for Windbird. We have come into Jackson Creek before and it is a nice peaceful anchorage near Deltaville. But there are enough boats headed north that we thought it might be a bit crowded. So we picked an anchorage behind Cherry Point, a peninsula just south of the entrance to Jackson Creek. Very pleasant. Tomorrow is a much shorter run up to Solomon’s. Roughly 45 miles. Maybe (over the next few days) we will get to sail a bit without the motor running.”
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| 130507 Day 185 Passage to Cape Cod–Day 8, Great Bridge Lock |
Back to Cape Cod . . . Well, if my weather information is correct, I’m afraid they won’t get to sail tomorrow or the next day. It looks like there will be very little wind and a heavy chance of rain. But you never know, there could be wind and tomorrow could be delightful day. Let’s hope so.
Life here is crazy—the way life is when you have three little ones. Heather was up with Ollie most of the night and was up for the day by 6 am. That’s when I heard her go downstairs. I stayed in bed another half hour, but then it was up and at ‘em. Heather and Ollie walked Sam to school at 8:30 am and I took off with Jonah in the van for Woods Hole where he goes to pre-school. On my way home, I stopped at the dump to drop some things off at the Swap Shop. Heather had loaded those things into the van yesterday. When I got home, I loaded more things in the van for another trip to the Swap Shop and then ‘loaded’ Heather and Ollie in the van to take them to the doctor (with another stop at the dump on the way). As suspected, Ollie has yet another ear infection (the sixth since February). So I took Heather and Ollie home and went back to the drugstore to get the needed antibiotic. By the time I got home, it was time for Heather to head back to Woods Hole to teach a class on climate change. Ollie and I stayed home and took a much needed, long nap. Heather got home at 3 pm, I handed Ollie off to Heather and I walked to pick Sam up from school. He had ridden his bike to school, so I spent time letting him ride his bike around the track at school, and then we headed home so I could get in the van and drive back to Woods Hole to pick up Jonah. At this point, I’m wondering how in the world Heather does this when Jed is at work and she has no one to help out. But the day isn’t over. When I get home with Jonah, he and Sam play with the neighbor kids while I watch Ollie and Heather adds a second layer to the beehive and fixes dinner. We all eat and then I take off with Sam and Jonah to hear two astronauts speak at the local high school. We get home, read stories, and then all the boys go to bed. Whew! My jobs are done for the day, but poor Heather will be up and down with Ollie all night unless the antibiotic works some sort of miracle. Then when morning comes, we start all over again. I must add that Heather still has the energy at the end of the day to ‘play’ momma Orangutan with Sam and Jonah and let them attach themselves to her while she carries them upstairs to bed. It’s all I can do at that point to take a photo of them and wave goodnight.
The astronauts we went to see at the high school were Suni Williams (a woman from Massachusetts) and Aki Hoshide (originally from Japan). Suni commanded the International Space Station during a mission that began in 2012 and Aki was a flight engineer on that mission. They spent 127 days on the space station during that mission and shared some of the details of what it is like to live in outer space with the audience tonight. Jonah announced at dinner that he was going to wear his NASA space suit and he couldn’t have been cuter. Both he and Sam got to shake hands with both astronauts and get their autographs on their tickets for the evening. At the top of the list of the most interesting things learned during the evening was how astronauts go to the bathroom in outer space. It made me glad I live on Planet Earth full time!
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| 130507 Day 185 Cape Cod, USA–Meeting Astronauts and Momma Orangutan |
