Day 214, "on the loop", 5/12/2023

Friday, May 5 - Wrapped up Friday!

Celebrated Cinco de Mayo on Long Gone 2's boat. We all pitched in and made a taco dinner, with a variety of margaritas. I made blood orange and pineapple margaritas. Karen (from Arabella) made lime margaritas from scratch! Chris hosted and provided all the necessities. A great time was had by all. Side note: I only had one pitcher; therefore, I had to use a peanut snack container for the Margaritas. Plus, we had so much fun, we didn't take any pictures!

Saturday, May 6:

First off, Happy Birthday to Joel's dad, Grampy / Raymond. He doesn't read our blog but we know he is celebrating. We called to wish him a wonderful day and one of our dear friends purchased a cake, sung happy birthday and wished him well. We even received a picture and video of the celebration.

Happy Derby Day! Karen (from Arabella) is from Kentucky and a wealth of knowledge when it comes to the Derby.

We all (Arabella, LG2 and Summer Place) were scheduled for a Sunday departure and all had so many chores (wash boat, clean boat, laundry, engine room stuff), we decided to eat at Lamb's Seafood and watch the race afterwards. To be honest, I wasn't looking forward to the dinner at Lamb's, I assumed it would be all fried food. Boy, was I wrong and surprised, the meal was beyond good. I had salmon with a dill sauce, okra and Italian wedding soup. Joel had a fried clam / shrimp platter. Everyone agreed it exceeded their expectations. If you are a looper or in the Camden, NC area, you should definitely check this place out!!!

Between chores, dinner and the Derby, Joel and I walked to the local Dollar General. We needed a few items (bread, docktail plates and napkins). Joel was able to get an ice-cream which is a treat. We don't keep ice-cream on the boat as the freezer doesn't keep the ice-cream as cold as we would like.

We watched the derby on Summer Place, it was a fun night and we learned so much. See below under "Random Information & Other Stuff" for some fun facts about the Derby.

We went for a dinghy ride near Lamb's marina. It was a beautiful ride and a highlight of our stay at Lamb's! We split up in 3's, Chris from LG2 rode on our dinghy and Dan hopped on with Arabella.

Sunday, May 7: Dismal Swamp / Crossed over into Virginia

Map of Trip: Lamb's Marina (Camden, NC) to Waterside Marina (Norfolk, VA)

There are two options for traveling to the Chesapeake bay. One is the Dismal swamp and the other is the Virginia cut. We selected the Dismal swamp.

Most people select the dismal swamp for the beautiful scenery; but, there are a few hazards; such as: floating logs and trees that may cause prop damage. We were fortunate not to hit anything! Arbella indicated they felt a couple of bumps under their boat; however, they are not worried. LG2 stated they hit something pretty hard. They will have it checked during their next service check. Arbella did a great job, leading the pack, calling back (on the radio) about areas of concerns.

As we traveled the dismals swamp, we kept a good distance between boats. We passed through two locks and 2 bridges. These locks were unique to the ones in the TN River system as the bridge and lock master were the same person.

We went through two locks and two bridges while in the dismal swamp. The interesting thing about these locks were that the lock was before a bridge. The lock master operated both the lock and bridge. Tammy was the lock/bridge master the first set.

Tammy helped tie the lines appropriately to the lock. She did this by grabbing our lines (with a pole) to tie the lines around a bollard. Once the boats (all 11 of us) were secured, she closed the lock. It took about 15 minutes for the water to rise; when the gate open, she instructed us on the order each boat should exit the lock. Tammy then drove from the lock gate to the bridge gate to lift the gate.

Pic 1: The line is secure, cleated off to the boat

Pict 2 & 3: In the lock, in pic 2, you will see two boats rafted together

Pic 4: See left side of picture, this is the road Tammy took to the bridge - at the far end of same picture, you see the bridge rising.

See my Facebook page (Tracy Carr Boisselle) if you would like to see more pictures relating to the dismal swamp, the pictures here doesn't do it justice!

*we went through two of this type lock & bridge. I did not catch the name of the guy that assisted us at the second lock & bridge*

This was a LONG day of travel (almost 8 hours), we opted to eat out at a suggested restaurant "Grace O'Malley Irish Pub". We had to wait 45 minutes; but the food was great (or perhaps we were just hungry).

- Dan tried a French 75 and LIKED it.

Pictures below were taken at Waterside marina (in Norfolk), compliments of Carson from Boat Name: CRAB Shack. Our boat is in both of the pictures below, can you find it?

Monday, 5/8 - Spent the day touring the Naval Museum. The guys (Capel, Dan and Joel) had a blast! They had their own personal tour guide and toured the engine room of the USS Wisconsin. The engine room was an extra fee. The guys said it was WORTH IT! The ladies and I toured the museum and then the USS Wisconsin. We spent 3 hours doing the tour and we all enjoyed the different parts of the tour.

This battleship was massive! See below for additional information regarding the battleship. The 2nd picture is a missile launcher (in the top of that picture, there were birds nesting). The last picture was the communication panel. This was interesting, there were several methods of communications between the fleet.

1) Morse Code (across the airways)

2) Light (All boats have lights that they can flash light signals, using morse code)

3) Flags (depending on the communication, a flag would be sent up the pole to indicate a certain message; for example: diver in water. this would alert the other fleet)

4) hand signals (a person, visual to the other fleet, would make hand motions when there were concerns of message interception from the enemy)

After the ship tour, we had lunch at a popular hamburger place called: Jack Brown's Beer & Burger Joint (Norfolk). This place was unique! We passed this "dive" the night before. People were waiting outside when we passed going to dinner and coming back from dinner. We knew we had to try this place.

We stopped in the burger "dive" after the ship tour, to our surprise there was no one waiting and had a chance to try it out. It is small inside which explains the long waits! Bras hung from the disco ball (over our heads) and there were dollar bills hung around the room. After checking out the decor, we ordered hamburgers (which they are known for). The burgers were great, we were not disappointed.

Tuesday, 5/9 -

Map of Trip: Waterside Marina (Norfolk, VA) to York River Yacht Haven (Gloucester Point, VA)

We arrived at York River Yacht Haven marina and greeted by looper Boat Name: The Other Woman (Danny & Jenny) and a new looper, Pickett's Pub (Mike& Lori). We stayed at this marina for 3 nights. We needed to stay a bit longer to allow time for Joel to work on our front berth (bedroom) air conditioner. The air conditioner broke a few days prior.

Wednesday, 5/9:

Side note: Tim and Lauren Stephen live in Williamsburg, VA and agreed to receive packages on our behalf. We had several packages delivered, one package was the new air conditioner. Thank you Tim & Lauren for collecting our packages!

Tim delivered the packages early morning and assisted Joel in replacing the air conditioner. Tim was extremely helpful. The ladies and I took a ride over to Yorktown while the guys worked on the air conditioner. Capel & Dan stayed back to work on their chores

Joel was supposed to take some pictures of Tim helping; but, he didn't. When we returned from our Yorktown trip as Tim was leaving so I grabbed a quick picture. Tim, Thank you for your help! Joel and I owe you dinner... hopefully when you are in St. Louis next time!

Yorktown was nice. We enjoyed our walking tour. Learned a lot of history.

Pic: 1 - The Navy ship and crew practicing. They pulled in and away from the dock multiple times, I would not want to be the captain or first mate on that big ole ship!

Pic 2: Nelson family gravesite: The Nelson family had a huge presence in Yorktown, VA. The picture below is the Nelson House, home of Thomas Nelson, Jr. (1738 - 89), Yorktown's most famous son and one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. Nelson's devotion to the patriot cause during the American Revolution contributed significantly to the creation of the United States.

Below is a picture of the Nelson home. During the Revolutionary war, cannons were fired at Nelson and his neighbor's home. The cannons remain there today!

< See lower portion of the home, right hand side, near window (the cannon is still there).

More pictures to show the cannons. Right hand picture is a neighboring house and is a private residence today.

Picture 5 & 6: Yorktown Victory Monument:

A monument to commemorate the American and French victory at Yorktown, VA. on October 19, 1781. A victory that resulted in American Independence. The statue is beautiful and very detailed in design.

Thursday, 5/11 - We along with Arabella and LG2, toured historic Williamsburg. We left the boats at 9am and out all day learning so much. It was a long day and we were tired when we returned. If you haven't been to historic Williamsburg, we HIGHLY recommend it.

We had a guided tour of the Raleigh Tavern, the Capital as well as the Governor's mansion and garden. The staff dressed for the times, 1700's. Everyone was knowledgable and made our visit one we won't forget.

In addition to the tours above, we visited the blacksmith, engraver, the merchant store and jeweler.

Governor's Mansion and Garden:

Picture 1, 2 and 4 are of the garden

Picture 3 and 6 are the entrance way

Picture 5 - was a typical evening dinner would look like

Picture 7 - Entertainment room for guest (set up for baby)

Picture 8 - One of the many bedrooms

Capital:

As you can imagine, court was also different in the 1700's. Plymouth was where the first jury trial took place, in 1630.

The accused would stand trail, literally stood at the railing, before the judge. In order to serve on the jury, you had to be at least 21 years old, own property and be an upstanding citizen.

Raleigh Tavern:

There were several parts to the Raleigh Tavern. Folks would subscribe for the room. They could also pay a fee to use the room for their guests. Subscribe = Subscription in the 1700's (in today's time, we would refer to this as selling a ticket for entry).

In the 1700's, Tavern's were different from today's time. Tavern's were managed by the owner's but pricing was set by the Governor to prevent other tavern managers stealing business . All tavern's were required to offer these 3 things:

1) A place to sleep (not necessarily comfortable, many times there were several people in one room, typically male).

2) Food to eat (no choice of menu, you received what the cook prepared for the day).

3) Place for your horses to be kept.

The Raleigh Tavern, Apollo Room (pictured above) is where Thomas Jefferson proposed (and was turned down to the first person he proposed to, the name escapes me). He later proposed and married Martha Wayles Skelton (1770 - 1782), daughter of a prominent Virginia lawyer.

Other:

Pic 1: Jeweler - made bowls, jewelry and other celebratory type items.

Pic 2: Karen (from Arabella) worked at Printpack. She found items packed by her company (she helped design and create this packaging).

Pic 3: Leather Shop - in this time period, it was typical for people to have at least 5 pair of shoes (they would do their best to wear dry shoes).

We ate lunch at King's Arms Tavern in historic Williamsburg. Everyone had soup and we shared a dessert (as a group).

Picture 2: The dessert was called "Snow Eggs," It is baked egg whites with walnuts, strawberries and blackberries over melted ice cream.

Funny story: See picture 4 (the guitar man)? I received a phone call from a marina to confirm a reservation. While on the phone, the guitar man showed up and was playing a flute. The man at the marina (on the other end of the phone) asked "do you always have someone following you around playing the fiddle?" We had a great laugh about that!

We highly recommend the Williamsburg historic district.

Friday, 5/12 - 7am (early departure)

Map of Trip: York River Yacht Haven (Gloucester Point, VA) to Jackson Creek Marina (Deltaville, VA)

*we had a little bit of a rolly ride in the big water areas*

We arrived at Jackson Creek marina (formerly known as Deltaville marina). It is a lovely marina, the dockhands and staff were wonderful. I got a jump on laundry and booked the courtesy car to catch up on a few errands. Shopped for a few groceries at the IGA, prices were great! We decided to have a potluck dinner as a group. We used the marina grill to cook. Each couple contributed to the dinner, it was yummy and sure beat eating out!

Happy Mother's Day to my mom and all the other mom's out there! I hope each of you have a wonderful day, filled with love and happiness!

Jonathan wrapped up his first year of college, we couldn't be more proud. Congratulations Jonathan - we are so proud of you!

First Day (8/2022)

Last Day (5/2023)

Random Stuff & Other Information

Kentucky Derby Fun Facts:

• Nineteen past winners have had names beginning with the letter "S" including Secretariat.

- 2023 winner: Mage / 2nd place: Two Phil's / 3rd place: Angel of Empire

• Only three horses ran in the 1892 and 1905 Kentucky Derby races.

• The traditional drink is an Iowa-class battleship and the second ship of the United States Navy to be names in honor of the U.s. State of Wisconsin. She was built at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and launched on 7 December 1943 (the second anniversary of the Pearl Harbor raid), sponsored by Margaret Goodland, wife of Governor Walter Goodland of Wisconsin.

• Diane Crump was the first woman jockey to ever ride in the Derby; there has yet to be a female winner, but Shelley Riley came the closets in 1992 when she came in second.

• The Kentucky Derby trophy only weighs 3.5 lbs.

• The Derby has never been cancelled or postponed due to inclement weather.

• The Derby has only been held on a day other than the first Saturday in May twice - once in 1945, when a wartime ban on horse racing postponed the event, and a second time in 2020 when the race was played until September by the COVID 19 pandemic.

• The historic 1 1/4 mile race was originally 1 1/2 miles before the current distance was established in 1896.

• The Kentucky Derby was started by Lewis Clark, JR. - grandson of William Clark, half of the famous explorers duo Lewis and Clark - after he saw England's Epson Derby.

• Only three fillies (female horses) have won the Derby:

- Regret in 1915, Genuine Risk in 1980, and Winning Colors in 1988.

• The 2018 event set the record for the wettest Kentucky Derby in history, with 3,15 inches of rainfall according to the National Weather Service.

• The race was first televised in 1952.

• The current purse for the Derby is $3 million, with the winner taking home $1.86 million, $600,000 for second place, $300,000 for third place, $150,000 for fourth place, and $90,000 for fifth.

• Secretariat remains the fastest horse in Kentucky Derby history. His 1973 record time of 1:59.40 has never been broken.

• The first ever Kentucky Derby was won by Jockey Oliver Lewis.

• No horses with the names beginning with Q, X, or Y have ever won the Derby.

• Only 20 horses can run in the Derby each year, a number that was made official in 1975, making it the largest field for ay single race in America.

USS Wisconsin (BB-64) is an Iowa-class battleship and the second ship of the United States Navy to be names in honor of the U.s. State of Wisconsin. She was built at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and launched on 7 December 1943 (the second anniversary of the Pearl Harbor raid), sponsored by Margaret Goodland, wife of Governor Walter Goodland of Wisconsin.

Summer Place, our boat characteristics:

• Length: 46 ft

includes 4 ft dinghy overhang

• Beam: 13.5

• Draft: 3.5

The Wisconsin measured 887 feet and 3 inches in length and 108 feet, 3 inches at the beam. It had a displacement of 45,000 tons and could reach speeds in excess of 33 knots. The crew complement was 1,921 officers and enlisted men. Despite its mammoth proportions, the Wisconsin was still dwarfed by other battleships.

Iowa-class battleship, USS Wisconsin (BB-64) was built at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Pennsylvania, and was commissioned in April 1944. Reaching the Pacific to serve in combat, she served at the Philippines, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, and the final bombardents of the Japanese homelands.

This beautiful boat was docked at the Yorktown marina we stayed at, thought I would share:

Motor Yacht: Amanda

The Luxe Motor Yacht "Amanda" is a replica European Canal Barge built by Stentor Yachts of Sneek, Netherlands. Built in Oltenita, Romania and made the first water voyage on the Danube River at the border of Romania and Bulgaria in June, 2009.

"Amanda" is built entirely of steel with the exception of the wheelhouse which appears to be wood but is actually artistically painted aluminum. 48.2 feet long and 15.9 feet wide (beam). The draft is 3.4 feet and the weight of the boat is 86,000 lbs.

Stentor Yachts is no longer in business; however, the company is noted for building luxury offshore yachts, mostly trawler-type cruisers but a few of the replica canal barges like "Amanda". The current owners of this boat are the 2nd owners, purchased in the Netherlands in March 2019. The boat was previously named Potvis before the name was changed to "Amanda".

If you are interested in seeing additional pictures and learning more about this boat, you can find it here: http://www.aphantom.net/Amanda-Interior/Interior.html