August 5 – August 16, 2011
Our stay in Kingston, Ontario was cut short because we had a window of good weather on Friday, August 5th to cross Lake Ontario. We left the dock at the crack of dawn and caught the first opening of the bridge in Kingston. It was a picture perfect day to travel, with hardly a ripple in the lake. I actually made pancakes for breakfast while we were underway.
Our first stop back to the U.S. was Sodus Point, NY. It would have been too far to go directly from Kingston to Rochester in one day at our speed. We arrived at the Sodus Bay Yacht Club late afternoon. Here we were able to use reciprocal privileges with our MTOA membership (Marine Trawler Owners Association), which gave us the first night free and the second night for $25.
We needed to clear US Customs, so we walked into the town to the Border Patrol videophone at the visitors center. Roger called Customs on the phone and I heard him yelling into the phone, “I can’t hear you either!” Somehow, they got through the interview and he placed his passport in front of the camera and then told me I had to talk to the agent and stand in front of the camera myself. I could hardly hear the lady either (and the street traffic didn’t help), but was just about to write down the Customs Clearance number when the videophone froze. I shouted to the lady, “I’m hanging up! If you really need us, call my cell phone number…..GOOD-BY!!!”. Talk about frustrating – and embarrassing – I feel sorry for our Canadian neighbors who come to the States and have to deal with this kind of ineptitude. But that is another subject for another day and another mission that I’ll tackle when I get home.
We had a very nice time at the Sodus Bay Yacht Club. The people were so friendly and one of the ladies actually remembered Roger from the early 1980’s when he was a member and had his sailboat in Sodus Bay. She talked us into joining the club as non-resident members, so we did and ended up buying a yacht club burgee and added it to our collection of flying pennants.
On Sunday, we found a decent day to continue west along Lake Ontario to Rochester, about 32 miles. We waited for some fog to lift and left Sodus Bay around 10:00 a.m. There was a threat of strong thunderstorms, and we were hoping to beat them. We hit some rain just as we were nearing the entrance to the Genesee River. Unfortunately, when we passed by my childhood home (now owned by my brother Michael and wife Diane), it was very overcast and difficult to see. But Michael saw us with his binoculars and called me on my cell phone!
Shortly after, we arrived at the Rochester Yacht Club and went to our assigned slip #93. It was déjà vu from Atlantic City, trying to squeeze our Manatee into a slip too narrow. We could have scrunched in there once I lifted up the fenders to get past the pilings on our starboard side, but when we were ½ way in, the assistant dockmaster Francie, (with a panicked look on her face), motioned to Roger to back out of the slip! She told us to go to the face dock just for the night. When we pulled up, there was a guy who offered to take our lines. It happened to be Chris Dorsey, an old friend of mine, who used to walk home from kindergarten with me! (Can you believe our parents used to let us walk home from KINDERGARTEN back then?!). And right behind Chris came some of my family to greet us: Bill and daughter Jenna, Michael and Diane and daughter Brittany! They were carrying a sign they’d made, “Welcome to America!” Too funny! Michael brought champagne and later we had a steak dinner at his & Diane’s house. I hadn’t been back to the house (it was my parents’ home) since my mother died in November 2006. Michael and Diane have almost completely renovated it. They have done a tremendous job of updating it and still keeping the character of the home in tact. It was as if I had come home again in so many ways. This was a great start to our visit with my family in Rochester!
We stayed in Rochester for 10 days and every day, we saw my family and friends. One night we got together with my brother Dave and his wife Sue, kids Andrea, DJ and Alex after watching Alex’s basketball game. I was able to see my Uncle Sam Spitali, just after he went into hospice. I was lucky enough to be able to talk to him, tell him I love him and say good-by while he was still with us. He passed away a few days later. We went to a celebration of his life the day before we left Rochester. This is another reminder that we need to live our lives to the fullest and try our best to do things so that we don’t have any regrets.
We also used our time in Rochester to catch up on some chores that needed to be done. Roger did several maintenance tasks, like changing engine oil, added a raw water strainer for the washdown pump, a vent filter for the holding tank, etc. I washed all the inside cushion covers and Scotchguarded them, varnished the name boards and restocked all the supplies we’d been holding off buying because things are more expensive in Canada. My sister-in-law Diane let us borrow her BMW for the week and guess who hit a high curb in Suburbia Rochester, sliced the tire and gouged the rim! I was going to blame Roger, but I can’t – it was me! Unbelievable…..
We enjoyed the Rochester Yacht Club, but didn’t really have too much time to spend there. In fact, we had about 3 days of rain and never used the swimming pool. The 2 tennis courts were staring at me and I never got to play! And we still missed getting together with some friends and family while we were there.
Our new membership in the Sodus Bay Yacht Club was timely! The Rochester Yacht Club didn’t have reciprocal privileges with MTOA. In fact, they had a one-page list of clubs that they did extend the courtesy to. Sodus Bay YC was on the list! So we had a nice deal there at 1st night free and then $36/night after.
Once again, it was time to cut the dock lines and head back across the lake to Canada. We left on Wednesday, August 17th, which was supposed to be a good enough day, the last of the good weather for a while.
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