A rest and starting preparations

Our time on the Kevin’s sister’s farm was enjoyed so much. Not only because we saw family, but also because we, and Kevin especially, got the chance to relax a little and think of something other than the boat. Furthermore, our kids got to finally meet their cousins! They were very excited to have a couple days to play with children other than each other! It turns out they also got to spend those days getting to know, and playing with, their Aunt’s puppies and dogs. Simon has often been intrigued by animals and studies them well. He used to be very eager to meet dogs and puppies when he was younger, but then grew nervous around them for a few years. Now that he is bigger he is eager to interact with them again. Norah on the other hand has always been afraid of dogs. So, this was a great opportunity for her to grow more accustom to them. The puppies are jack russell terriers that are 5 months old; one boy and one girl. She also has 2 older dogs, which are a little more ornery in their old age.

We were super lucky with our visit because not only did we get to see Kevin’s sister who owns the farm, and her family, but also his other sister came down from Toronto and brought their parents. It was the first time in 9 years since we have all been together. We were shown around the farm and ate well. The farm is primarily focused on rehabilitation of horses. So we could look out the windows and see several horses grazing in their paddocks every day. We went down to the barn once to see their whole set up and the dozens of horses that they currently have on their property. Kevin’s sister and brother-in-law are constantly busy with farm duties. They also have chickens, ponies and goats. The kids got a kick out of feeding the chickens the corn we didn’t eat at dinner. Our kids have had very little experience with farm animals so they were interested to learn more about farm animals and farm life in general.

On the Sunday, we went to the Saratoga Springs Race Track. We managed to see a few races, both at the start line and the finish line and then watched as the jockeys walked from the track to the stables in preparation for their next races. The culture of the race tracks is intriguing to see, very much ‘high society’. There were so many people at the track, many there for the food, company, and entertainment but some more specifically for the horses, and others for the gambling. Many of the girls were dressed in nice summer dresses at the track, which of course, all our girls wanted to take advantage of. We haven’t had many opportunities to dress nicely while living on a boat and traveling between places. It was an enjoyable afternoon.

Our visit was short and over too soon, but we all needed to get back to our lives. Kevin’s sister and her husband were looking at a very busy week related to a horse sale and we needed to get back to the boat in our final push to get ready for our Atlantic crossing. I think we are slowly starting to be a little more realistic about our expectations when it comes to our time lines, but we will see.

On our four hour trip back to our boat from the farm, we stopped at Ikea to pick up some new dinner plates, to replace the ones that broke when the rogue wave hit us last week. We also stopped at two Home Depots to pick up parts for a rainwater catchment system that we are going to rig together in case it is needed during our passage. We do have a water maker that fills our 1100L water tanks in 6 hours. However, we want to have a few alternative sources of water if needed. The roof of our deckhouse has water shoots that channel water running off the roof to be caught if you have a system to catch it. We will just have to make sure the roof doesn’t get too dirty, which at times can be tricky as the birds seem to like that spot to poop all over. I imagine this will not be such a problem in the middle of the ocean, however. We ended our trip by stopping at a pho shop for supper.

Our experience on Long Island has been surprising. We are at a marina that turns out to be in a pretty nice area of the island. Many of the roads take us through houses that remind us of home, although there is still way more brick here than at home. There are lots of mature neighbourhoods that have large evergreen trees in them and several ‘villages’ that create nice areas for people to shop and dine. I am not sure what I expected Long Island to be like, but somehow it is different.

We have spent the last several days trying to do our last push to get ready to go across the ocean. Specifically, we are trying to finish the electrical system, connect the solar panels and install all the appliances that we have blocking up our space on the boat. We originally planned to stay in the marina for one week, but on the last day elected to stay one more week so that we can still have access to the dumpster and laundry services while the installation processes are going on. Furthermore, it eliminates the added need to travel by dinghy to get things done and allows us more time to focus on the work.

Mid-week we realized that are cruising permit for the United States was going to expire on the 6th of August. As a result, we would have to start checking in at every port we enter in the U.S. and then check out again. Since we didn’t want to have to do this, even though we are likely only hitting one more port before we leave, we went to the Customs and Border Protection office to see if we could get an extension. It was pleasantly one of the best government agency experiences we have had. There were very few people working there but they were very friend and quick to help us. They provided us with the extension we needed and even gave the little kids a challenge coin each.

So far in preparations we have finished up the basic wiring, cleaned up all the ‘confetti wiring’ (what Kevin calls all the extra little wires that plug up the engine room), put together all the batteries and added netting to our boat. We are working on expending the battery tray in the lasarette, because the new batteries are so much larger than the previous ones, and Kevin is working on attaching the solar panels. After they are attached, likely in two days, then we will systematically put in the rest of the appliances before leaving this bay. Next we move out of the Long Island Sound, stopping at Newport, Rhode Island for our food provisioning and final fuel up. The ‘big passage’ is quickly approaching and we are both nervous and excited.