August 23rd: Bobcaygeon

We left Fenelon Falls and headed toward Bobcaygeon. Margaritaville followed us out.

I was hoping we would be able to cruise over 20 mph after adding some Seafoam to the fuel tank - just in case there was any water in the gas. Happily, Guppy came up on plane and we were able to cruise.

Along the way we wanted to stop at Birch Point Marina, the place we were thinking we would leave the boat. After getting fuel we talked to Paul who handles winter storage. We are familiar with Birch Point as over the years we have stopped for fuel and/or parts. We liked what Jeff had to say and the price was very competitive so that decision was made, leaving Guppy at Birch Point Marina for winter storage.

Knowing we planned to stop at Birch Point, we left early enough to arrive at Bobcaygeon about the time the boaters at Bobcaygeon would be leaving. Bobcaygeon is probably the most popular lock on the Trent System, especially Friday and Saturday nights. It was no accident we were arriving Thursday. Margaritaville is not able to cruise so Randy and Cindy were about hour behind us.

We went through the lock and the spots with power looked full at first. Then we noticed there was a spot at the farthest end which we snatched up. It's actually our favorite spot because we get a good view of boats coming and going. We talked to the boaters in front of us and they said they would probably be leaving, but even if not, they could move up a little when Margaritaville showed up. Then we could move forward, hang the front of Guppy over the edge of the dock, and we'd make room for Margaritaville. Radioed Cindy and Randy and told them the plan. They arrived a little time later and we squeezed them in. Success.

At the lock in Bobcaygeon

The chairs came out and we all relaxed. Gigit and Crickett were happy to be off the boat.












I noticed Randy had his IronMan ball cap on. Randy and Cindy joined us in Hawaii when our son-in-law Matt competed in the World IronMan competition in Kona, Hawaii. Matt did well and we had a great time. Matt has earned many ball caps and nicely gave both Randy and Cindy IronMan ball caps. Randy's ball cap brought back a lot of fun memories.

The Full Cup breakfast

We all decided we had to go to breakfast at the Full Cup the next morning. It's a fun breakfast place with very good food. It's a dangerous place to go as far as diet is concerned. Notice the size of the portions. Randy ate his corned beef omelette left overs for lunch twice!

The furniture reminds me of tables from our grandmothers' era.

Kawartha Dairy Production Plant

After breakfast we rode to the nearby Kawartha Dairy Ice Cream factory. Randy had discovered it the last time he was in Bobcaygeon. They have a store, which of course, sold many flavors of ice cream cones. After the huge breakfast we all passed on the ice cream. The Kawartha Dairy supplies much of the ice cream for the many ice cream cone vendors.

Bobcaygeon Music in the Park

Later that night it was music in the park. We didn't find out about it until it was almost over. I decided to walk up and check it out. I asked if anyone wanted to join me. No takers! I was surprised how many people were there. I caught the last two songs.




The rest of the day we did some grocery shopping and mostly enjoyed watching all the boat traffic. Because of the two night maximum stay we would leave Saturday and head toward Buckhorn. We'd heard they had a big music festival, Rock the Lock going on so we knew chances of getting a spot to dock would be very slim. Planned to look for an anchorage as the weather looked very favorable.

Last blog's wild flower: Yellow Aster?

As I look at all the options, this looks to me like a Yellow Aster. The disk in the center makes me believe this. There are many types of Aster.  I found this description: The uniqueness of the Aster or Sunflower family is that what first seems to be a single large flower is actually a composite of many smaller flowers. Look closely at a sunflower in bloom, and you can see that there are hundreds of little flowers growing on a disk, each producing just one seed.

I am open to other possible identities! It was a pretty flower so I included it even though I am not certain about the identification.


This blog's wild flower: Hint- I took this picture while kayaking.