June 14th: Success, docked in Orillia, work begins in earnest!

 

Gary was ambitious enough to start washing the boat before we left Birch Point Marina. I of course joined in and we at least got most of the bugs off. Our plan was to allow Gary some time to enjoy Orillia. Eric, was supposed to detail the boat early in the week, but couldn't because the boat didn't get launched. So he couldn't do it before we left, but he could do the job in Orillia later next week. Okay, better than not getting it done.  We didn't want to travel 2 days with a filthy boat so washed off pretty well and weren't embarrassed when we pulled into Orillia on Guppy.

We walked up to the Breakfast Club to get some food after crossing Simcoe. It was about 11:30am. We both ordered Eggs Benedict. Gary ordered The Classic which had pea meal bacon, and I went for the Florentine.

We both agreed they were the best Eggs Benedict we ever had. Seriously! We decided to come back for another breakfast Monday before Gary left.

Gorilla tape water leak repair

After breakfast we walked to the hardware store to get some stuff. There was some deterioration of the back wall on the stern deck that would leak. Not an easy fix so we were looking for some temporary options. We settled on clear gorilla tape. Rain was coming Sunday so we were just happy to get it sealed.

Gary is a true friend and a true boater. I really appreciated his help. First, Gary suggested we get the bikes in working condition so we could ride Sunday morning to the Gordon Lightfoot sculpture in a nearby park. The park even has a community center that serves breakfast. The rains weren't supposed to start until after noon.

We were both very happy that all we needed to do was put air in the tires!

Gary was still willing to work so we investigated why the shower drain pump wasn't working. I was afraid that after 3 years the pump was broken. Fortunately, Gary found a wire had just come loose. Easy fix.

Next we tried to determine why the forward bilge pump wasn't pumping the water out. With Gary's help I finally remembered that the bilge pump had an independent float switch. There is a bilge pump that comes on every 3 minutes to check if there is water in the bilge and it drains the water to almost nothing. I remembered, however, that when the old pump died we couldn't get that type so had to go with a float switch. I need to hold the float switch up to completely drain the water out. Again, problem solved. Just so you know, if enough water came in, the float switch would come on and the pump would drain all but about an inch of water.

We did some other repairs and by the time we were done the interior of the boat was littered with all kinds of tools and supplies. Hard to remember where things are after three years.

We decided on Chinese for dinner. There is a very good place very close by. We walked over and discovered it was now take out only. No problem, we took our food back to the boat. It was very good. 

We spent the evening swapping boating stories and went to bed early. It was a long couple days.

Sunday morning we were up early and on our way. We had a nice bike ride, partially along Lake Couchiching, to the Community center for breakfast. It was pretty good. Not as good as the eggs Benedict but enjoyable with a table overlooking the water. Then we rode through the park to see the Gordon Lightfoot Memorial Sculpture. 

Gordon Lightfoot Memorial Sculpture

 

Gary getting a good picture

Be sure to read the information about the sculpture. It is very well done with every leaf  depicting something from a song. 

Here is a link Gordon Lightfoot Golden Leaves Sculpture, Orillia, Ontario

We enjoyed seeing swans in Orillia. We very seldom saw any and they never hung around. These seem to be residents.

Gary was going to be heading to Little Current, North Channel, where he and Karen would stay on their boat for the summer. He said going out to eat was tough there so we opted to go to Studebaker's for dinner. It was a 5 minute walk and the food was very good. I didn't take a picture but here is a link. Studebaker's

Orillia rain

As forecast, the rains came in Sunday afternoon. We desperately need rain given the forest fires up north. Fortunately, the smoke went around us in Orillia. We worked on a few minor projects and just enjoyed being on the water and reconnecting in person after 3 years.

Linda on Guppy

 It was hard for either of us to accept being on the boat without Linda, but we shared many good "Linda Stories".

As planned, Gary and I went to the Breakfast Club again for more Eggs Benedict. Excellent once again. I will definitely take the Rahns there for brunch. They would be arriving Saturday so I had ample time to get the boat squared away. They are staying in a VRBO but I'm sure boating will be included.

When Gary was here we tried to hook up the television but couldn't find an HDMI cable. Not a big deal, but Monday I went looking. Tried two stores with no luck. Then decided to try Uncle Bucks's. We've always had fun shopping there. A little bit of everything and thousands of movie, TVshows and music DVDs. Linda spent many hours in that store! I asked the lady if she had an HMDI cable. She said, "I think I saw one." She rummaged around in a big box of cables and said, "Yep, here it is." I said, "Great, how much?" She said, "Just take it" I love Canadians! I've been watching the Fringe series Linda bought the last time we were here.

On my way back to the boat I stopped to enjoy watching the black squirrels in the park. The kids spent many summers hand feeding those cute little squirrels.