Wee, wee, weeeeeee!- I am the king of the world!

If you have ever seen that Geico commercial with the irritating pink pig that shouts wee wee all the way home, Alex can imitate it to perfection and does so to drive us nuts. It is funny because he gets as much into it as the pig. Today I sent him up to the bow alone for the first time to unfurl the pennant while underway. He decided to do the pig on the bow pulpit. He seems to be enjoying the ride.

This morning we shoved off from Rock Hall, MD and finished up the rest of the Chesapeake. The Colonel had written to ask just how we expected to get out of the top without going all the way back to Norfolk. For a moment I thought we might have gone the wrong way!

Actually, back in the late 1600’s a Bohemian named Augustine Hermann thought that if a canal was cut from the Chesapeake over 14 miles to Delaware Bay that many days and much risk could be cut from voyages from Philadelphia to Baltimore. He was right but no-one was willing to invest in it. Just before the 1800’s rolled around another interested party decided to raise the funds for it. You might know him if you have a hundred dollar bill in your pocket. Yes, Ben Franklin drew investors and for a mere two million dollars 2600 men were hired to hand dig a trench 10 feet deep and 40 feet wide. It has been enlarged several times with modern equipment and now it is near 40 feet deep and 400 feet wide.

1. Turkey Point Light

2. A trailer park up north proving we do not have a monopoly on these down south

3. A new home on the C&D Canal

4. An unfortunate boat that was swept ashore in high winds

5. The Delaware Responder

What a difference from the vast Chesapeake. Almost like being back in the Tenn-Tom. A pleasant ride indeed.

We decided to stop for the night in Delaware City, DE rather than risk continuing to Cape May, NJ because a big thunderstorm is threatening and Delaware Bay is 50 miles long and very wide open to the Atlantic at it’s mouth. We are well on schedule.

Our old Gulf crossing buddies Bill and Pam aboard Seabiscuit are waiting in Cape May for weather to run up the Atlantic seaboard to NYC. If we can get there on time we can run together. It is a long hard run with few places to duck in if weather goes bad so you must pick your day like we did way back in Carabelle. I will likely need to call the Commander and put him to work on this one.

I may not have told you that Bill and Pam are from Lexington, KY where Alex lives. They were professional horse trainers and told us to put our money on Union Rags to win the Belmont Stakes because friends of theirs own him. We did not and naturally he won. If we were bigger risk takers we could have paid for this whole trip doggonnit.

Delaware City is a pretty pretentious name for this small hamlet but it appears to be friendly and has restaurants and a small grocery. Jan is washing linens here as there is no competition for machines.

1. A B&B on the C&D

2. Alex mailing postcards to all the kids

3. A local founder

4. A new celebrity

5. Dinner at Crabby Dick’s

We met Guy and Karen. They recently sailed their 65 foot sailboat from Maine to Australia. Took 5 years! Then they shipped it back on a freighter. Now they are waiting for it to clear customs.

Cbay did well and we ran on plane for approximately 30 minutes today to compensate for the coming storm. They are expecting 6 footers at the mouth of the bay. We don’t do 6 footers.

A trapezoidal building. Now you don’t see too many of those.