On The Ball In The Sassafras River After A Fun Week In DC And Chestertown

The boat hasn't moved too far North since our last post -- we're now in Georgetown, MD, only about 50 mi from Annapolis -- but we've been darting here and there as a family, having a great time with cousins and friends.  Here's the skinny on what we've been up to:

• Spent three days visiting with my cousin Terry Fairbanks, his wife Mary and their two children Nora and Henry.  The kids all connected immediately in only that way that cousins (or, in this case, second cousins) can.  Mary and Terry were absolutely fantastic hosts, giving us run of their house and loads of good advice on where to go and what to see.  And Terry and I had a ball reliving our summers together on Coolidge Point in Manchester, MA, and telling stories about our collection of aging, odd and colorful Fairbanks family members. 
• Visited a slew of monuments in DC, including the Mall and, the Lincoln, Vietnam War, WWII, Korean War and MLK Memorials, and pointed out lots of other notables to the kids while driving around DC.  We also explored two Smithsonian Museums -- the Natural History museum and the Udvar-Hazy hanger.  Having already been dragged through every natural history museum within 1000 mi of home throughout their short lives, the kids unanimously picked the Udvar-Hazy as their favorite.  Pretty cool to be standing next to one of the space shuttles, staring up at the Enola Gay and looking down the sleek lines of an SR-71 Blackbird.  (When Nat noted the SR-71's speed record of 1hr, 4min for an LA-DC flight, it made all us realize how very slow our boat is!).
• Completed a number of boat projects, the most important one of which was repairing our fridge/freezer.  I had put a nice-sized hole in our cold plate about three weeks ago while instructing Betsy on the proper way to aggressively defrost the darn thing.  You can only imagine how much fun the kids and Betsy have had ever since with this particular story of Dad's stupidity -- all well deserved!  I had patched the hole, but I didn't have any way to vacuum out our system before recharging it.  Luckily, Nate Horton squeezed us into his busy schedule and now we're up and running again.  Bad for the batteries, good for our food and drinks.  (BTW, if you ever need any AC/reefer work done in Annapolis, Nate is the go-to guy; he's a class act from ME/NH, and his dad started Seafrost Refrigeration).
•  Took the boat up to Magothy Creek for a visit and cookout with our good friends Mike and Roberta from Celilo.  Not only was it great to catch up with them -- we last saw them in Turtle Cay, in the Abacos -- but we got to see their home marina, old neighborhood and even their old house.  A real treat.  There's a small chance that we might hook up to run to Block Island together early next week.  If not, we'll catch up with them south of the Cape, before we head North to Duxbury and ME.
• Had a sporty sail over to the mouth of the Chester River, and then a leisurely rainy sail up the Chester to Chestertown, MD.  On our way up river, we met up with Mike, Tracy, Brook and Ben Davenport, all of whom had run down the river in a crew launch to meet us.  (Mike runs the rowing program at Washington College in Chestertown).  The scenery around the Chester and Chestertown is spectacular; thousands of acres of farm land stretch down to river banks on both sides, interrupted here and there only by stands of trees.  It's an unusual scene on the eastern seaboard, at least this far north, and it gives you a sense of what much of this area must have looked like a century ago.  And the duck stands that line the river banks give you an idea of how good the duck hunting must be; Nat, Ben, Win and I are eager to get down here some Fall to see it firsthand.  We finally anchored up just south of the bascule bridge in downtown Chestertown.
• Spent three fun-filled, actioned packed days with the MD Davenports, as we call them.  Our time together included: another trip to the Crumpton auction center and more Amish food; multi-hour dodgeball games in the Washington College fieldhouse; crabbing on the river; swiming at the college pool; a sleepover for all of our boys at the MD Davenport house; shopping in downtown Chestertown; kayaking up local creeks; excavating local bottledumps; more dodgeball; and a traditional MD blue crab feast in Rock Hall, with wooden mallets and pounds of Old Bay seasoning.  What a great, great few days we had together.  We miss them already!
• An uneventful motor ride down the Chester River, up the Chesapeake and then up the Sassafras River to Georgetown, during which the wind seemed to head us at every turn.  Our batteries needed a charge, but I'm jonesing for a good sail.  Something tells me we'll get it on our way to Block.

Our plan is to stay here for two nights, catch up with Rick, Katie and Hoku on Makana -- Makana is on the hard at the Georgetown Yacht Basin, waiting for Rick to patch the hole she received from a log in the ICW -- finish a few projects, and then stage up for our run through the C&D Canal, down DE Bay and out to Block Island.  The weather way up in the Bay is spectactular right now; dry and cool.  Outside of the Bay, it's a different story.   But it looks as if things will settle down outside late Sunday, so we'll probably shoot for an early departure from the head of the DE Bay early Monday morning, with a goal of reaching Block Island on Tuesday evening.  Of course all of this depends on the weather, so we might end up pushing things off a day or even two.  We'll see.  Until then, feel free to call (3398320595) or write.  Hard to believe we'll be back in NE so soon!

Sam