061: Old Dominion Part 1

 The next morning, the 17^th of April, we took down the folding bikes and road over the swing bridge to the National Wildlife Refuge side of the Dismal Swamp Canal with the goal of nice long bike ride.  Unfortunately, the trail is not paved and rests in very sandy soil.   Our narrow-tired bikes were ill-suited to that type of surface, so we only made it about 2.5 miles before deciding that we’d had enough, and we headed back.   

We did see a display on how to set up a still and make "moonshine:"

We moved the boat down to a tiny dock (only seventeen feet long) that sits across from the “feeder” creek which supplies the Canal with its water.  On the way we crossed the border into the Commonwealth of Virgina, and childhood memories (my father was stationed at Langley Airforce Base) began to flood back.

The state line:

 

Small dock:

Unlike the river system locks which were developed eliminate rapids and use the water from the river itself, the Dismal Swamp Canal works more like the Panama Canal and uses water from Lake Drummond to feed it.   If you have read this blog from the beginning, you know we love exploring creeks in the dinghy, so we motored up feeder creek three miles to Lake Drummond.    We didn’t see much in the way of wildlife but we did feel a bit like Humphrey Bolgart and Katherine Hepburn in “The African Queen”

 There is a dam that controls the water flow, so when we reached it we had to portage the dinghy around it to reach a short stretch of creek that led to the Lake.  Unfortunately, the dolly that carries your dinghy across that 100’ stretch was out of order, so we had to carry the dinghy (with engine) across the expanse.   We managed, and then headed out to the Lake.   We motored around the edge of Lake Drummond for a bit, and then cut the engine and did some bird watching before heading back.

 The feeder creek:

My best Humphrey Bogart impression:

The dam area:

The trolley over the dam:

Almost to the Lake:

Bird watching, look closely:

Back on the boat we had lunch and saw a really cool aluminum trawler go by us.  We waived and I was scratching my head trying to determine what was the make of the trawler, but all I could come up with was that it must be of European make as they really like metal boats more than those of us on this side of the “Pond.”   

The cool trawler:

 After lunch we cast off the lines and motored up a few miles to Douglas Landing, another dock which was large enough to accommodate three mid-sized boats.    Douglas is on the east side of the Canal which has the paved bike path (actually a road no longer used) and Nancy went for a ride while I worked on prior blog posts

Former canal superintendents house:

Douglas Landing Dock:

A bit later the couple on a PDQ 34 power catamaran (“Out of the Blue”) who we’d met on the dock at Beaufort, NC pulled up to the dock and we had a nice chat.  They are “Gold Loppers” (they have done the entire G/L trip before) and where heading up to Canada for the summer.   While chatted I noticed a snake slithering by, luckily non-venomous.  

 

As we were chatting a couple came riding up on their bikes.  It was the couple from the aluminum trawler that passed by earlier wanting to say, “Hi.”    The six of us had a very nice chat, a lot of it about their boat, “Kaniva.”   Very intriguing couple: 1) they are from Germany, 2) they sailed her across the Atlantic, 3) he built her over twenty years.   Their website is super interesting if you are at all into boats or engineering.   He designed and built every bit of her, even making his own circuit boards!  More info at:  https://www.kaniva.de/index.html.

That night we had another perfect night on the Canal.  Very quiet and peaceful.   The next morning Nancy and I took a walk on the bike path and then left to make the 11:00 a.m. lock opening to leave the Canal and head up to Norfolk.

Norfolk has the largest naval station in the world, and it is impressive.   We didn’t have too long a trip up to our marina and we were enjoying a slow ride when we heard over the radio, “All traffic Warship # 72 entering Hampton Roads for Berth # (can’t remember).”  Not knowing where this berth was at, we powered up the boat to full throttle and made our way into Waterfront Marina before “Warship #72” potentially rounded the corner.

 On the way to Norfolk:

Norfolk Naval Station:

Earlier in the morning, while tied up at the Douglas Landing, I noticed a small oil slick near where my bilge empties out:  “Odd," thought I.    Had we not been tied up to such a calm place, and instead anchored out with current, I might not have noticed it at all.  Serendipity?   Upon arrival at Norfolk I decided to investigate and long story short, it turns out the rubber tube used to drain the generator oil had been misplaced by the boat yard in Racine and was rubbing against the pulley that drives the actual electric generator.  The generator's engine had no oil in it whatsoever, and I had run it that morning.  Now anyone who knows anything about boats knows that even a tablespoon of oil in the bilge makes a big mess, I had over a quart of oil in the bilge. 

It took me all afternoon to clean up the mess using most of a roll of heavy-duty paper towels.  Then I had to fashion a makeshift repair.   After adding fresh oil, I fired up the generator with much trepidation, but it seemed to work fine.  Hopefully I dodged a expensive bullet ($9,000 plus installation).  I was covered in muck and headed to a much-needed shower.   In the evening, we had a non-descript dinner at one of the three restaurants on the waterfront. 

On the 18^th we took an Uber to Budget Rental and got a car to drive to Rockville, Va to visit my Godmother, Barbara Empey.  Barbara lives in a house build in the 1740’s called “Oldfield” that originally was a tavern.  The name Oldfield came about because that was a designation for land worn out from tobacco growing, as in its an “old field.”   There is documentation in the historical record that Patrick Henry first met Thomas Jefferson here when it was a tavern.  The home sits on twenty-six bucolic acres in the rolling Virginia countryside.   Her late husband, "Emp," was a P-38 fighter pilot in the Pacific Theater of Operations during WW2 and later flew amphibious missions and cargo flights through the end of the 1960’s.   He restored Oldfield himself over many years after he retired.

 Oldfield:

Emp's A-2 flight jacket from WW2:

Barbara's twenty-six acres:

Nancy and I had a great visit with Barbara and treated her to dinner at a local restaurant and we both had the best meals to date on this G/L trip.   Local restaurant beats marina tavern food every time!  Nancy drove the almost two hour trip back to the marina in driving rainstorm, and we went to bed pretty tired.

 

Dave

 

Odometer; 3,530 n/m