Boating – Adventures in the Dirt Yacht

August 6, 2022September 2, 2022

Antique Boat Museum 8/06 and Pirate Days 8/13/2022

I still am having some issues with groin/hip pain so I decided not to join Randy at the 58th Annual Antique Boat Show & Auction at the Antique Boat Museum in Clayton, New York. We have been to this show several times now, but Randy is always up for looking at boats, so he braved the hot weather and went by himself. I did not think I was up to walking around and did not want to pay the entry fee just to sit in the shade while Randy looked around. He did not do any of the inside exhibits, but mainly looked at the boats in the water and watched a few boats being auctioned.

His favorites were a HydraStream and a 1955 Chris Craft that had been donated to the museum by Alan Jackson. The Hydra Stream looks very similar to the one that was owned by a friend. We spent quite a bit of time when we were younger enjoying the Magothy River and the area we now call the “Horse Farm” aboard Dickie’s boat. This was before the 6-knot zone was implemented so we could fly over the water in this small but powerful boat.

Randy especially liked the 1955 29′ Chris-Craft Semi Enclosed boat that Alan Jackson donated to the museum back in 2013. Jackson purchased the dilapidated boat in 2002 and then spent three years having it restored in Tennessee by Travis Hickman. “Flat Top”, whose name refers to the flat top, steel-string acoustic guitars commonly used by Jackson, is one of just 36 of these boats ever built by Sarasota, Florida-based Chris-Craft.

In addition to the Antique Boat Museum, we went to Aleandria Bay for their Pirate Days. We were very disappointed. Its nothing like the Pirate and Wenches Festival in Rock Hall, Maryland, we did several years when on Liberty. They did not even have any T-shirts for the festival. They advertised street performers, etc., but the only thing we saw were booths for

Hydra Stream similar to the one owned by Dickie that we spent lots of time on when we were younger. Mostly used on the Magothy River and area we now call the “Horse Farm.”

Flat Top, 1955 29′ Chris-Craft Semi Enclosed boat that Alan Jackson donated to the museum back in 2013/14.

Miss Comet’s engines; Hemis with 4 deuces

September 12, 2021September 13, 2021

End of Summer in Thousand Islands 09/11/2021

Even though the summer season is winding down, Swan Bay Park is very busy. We noticed quite a few large Class A Motor Homes pulling in. After googling events in the area, I discovered there was an All-Inclusive Motorhome (AIM) Rally here next week. I had never heard of this club and even though I read that it is open to Class A, B or C type motorhomes, the majority appear to be high-dollar Entegra Class A’s. There are several million dollars worth of RV’s in the park!

As busy as the park has gotten, I guess it is good that we have started packing up to get the Dirt Yacht ready to head home for a few weeks. The weather forcast is for some rain next week so Randy decided to pull the boat yesterday and he loaded the golf cart today while the weather is still dry. Randy was busy today rolling up the carpet, puttiing away all but 2 of the chairs, removing the wheel covers and polishing the wheels. Tomorrow he wants to take down the weather station and the DISH. He will probably keep the DISH hooked up, but just place it on the rocks in the back where we can still get reception.

August 10, 2021August 10, 2021

Antique Boat Show & Auction and Weekend Fun! 08/05 – 08/08/2021

We started out the Antique Boat Show weekend wanting to watch the boats cruise on Thursday afternoon for the 2021 Boats on Parade. According to their website, the boats were supposed to leave Clayton about 3:00 and cruise around Grindstone Island. We planned to watch the beautiful wooden boats when they went through the Wellsley Island Narrows about 4:15. We arrived in plenty of time, but only saw one wooden boat: No parade of boats! I am not sure if they just did not go or if they went later in the day. After reviewing ABM’s website, I found multiple times for the Thursday cruise on different pages: the 3:00 start time, a 5:30 start time and a 6:30 start time. Needless to say, I was very disappointed that I did not get to see the parade of boats. I wanted to grab a few pictures as the boats navigated the Narrows. Before heading in, we headed to Clayton to look at the boats tied up at the docks.

August 1, 2021August 9, 2021

Antique Boat Museum’s Storage Facility 07/30/2021

It was another cool, damp morning at 58 degrees when we woke up. Fortunately it warmed up a little later in the day with the sun coming out, but the wind was too strong to use the boat. We are fortunate we are not getting the scorching heat wave that a lot of the country is getting, but I would love a few warm days. Since it was not a good boating day, we decided to visit the Antique Boat Museum’s Doebler Storage Museum a few miles away from the downtown museum.

July 27, 2021July 29, 2021

Randy’s Birthday: Dinner and Boat Ride to Dark Island 07/26/2021

We started celebrating Randy’s birthday early with dinner on Saturday night with Bill and Gail and ended it up with a boat ride to Dark Island on Monday. It was a little windy so the ride back was a little bumpy and a storm was building so we didn’t stop for a late lunch, but it was still a good day. Hopefully Randy enjoyed his birthday!

July 24, 2021July 28, 2021

Clayton: This time by water! 07/23/2021

Since it was Friday there was a little more boat traffic on the River today, but it was a pretty day so we wanted to get out while we could before the weekend. It had warmed up from the 57 degrees we woke up to, but I still needed a sweat shirt for the boat ride. It felt great in the sun, but the air was still chilly.

July 22, 2021July 22, 2021

Oswego; Lock No. O8 – 07/212021

Peter asked us if we wanted to meet him for an early dinner and look at the locks in Oswego. Sounded good to us! We met him at Lock No. O8 and then had dinner at Azteca Mexican Grill on E. Bridge Street in Oswego. Randy said they had the best margaritas and I said they had the best fajitas EVER. And I have had a lot of fajitas in various restaurants so these were really good!

July 18, 2021August 10, 2021

Antique Boat Museum, Clayton 07/17/2021

We enjoyed our day with Bill and Gail visiting the Antique Boat Museum in nearby Clayton. It was another cool, damp day with light showers, but it was still a lot of fun. Even thought we had been to the museum two years ago, it was still interesting to see the antique boats again. They have such a large inventory of boats, the exhibits are not all the same as our previous visit. I know Randy especially liked talking motors/engines with Bill.

July 18, 2021July 18, 2021

U.S. Eisenhower Lock, Massena, NY 07/15/2021

We took advantage of the nice day to visit the U.S. Eisenhower Lock in Massena, New York. This lock was constructed on the portion of the St. Lawrence River known as the “Long Sault” by the US Army Corps of Engineers. Originally named the “Robinson Bay Lock” the lock was renamed for President Dwight Eisenhower after his term was over. It is one of the seven canal locks on the St. Lawrence Seaway. The $30 toll charge per lock from pleasure craft vehicles traveling downbound is collected from the officer in charge at the Eisenhower Lock. The tolls for upbound traffic are collected from the officer in charge at the Snell Lock.

July 7, 2021July 24, 2021

Fourth of July Weekend 2021

In anticipation of the 4th of July holiday, the park started filling up on Thursday afternoon and by Friday night there were only a few spots left. We watched a solid line of RV’s line up at the office starting about 1:00 on Friday and the line did not end for at least 3 hours. We even got to meet our neighbors for the first time. We did not have any special plans for the weekend, other than friends visiting on Monday, so we had a relaxing few days. Most of our projects had been completed so we did not have any work to do which allowed us to spend some time by the water to watch the boats drive by.