The Catalina 22 reference caused some confusion for some of the readers, I am guilty of vesseligamy. This trip is about the trimaran Loose Cannon and in the future I will try to keep the references to “the other boats” to a minimum.
Buzzards Journey Day 2 Saturday July 26.
Hit the road about 10, and we made good time until we got to some town between Maryland and Virginia. It had some big beltway around it, and a tall skinny pointy thing in the middle, lots of military and tons of rude drivers.
There was some improvement on gas mileage, maybe 7.5 mpg now. Developed a new procedure on fuel replenishment, if I fill up at half a tank instead of a quarter of a tank then I can get out for just under a hundred dollars and I don’t have to run my credit card twice on the same pump. Orion suggested maybe I should just fill up to a half a tank, then I would be carrying half a tank of fuel all the time. Hmmm, 21 gallons, 8 lbs. per gallon, 168 pounds of fuel that never gets used. Damn kids, I feel a lot smarter when I’m by myself.
Back on I-95 after the third fuel stop and we had a real bouncy feeling. No one in the cars around us had drink bottles jumping out of their drink holders, so I started thinking it might not be the road. Of course every on ramp was immediately followed by an off ramp, and the traffic seemed to be on a mission to thwart our exit. It took a while to find a suitable place to pull off. After getting well off the road but still on I-95 we stopped and checked bearings and tires. All the bearings were appropriately warm and the tires all had air. However, the right front trailer tire looked kind of like the anti bird device I mount atop the masts at the sailing school. You know, a bunch of wires sticking out in all different directions. Apparently not all of those big hunks of rubber laying in the road come from the big rigs.
Debated on whether or not to change the tire right there. It was a good spot, so we tried it but the spare was bolted to the trailer with nuts and bolts that were no longer separate entities. Our efforts were totally ineffective at un-welding them. Onward we limped to find some help. The bumpiness was much less at 30 mph but the other drivers were even ruder. The next exit directed us to Catonsville, a suburb of Baltimore. After cruising much of the residential district, a cute little blond jogger, decided that anyone driving or riding in that rig wasn’t inconspicuous enough to be dangerous so she directed us to the gas station section of town. The guys at the Jiffy Lube were impressed with the boat so even though they were closing the lead guy chucked a 13/16 socket onto the air impact wrench and got the spare off the trailer. He bumped the lug nuts on the trailer tire also so we got the tire changed in just a few minutes. The compressor had already been shut down. Off we went to find a functional air source to top off the spare and met some very interesting people. The trimaran attracts some characters. One carload pulled up and asked Orion “hmuchtrentthattofish” apparently Orion was to slow to respond. Again “hmuchtrentthattofish” as Orion finally grasped the “rent to fish” part, again too slowly for the requestor, a new comment became audible. “Umusbeadummfker” . We eventually communicated that we did not fish nor rent and yes it is an amazing boat and thanks for telling us how to get back to I-95. See-ya.
On down the road, we called Hilton Honors and redeemed more points for another room, this time in Elkton Md. After settling in, the advice of the front desk to try out the local seafood bar and grill seemed a good plan. Should have saved that money for gas, even at 5 bucks a gallon it would have been a better deal. The hotel did not have enough room for me to park if they are full up, and since we got the last room, they were full. I found a spot in the back that I thought was well out of the way. The front desk called about 10 p.m. and told me I had to move the boat. “I’ll be happy to” I said, “just un-book my room and I will go someplace else.” Parking places magically appeared. Tomorrow we go through New York City and should make it to Buzzards Bay by evening. We are having a lot of fun, I just hope I can stand it.
-wb-