A busy day

Today (Wednesday), we planned a very agressive day with a drive back to Hyde Park to visit Franklin Delano Roosevelt's bithplace (Springwood), the FDR Presidential Library and Eleanor Roosevelt's Val-Kill home followed by a 40 mile cruise on the Hudson from Poughkeepsie to Catskill.

Immediately, I discovered a problem.  I had lost my Maui Jim prescription sunglasses ($1,000).  I had a sense that they were lost during our visit to the Vanderbilt estate yesterday but at 7:00 AM there was no way to check with the Visitor Center.

The next event was an early morning walk with Kodi toward downtown Poughkeepsie.  The plan was to leave her on the boat. 

At precisely 9:00 AM we called the Vistor Center and got some great news.  My glasses had been found ... HURRAH.  So off we went at 9:00 AM to retreive the glasses.  More good news.  The Vanderbilt Estate is only two mile up the road from FDRs home.

After retreiving the glasses (undamaged), we drove over to Springwood and took the 10:00 AM tour.  Again, the National Park Service guide did an excellent job of describing the property and the Roosevelt history.

Springwood, FDR birthplace and home

An interesting fact is that Franklin and Eleanor lived with Franklin's mother, Sara, who was a very powerful influence throughout his life.  Note: She made the cover of News Week (as it was called then) two times.  The house itself was very nice but modest in comparison to the Vanderbilt estate.  The guide explained it as old money versus noveau rich.

Springwood Foyer

Sprinwood living room

FDR was born in this room

FDR faced two major challenges in his presidency, the great depression and WWII.  The former produced a series of accomplishments in the first 100 days that forever changed the vrole of the Federal Government.  The latter forever changed the role of the US as a world leader.  What comes across in the tour is that Eleanor was a big factor in the success of his presidency,  What also come across is Eleanor's role as a political leader after his death. 

Unfortunately, the Presidential Library was closed for renovations, so we drove 2 miles east to Eleanor Roosevelt's Val-Kill home and caught the 12:30 PM tour.  Again, an hour tour and again an excellent guide.  Val-Kill was given to Eleanor Roosevelt as part of a deal to avoid a divorse due to FDR's infidelity.  Part of the deal was that when FDR was in residence, Eleanore stayed at Springwood.  Otherwise, she lived at Val-Kill.

Modest entrance to Eleanor Roosevelt's modest home

Val-Kill from the back where you can see that it was once a factory

Val-Kill was originally a factory that the Roosevelts converted into a home.  What strikes you is that how modest the home, especially given the fact that many US and world leaders were entertained in this home such as Prime Minister Nehru, The King & Queen of England and JFK (when he visited with Eleanor to get her endorsement.  Check out these photos:

Eleanor Roosevelt's study

Eleanor Roosevelt's dining room

Eleanor Roosevelt's living room

At 2:00 PM we returned our Avis rental car and the representative very generously drove us back to the boat.  Then had a GREAT lunch on the veranda of Shadows and at 3:45 PM we departed their marina for Catskill.  Perfect weather and another push from a rising tide got us into Catskill in under 3 and a half hours on 17.7 gallons (to cover 37.6 miles).

We arrived at Riverview Marine Services at 7:20 PM to end a very busy perfect day.

Guided Discovery at Riverview

Written by Les.

Chasing the Vanderbilts

Tuesday morning, Kodi and I walked into downtown Poughkeepsie (a 3 mile round trip).  The weather was perfectwith temperatures in the low 80s and Kodi was on her best behavior.

Kodi poses for a photo

Downtown Poughkeepsie itself was less than perfect.  I estimate that as much as 30% of businesses were vacant indicating signs of a recession in this city.

A row of vacant business close to downtown

 That said, there were some interesting sights.

Corner of Main and Market

Side of a building painted as individual businesses

National Guard Armory (for sale)

Theater on Market Street

Our Tuesday afternoon activity was a visit to the Fredrick Vanderbilt estate in Hyde Park (7 miles north of Poughkeepsie in a rental car), which is part of a two day strategy to also visit FDR's home and Presidential Library along with Eleanor Roosevelt's Valkill estate. 

Fredrick Vanderbilt's Hyde Park Estate

Fredrick Vanderbilt built this home in 1898 at a cost of 2.4 million dollars.   The estate is considered modest by Vanderbilt standards.  Cornelius' Breaker and William Henry's Marble House in Newport, which we visited last summer were far more elaborate.  That said, 2.4 million in 1898 bought quite a home (which is $657,000,000 in today's dollars).  Note: We also visited the Biltmore estate in Asheville NC a few years ago,)

Fredrick was on of William Henry's 7 children.  Fredrick received an inheritance of $10,000,000 at his father death, which he built to $78,000,000 at the time of his death (which was as high as $132,000,000 prior ot the crash).  Fredrick went on to run the Vanderbilt railroads.

This summer / fall home had 60 servants, 20 0f whom worked inside the house.  Noteworthy is that the Fredrick and Louise had no children.  The home was inherited by Louise's neice, Margaret Van Alen, who donated it to the federal government (with the help of neighbor, FDR) in 1940.  This is a national treasure that reflects the era before the Fedaral Income Tax cooled the elaborate lifestyles of the then 1% (who controlled most of the ealth in America).  

The tour guide, Josh, was one of the best we've encountered in our year of traveling.  His knowedge and enthusiasm were infectious.  He got the loudest round of applause of any tour guide we've seen. 

Here are some interior photos.

Tomorrow we visit FDR's home and Presidential Library.

Written by Les.

Coolish day on the Hudson

Mid Hudson Bridge

The temperatures for the past week and a half (i.e., ever since we got here) have been in the 90s EVERY day.  Finally, today (July 9), we had a run up the Hudson from Croton to Poughkeepsie with temperatures in the mid 80s and a light wind from the north.  This made for a pleasant 39 mile four hour run at our usual trawler speed.

Adding to the enjoyment and fuel econonmy was that we departed Croton around noon on a rising tide, which pushed us up the river at an average speed of 10 MPH (at 1070 RPM - 5.0 GPH).

The river narrows immediately after Croton but remains very scenic with high hills on either side of the river.  The most spectacular sight was West Point. 

West Point classroom buildings as viewed from the Hudson

When we were on tour at West Point last Saturday, we passed by the buildings in the photo above on the bus, which does not afford the perspective that you get from the river.

We arrived at the Shadow Marina at approximately 4:00 PM.  What had been a perfectly easy trip all of a sudden became very challenging.  Recall the wonderful push we got from the rising tide.  Well that push turned into a 3 MPH current that had a profound impact on docking.  The last 2 minutes, which involved entering the south side of the marina, turning left, putting the current on the beam, and then a hard right turn.  This was not a maneuver for amatures.  The chances of being pushed into the boats on the starboard side was very real.  I was required to use differential engines with significant throttle to make the turns. 

Guided Discovery at the Shadows

Good news.  Shadows) is a nice facility with a first class restaurant on the premises (also valled Shadows).  We had a lovely dinner in the shade on their porch.  The marina derives its name from the fact that it sits to the south and east of the Mid Hudson Bridge.

Mid Hudson Bridge

A late evening walk with Diana and the Furry Kid afforded us a romantic view of the Mid Hudson Bridge lit up at night.  It was spectacular and to a spectacular day. (Unfortunately, the photo does not do it justice.)



 Written by Les.

Croton on Hudson Adventures

On Friday, July 6, we drove south about 10 miles to Nyack, NY on the west side of the Hudson River to visit the home of the famous artist Edward Hopper.

Edward Hopper was an American realist painter and printmaker who achieved fame in the 1920s for his unique renderings of American Life.  The link below contains photos of his works.

http://www.museumsyndicate.com/artist.php?artist=54

Edward Hoppers boyhood home

Saturday we drove approximately 10 miles north to the US Military Academy at West Point, a place we have always wanted to visit.  We took the two hours tour, which gave us a nice overview of the academy and its history.  The tour included the sports facilities, the cemetary, the cadet barracks (photo below), the academic classrooms, Trophy Point and the West Point Museum.

West Point Military Museum - largest military museum in the US

West Point dates back to Revolutionary War.  West Point was chosen for its strategic location on the Hudson to block British use of the river to divide the colonies.  Washington's generals build forts and fortifications including an 1,800 foot chain from the West Point to Constitution Island that effectively blocked British ships from moving north and south.  Thirteen links of the chain have been preseved at Trophy Point along with other weapons captured during the wars in which America has fought.

13 Links of the chain used to block the Hudson River

There is so much history at West Point that it's hard to describe.  Needless to say this place has been integral to the development of our country.  Washington proposed the US Military academy in a letter that was delivered to Congress shortly after his death.

When you view the Cadet Barracks, as seen in the photo above, you see the statue of George Washington at the center right in front of the main barracks door and to the left in front of the library, the largest military library in the US - with one million plus volumes, is the statue of Grorge Patton.  To the right of the barracks is the statue of Douglas MacArthur (whose tomb we visited in Norfolk, VA).  Talk about inspiration.

Cadet Barracks and The Parade

When we visited the Military Cemetary we saw the graves of Colonel Mickey Marcus and his wife.  Marcus, a Class of 1924 graduate, assisted Isreal as a General officer during the 1948 Arab Isreali War after his retirement from the US Army.  We visited many of the Isreali battle sights during our visit several years ago.

Graves of Colonel Mickey Marcus and his wife

Sunday took us to Tarrytown to visit the the railroad baron Jay Gould's Lyndhurst mansion and to Sleepy Hollow to visit Rockefeller's Kykuit mansion.  Both these tours took us back to a time in America of fabulous wealth (20 plus servants in each of the houses - just for starters).

Lyndhurst, the Gould Estate

Lyndhurst dining room

Kykuit was built by John D. Rockefeller and was occupied by his family including Governor and later Vice President Nelson Rockefeller.  It was given to the National Trust circa 1979.  The house is lovely and in many ways modest in relationship to Rockefeller's immence wealth.  (The nansions of Newport, RI were much more elaborate,)

Kykuit, The Rockefeller Estate

The National Trust does not allow photos inside the home.  However, they do allow you to photo the gardens.  What is particulary unique about Kykuit is the value of the art and sculpture including Chineese pocelain dating to the 7th century AD.  This is truly a beautiful museum.  All of the Rockefellers were art collectors.  Nelson, in particular, was a great collector of sculpture and took great pains to place the many sculptures in the most "perfect" locations on the property.

Looking out toward the Hudson

Written by Les.

Now the Hudson

We departed Stamford for Croton on Hudson, a town 44 miles north of NCY in Westchester County on the east side of the Hudson as soon as the waxers completed their work. 

Our route took us west down Long Island Sound to the East River where we went under the Throgs Neck and Whitestone bridges, by LaGaurdia International and through Hell Gate where we took a hard right up the Harlem River, which brought us to the Hudson at around 215th street.  We ran at 1070 RPM, which yields around 9.6 MPH with a neutral current.

Approaching the GW Bridge on the Harlem River

Our timing was fortuitous as we were proceeding west on the tail end of a rising tide.  Speeds averaged 10 MPH along the Sound and built to 14.7 MPH as we approached Hell Gate on the East River.  Speeds dropped slightly on the Harlem as we were at slack tide and then to an average of 8.5 MPH on the Hudson as the tide ebbed.  Overall, including a 20 minute delay at the railroad bridge at the junction of the Harlem and Hudson, we averaged 9.0 MPH and burned 36.6 gallons while covering 60.3 miles.  Not bad.

Railroad bridge at junction of the Harlem & Hudson Rivers

We made an executive decision to take the Harlem River to knock off about 15 miles and the turbulence associated with NY Harbor. 

The Hudson is spectacular and very different from the Western Rivers.  The first thing you notice is the high bluffs especially on the west side between NY City and Croton on Hudson.  The Hudson in his area is wide, deep, relatively debrise free, heavily forrested along with interesting sights along the way.  Below are a few photos:

The Tappanzee Bridge at Tarrytown

High bluffs

Yonkers NY

Sing Sing Prison

We arrived at Halfmoon Bay Marina at 5:15 PM.  Halfmoon Bay is a dockominium marina with approximately 10 transient slips.  Nothing unusual here except for the fact that the condo association has a thing about dogs - they cannot walk on the condo grounds (which is required to get to the parking lot - all 200 feet).  The association requires them to be carried or transported in a cart.  Unbelievable.

View of the Condos at Halfmoon Bay Marina

Guided Discovery in the catbird slip - Great view

After securing the boat, the owner of the marina recommended a market called Yetzinia which was located about a 1/2 mile from the marina.  We walked there and discovered a unique supermarket with a range of prepared foods that Whole Foods would envy.  We had a feast and vowed to eat there for the next fours days.  Yetzinia is very special.  In 4,674 miles of cruising we have seen nothing that compares.  We have landed in a food paradise.

Written by Les.

Solving the Last Maintenance Challenge

Monday morning (July 2) we awoke to a perfect cruising day, sunny with light winds out of the northwest and seas predicted to be less than 1 foot.  Our goal was a 42 mile trip from Branford to Stamford Connecticut.  Final preparation involved returning our rental car, which was accomplished by 10:00 AM. 

The cruise to Stamford took a little over 5 hours.  As we were cruising, I used the ipad to google the local boat waxers and set up appointments with the two that I found.  The route took us fairly close to the Connecticut shore which while not specacular was still quite attractive.

You will recall that the Branford yard wanted to charge us an outrageous $2,300 to wax the hull and topsides to which we said "no thanks."  Actually, we said we would get it "done on the road" and that was part of the purpose of going to Stamford.  The other reason was two free nights of dockage at a Brewer facility to which we were entitled by virtue of storing our boat with them (value approximatly $300).  Brewer's Stamford facility was one of two at the west end of Long Island Sound (the other being Manhasset Bay where we had stayed last year on the trip north).  This was our last opportunity to use our free stays as Brewer as their marinas (some 22) are located throughout New England.

The Brewer Yacht Haven facilty was very nice although located quite a distance (well over a mile) from any shopping area or restaurants (and two plus miles from the downtown area), which I might add was true of all of the marinas in Stamford.  That said, there were three restaurants that we could reach by water (the Crabby Shack and two yacht clubs).

Shortly after arrival, we met with the waxing guys, got two bids, $800 and $1,800 (where was the $1,800 guy coming from?) to wax hull and topsides, polish the isenglass camper windows and detail the helm and cockpit.  I actually liked the young man with the lower bid who also was willing to do it the next day. 

Needless to say, the job got done and it clearly met our expectations but due to the incredibly hot weather (90+ degrees) and a few strategically inconvenient rain showers the job actually took three days and was not finished until 10:00 AM on Thursday.

Side story: Around 5:00 PM on July 4, I was dinging around the harbor with the furry kid when I noticed dark clouds to the northwest.  Arriving back at the boat I turned on satellite weather and saw an isolated cell with a big red center about 4 miles from the harbor.  Five minutes later the storm hit and it was remarkable.  We had sustained winds of around 60 miles per hour for 4 minutes at the tail end of storm.  Then the sun came out.

During our stay, we dingied the harbor, dingied to and ate at the Crabby Shack, a very nice restaurant on the waterfront, dingied to the Stamford Yacht Club (very very ritzy), walked the high rent district (Ocean Drive West) and walked into town (on July 4) where we had brunch at Capriccio, a restuarant on Bedford Street in a nice part of town (a 4 mile plus round trip).

Another benefit of staying in Stamford was fireworks.  Stamford, due to financial reasons, had cancelled theirs and this was just fine with us due to Kodi's fear fireworks, firecrackers, gun shots and thunder.  That was the good news.  The bad news was the "local yokels" who shoot their own illegal "fireworks."  Even here nature intervened with a nasty thunderstorm (although Kodi, as mentioned earlier, doesn't like those either).

Written by Les.

Back in the Saddle Again

Welcome back.  We are cruising again.

On Wednesday, June 27, 2012 Diana, Kodi and the writer (Lester) left  Chicago and drove 900 miles to Branford, Connecticut in our one-way Enterprise rental.  Owing to good weather and my high energy, we drove 10 hours on Wednesday and then another 6+ hours on Thursday arriving at the Brewer Bruce and Johnson Marina at 3:00 PM. 

To appreciate the rest of this story you have to have to have a little background.  Please note that I will go into further detail in the two earlier "place holder" posts.

On October 10, 2011, 1 year and 7 days into our cruise, Diana had an accident that caused us to put our cruise on hold.  The accident involved a collision with a 100 doberman (Wolfie) and Diana's right leg.  Two surgeries (one which was 6 and a half hours in duration), two weeks at Yale New Haven Hospital, three weeks at the Apple Rehab Center in Mystic, CT, three weeks at Jerry (my oldest friend) and Cathy Swerdlick's home in Westerly, RI, four and a half months in Sarasota, FL (December 10 to April 15, 2012) and, finally, Diana had miraculously recovered 98%.  On April 15 we returned to our home in Chicago for a lovely spring and early summer.

On the date of the accident (October 10), while Diana was being moved by ambulance to Yale New Haven Hospital, I moved the boat from Mystic to Branford where it sat in the water until the end of November.

During that time I completely unloaded the boat, placing its contents in 33 boxes that were then put in a R&L Carriers crate for storage.  Concurrently, Guided Discovery was put up for sale (which did not occur).

On or about December 1, Brewer Bruce and Johnson put to boat on the hard, winterized it and shrink wrapped it for its winter OUTDOOR storage.  IMPORTANT: Guide Discovery has alway been stored indoors in a heated wharehouse.  Outdoor was a big change.  Fortunately, it was a mild New England winter.

On Wednesday, Brewer put the boat back in the water and undid all the winterizing along with finishing a very long list of maintenance services to put to the boat back into top mechanical condition.  Notice I underlined the word "mechanical."  The boat was badly in need of cosmetic maintenance in the form of waxing the hull and topsides, detailing the helm and cockpit and, finally, polishing the isenglass camper canvas window panels.

Unfortunately, my friends at Brewer wanted to charge an absolutley outrageous $2,300 plus materials to wax the hull and topsides ONLY.  Brewer would not budge from the $2,300.  I've never paid more than $1,000 for the waxing and complete detailing outlined in the above paragraph.  As I like to say, you can cut a fat hog but first you have to catch it.  I told Brewer thanks but no thanks.  Hence, we were taking possession of a very dirty boat.

After finishing our dinner at the marina's very nice restaurant at 4:30 PM, I took a chance considering the late hour and contracted with the service manager for 2 hours labor to help unload the crate which had been shipped to the marina the previous day.  Luckily, the manager had a young man (Tyler) available and we went to work.  Tyler unloaded the 33 boxes from the crate and helped me put away the heavy stuff.  Tyler finished his part at 6:30 PM.  From 6:30 until 2:00 AM I worked like a mad-man (at least according to Diana - who was clearly less than 100% pleased with my enthusiasm for getting in done "right now").  Diana went to the supermarket and completely resupplied the boat.

Friday turned into fix the "dingy" day.  The dingy (a Caribe DL11 with a 30 HP Tohatsu - total rig 800 pounds) had lots of problems.  Problem one was frozen steering (a big problem), problem two was a disconnected electrical system (no bilge pump or running lights) and problem three was a dingy cover that was a mess (i.e., the bungee cord had failed, six out of 14 clips that hold it to the dingy rub rail were missing and there was an area that was ready to rip due to massive sun damage).

Fortunatly, I was able to get the yard to address the steering problem, which was amazing due to the short notice.  They really stepped up to the plate - although they were not ashamed to charge a premium for there efforts.  The repair process involved moving the boat to their service dock and lifting the dingy off the swim platform with a crane.  Then moving the dingy to the shop where they removed the engine and unfroze
the steering mechanism.  Total cost $625.

While this was going on, I contracted Robert Carlson, a local canvas guy who after a little begging agreed to help me address the problems with the dingy cover.  It turned out that I did most of the work.  The biggest challenge was repacing the plastic clips that secure the canvas to the dingy's rub rail. Note: The cover is mega important.  Here why.  The swim platform is rated to carry 800 pounds, which is exactly the weight of the fully loaded dingy.  Bottom line.  The dingy must be covered as spray from running or rain water (water weighs 8 pounds per gallon) could easily exceed the weight limit, which, as a I said earlier is at the MAX.

You would think that 6 plastic clips would be easy to replace.  Think again.  Caribe is terrible at supplying replacement parts.  West Marine, a Caribe dealer, does not carry repacement parts.  Fortunately, the West Marine guy I worked with a sence of theit inventory and was able to recommmend an reasonable alternative.  Unfortunately, the Branford store only had two of the six I needed.  They located the other four at their Old Saybrook store, 45 minutes north.  So off I went with Diana and Kodi.  Finally, a 4:00 PM on Friday I had all the parts to repair the securing mechanism.  Robert waited for me at his shop and helped me re-rig the bungeee cord and clips (which he had to trim with a grinder) along with sewing in repair patches in the weak areas.  By 5:30 PM I had a functioning dingy cover.  Total cost: $85 to Robert (a deal) and $60 to West Marine for bungee and clips.  Note: I plan to send the cover to Robert when the boat goes into winter storage in Chicago.

My last official act on Friday was washing the dingy and covering it up, which I finally finished at 8:30 PM.

Saturday was, finally, a day for relaxation.  Diana and I were joined in the early afternoon by Lesley, my daughter, and her lttle black shitzu Kiwi.  Lesley stayed over Saturday night and accompanied us on a two hour Sunday "shakedown" cruise to New Haven harbor. Good news: The boat was running perfectly and we all had a good time.