Thursday, May 29, 2008

Rock Hall to Georgetown

Tuesday, May 27th, we left our friends, the Lovettes, and Annapolis for a short run (16 miles) over to the "other side"--the Eastern Shore--to the small town of Rock Hall. We had hoped for a pretty day and an easy ride, and we got both--outrunning a thunderstorm in Annapolis.

Rock Hall is a small and pretty fishing and crabbing town. The town got its' name long ago from local fishermen. Upon returning to port, the rockfish fishermen would hear, "You've made a good rock haul!" The name stuck. Also, a fishing boat came in beside us laden with these strange looking empty traps--I've never seen anything like them before. Turns out, they were eel traps--and the fisherman said they had had a good season. Great--one of my favorite sushi dishes is eel! The season is over now, and they were unloading the traps from the boat--hundreds of them. With such a pretty setting, we just stayed near the boat the rest of the afternoon and relaxed--and watched the sunset off the bow--so pretty.

Wednesday morning, we got the bikes off the flybridge and took off for town. We were able to peek inside The Waterman's Museum, a small one room schoolhouse type building that told the history and hard work of the town's founders. A lot of the shops were closed (it being Wednesday), but we were able to find a cute little sandwich/coffee shop and sat outside and had lunch. The local Methodist church was right across the street, and at 12 noon sharp, the chiming began--and after that, we were treated to 3 good old songs. We thought it was really special--we were the only ones outside enjoying the music! After lunch, we went to the local grocery store, loaded the bikes down, and headed back to the boat.

Not long after getting back to the boat, we got a wonderful surprise. A friends of friends story. Seeing our blue hull, our North Carolina flag, our AGLCA burgee, plus the bicycles and orange balls, they realized we must be the "Loopers" Rosabel Gherini had told them about! They had done the Loop 3 years ago, and knew what to look for. Robbin and Roger Seal, from Punta Gorda, Florida, are spending the summer up on the Chesapeake at her great uncle Doug Price's dock. They invited us over to their boat, "Sea Robbin", for cocktails and dinner--and we had a wonderful evening with our new friends. We both have so much in common--they have 2 grown and married daughters and 4 grandchildren-- two of the grand girls are even named Katie & Taylor--same ages too! I'm sure we exhausted them with still-many-more questions about our journey. We have wanted to join MTOA--Motor Trawler Owners of America--and Roger provided the opportunity for us to join. We can't wait for our new burgee to arrive! Thanks to Robbin, Roger, Doug, and Rosabel for making this fabulous evening possible!!!

Today is Thursday May 29th. We left this morning for just a short ride (4 hours) still up the "east side" to Georgetown on the Sassafrass River, where Louis has hunted geese for 12 years. We will eat tonight at the Kitty Knight House (one of Louis's favorite places!) and head tomorrow for Chesapeake City--the top of the Chesapeake Bay and the beginning of the C & D Canal.

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