Road Trip

All cruisers need to get off the boat and take a road trip once in a while.
We decided to do ours early in the game when we still have our own car to drive. We had a number of items to be delivered to family in Alberta so we loaded up the red '94 Escort station wagon that we had purchased when our son was in University and headed west. Leaving Toronto on July 9 we traveled through Ontario, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, Wyoming and Montana and then crossed the border back into Canada at Coutts, Alberta on July 13.

Here are some highlights from the trip:

Chicago Skyline - As we hit Chicago at rush hour
we had two hours to enjoy the view from the I-90.








The Corn Palace - Located in
Mitchell, South Dakota this structure
has existed in various formats as a
tribute to one of the
main industries in the area. The
murals are re-done each year and are made from different colored corn cobs. You can't miss the place - there must be 100 billboards for it on the I-90 from Chicago on.


Wall Drug - The billboards for this place outnumbered the ones for the Corn Palace. Located in the town of Wall on the edge of the badlands of South Dakota it is a rambling collection of western themed shops, restaurants, kitchy displays and much more, all under one roof.




Mt. Rushmore - As this well known national monument is only a few miles off the Interstate and the rain clouds had cleared away we made a short side trip to this amazing attraction. Very impressive!









Amazing Scenery - Every state and province we drove through had amazing landscapes.

IYC Weekend - July 3 to 5

We were glad to finally get away from our dock (yes, farther than the pumpout) and take a break from working on the boat. We had a nice sail from LSYC to IYC on the Toronto Islands on July 3 where we spent 2 days with freinds on their boats Sin Cera and Chi Chi Maru.

We took the IYC tender to downtown Toronto and walked to the St. Lawrence Market. I needed to stock up on my favorite pot scrubbers and the little housewares booth in the St. Lawrence Market is the only place I have seen them sold. They are small rectangles (about 4" x 6") of colourful terry towelling coated with something that makes them hard and scratchy. They work great on everything from BBQ grills to non stick cookware. A must for the galley!

The grand finale of the season's fireworks displays happened on Saturda, July 4, in honor of our neighbours to the soouth. We loaded the trhee dinghies and went across the beach on the west side of Hanlon's Point. From there we had a great view of the fireworks as they were set off in front of Ontario Place. It has become a tradition for the kids to gather scraps of wood on the beach and build a bonfire.

On the way home Sunday we picked up a passenger from Harbourfront for the sail back to LSYC.

The Condo

Ryan claims to not be a fan of boating but when you walk into the condo we just took possession of the accent colors he has chosen are red to portside and green to starboard! Hard to believe that it has taken two long days to paint less than 500 square feet.

We were rewarded by a wonderful dinner provide by the van Zon family when we got back to the club and this beautiful sunset to accompany our after dinner drinks on board Polar Pacer.

Living at LSYC

Lakeshore Yacht Club has been home for 18 days now. Weekends are sometimes lively but during the week when most people are working it is very quiet. We have to remind ourselves that we are living in a big city. We are still very busy doing work on the boat. I am sewing a cockpit enclosure using sunbrella and heavy marine grade vinyl. There is a lot of trial and error and progress is slow. The good news is that I can spread out my sewing equipment and supplies in the club house to work.




This is some of the wildlife that we are sharing the harbour with. They swim over to the boat to see if we will share our breakfast with them but people food does not make good duckling food so we decline. Unfortunately there are too many people around who feed them and they do not learn to fend for themselves very effectively.
There is also a family of swans living in the harbour but we do not see them too often. Lots of Canada Geese too but no babies. Tom was up the mast doing some work on the anchor light and took the shot of the school of carp.

We are trying to be self sufficient on the boat and not rely on the club facilities for day to day life.
The three solar panels are now operational and have been quite reliable for providing electricity to run the refrigeration and lights. We are getting a surprising amount of power even on cloudy days.

Each day we get a little closer to untying from the dock!

Retirement

I'm not usually one to read horoscopes but these seemed appropriate. We have now both finished our paying jobs and are trying to get ourselves organized around some kind of a schedule to make sure we get everything done before we run out of time. It has only been two days but I'm already having trouble remembering what day of the week it is. Many thanks to everyone for their congratulatory expressions and words of wisdom to send us on our way. A special thank you to Alice for organizing a pub night; Wayne and his team for the lunch at Canyon Creek; Ruby, Cecilia, Maureen and Helen for their special gifts and last but not least, Tony and the BUSGR team for the cake and dinner at Ruth's Chris.

We have stepped into retirement with both feet and are already in a mild state of shock. You work all your life to get to this point and then you're there. We have lots to do before we can leave and now we have the time to do it. I guess we'll just approach it like a job and get it done.

Yes that is a SOLD sign on the front lawn. It went up about 6 weeks ago. It was not on the market long before we got an offer that we accepted. We are really on our way now!

Only a few days left to work before retirement kicks in. We will probably be too busy for the first while to really notice. The 'To Do' list is still pretty long.

Launch is on Friday and there are still a few things that need to be done before Polar Pacer goes back in the water. It will be some time before she comes out again. The third coat of bottom paint went on yesterday and the last of the thru-hulls were installed. Today the mast steps were added. The new Yanmar engine has been installed and was up and running last weekend. Tom. has the week off to finish up anything elses that needs to be done before the boat is in the water.

The next major project will be to dispose of any possessions that we are not going to take on the boat with us or will not fit into a storage unit that is approximately 3ft, x 5ft x 7ft. That is going to take some doing.

About the Boat

Polar Pacer is a 37 foot Prout Snowgoose Catamaran built in Canvey Island, England in 1985. She was brought to the Toronto Boat Show the same year and sold to her first owner, a member of a running group who had gone to the Arctic to run around the Pole - hence the name.

In December 2005 we purchased Polar Pacer from another member at Lakeshore Yacht Club in Toronto, Canada. Gerry was an elderly gentleman and for medical reasons had made a reluctant decision to part with her after almost 20 years. Three years later she is still referred to as 'Gerry's Boat' by many sailors on Lake Ontario which really annoys Tom after all the work he has done to refurbish her. This past September a complete stranger came up to Tom and returned the key to 'Gerry's boat' that he had in his possession for may years since he used to sail on it.