Decades

Decades pass and people ebb in and out of our life; parents, siblings, grandparents, children, friends, school mates, colleagues, neighbors, son-in-laws, etc.


They celebrate the good times with us and support us in times of trial.

So it was great to gather wives, daughters, son-in-law, brother-in-law, friends and even a grandson at the Bender Lake House this weekend, to celebrate Memorial Day and Jeff's 60th birthday.



The water was still a bit chilly, but some folks swam.













Some people dressed funny!















Some people went boating; great hot sunny days for motor boating but alas...no wind for the sailors.













Henry has a new favorite word, "Jet Ski."













Some people fished and Henry earned his SML shirt for catching (sort of) his first fish from the Bender dock.


The food was grand and the drink plentiful. Jenny, I really appreciate all the time and effort you commit to making all of us feel welcome and making sure our visits are exquisite!


Jeff, your first six decades brought much success and many blessings. I wish you the best for many more years of health, happy times and exciting adventures!

Love,
Tom

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TOF Brothers Weekly Ride sans David

Figure eight training ride Coffee to Perrowville to Cottontown to Trent's Ferry; 34 miles. Good training ride for getting used to heat. It was 88 degrees and I felt every degree! Can you believe for the second ride in a row, there was a tractor trailer blocking Coffee Road? What is the probability of that happening?

Tom



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Pie Dreaming

If you wake up dreaming of pies, it's time to mount your horse, get on your bike or even get in your car and head to Elon, VA. Our preferred mode of transportation on this day was bicycle so Gary, Laurie, Gretchen and I set out this morning to visit the Pie Lady!


An hour and a half ride brought us to Woodruff's store with Angie (aka the Pie Lady) cooking for her usual lunch crowd. The store is a piece of Americana and the entire family is involved. Angie's sister and husband help with baking, cooking and waiting on customers. Angie's mom who ran the store for decades can always be found at her table chatting with customers; however, she did give up baking last summer...said it was just to hot to make fried pies.


Summer burger specials, chicken and potato salad along with fried apple pies made a mighty tasty lunch. The Sykora's friend Leah joined us at our table and took our picture for the wall of infamy! We'll look forward to seeing it on the board on our next visit. My those pies were good!!







Fueled and rested, we headed back to Lynchburg with a thunder storm circling around us always putting a wind to our faces....but nary a drop of rain.


Photo for the wall!

Tom

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Sea Trails for Droplet

The day to launch Droplet, our Seahopper folding dingy make in Sommerset, England, finally arrived this weekend!



Droplet was looking quite spiffy in her new varnish! Jenny and Jeff joined us for the day helping to put Droplet through her paces.





Our initial impression is Droplet is easy to launch, very stable, rows well and two adults can travel easily in her. The only issue was a little water seeping in around the centerboard trunk which we'll hopefully rectify this week.


SunShower was eager to take her little sister for a tow so we headed out for trials under power and sail. Droplet towed well, tracking directly behind SunShower and handling large motorboat wakes with ease. Her light weight did not have any noticeable effect on SunShower's speed under power or sail.


Back at the Bender lake house, Jeff and I took turns honing our rowing skills. I felt like I was punting on the Thames! Jeff declared afer his turn that he was a changed man and was going to paddle his kayak a lot more fishing for stripers off the bank!

We were really pleased with how Droplet handled under oar and tow. She seems to be what we expected and will allow us to have a tender for SunShower that is feasible to transport to the Chesapeake Bay and tow on our sailing adventures.
Tom

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Hills

Gretchen wanted hills so up Eagle Eyrie we pedaled. Fine ride around to the water plant and Trent's Ferry; 20 miles with plenty of hills.


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TOF Brothers Weekly Ride

Beautiful day to to ride a bike; cool, blue sky and no showers! The course was touted as flat and it was as flat as possible in central Virginia. Rolling countryside with expansive views of farmland and woodland dotted with beautiful small churches. My body protested vociferously the first 13 miles but finally decided to get into it. Saw the first totem pole in Virginia on a farm today; makes me wonder why? What is the owner's connection?
Ate lunch on the porch of a church and then headed to the hamlet of Sherwill where we posed for a photo at the old general store on the corner. I particularly liked it because it had Tim Caine and Mark Warner campaign stickers in the window! :)




Tom
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Location:Rustburg 40 miles Leader:David

Chesapeake Bay 2011

Well after looking at the weather forecast, we decided not to sail next week so I'm bringing SunShower home. Gretchen and I will plan to return to the Bay again in June.



I took this picture of the tornado damage in Deltaville. It was a one block wide path of destruction and this church was dead center. Everything on each side was untouched! Sometimes you are lucky and sometimes not so much!
Tom
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Chesapeake Bay 2011

Another fine day of sailing today. This has been the best trip I've had to the Bay in terms of wind and weather. Went from Urbana to Deltaville with the wind blowing directly up the river...alas I was going down. So progress was slow tacking one way and then the other...but it was so nice I didn't want to start the motor. It's about a 13nm trip so it was a long day and I motored maybe 1/3 of the way!




Now the weather for next week, not like this week. It is predicted to rain here Sunday through Thursday and Gretchen and I don't want to spend 5 days on a small boat in the rain. So we just chatted about our options. I'll let you know.
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Chesapeake Bay 2011

Had a nice, quiet, easy sail out of the Corrotoman and up the Rappahannock to Urbanna; 8-10 knot breeze with less than one foot waves about 7 nm. Got a transient slip at the Town Marina.
Urbanna is a quaint well kept town with a lot of history.



Urbanna is one of four remaining towns out of the 19 ordered to be built in 1680 by the House of Burgesses! It was a tobacco shipping center and large hogsheads (barrels) of tobacco were rolled down the hill from the John Mitchell store (on hill to right in picture) to waiting ships going to England.





There were scores of bicyclists here today; police officers riding 250 miles from Virginia to DC in honor of fallen comrades. Neat sight!

Marshall's Drug Store here has a counter like Pierson's that still serves breakfast and lunch. How can I resist in the morning?

Tom
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Chesapeake Bay 2011

I tried the Indian chic pea dish KT got me for supper. It was so hot David Helms would have loved it! I adopted a ritual; take a few bites then eat a strawberry, a pretzel, and take a sip of wine to cut the heat! It tasted very good with some canned chicken mixed in but it was spicy!
Tom


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Chesapeake Bay 2011

What a fantastic sailing day! Motored out of the marina at Windmill Point heading north to the Potomac. After rounding the point, I got the sails up and started to beat northward. A dark patch of water appeared on the horizon bearing a 12 knot breeze out of the NE. And since it was coming all the way from the Eastern Shore, it also brought 2-3 foot waves! I sailed north for an hour but didn't make the headway needed to get near the Potomac. So I turned around and had an exhilarating broad reach south to the Windmill Point spider and then up the Rappahannock. And here is proof I was strapped in Gretchen. ;)




The rest of the afternoon I sailed 11nm on a reach up the Rappahannock to the Corrotoman River on north shore. Total distance today was between 15-16nm.

I'm anchored with two other sailboats behind Sandy Point on the eastern branch near Bells Creek.





The great thing about anchoring out is the sounds of nature; birds singing and tweeting, fish jumping, geese honking, ducks really getting after each other (at least that is what it sounds like).

Tom
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Chesapeake Bay 2011

Morning brought calm winds and light showers. Sailed under power down the Piankatank to Sting Ray Point. A 10 knot wind filled in from the north and had a great sail (Gretchen would have loved to be at the helm) this afternoon on the lower Rappahannock. Staying tonight at Windmill Point Marina. It's a great location with nice docks but all other facilities are temporary. It is in bank receivership. The beautiful club house/restaurant/office (picture below) is unusable; allegedly because a plumber flooded the brand new facility when he turned on the water! Hopefully, someone will buy the property; it is a great spot for a marina. There is a Tiki Bar here so I don't have to eat canned beans for dinner. Life is good!



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Chesapeake Bay 2011

Sitting at anchor behind Berkley Island on the Piankatank River, it's cocktail hour! The day started making new arrangements to leave the car and trailer at Dozier's Regatta Point Marina (It's Gretchen's and my favorite in Deltaville). I also had my first phone conversation with grandson, Henry! SunShower got underway about 10:30a.m. heading south toward Mobjack Bay. Light winds called for a change in plans about 1:00p.m. and we headed up the Piankatank River! The wind filled and it was a fantastic run all the way up river to the bridge (7nm) on a sunny, cool day!



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Location:Dutton Rd,Dutton,United States

Chesapeake Bay 2011

Arriving at my doorstep in 2006, the National Geographic special publication, Chesapeake, got me thinking of my days sailing on the Bay with my friend Garland in our twenties. It also hatched a plan to buy a stable, trailerable sailboat we could use to sail on the Bay once again...and we did...a Compac Suncat we named SunShower. SunShower began her fifth trip to the Chesapeake today, not without some travail. The plan was to put in at Horn Harbor Marina but when we arrived there at 3:45p.m., no one was around. A quick check of the launch ramp revealed it was in horrible shape and to shallow for SunShower. A quick call to Norview Marina in Deltaville got a slip for the night and a ramp that worked. So the trip begins here tomorrow, about a day's sail north of where I planned to start.
Now I just need to figure out where to sail tomorrow!

Tom
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