Some of This But Not Much of That

Two graduations down, another 2 to go then Yogi and I will be off to Belgium.  I am getting excited.  It's not that I don't love my family, I just hate their weather.  It snowed all day yesterday and this is what we woke to this morning.  I know it's Tahoe and I know it snows lots here but come on, it is May 29th.

Meanwhile, this is what Dwight is experiencing in Liege.  T'ain't fair.

 

He even bought some flowers so our boat wouldn't look so forlorn.

 You can see from the picture what a big city Liege really is.  By the time we are ready to move the boat, I am sure that Dwight will have had his fill of crowds and noise and bustle. He will be anxious for a little countryside peace and quiet.  So will Yogi so will I, but first we have to get there.

I am apprehensive about our journey.  We are following Dwight's itinerary, almost.  We fly out of Reno, change planes in Denver, fly to Boston, overnight there then the next day fly to Rekjavik, change to the plane flying into Brussels finally meeting Dwight at 6 a.m. then take the train to the boat.  My poor Yogi-dog--although I am not certain which one of us will be the worse for wear; the 4 year old dog or the septugenarian woman.  

Because it would be so much easier and less expensive to stay home, I often wonder just why we enjoy this boating life.  We struggle with the expense of owning and maintaining a boat; we struggle with the logistics of getting from here to there; day-to-day living in a foreign country can be hard, especially in the French speaking part of Belgium where, just like in France, everyone speaks English but refuses to, so we struggle to communicate in another language.  We have to learn to navigate not just new canals but new cities, stretch, stretch, stretching ourselves, mentally and physically, all the time.  We are not sure whether all this is keeping us young or just making us tired.  Nevertheless, it is what we do.

Waking to the birds' morning songs while tied to the bank of a quiet canal; buying our daily baguette and crispy warm croissants from the local boulangerie; serendipitous meetings with old cruising friends or sharing a glass of wine with new cruising buddies satisfies us, it expands our world and warms the cockles of our hearts.  We are better people because of it.....albeit with emptier pockets.  Ehhh, you can't have everything.

Great Scenery

Dwight took a picture today that is way too good not to post right away.

What to do in Liege, Belgium on a sunny afternoon.  Hope Dwight stayed to listen for a bit.

More Scenery

One of 4 very large locks getting from Holland to Belgium

 

BIG lock gates closing on our little boat--watch your fingers, Dwight

Your neighbors in the locks are intimidating, too

A large barge

Echo coming out of that lock while another barge goes in

After all that work, dinner is served (avec vin)

 

 

 

Liege, Belgium

The boat and Dwight are where they should be, hooray.

It took a week for Dwight and his two helpers to get from Alkmaar, Netherlands to Liege, Belgium, only because of a couple of 12 hour days.  If it had been just Dwight & Fran, the trip would have taken 2 weeks because we only do 5 hour days at most.  So we thank Peter and Paul for their help.

Peter and Paul in Gouda

 We are delighted to be out of the Netherlands and wish other cruisers luck with their dealings in good old Holland.  We'd always heard that, when it came to boats, you could get things done right in Holland.  Maybe so, but you also pay a premium for it.  We have never been so overcharged. 

During our cruising years through Mexico and Central America, in our 3 seasons cruising around France and time spent in Belgium, we were always treated fairly, even with the major work done on our sailboat, We Three and the engine re-build on our canal boat, Chapter Three.  We were not treated the same way in Holland.  Thank goodness we do not have to go back. 

Five years ago we docked our canal boat, Chapter Three, at the Liege marina and the other day when Dwight went into the office, the port captain remembered that Dwight had been there before and even recalled our boat's name.  Wow, how did he do that?  What did we do to make ourselves so memorable...something stupid or bright?  I don't think I want to know.

Dwight is now settled in Liege waiting for Yogi-dog and I, but we have 3 more graduations to go.

Our double major graduate from the University of Nevada-Reno

Scenery

Echo ready to leave Alkmaar but I wish Dwight would have removed the blue tarp from the forward hatch before the picture was taken (nag, nag, nag).  That's our friend Peter sitting on the upper deck.

  

The new prop for the bow thruster, easy turns to port and starboard are possible again.  It is amazing just what you can squeeze into a corner of your suitcase--with the proper motivation.

No more wrong name, Orca was painted out.  Now to get the real name "Echooooo" on it.

 

The canal going into (or out of) Alkmaar

Our bathroom fold-down sink bought for 5 pounds on ebay, U.K., stored for months and months by the cousin of a friend, then transported by car from England to Holland by the wonderful crew of Notrammah. It takes an international community to install a sink in a boat's bathroom!  Multiple thank-yous to everyone involved, we couldn't have done it without you all.