Aquaholic: 6/30/2016 Thursday

Today was uneventful but VERY relaxing. I started the morning in my usual early riser fashion at 5am. I thought I'd take the time to finally throw in a fishing line since we were only a few mikes from the Pa. Border and any fishing I do after this will be on the low since I only have an Oh license. I didn't buy any bait, so on went the hot dogs onto the hook......the fish were biting well and were soon on the hook also :-)

When my princess awoke from her slumber we spent a couple hours on boat cleaning. Renee went on a rampage with a bottle of scrubbing bubbles and a scrubby sponge and now has our head looking and smelling like one you might find in a five star (anchor in our case) marina! I spent time filling the water tank, and gave the grill a good cleaning. Prior to shoving off for the day we made some toast and eggs for breakfast and went around to chat with a few of the Holiday Yacht Club members who were friendly and great hosts. One couple even offered us the use of their brand new truck to go up into town for supplies if we needed it. We did not, but sure appreciated the offer. Boaters are some friendly folk.....I don't care what you say ;-)

We only traveled about 20 miles and navigated one lock (Montgomery Lock and Dam) today. This was our first experience in one of the Ohio River locks that don't have the floating ballards to tie to. So, we got out our 100 ft ropes, and up to the lockmaster they went. Renee learned a trick from one of the folks at Holiday Yacht Club that proved to be very helpful and effective; we attached the bow line to the side of the boat opposite the lock wall and then the rope went up to the lockmaster and back down to us. This allows for much better control of the boat while riding up.

Just a few miles upriver from the lock we came to the Beaver River. We had read and heard some really good things about the river, its town, and the restaraunts/facilities. After finding a good transient dock setup by talking to a couple folks, we stayed out in the river for a couple of hours and broke out our net rafts......float and relax! We then docked, got showers (really nice and clean facilities again) and headed up to the Dockside Bar and Grille for dinner. We stuffed our bellies till we could hardly walk with chicken parmesian and blackened shrimp tortollini. It was delish!

As I sit on the aft deck with a cup of coffee writing this, an OLD houseboat just pulled up in front of us. The owner says he got it for $2000 this Spring along with a dock he bought and that they just ressurected it and launched it for the first time today. He says he is putting the name on her tomorrow......"The Dirty Oar" hahaha...classy ;-)

Another great day on the water! just 25 miles and two locks to Pittsburgh tomorrow.