Rain!

Yesterday it rained so much but it stopped for most of the afternoon,
so we motored on to try to make up for lost time. We made it 20 miles!
Our longest day yet and we didn`t move at all in the morning. We made
it to the long and narrow back channel of Middle Island, just before
St. Mary`s WV.
At the opening there were lots of docks and camps, but then we hit the
shallow part that no other boat dared enter. Passing through for us
was even a bit difficult.Once we were halfway through the narrow
channel, coming up on Middle Island Creek, it started pouring again!
We ducked into the creek and under a bridge, where we spent the night.
It`s pretty uninhabited back here. Only the sounds from cars on the
highway bridge above us. I like it back here.

New Martinsville

New Martinsville was a blast. Dom and Jackie of Scream N Dogs are the
best. Go there and eat a West Virginia Hot Dog. Seriously. They let us
hang around and gave us food because we must have looked hungry. Dom
took us out in his beautiful stern wheeler. He even pulled us out of
the mud when we got beached. The people of New Martinsville were so
kind to us. It was weird staying in one place for three days though,
since we usually move on so fast.
We got to see Faith`s family though, which was great. The only thing
that went wrong in New Martinsville was a run in with a silly city cop
that was trying to police the waterways. Apparently, cops are aloud to
make up laws whenever they want. He was initially called because of a
complaint from Dom and Jackie`s neighbor, we think. Evidently, we
still live in a culture where people can`t just talk to people to work
out their differences. They have to call the cops. We forget things
like that when on the river because they don`t exist there. We made it
out of that town and met a guy named Tim on the river. He was going
our way and towed us to his camp. Cool guy. We are close to
Sistersville, WV and enjoying a slow morning, eating stew that Faith`s
grandmother brought for us. More updates soon friends. Thanks for
viewing.

Close call, story of the Tug.

Story of the Tug.

Like every other day, we were cruising down the river at the crushing speed of 2mph. The sun was shining. There was a ferocious headwind, as usual. We could've cut loose and gone to the Atlantic quicker. I swore if we put up the sail we'd end up in New Jersey in 10 days.

I was on watch on the wheely chair, chicken on my shoulder, Colin at the till, when Colin try's yelling over  the motor:

"Faith, askldjlkjkj"

 "WHAT?"

"Faith akldjoijd TUG!"

"WHAT?"

I look over and see a tug full speed at our raft. "Colin, PORT, PORT!" We centimeter to the port. I'm thinking about the canoe, chickens, and the sunken Duck boat on the Delaware.

From the bow I'm yelling " DO YOU NEED TO GET TO THIS SHORE"

They yell back and hit the breaks; "WE JUST WANTED TO CHECK YINZ OUT!"

thanks guys, take a good look.

 "WHERE YINZ GOIN?

"WE'RE RAFTING TO CUBA"

She cleans up great!

(The chickens are under the table) teak oil works wonders on plywood

true professionals.

Professional business cards, first take. Fresh off the styrofoam press. We had to get the truth out. 

Thanks Barker for bringing back to Buena Vista Coffee shop. Miss Yinz in da burgh! 

-f

We got a Vorrasi back!

Me and little hotwings; she's off for a hop on the shore.

Too tall for  this bridge, no sunfish creek for us, but somehow Vorrasi, Barker, and Ed maneged to find us. Vorrasi just couldn't stay away from the raft. We knew it. Of course the moment he came back we got a head wind. Its all his fault. 

 

Ed and Colin swimming in the channel. Man shower.

Thanks for the pictures Barker and for coming to see us!

New Martinsville at last!!!

 HUGE WAKE AND HEAD WIND, and we're still smiling!

Hotwings and Leslie found some crikets. The cutest little river fowl you'll ever see. eggs for breakfast.

They went for a long hop this morning on the shore, scaring away all the cats and digging a hole .Hotwings is the cuddle chicken and leslie is a squaker. The noisest little bird at six in the morning. Keeps us moving! bok bok bakaaah

-faith

PS: thanks for the pictures Amy and the Wetzel Chronicle!

New Martinsville is pretty cool so far. We found some lovely people with a hot dog stand. We like hanging out there. Someone came by and interviewed us from the newspaper. By the way, here is a link to the Wheeling article is you haven't seen that yet: http://www.news-register.net/page/content.detail/id/557512/Voyagers-Travel-Ohio-River-Aboard-Cobbled-Together-Boat.html. Last night we had a lot of fun at the Spieler's Club in Proctor, WV. We love those people and will never forget them. Thanks for the drinks friends.

-colin

PS: oh and thanks to the New Martinsville Public Library. We love your computers and your air conditioning :)