Travels of Mark and Pat: Saturday

Very windy, hot and humid! We walked to the Shirt Factory Café for breakfast - this is such a quaint place and fun to read the history about all these Newell shirts which past presidents have worn and other famous folks.

We frequently see "Avocado Toast" on menus but never tried it.....so, today that's what I had and it was delicious.

Avocado Toast

On our way at 9 and only traveled 5 miles with 2 lift bridges and at least 5 others.

We are in Middleport and coming in to tie up along the wall ($10 donation), the wind and current were very strong. Mark was at the helm (we take turns and when it's calm, I bring us in, but today...I was more than happy to let him do it.) Trying to hold onto the docking pole and a line to wrap around the cleat...………...it wasn't pretty. Docking pole went into the water (thankfully they float) and took several attempts to lasso that cleat, but finally got it. Not my best moment!

Once settled, we got the AC on and took a very quick walk around the 1 block here that is town and next to Catrina. Our main focus today is LAUNDRY and by golly, we hit the jackpot as there are very few businesses/shops on Main Street, but the back entrance to the Washboard Laundromat is just steps from Catrina and has a ramp making it easy to pull our laundry cart! Just about every little village has laundry facilities but they are never close to where we are. So....since we'll never be any closer than this, we decided to wash all our canvas, too, in the large machines - 2 bimini covers and dinghy cover!

5 loads of clothes and 3 loads of canvas later and tah dah....we are happy and clean boaters!

Walked to Alternative Grounds Caffe for some ice cream - Mark had a chocolate milk shake and I had a cup of peanut butter chip. Some folks came out of Pony's Irish Pub and said they had just had the most delicious chicken tenders.....she was from Cleveland and never had anything so good. So...we got an order of 4 to go and along with bleu cheese for dipping - they were very good indeed!

Ryan is in Traverse City, Michigan this weekend watching the Blue Angels. We have great memories from 2 years ago enjoying the show (and Ryan) with family and friends.

Anne is with Liam at his tournament in Portage, IN and Auntie Karen (Mark's youngest sister) and Connor are in Chatham, IL for his baseball games.....sure thinking of them in this heat! Auntie said it "feels" like 113...……...oh dear! Feels like 101 here....

As we were walking to dinner we ran into Tab and Maureen from Long Island who are docked 2 boats behind us. They were just finishing their laundry and told us about a BBQ place (not many choices for dinner here in Middleport.) It was 6/10 of a mile and a hot walk but it is windy, so....glad to be in the AC and enjoyed visiting and eating our ribs, chicken and sides - all very good.

We were the only customers at Baby Ribs (featuring the late Mrs. Ribs), our meals were served in to-go containers and corn bread was to be part of the meal, but Brigade said she had eaten it all!!! A unique place with a food truck as their main business! Glad we made this memory and enjoyed our visit with Tab and Maureen.