Day 90...Upper Brewers Lock

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 27, 2012

     We had met the Lockmaster Dave and his assistant Jamie the day before.  We went up to the Lock House to check out their brochures.  Gary had watched them lock through several vessels.  They worked hard all day long.  I learned to walk on the tops of the gates to get from one side of the lock to the other.  I am very careful since the gates are pretty high.

     When we went up to the lock to talk to them on Tuesday, we met a man in an orange shirt.  We found out later that he and his wife owned the little orange houseboat behind us.   We got up and decided to stay another day. Gary worked on the broken mast.  I cooked breakfast.  We walked around. Remember about the word portage.  Well here is the sign.

The lock was so peaceful.  There was nothing there but some very nice people.

     Over the next few days we got to know the couple on THE GOOD SHIP LOLLIPOP. They were so much fun to talk to.  We talked to them for over an hour sitting on the stern of our boat and at least another hour later that day sitting at the picnic tables.  Let me tell you about Dick and Barbara.

     Dick and Barbara are British.  They are from Kingston and travel the Rideau Canal frequently.  They have been married for 59 years and have two sons and 6 grandkids.  One of their granddaughters has a scholarship to play ice hockey at Minnesota University.  Barbara is 78 years old.  Dick said he remembers things that happened in 1940 and when Hitler came to power.  I didn’t ask how old he was.  They both said that they remember planes in dogfights over the English Channel.  Boy, talk about living history.  They were interested in the Bahamas so we talked about where we had been.  We got on the subject of the carp up here and the lion fish in the Bahamas.  They were so easy to talk to.  Dick was a little hard of hearing like Gary so Barbara and I had to talk louder sometimes.  As for the name of the boat, Dick says that people usually assume that the grandkids named the boat, but he said he influenced their decision.  He’s always like the Shirley Temple movie so that’s how the boat got its name.