176.July 9

Plymouth, Mass

It's 2:15 PM, Wednesday. We are sitting on the rocks protecting the land from Cape Cod Canal. We are waiting for The Tall Ships to come through tall ships from Russia and maybe some from other nations like Germany, Japan, Italy and so on. But the big ones are the Russian., they are the most interesting. I guess five of 8 have gone through this morning. But high tide comes at 5 PM and the rest will be coming through this canal from 3 to 5 PM. That is why we are here. They were preparing for them in Boston when we were there. T-shirts were on sale all over. But until we got to this rocky shore along the canal, we did not know anything. We have been getting lucky hitting all the big events all over. It was Salem's 350 anniversary and in Montreal was the Jazz festival. Ottawa was celebrating something too, I can't remember.

We stopped in Plymouth on my account. I walked to the Plymouth Museum, the oldest in the country. Then I went to the Plymouth Historical Society and looked at William Bradford's History. this library was set up for descendants of Gov. William Bradford. I got info on joining. I'm wearing my cut-off jeans. Otherwise, the sun is baking me. It feels really good with the strong winds blowing on me from the water.

My legs have not recovered form Canada's mosquitoes and black flies. I think it was mostly mosquitoes though, because they are what I saw the most of. We have 750 ml Coke bottles of Ice Tea in them here on the beach. Lars bought the Coke in Canada and drank it, but we still have the bottles.

Boston was kind of scary. There were many people who didn't look very happy on the less beautiful streets. But I guess in the area we were in I did feel safe. It was so amazing. The buildings were fabulous, especially the skyline.

I realize that I am more comfortable being back in the USA. I felt more like a tourist in Canada, but here I know that I am paying taxes and have a say in my rights.

After the ships come, we will drive through Rhode Island (Providence)and into Connecticut and camp at the south Western border on this side of Providence. The place we are planning on is a state beach Campground. That sounds really nice. I hope so.

The few clouds in the air are directly on the other side of the canal. They are puffy white and great backdrops. On our right are most, but these are cirrus clouds. They are fine and up high.

The waves on the water are all ripply, but not white. The water is green near the shore where I can see the bottom and deep blue in the middle. This canal is the distance of Ylvi to the Union across, maybe a bit less ( like the parking lot). But when the ships do come through, it should be a great view. There are many people lining the shoreline on both sides. Even though this isn't a beach.

One of the tall ships will be here in a half hour. A radio announcement came over a loudspeaker saying a 100 foot boat was coming by. that is the largest allowed in this canal. It should be quite a sight. I am glad we are waiting here. I'm really glad we ended up here by accident (because we were to cheap to pay $8 for parking on Sand Point Beach. People are starting to get excited about the ship.

That big ship came and I took a picture. But after that, the coast guard floated by and told us that none were coming for a long while. So, since we must get moving tonight, we left. Most people left too. It didn't look like they would be coming that way for a while. So now we are on our way to Providence.

1992