Saturday, October 25, 2003
 One
of the charter captains who came in last night said he would be leaving before
dawn today, and he hoped he wouldn't disturb us too much when he gassed up in
the morning. Since we were parked at the gas dock and since we have a long
way to go, we decided to get up early. These boats  travel much faster than
we do. As one captain put it, "I don't worry about those low
spots...we'll be leaving on a high tide and we're on a plane." The
sky was just barely pink as we cast off the lines to follow one of the head boats
out. The sun climbed above the horizon and two more boats passed us on the
channel out to the inlet. A sport fisherman zipped by as we went out the
inlet, and the sun brought on a beautiful morning. We crashed through some
waves, but the tide was still coming in. Randy Lewis from the marina had
predicted a "nice day or two" for traveling. Kay decided that he
was talking in charter captain terms, not hers. As the day progressed, the
sun disappeared behind clouds, and the waves increased. A storm cloud
passed out to sea, but we had no rain. Kay stowed more objects as the
southerly winds brought the waves broadside. When the TV broke loose from
its tie-down and landed on the couch, she decided that today was a two happy
pill day.
Luckily Kay had made breakfast while the seas were still "calm"
because when Pearce came down from the bridge looking for food, all she would
offer him was a piece of fruit and a drink of water. She claimed that she
had to keep one hand on the table to keep it from tipping over and the other
hand on the counter to keep her from tipping over. We finally headed west
toward the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Tunnel, and Kay served Pearce lunch as
Kibon passed over the Thimble Shoal Tunnel at 3 pm. We came into the
Hampton River and anchored just past the first bridge. We had a light
supper and went to bed early.
 
Sunday, October 26, 2003
A good rain during the night washed much of the salt off of Kibon. We had
a leisurely breakfast and headed toward the public dock where we could stay free
for up to four hours if we brought back a receipt from a restaurant or
store. Since it was Sunday, most everything was closed, but we enjoyed
walking around the historic part of town. We found an art gallery open,
the Blue Skies Gallery that showed a great variety of artists. Kay was
impressed with one artist who used stained glass as frames for prints and
included an element from the print as a feature in the frame. Pearce liked
an artist whose paintings were reminiscent of Picasso. The oils were muddy
and too detailed, but the acrylics were quick and airy and lighthearted.
We headed toward the recommended "Marker 20" for a Hampton Eggs
Benedict with crab meat. The regulars were at the bar enjoying a variety
of beers and the football game.  Pearce was ready to try a house beer when
Kay noticed the $3 Bloody Mary special, so we ordered two. They came in
tall 16 ounce glasses! By the time we finished brunch we were so stuffed
that we needed to walk again. We wandered over to the Air and Space
Museum, but decided we weren't up to anything intellectual. We sat and
watched some children and parents enjoy the Carousel, and walked along the
waterfront. We met a couple from Annapolis who have belonged to AGLCA for
a number of years and are hoping to do the Loop someday. We came back to
Kibon and decided to stay at their dock for the night because Pearce wanted to
leave by bicycle early in the morning to go to the VA Hospital for his chemo
shot. We read the Sunday paper, watched TV, and had a tuna salad for
supper.
Monday, October 27, 2003
Pearce took off at 6:45 (with the return to regular time it is now light at that
hour) and rode his bicycle across the bridge to the hospital. Or rather pushed
it up one side then coasted the rest of the way. Hampton University is just over
the bridge and, even at that early hour, athletes were out doing wind sprints...
ahhhh youth! Just beyond the campus is The Hampton VA Hospital which is much
smaller than either Northport or West Palm Beach, but infinitely faster. In less
than two hours Triage Nurse Diane McQueen and ER Nurse Rosemary Graham overcame
mountains of bureaucratic paperwork, transferring files from afar and showed how
top professionals should do it! Thanks ladies. It's a pleasure knowing you.
We had difficulty yesterday when we connected to shore power. Today, when
Pearce tried to trace the problem, he discovered that only one side of the
reverse Y that connects the power lines to the boat was working. He
thought about rebuilding it, but because it is in an area exposed to weather and
foot traffic, he decided to replace the whole thing. West Marine had one
in stock so we called a taxi and went over to Newport News. Pearce tried
to convince them to take his wounded veteran discount, but the salesman just
shook his head. Pearce plugged everything together and now both sides of
Kibon have electricity. That's pretty expensive ice to cool our drinks!
  Tuesday,
October 28, 2003
Rain is predicted for later in the day so we rev up the bicycles and head for
the super market about one-and-a-half miles away. Along the way is a
street called Victoria... and it's filled with breathtaking Victorian homes. Not
modern copies, but the real things built during that belle epoch just before the
turn of the century... the previous one, that is. Here are a couple of samples
picked at random, but the whole street is saturated with this kind of
architecture. What a wonderful age it was when they built homes like these!
We saw a lot of damage from Isabel. The water had flooded the streets, and
many trees had been felled in the wind. Crews were out cleaning up the
debris, and several houses were having their roofs repaired. We passed by
Sunset Creek and saw the destroyed docks at one of the marinas we had contacted
for slip space. They are totally out of commission. On the way back
we went down to the docks where the fishing boats were unloading, and Pearce
took some photos for inspiration when he has time for painting. We had
lunch on board and then headed back into town to the bank and the stationary
store. It began to rain again, so we retreated to the dry comfort of Kibon
to warm up with a cup of tea and some good books. 
Wednesday, October 29, 2003
We've used up our free day, so we're heading up the James River today toward
Smithtown. But first Kay was still looking for some fresh fish. We
followed the vague directions of someone we met yesterday, but we were unable to
find the market. We did find St. John's Church, established in 1610 and is
the oldest Episcopal Parish in continuous existence in America. The church
on Queen's Way is the fourth building and is a beautiful brick structure in the
form of a Roman cross built in 1728. When we signed the guest register, we
noted that Jane and Howard Burdick had attended services two weeks ago!
We returned to the boat, cast off, and headed up the James River. The wind
was out of the west which made the river a bit choppy, but it calmed down as we
passed under the Newport New Bridge.  The drawbridge was up and a freighter
under tow was going through. We went under a lower part in a different
channel. We entered the channel to the Pagan River and followed it up to
the Gatling Pointe Yacht Club where friends Joyce and Rex Williams belong.
Their docks survived, but the pier out to them was destroyed. The dockmaster came
out by canoe  to welcome us and left a canoe so we could get in and out of the
club. Kay declared that canoes were good when the weather and water were
warm, and she was dressed in a bathing suit. Pearce put the dinghy in the
water and zipped over to the place in the marsh where the dockmaster had
disappeared. He came back to report that it was only a little wet and
squishy. We decided to stay securely tied up at the pier for the night and
forgo trying to land anywhere.
Next: Smithfield, Virginia... Home of the Hams
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Cruisin' The Loop Aboard Kibon