Day 260 - Roy Rogers — Captain Father John

Miles cruised 0, fuel purchased $0, slip fee $65, daily high temperature 77°f

Tuesday night was one of the rare occasions when we did not eat dinner with the Arnold’s. Dale and Andy went to the Holiday Inn happy hour and were treated to a grand feast of appetizers. John and Priscilla took the dingy in search of a restaurant with a dingy dock. We did a bit of sight-seeing on the creek and then cruised the west shore. We asked a few boaters where we might tie up. Since they were local slip holders they had never considered going to dinner by dingy. We spotted the Dry Dock restaurant at the end of a marina fairway and tied up to a ladder. All good. We had a great meal.

Wednesday was very blowy from the NW. We had seen the forecast and knew we should stay put. Waves on the Chesapeake were in the 3 – 4′ range. We crossed yesterday with flat seas.

Harbor Master John was in a mood to play “Let’s Make a Deal.” We had planned to only stay two nights at Solomons but the facilities are so good I hinted we might stay longer. He offered a 30% discount if we stayed four nights instead of two. Deal! In addition to the swimming pool, health club, free ice and free propane the Holiday Inn front desk hands out free happy hour drink coupons and provides appetizers. Why would we move? Eventually we will have to move. On Saturday we will cruise to St Michaels and stay two nights. After St. Michaels we will spend several days in Annapolis and then Baltimore.

The highlight of today’s adventure was a visit to the Calvert Marine Museum. They have a nice aquarium and an original Chesapeake Bay light house. We spent the afternoon at the museum.

They have a genuine Chesapeake Bay lighthouse on exhibit. The story they tell is the construction company that was building a large bridge nearby was caught dumping excess concrete into the river. The authorities gave them the option of paying an obscenely high fine or using their equipment to move the Drum Point lighthouse to the museum.

On display was a chair with a chamber pot. The lighthouse does not have a toilet. After use the pot was dumped into the river.

Today is Dale and Andy’s 48th wedding anniversary. We celebrated with them at the Holiday Inn happy hour along with about 100 sales people having a convention at the hotel. The appetizers were not adequate to accommodate the crowd. Dale and Andy had dinner at the Holiday Inn restaurant. John and Priscilla returned to the boat. We had enjoyed a late lunch at the nearby Roy Rogers restaurant. I have not eaten at a Roy Rogers restaurant in 20 years. I am sure our younger readers have no clue who Roy Rogers is other than a guy that has a restaurant named after him.

Roy Rogers (born Leonard Franklin Slye; November 5, 1911 – July 6, 1998) was an American singer and cowboy actor who was one of the most popular Western stars of his era. Known as the “King of the Cowboys”, he appeared in over 100 films and numerous radio and television episodes of The Roy Rogers Show. In many of his films and television episodes, he appeared with his wife Dale Evans, his golden palomino Trigger, and his German Shepherd dog Bullet. His show ran on radio for nine years before moving to television from 1951 through 1957. His productions usually featured a sidekick, often Pat Brady, Andy Devine, or George “Gabby” Hayes. In his later years, Rogers lent his name to the Roy Rogers Restaurants franchised chain.

Bonus photo – do you have any tidal flow at this marina?

Carl (Chef) Wooden – quote of the day.

“I want to conquer the unknown. I really, really want to live on the water and captain my own boat. I have dreamed of going around the world on a boat.”
Suze Orman

Susan Lynn “Suze” Orman (born June 5, 1951) is an American author, financial advisor, motivational speaker, and television host. Orman was born in Chicago and pursued a degree in social work. She worked as a financial advisor for Merrill Lynch. In 1983 she became the vice-president of investments at Prudential Bache Securities. In 1987, she founded the Suze Orman Financial Group. Her program The Suze Orman Show began airing on CNBC in 2002. In 2006 she won a Gracie Award for Outstanding Program Host on the The Suze Orman Show on CNBC. She has written several books on the topic of personal finance.