Days 268 and 269 - Levi Bleam — Captain Father John

Miles cruised 0, fuel purchased $0, slip fee $114, daily high temperature 78°f

We are spending our fourth and final night in Annapolis. A little history about Annapolis. In 1694, the capital of the royal colony of Maryland moved to Anne Arundel’s Towne and renamed the town Annapolis after Princess Anne of Denmark and Norway, soon to be the Queen of Great Britain. Annapolis was incorporated as a city in 1708. The polis means city in Greek.

The Chesapeake has 11,700 miles of shore line due to the fact that 23 rivers empty into Chesapeake Bay.

The Annapolis Yacht Club burned down in December due to faulty Christmas lighting. They have a temporary club house until the original club house is rebuilt.

We are always meeting interesting people on the dock. A 40′ Donzi go fast boat pulled up behind us on the long dock. That boat cruises at 60 mph. It has a cuddy cabin and no portholes. A family of three stayed onboard overnight. We met the skipper Levi Bleam. In 1980 he started buying and selling baseball cards. He made the rounds to all the baseball card trade shows from Pennsylvania to California for many years. Eventually he developed an internet based business and has backed off doing trade shows. He plans to buy a motor home and cruise the national parks. Perhaps if he had a more comfortable boat his wife would consider doing the Great Loop.

There are dozens of great restaurants within walking distance of the harbor. There is even a Starbucks within a five minute walk. We have a constant stream of boats passing through Ego Alley to keep us entertained. Numerous people walking by notice our boat is from Illinois and ask which route we took to get to Annapolis.

Chick and Ruth’s is one of our favorite restaurants. It is a New Jersey style deli with the best kosher dill pickles I have had in years. Their menu has numerous crab dishes. The amount of crab in a crab cake is the best we have seen. It is all large chunks of crab meat with no breading.

Saturday we will cruise 30 miles to Baltimore and stay for three nights. We will try to attend a baseball game. The Orioles stadium is within walking distance of the marina.

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The newly restored Old House of Delegates Chambers has a statue of George Wahington.

The weekly musings of Captain Jack

We Now Begin

Cobwebs glisten in our rigs tonight
hulls glow in the evening light
before us we see this humbling sight
crews are ready down the line
we’re all set, we’ll do fine
last minute details
hatches buttoned down
on the skipper we see a frown
ready for a tight race we set our trim
steady, steady we now begin.
Cap’n Jack
6-16-16

Bonus photo

The local Boston Whaler dealer is serious about proving the safety of his boats. He cut it in half to demonstrate that it cannot sink.

Carl (Chef) Wooden – quote of the day.

“When you’re traveling, you are what you are right there and then. People don’t have your past to hold against you. No yesterdays on the road.”
William Least Heat Moon

William Least Heat-Moon, also named William Lewis Trogdon (born August 27, 1939), is an American travel writer and historian of English, Irish, and Osage ancestry. He is the author of various bestselling books of topographical U.S. travel writing.

Least Heat-Moon has ancestry of both Native American and Euro-American lineages. His ancestry is reflected in his names: the Trogdon family name comes from his Euro-American lineage, and the Heat-Moon name reflects his Native American lineage. William’s father is Heat-Moon, his elder brother is Little Heat-Moon, and he is thus Least Heat-Moon. Born in Kansas City, Missouri.