August 11, 2021: Relaxation, a visit to the Culinary Institute of America, and a storm.
I did not sleep well. I discovered that my roommate, Dianne, snores and I didn’t want to keep waking her up to get her to roll over onto her side. After two hours of walking around the boat, trying unsuccessfully to figure out a different place to sleep, and reading at the table, I finally, at around 11 PM, went back to bed and shook her. She rolled over, and I got to sleep. That was great for a while, but I was up around three AM, not feeling very rested. I got up to sit at the table with a book on my iPad.
That problem would need solving during the day.
Morning Stuff
The rest of my shipmates woke up one by one as the day brightened. I got a primer on using the Mr Coffee brand K-cup coffee maker soon had a cup of coffee-like beverage in front of me. I opened the one pound bag of sugar and put a half teaspoon of the stuff in my cup, then wrestled the bag into a fresh zip-lock sandwich bag. There was 1% milk in the fridge and I put a little too much in my cup, making my morning beverage a little less coffee-like. I’d have to work on that, too.
We each made ourselves breakfast. I had cereal with fresh blueberries, strawberries, and bananas and more of that 1% milk. Paul and Dianne had toast with cream cheese. Being connected to shore power meant that we could use an electric coffee maker and toaster.
After breakfast, I went for a shower. Half Moon Bay Marina had rest rooms with two toilet stalls, lockers (probably for the adjacent pool, which we were not allowed to use), two sinks, and one shower stall. It was all clean and nice enough. I had a good, hot shower, knowing that with the day’s forecasted high temperatures, I would be hot and sticky within an hour.
Back at Nano, after hanging up my towel and stowing my dirty clothes, I settled down at the table with my laptop to start the previous day’s blog post. I had set a goal to blog every single day of the trip and I knew from experience that if I missed a day or two I would not be able to catch up and might even quit. I was determined not to let that happen. But it wasn’t easy to stay focused with a lot of conversation going on.
The Repair Guys
Distractions only got worse when a team of mechanics that Paul had called arrived to help him with a fuel filter issue. Nano’s engine has a screw on fuel filter a lot like the one I use on my little AgGas fuel trailer. Paul needed to change it, but couldn’t get the darn thing off. He and an earlier crew member had tried hard. So JR and two helpers showed up for what they probably thought would be an easy job.
It wasn’t. They used several tools and a lot of muscle to finally get the filter loose. They were careful to prevent a fuel spill inside the engine compartment, which had already been dirtied by an oil checking incident before I boarded. They screwed on the replacement filter and thoroughly cleaned the engine compartment. When I asked, JR pointed out various components inside the compartment that I was curious about.
Then they closed up the engine compartment and gathered the trash they’d generated. Paul paid for their services and they went on their way.
Lunch at the CIA
After another unsuccessful stab at getting that blog post written, it was 10:30, time to get ready for our trip to Hyde Park. We were going to the Culinary Institute of America (CIA), where Paul had made reservations for lunch. Although he’d originally expected to take an Uber or Lyft from the marina to Hyde Park, he had miscalculated the distance from Croton-on-Hudson. It would be a full one-hour drive each way, which is why we’d rented the car the day before.
I should mention here that most Loopers who visit the CIA tie up at Hyde Park Marina, which is about a mile from the school. In better weather, it would be a nice walk, but in the oppressive heat we were experiencing, it was certainly within Uber/Lyft distance. I’m not sure why Paul thought it was close enough to Half Moon Bay for a cab ride, but it definitely wasn’t. Unless you plan to rent a car, tie up at Hyde Park Marina for a trip to the CIA.
I’d checked in advance — at home, in fact, as I was packing for the trip — and discovered that the CIA did not have a dress code for the restaurant we were visiting: American Bounty. So I wore my shorts with a nice blouse and the same slip on deck shoes I’d been wearing since I left home. Dianne dressed up a bit more and even put on makeup. (I couldn’t bear the thought of wearing makeup in the oppressive heat and humidity; it would be running down my face before I even got into the car.) The drive was pleasant at first but soon got tiresome with too many traffic lights on the last 20 miles of the 50-mile drive. The little Mini Cooper we rented apparently turned itself off every time it stopped — was it a hybrid? — and when Paul hit the gas, it would jerk forward with a thunk.
Lunch was amazing. I had a CIA version of mac and cheese, with home made cavatelli, goat cheese, and little pieces of some sort of smoked meat, followed by sliced roast duck with tiny potatoes and sautéed veggies, with a tiramisu-like espresso marscapone cake for dessert. Dianne had the asparagus chowder, grilled beef with corn puree, and a special peach and ginger cheesecake desert. Paul had the corn bisque, smoked tempeh with vegetables, and skipped dessert. Everything was perfect — an amazing blend of flavors impeccably served — although Paul said his tempeh was a bit salty for his taste. My only disappointment was with the wine; I’m determined to try New York State wines during this trip and this first red was a big disappointment.
A Walk in the Heat
I slept curled up on the back seat on the way back, never fully getting to sleep because of the tiny space and the car’s lurching at each traffic light. I woke up as they were nearing our exit and reminded Paul that I needed to stop at the CVS for earplugs. He dropped Dianne off at the marina and dropped me off at CVS.
I was half awake when I put my mask on and stumbled in. I had to ask where the earplugs were and was embarrassed when they pointed to the shelf right behind where I was standing. They had a lot of options, but I chose the foam kind that you can shove deep inside your ear. They were rated to reduce sound by 32 db. Since I’d clocked Dianne at 62 db — what else was I going to do lying wide awake at night? — I figured they’d be a big help.
Unfortunately, I had to walk back from CVS to the marina. It wasn’t a long walk — just 7/10 mile — but as I’ve mentioned over and over in this blog post, the weather was hot.
Let me take a moment to elaborate on this.
The temperature was somewhere in the 90s, but the humidity was well over 50%, making the “feels like” temperature closer to 100°F or more. This may not be a big deal for folks accustomed to the humidity, but I’ve been living in the desert since 1997 and humidity is just not part of my life anymore. For contrast, back home yesterday the temperature was 95°F but the humidity was only 10%. I’ll take that any day over the thick, sticky, sweat-inducing air I’d experienced since starting the trip in Jersey City.
So I knew I was going to be hot on that walk back. And I knew I’d just have to deal with it.
Fortunately, the walk was mostly along a pleasant, tree-shaded drive that led from the Route 9 highway to the marina and condo development beyond it. I think if I’d had to walk in the sun, I would have dropped dead along they way. So by the time I got to the marina, I was completely drenched in dripping sweat but still very much alive. I stopped at the restrooms, washed up a bit, and headed down to Nano.
Paul had beaten me back after dropping off the car. Dianne had turned on the air conditioning and it was already gloriously cool inside Nano’s main cabin.
A Restful Afternoon/Evening
After cooling down, I spent some time with my laptop finishing up the blog post and getting it uploaded to this blog. I’d managed to blog the first day of my trip just as the second day was winding down. I’d have to try harder to blog in the morning.
Hungry after 6:30 PM, I made a light meal of sauted veggies — broccoli, onions, and tomatoes — with diced ham and an egg. It’s the same kind of thing I’d been eating at home, usually for breakfast. Paul had some leftovers. Dianne skipped the evening meal.
The clouds thickened to the west and a glance at my radar app showed a storm was on its way. By then, it was considerably cooler outside. I suggested that we turn off the air conditioning and open the boat back up. It might have been a bit premature; that humidity was still wetting everything down.
I set up my GoPro Fusion camera on the boat’s bow, hoping to capture the storm’s light show in 360°. (I think it did, but had no success viewing that video on my laptop in the morning.) It was quite a storm. We sat out in the cockpit, inside its clear plastic walls, watching the lightning. The worst of the storm passed west to east just south of us, so although we got rain, it wasn’t as hard as I expected.
By the time the storm was over, it was dark. Paul and Dianne turned in for the night, but I wasn’t sleepy yet. I think, in a way, I was afraid to try going to sleep because of the trouble I’d had the night before. I sat up, reading on my iPad out in the cockpit until well after 10 PM. Finally, feeling tired enough, I went forward to the sleeping area I was sharing with Dianne. She was sleeping quietly. I got my pajamas on, shoved those earplugs as deeply into my ears as I could, and turned in.
I managed to keep reading for another 10 minutes. Then I fell into a deep, restful sleep.
Some cars switch off the engine when stationary and in neutral. The engine starts as soon as you put it in gear. That’s how it works in a manual transmission. Not sure how it would work in an automatic if that is what you had.
Yes, we had an automatic. I suspected it worked something like that. Thanks!
My 2021 Bronco Sport does that also – at a stop. But there is a button to push so it won’t do that. It doesn’t stay – so every time you start the car, I can push the button – especially if driving in town with lots of stop lights.