Rouses Point, NY to Massena, NY (via Canada):  Day 6:  A Day in Saint-Annes-de-Bellevue

Captain Mark and Sidekick Sue woke up refreshed, both commenting on what a good night sleep they had.  They decided that they really liked this small town and wanted to spend some more time looking around.  They assessed the laundry situation and decided that could wait until Ottawa, but they needed some fresh produce, chicken, and ice.  They also need to deal with the composting toilets and the water supply on board.  They were hoping they could use the Wi-fi at Annies to finally get some pictures uploaded to accompany their blogs. 

A water spigot was located, but not close enough to the boat to run a hose.  They located a hardware store about 1.5 miles away and hiked over to buy a big blue 5-gallon water tote.  Captain Mark set about making multiple trips to the spigot to work on filling the tank.  It turned out the Explorers had done an excellent job with water conservation in the first 4 days of their trip and the tank was not as empty as anticipated, so his job was not as hard as he expected.  Most of the boats from the party scene the night before had left, so there was plenty of boat parking in front of the waterfront restaurants.  Sidekick Sue walked down to see if the Wi-fi signal from Annies could reach the dock.  If so, moving the boat would we worth the free day of Wi-fi.  The signal did indeed reach the dock, but it turned out the dock in front of Annies was not part of the public docking area… it was Annies’ private dock, so staying all day would not be considerate.  So, plan B was to come back, laptop in hand and sit outdoors on the bench (which conveniently had an electrical outlet that may or may not be working) and upload pictures.   With their first round of chores done, the Explorers headed to Annies with their phones and laptop, ready to share and upload pictures.  On arrival, Annies internet router was no longer on the airwaves and it seemed rather rude to go in and ask them to reboot their router so we could steal the internet signal.  As a result….. still no pictures of this trip. 

Instead, our Explorers set out to get the grocery shopping (provisioning) done.  On their return, they saw the lock was open and decided to lock through instead of waiting until morning.  They had already investigated that there was a wall to tie up to on the other side of the lock where they could spend the night just a few hundred yards from where they were currently docked.  That way, in the morning, they would not have to wait for the locks to open at 9 am before leaving.  Sidekick Sue quickly stowed groceries while Captain Mark radioed the locktender and asked if there was enough time to get there for the current lockage.  They replied in the affirmative, so the Explorers quickly cast off and joined a few other boats in the lock. 

After locking through, the Explorers docked and got out their folding bikes and biked 6 miles out and 6 miles back to explore the town.  The ride was somewhat of a disappointment because the rest of town was not quite so quaint as the area around the lock.  Most of the bike route was along major roads and not so charming.  Still, it felt good to get out and get moving.  Sidekick Sue seems to have strained a chest muscle, likely from handling lines, boat hooks and fenders, so she is trying to avoid heavy lifting for a few days, so bicycling is a great alternative. 

Sidekick Sue prepared chicken and salad while Captain Mark dealt with the composting toilets.  When he removed the old toilets and holding tank, he agreed to be the “toilet guy”.  Without going into a lot of gross detail, the composting toilets manage waste by sorting #1 into one container and #2 into a second container containing peat moss.  The containers of #1 have to be emptied frequently (can just be flushed away on land), while the #2 basically takes care of itself and composts into a mixture that can be dumped after the trip.  It’s a bit of a hassle, but nowhere near the hassle of dealing with the holding tanks, the pump-outs and the fear of overflowing in the event that a pump-out station cannot be found when needed.    

After chores and dinner, the Explorers enjoyed a nice quiet evening, finishing off the Leffe beers (seems to be a nightly theme) and enjoying the quiet of the park now that the Saturday night partiers are gone.