Tieing A Knot...: Oxford & Cambridge

We missed the fireworks at Oxford, they were delayed because of weather and we fell asleep. Old age settling in for sure! We decided to head for Cambridge on Monday and see if we could get a space on the 'free wall', luck was with us, one other boat there and room for 4 so we tied up and ended up seeing an 'Algonac Fireworks' display from the old days, really took us back to some wonderful memories.

We also met Nancy and Dean, live boards for 15 years with lots of tips, got some essentials at Wal Mart and had an all in all good weekend.

By the way, before we left Oxford we got a chance to talk to a crabber who was removing the bait from their lines and found out that they use chicken necks and clam sacks for bait on the trot lines. They have to remove and replace them every day. Did not look like a fun job, but his wife was throwing that bait overboard like there was no tomorrow and she told us that they removed and replaced the bait every day. Not an easy job being a crabber, but she seemed ok with it. She also mentioned bull lips as a bait they use but I drew the line and didn't ask for specifics. Too much information!

Oxford and Cambridge are towns that are a step back in time. Oxford has a total of 3 stores in town. A book store, a resale shop and a convenience store where you PAY $$ for the convenience. We bought a loaf of bread and a bottle of water to the tune of $7.00. Yikes. It is a quaint little town that looks like its been pretty much taken over as a summer getaway for the wealthy, like most water towns, but it was very historical with a lot of the houses dating to the 1800's and ankle twisting brick side walks that added to the charm. Then there was Cambridge, that was built on the fishing industry. Then the Japanese came with their net fishing and with the dwindling fish population the city shows the lack of revenue. The downtown had a lot of stores still open with restaurants and boutiques but there were also many dark store fronts. There was a beautiful historic area here also with very large houses that had all seen better days . Then there were 'the burbs' with the conveniences of a couple of grocery stores and a Wal Mart.

For anyone wondering, Gary is back to normal, I am as normal as can be (that should tell you something) and after a week filled with second guessing we are still on a northerly path. We have been told that it will be VERY warm here in July & August so we are contemplating heading even farther north. The other day when we returned to the boat, which had to be closed and locked because we were not aboard, the temperature inside was 96 , hot in any language. Every day brings a new scenario, so we may be surprised even more than you in what our final destination will be!!