You Bug Me (Brian)

Giant Mosquito



Newboro, Ont -- Twenty-four miles today seven hours and17 minutes actual oar time, but who's counting. Everthing hurts and the hands are hamburger. Mosquitoes are the size of hummingbirds and they aggressively knock on the doors to our tents.

We have wound our way through narrow rivers and chains of lakes. Much of the shoreline is unspoiled, but there are occasional clusters of lakeside homes. We have seen few people on the water.

We have plenty of Loons trilling, families of ducks and 18 inch fish jumping.

Tonight we convinced them to reopen the kitchen at the Stirling Lodge in Newboro and feed us fresh turkey sandwiches. Al and I had our morning coffee in Lower Brewers. and all is good. Al says any doubts he had about having me along were dispelled when I served the coffee.

We camped on the lawn by the Lower Brewers Lock after a twelve and a half mile row Tuesday. The lock keepers buildings are well kept colonials with green trim. The locks themselves are mechanically operated by the tenders turning big iron wheels ... No motors. The stone work and much of the hand operated mechanicals are 200 years old. The Rideau Canal originally was built to defend Canada against attack by the US.

We drove here Tuesday on a perfect day through the Adirondacks. Warrensburg, BlueMountain, Indian Lake, Long Lake,Tupperware. We got a glimpse of the Thousand Islands on the St. Lawrence,where the water is tropical clear.

Our put in was at a little park on a suburban cul de sac in Kingston, and we started putting water behind us. Al is our navigator with maps and GPS. At five miles he shouted "five percent, one percent !"

He' still be rowing if I didn't make him stop and pitch a tent.

Rideau Lock