Barge Date:  12-08-2020

2020 is a Bust

Life’s a bitch.  To think I was a week from buying tickets to France. I had already paid for the waterways pass.  Paid for medical insurance the visa required. Yes, I already had my visa. And here I am in December, stuck at home, laying low, being safe.  Who could have predicted all of this?

I could continue to bitch but at this point it is a lost cause.  I am in line already to get the first vaccine offered.  Don’t get in my way. Being in the “at risk” group has its perks. So if there is a plan it is to get the vaccine, hope it works, hope that France thinks it works, and visas will be issued normally.  We will travel as soon as we can.

Good news about the vaccines; 95% effective.  Just hope that they can get them out and about soon.

The barge has been in Auxonne for 15 months, tied up in the marina.  Just floating there.  I check on it regularly; in the daylight hours to do a visual inspection and at night to make sure electric from shore is connected.  I can see the exterior is getting dirty but other than that it look OK.  What about the inside?  Through the DBA membership I am having a fellow bargee go onboard and take a look.  Hope to have his report soon.  Other than that it is what it is. Nothing I can do unless it begins to sink.

So on the home front life goes on.  LiQiong was in China during their lockdown.  She spent the better part of 2 months in her apartment.  She had food brought in - like room service, it seems. She is back home after first locking herself down for 14 days with a friend. Looking at graduate schools.

Jinglei has been in Columbus, GA for most of the time period, first working for the YMCA in a daycare/camp program they offered to families working in healthcare. At some point she caught the virus and after some early tears locked herself down.  Symptom were mild and she is back at work and school. She is doing the university mostly by computer.

The kids up north have been working at home and everyone seems to like this option.  Seem to be adhering to the rules.

Andrew, Christina and Anni came for a long visit at Christmas and then again this summer for 3 weeks. Couple this with our visit to them last Fall and we have been able to see the growth of Anni. Amazing. She is now on 2 legs and motoring about the home.  To date we have never seen her have an emotional meltdown.  Happy all the time. We think she has a good imprint of our faces so we are happy to do FaceTime with her.

Marianne and I made a road trip to visit them this summer, pulling a U-Haul to Pittsburgh to carry a large china hutch for Andrew and Christina. The hutch was my Fall, ’19 project. Spent a few days with them then drove on to NY to see Alienor, Trevor and old friends nearby.  Everyone had been following safe practices and all went well.  Delivered a small table to Alienor and Trevor.

So what does a guy do in a curtailed year?

Been catching up on all the work I have not done the past 3 summers we were in Europe. Cutting, trimming, raking, painting, woodworking, room conversions, etc.  Added a new garden shed and gazebo to the back side of the property; purchased, not built here. New gravel for the driveway. Hope to tackle more inside work on the house this winter; new trim and paint.  Happy with the outcome of a slab of wood I turned into a desk for Marianne’s new office.  Transformed a bedroom into an office.

Look for a post early in 2021.  Stay safe.
 

Barge Date:  03-11-2020

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Future Prep Work for Traveling

Barge Date:  02-10-2020

Took the 4 hour trip to Atlanta for this year's version of the French visa.  The process went well.  Two of the employees remembered me from last year.  Will keep it simple - 180 days "long stay visa".  That should cover me from April through September and depending on when we actually arrive and the days out of France (back for the wedding) I could stay well into October.  The key, I think, for the long stay is to tell them about the boat so they know what is going on.  Received the passport with visa back in about 10 days.

Received an unusual gift for Xmas.  How Marianne came upon this unique gift was just happenstance but we must take what is offered.  Will travel with us to the boat this year. Sorry, not my life story; just lined pages so I can start one.

Freakin' Awesome

The big picture look at where we will be traveling this year is to say south and southeast of Paris. To get there we will take the Canal de Bourgogne (Burgundy Canal) northeast from our winter port of Auxonne. The first leg of the summer adventure has the small city of Auxerre as our target. This is a trip of 284km, 199 locks and 1 bridge. We start at 185 meters, climb up to 370 meters then drop to 96 meters. There is a tunnel at the top that is about 3.5km in length. We end up on the River Yonne. We have made plans to winter in Auxerre.

The Canal de Bourgogne had its beginning in 1775 and was completed about 55 years later.  But as early as 1605 surveys were underway as to where to dig the ditch.  So an old canal (there are older ones) and it  has been a major route between Paris and the north and the Med and the south of the country.

The blue tracks to the west of the red and up to Paris will be our playground this year.

The general timetable for getting going this year is to leave the US April 10 or 11. We will enter France at Paris.  Depending on the arrival time we may stay a night to get our sea legs.  Then it is down to Dijon on a fast train and then the local to Auxonne.  We will want to make Auxerre by the week of May 25 as we will leave the barge here for our return for a wedding on May 30.  We may fly into Pittsburgh to make things a bit easier.  Following the wedding we will return to Thomasville for a short stay before heading back to France.

Marianne will once again seek a house sitter for this early part of the year. Anyone reading this might want to consider moving to Thomasville for some of the period we are France; this year or next.  Great place to spend some time.  Mike and Vicki enjoyed their 6 weeks here last year.

2020 And We Are Ready

Barge Date: 01-13-2020

Yes, Barge Time is Approaching

It is not too soon to be thinking about returning to the barge. But to confess, I think about the boat every day.  Would love to be on board at this very minute.

Preparations for our return are happening.  Purchased the French license today. This is for 365 days but we will probably return late August or September. The little projects to be done in the shop are mostly completed.  I have been working on a very large china hutch since September and it has literately taken up a big spot in the shop.  I am doing the finishing work now and hope to deliver it to Andrew and Christina in February if it is not cold it Pittsburgh.

I do get some boat satisfaction everyday because I can look at Lionel via a camera that is positioned at the marina.  I left the boat with a bright LED light shining out the port window to tell me the electric is on so batteries are being maintained.  Here are 2 pictures

 

Obviously my neighbor has copied me. Lionel is the lower light.

You might think this concern for the boat is over the top. But in December a new built barge sank under unusual circumstances. The barge was tied up properly and supposedly under the eye of marina people but things happened.  This part of France was getting much needed rain but perhaps too much in a short period.  It happened during the night.  A power station has a dam with water behind it and the people in charge decided there was a need to release a big slug of water during the night and it would seem without considering what would happen down stream.

The barge was tied along with others but with the owner back in the UK.  By the time the alarm was raised water was coming up very fast. Those on board their boats had a lot to do very quickly and did not have the opportunity to adjust the lines for this ill-fated barge.  Tied fast, the boat rose with the water and this caused the port side of the boat to go under and it began receiving water.  The water penetrated the interior and she went under;  not even visible.

But there is more bad news for the owner.  The fine insurance he has seems to be a scam.  Some Spanish company that has been identified at crooked but this is news to the owner. Perhaps he has a case against the fellows upstream that caused the rush of water but that is somewhere in the future. Big expense to bring the barge up.  It is floating now but life will never be the same.

And then there is the general risk that some clown will come along at night looking for a barge to set adrift.  This year I will be using some chain for a secure hold to the shore.  If I will be gone for a number of days and I am on a river I plan to drop the anchor and some  chain.

I had the marina do an alteration to some pipes in the bilge.  This location is the low point for water on board.  Two of the pipes had very small taps and a large pipe that brings water from the bedroom storage had no way to drain.  So I asked for changes that will allow me to connect a hose so I can drain the system completely.  I have an old 24v pump from the old water pressure system and a 24v outlet 1 meter away so I am ready to go.