Doug has worked and traveled on trails and sailed since he was a young boy. He has worked to save wilderness areas, and traveled as often and as far as he could. There are many stories, many untold.

“sailing” from NY to Montana

Hi Everyone.  I am on day 4 of a boat trip from NY to Duluth which may take 6 to 8 weeks.  Some of you said you would like to receive progress reports.  IF YOU WANT TO BE ON THE LIST PLEASE REPLY AND LET ME KNOW.  The news will be brief because I have to hunt and peck on my cell phone.  If you do not reply you will be spared.
The photo is a mansion on the Hudson in Tivoli NY taken yesterday.
Trip started May. 1 from home with Ruth onboard thru NYC  then getting off along the Hudson.
The crew is Byrd and most recently a third sentient being in the form of a tiny yellow spider I found yesterday on the bimini trying to spin a web.  Today she was on the mast not doing much.  I exited the first lock on the Erie Canal at noon today and am staying tonight near Schenectady at a “Yacht Club”.  I am the only person here.  Byrd is swimming in the river after a long day in the cabin on her cushy bed of red and white polka dot beach towels from Costco.  She is a very happy dog on an adventure.  She occasionally comes up into the cockpit sniffs the air looks in every direction especially up then retires again to the cabin sole.
Finding gas. showers. Food a slip etc every day has brought me in contact with a lot of new people.  Early yesterday in Kingston NY. A man closed his store to drive to a gas station to fill my tanks while I waited outside his shop. .  This morning I borrowed a cart in Albany to fill the tanks at a C store.  The Bangladeshi clerk and the pizza shop man next door were kidding around.  After long hours at the tiller thinking about very little. the contacts with people seem a little more defined than usual.   Everyone I have met seems to be happy with life.   I am surprised.  Without access to news. car. TV etc. I think the world looks really good.  This is only a few days into the trip and maybe I.ll get bored silly but I feel good about what is going on around me. After some days moving west on the Erie Canal I’ll turn north on the Oswego Canal.  The weather has been perfect and scenery fantastic.

Hi Gang,  We are just a few miles short of Lake Ontario and it looks like we will have to hole up in Oswego for a day or two.  Forecast is for winds up to 40 and waves up to 7 feet…..too much for this little boat.  We started on the Erie Canal a week ago near Troy NY.  In the third lock the flooding valve stuck in full open position and we were swept off the tie-up wall by a huge surge of water that turned the lock chamber into a giant Magtag washer-like action.  Loon was slammed onto the opposite wall and I saw her port side deflect a few inches.  She was held there so tight by the current that I could not push off.  As the water rose she lost varnish and some wood scraping up tbe chamber wall.  Damage is mostly cosmetic but I am uneasy going ing locks now.  We hane done 23 locks and have about 40 more to go in Canada.  Never saw a cloud the first 8 days and the scenery is fantastic.  Leaves are just forming in all pale shades of green, yellow and cream washes over the trunk and limb patterns.  This is mixed hardwood and conifer forest and there are lots of fruit trees mixed in.  I think it must have all been cleared for farming 200 years ago when the canal was built.  I am still meeting lots of friendly people when I stop and enjoying their company.  Several hours of piloting every day is pretty uneventful and becomes something like a meditation.  All sorts of thoughts come into my head and most are dismissed.  Byrd thinks that this o Huck Finn life is just fine.  TINY YELLOW SPIDER (Tys) is still with us although several of her larger black and brown fast moving cousins will have to continue their search for perfect being in later lives.  I first met Tys on the Hudson River where lots of fish were feeding on the surface.  I saw what I thought was a tiny fly and tried to identify it.  Tys was making a sail with her long legs and flying at the end of a teather in the breeze.  Afew days later I saw where she had made a web on the mast rigging.  Yesterday she was working airborne again.  The photo is from our ULTRAVIOLET AWARENESS TRAINING SESSION as required by the National Shipping Board Passenger directive B-4-U-R-2-2-RED.  Byrd was fully cooperative, as you can see, but, unfortunately, Tys did not attend.  This has been noted in the captains log.  It is raining steadily now. We are snug and dry, tied up to barge quay between two locks.  A good time to read.  More later.  Best regards.

Hi Gang,
I arrived in Oswego NY last Saturday  night.  I had a feeling I would like it here and I do – very much.  If I were to sketch out a place with all the things I like:  trains, tugboats, small ships, old buildings, riverwalks, forts, bookstores, lost in time eateries and very nice, welcoming people it would look like Oswego.  I spent most of the first day here in the ER where minor ear problems were fixed.  I was released at 2 AM just as the bars emptied out the Oswego State students….young girls in their very scanty dancing dresses and the boys in torn jeans and old t shirts.  All this week I have been waiting for the wind to die down so I can cross Lake Ontario.  About 60 miles to Waupoos,  Ontario.   The boat and Byrd and I are in good shape for the crossing which may take about 10+ hours.  Tomorrow looks good and Sat. Even better.   My navigation skills are a little shaky but I have some electronic stuff that I don’t fully understand which should keep me out of big trouble.  This will be the first time in this trip that I will be out of sight of land.  The picture is in an ice cream shop tonight where I was served a half gallon of chicken dumplings, veggies, and a vanilla soda.  Birch beer is sold here.  My Dad’s favorite.  Not much trip news for you but I continue to find that people are happy, welcoming and generous.  That is good news.  Best Regards,  Doug and Byrd

Hi Everyone, Ruth joined me two days ago for some of the flat water travel across Ontario on the Trent-Severn Waterway.   She will be 70 on Sunday.  After waiting 5 days in Oswego NY for calm water to cross Lake Ontario I ventured out last Friday at 7AM.  First several hours were fine with “lumpy seas”.  When I got close to Long Point on the way to Naupoos Ont. I realized that the depths on the Canadian chart read in the 1’s and 2”s.  Meters ?? feet?? Not enough for my 3,5 foot draft.  So I decided to be conservative and headed east to round all the shoals and islands.  By then the wind started to do just what was not forecast and came strong fron the West.  A couple of big salt water freighters went by fast but not close.  I set up my auto pilot to grab some lunch.  After about an hour the auto pilot turned us sharply toward the shoals.  What the hell???  Looking at the chart again….I was in a “magnetic anomaly area”.  I took back the tiller,  rounded the shoals and made for Naupoos with an escort of bugs.  Got to Naupoos and called some friends who were giving a painting workshop nearby.  Spent a really nice day and night with them and got boat ready to leave for Trenton early Tuesday.  As I pulled out at 7 AM there were a lot of brown flies on the boat.  Within a few hours there were so many flies that parts of the flags, bimini, mast, rails were totally covered.  Flies crawling everywhere in biblical story scale.  I knew Charton Heston was not going to appear and I hoped for a major rain.  Everyplace I grabbed, leaned, sat or stood was covered with wet brown goo stains.  By mid afternoon most of them were gone and I flushed what I could with buckets of water.   The scenery was fantastic and LOON plowed along through the islands and inlets of Prince Edward County –  one of the most beautiful places I have seen.  Ruth and I started off yesterday on the canal route with no major events so far.  Temp yesterday was 80, forecast for tonight is 35.  The photo is at Lock 8 where we slept last night.  I’m a little behind schedule for getting to Duluth by July 1 but everything is going well.  More later,  Doug, Ruth and Byrd
PS. The flies did not bite.  The Canadian chart depths are in fathoms – about 6 feet.  I thought fathoms were only used 100+ years ago.  They are the width of a “standard” man’s outstreched arms.

Day 32, At 1/2 way point, NYC to DULUTH

Hi Everyone, 
We are near Port Severn, Ontario, the west end of the 240 mile long Trent-Severn Waterway.  I will be able to raise the mast and sail the rest via Georgian Bay, The North Channel.  The Soo and the south shore of Lake Superior.
We have “list” for you:
Smallest family of geese seen: one baby
Largest family of geese: 20 plus babies.
Greatest number of turtles sunning on a log: 8.
Sunbathing male West Point cadets willing to wave: 1 of 6.
Sunbathing female West Point cadets willing to wave: 2 of 2.
Longest day underway 11 hours.
Man waves: arm straight up.
Woman waves: hand moves in quarter circle.
Small child waves:  forearm horizontal + hand quickly moving up and down.
Most frequently eaten food: peanut butter and rye crisp.
Water consumption: 2 liters / day.
Most likely to wave: kids and women.
Least likely to wave: fishermen.
Most important item on boat: bug screen over companionway.
Second most important item: empty peanut butter jar for peeing at night.
Scariest overnight tie- up location: Haeley Falls lock between fast moving water going over a dam and two large whilpools making a sucking sound.
Best times: with Ruth
Most lonesome times: leaving old friends and new.
Most amazing artists: Gary and Irina.
Favorite flower patch:  red columbines mixed with ferns on rock ledge wall.
Classes of travel available on board LOON:  Princess Class (no duties): Byrd.  Princess Class (limited duties): Ruth.  Steerage Class: Doug.
Most important item forgotten: dog breath treats.
Best meal: Indonesian breakfast at Lovesick Lock.
Worst meal: bowl of cashews and prunes.
Worst purchase: winter hat made of gray and red socks with sock antlers. ( $25, !!).
Worst goose nest: four large goose eggs on broken piece of sidewalk with disfuntional acting parents standing nearby.
Best navigation day: crossing Lake Ontario by chart and compass to the right spot.
Worst navigation day: on the Hudson River near Albany going into cabin to get something then resuming the tiller and heading back toward NYC.  2 times

Hi Everyone,
Finally, finally after 61 days arrived in Duluth today.  Yesterday I was stuck on a sandbar in Port Wing, Wisconsin and thought the trip was over.
I met a lot of wonderful people and am very happy to be able to go home Wednesday after the boat goes into storage.
The video is from Rainbow Falls near Black River Harbor in the Ottawa National Forest (Michigan).
My best regards to all of you,  Doug …and Byrdie

Transatlantic Trip, 1968