Greetings from Mister Bilge

[MisterBilge]

Hello from an old fat guy whose boat (28' S2) is currently in his back yard being re-fit (backyard good....75 mile away boatyard bad.)
Been on Lake Cahmplain for about 28 yrs, come next season the plan is to go S on the lake, down the Champlain Canal, down the Hudson, out Long Island Sound and up the coast on New England, probably leaving the boat somewhere around Portsmouth NH in the Fall, return trip or DownEast on 2010. Hoping to spend extensive time in my native RI (kept boats in Newport and Greenwich Bay years ago.)
Hope to be spinning yarns extensively with you over the long, cold winter here in Vermont.

Cheers,

MrB

[camaraderie]

Hey welcome! Member Labatt just did that trip so you two should compare notes. Where in VT is 75 miles away from Champlain? (I went to school 35 miles south of Burlington and lived in Winooski for a bit later.) It's a dry cold eh?

[craigtoo]

Glad to have ya Mr. B!

Throw a log on and pour yourself snifter full!

[Perithead]

Welcome, and good luck with your refit!

If you have any questions ask, the people here love to help.

[MisterBilge]

Originally Posted by camaraderie

Hey welcome! Member Labatt just did that trip so you two should compare notes. Where in VT is 75 miles away from Champlain? (I went to school 35 miles south of Burlington and lived in Winooski for a bit later.) It's a dry cold eh?

Ahh…Mr. C
You present me with my first opportunity to spin a yarn.
I was schlepping around Old San Juan some years ago, and poked into a local looking joint, I believe named “Maria’s.”
Maria, who was, oddly, French was the proprietor/barmaid and husband of my stool mate…an interesting bird if there ever was one. He was an elderly guy. A Reebok on the left foot, a Nike on the right. His shirt was tattered and torn. His fingers nicotine stained. Unshaven. I found it interesting he and wife Maria didn’t share fluency in any one particular language, but as I’ve just celebrated 32 years of marital bliss….BLISS….@#$%^&* BLISS I TELL YOU!!! it seems to make more and more sense all the time.
Anyway, as we’re making small talk, he tells me about marching up to (and running back from) the Yalu River with McArthur. Asking me where I was from, I responded “..Vermont.” at which time he states: “Ah yes, Vermont. Fine skiing. I went to college up there…” and as he couldn’t remember the name of the college, I started to rattle some of them off, none of which rang a bell to him.
Wow.
By now, I’m starting to feel a Jimmy Buffet song welling up somewhere in the recesses of my mind as the rum is starting to take affect. I’m guessing he wasn’t in the same state of buzz, as he was drinking cans of Similac. Must help if your wife is the bar manager/tender. I’m having a hard time imagining bellying up to a joint in the Caribbean and requesting “…yeah..gimme a Similac…neat….no glass…can’s ok.”
So the small talk continues, and outta the blue he pipes up “Middlebury…that’s where I went to school!” (The reason for this whole rant, gentle reader, is Mr. C states he went to school 35 miles S of Burlington, which I deduce to be Middlebury.)
So on we went for another however so long, eventually going our separate ways. My life enriched, his…….well, who knows.
Anybody been to Maria’s? She had a picture of herself and, of all people, O.J. hanging up behind the bar.

[craigtoo]

Great Story!

Never been to Maria's though....

[WouldaShoulda]

I was in Vermont once...

Let's see, there was ice cream, Hippies, and B&Bs if I recall.

Yup, that's it!!

[MisterBilge]

"..there was ice cream.."
Yep, my first dip was done by a hippie. It was Ben. He & Jerry don't do the dipping anymore.

[camaraderie]

Hah...LOL...a lot of us Midd kids end up on bar stools in out of the way places!

Now...I'll go you one more...since you mention Ben. I played ball with the guy who drew the Cows on his ice cream containers. Still there in Midd with many $$$'s in his pocket...all from cows!!
Check this out:
Woody Jackson - home of Holy Cow, Inc. and his famous herd of holstein images and cow art

[MisterBilge]

Ahh yes. Of your Midd vintage there was probably Brian Curry, whom I shared a farmhouse with up in Bakersfield, brother-in-law of a college roomate of mine at TCU, and Tyrone T of the "Throbulators."
About a year ago, the Dog Team burned down under very peculiar circumstances.