Ravenswood to Pomeroy

Day 12:  Wednesday, August 24, 2016

You can monitor our trip at the link: Second Winds Progress Live

We didn’t prepare our coffee or breakfast this morning.  It is a story to be told!  At

Leaving the dock in Ravenswood

the beginning of the trip one morning as I was brewing coffee, our stove caught fire in the form of a mini explosion.  It popped and then continued to burn in the area where the fuel canister is stored.  The way it works, you place a spray paint-type can of butane into the stove then actuate it by pushing down a lever that shoves the valve of the can into the valve of the stove.  However, on that occasion, the can leaked a small amount of butane which finally accumulated enough of a pocket that it ignited at the burner.  The small amount of escaping fuel continued to burn in a small flame at the valve.  By disengaging the canister, the fire stopped.

To find out if the canister was leaking, I would light the stove then blow across the

The Villain

valve toward the burner flame.  If it would be leaking, it would ignite a small flame at the canister valve.  The stove valve assembly has a small o-ring that fits around the projection on the fuel can thus preventing the leak, however, the o-ring on our stove failed to make a tight seal.  To make a long story short, the problem only got worse. Toward the end, I would engage the canister and then strike a flame onto the valve with a fire starter stick so as to detect a leak. 

Laundry day on Second Wind

This past weekend, I was lamenting the problem with our stove to a couple of our sailing friends who live in Parkersburg and one of them said that if I ordered one on Amazon Prime and had it delivered to his house, he would drive it to wherever we were.  It was too good of a deal to pass up so I ordered one Sunday evening and it arrived at Jim Philpott’s home yesterday.  He had emailed us that he had to make a trip to Ravenswood WV on Wednesday (today) and that if it arrived in the two days promised, we could meet up there.

Now back to the coffee.  This morning, I could do nothing to make the canister seal

And we are sailing towards Racine Dam

into the valve body so there was no way we could brew our coffee or cook a breakfast.  So, when Jim arrived at the dock at 8:00 in the morning, we were more than excited to be able to take him to breakfast at Tudor’s Biscuit World where I was able to get numerous cups of coffee and some wonderful sausage gravy on a really fine biscuit.  Janine had huge blueberry pancakes and Jim had a breakfast special that had all species of breakfast foods on 1 ½ plates. 

And another lock

Jim is an avid sailor with a world of experience including an Atlantic crossing. So we had a great time spinning sea stories over the boat load of fresh coffee and fine food.

Back at the boat, we unpacked our new shiny stove and gave it a trial run on a fresh pot of coffee.  It worked marvelously well.  And, we again felt safe firing up the burner.

We headed out onto the calm river and cruised along until we came to a spot in the river where it bends around and travels due north.  We had a light southerly wind so we raised both the main and jib until we had to pull down all of the canvas in preparation for passing through the Racine Lock.  This passage was the smoothest we have accomplished.  Once the gates were open, we pulled up and stopped at one of the floating bitts and Janine dropped the line over.  We called the lockmaster informing him that we were secure and the water began to flow out. 

Motoring out of Racine Lock

Maybe 15 minutes later we started the motor and we were on our way.

We were able to sail a couple of other times as the day progressed but the winds were light and, down in the river valley, they were both in our face and often swirly. 

We arrived at the town of Pomeroy after traveling about 28 miles.  This is one interesting town.  It is about 2 miles long and 2 blocks wide with no 4-way stop signs. The county court house is three stories tall and each floor has a ground level exit.  It is built

Meigs County's Courthouse in Pomeroy

up against a bluff.  They have a beautiful waterfront that is most welcoming, however, we passed that dock and opted for the private dock of the Wild Horse Café. They have a solid concrete and steel dock with a steel staircase that leads up to the restaurant. I had an opportunity to eat here several times over the years when I was a Health Commissioner and attended district meetings in this neat little town.  I had a huge enchilada and Janine had a Reubin sandwich.  Neither of us were able to finish our meal.  On the way out I asked the young hostess where I could buy some ice and she said that she could give us ice, producing a huge to-go bag full.  We also asked the manager if we could remain at their dock for the night and with

The Wild Horse Cafe

no hesitation he agreed.  He also suggested that they had ice cream after I told him of my goal to eat that fine member of the mandatory food groups every day.  At 8:30, we climbed the stairs for our ice cream fix.

By the way, I failed to mention that I ceremoniously deposited the old stove with fanfare into the trash receptacle in the parking lot of the Ravenswood Municipal Dock.

Our friends, Tony and Lynn Burgess, emailed us that they would be coming to join us for lunch tomorrow at Point Pleasant.  We are looking forward to it.