Still in Dismal Swamp Canal

This morning all six of the boats left heading north in the Dismal Swamp Canal from the Welcome Center.  The entire canal is a no wake zone.  We were speeding along at between 4 and 6 mph.  The bridge tender, who is also the lock tender, opened the bridge 15 minutes early since we were the only boat traffic around.  All of us stayed at the free dock just before the Deep Creek Lock.  Originally, we had planned on going to Norfolk or Hampton today, but we had so much fun with this group of boaters that we decided to stay with them.  John and I walked into town with Norm and Sue.  We had lunch at a Chinese restaurant and then did a little shopping at the Food Lion Grocery Store.  We needed coffee, bread, charcoal, and they had a deal on soft drinks.  We brought our "milk crate on wheels with a handle" so we didn't have to carry the heavy stuff back. 

 That's "Runaround Sue" ahead of us in the canal.  It's so narrow and they keep the trees trimmed so the sailboats can make it through without their masts hitting the tree cover.

 Part of the canal is in North Carolina and part is in Virginia.

 This house is right on the shore and almost hidden by all of the trees.

We saw this little duck family while walking back from the grocery store.  Aren't they cute?

This picture was taken by Ken Christison whom we met while walking the boardwalk yesterday.

We grilled out again with all of the boaters:  Margaret, Bob, Jacques, Fred, Mark, Norm, Sue, John and myself.  The lock tender named Robert Peek spent a great deal of time with us sharing the history of the Dismal Swamp. We enjoyed his narration.  He showed us his conch shell collection and then blew one like a horn, making it sound more musical than any other one I've ever heard.  There is a family cemetery in the park.  The headstones are from the 1800s.  One man is buried closer to his concubine than he is to his wife.  Hmmm. Winters are pretty boring for Robert because not too many boats come down the canal in the cold weather.  So, he showed us a chess set he is making in his spare time.  He bought the ceramic molds and painted all of the pieces.  Now he is working on the board.  We are so glad that we decided to do the Dismal Swamp instead of the Virginia Cut.  It's been educational, beautiful, and fun.