When I got up this morning, the boat next to us was getting ready to leave and I didn't see any sign of the flashlights, so I dressed quickly and got my Royak ready. Woke Roy up and asked him if the flashlights had been returned. He said they hadn't, so I jumped in my Royak and paddled to the other boat, just as they were pulling up their anchor. When I asked about the flashlights, the man said he'd taken them over in his dinghy and laid them on the starboard deck. Sure enough, there they were. I had looked around on the deck but hadn't seen them. Anyway, I was glad to get them back.
What a perfect day for the Fourth of July! Blue sky for the first time in days. Calm, sunny, warm, with a light northeast breeze to keep it from getting too hot.
The exodus began early in the morning. Boat after boat, going out the channel. We watched them for a while and then went paddling, again in different directions but agreeing to meet near the ferry dock to watch the one o'clock parade.
At 11:30, I returned to the boat, ate lunch, and set out for town. As I was paddling across the harbor, I saw what looked like another yellow Royak in the distance, so I paddled towards it, thinking it was Roy, but when I got closer, I saw it was just a plastic kayak, so I continued on. The guy in the kayak paddled over to me and struck up a conversation. Turned out he rents kayaks here on Block Island. He has fifty of them that he rents for $35 a half-day. Of course, I sang the praises of Royaks, and he seemed interested.
I figured Roy would have gone to Harbor Pond, which is close to town, so I paddled over there, but didn't see any sign of his Royak. I pulled up on the far side of the pond, near the road. The tide was low, so I pulled my Royak up about twenty feet and put it in back of a large rock to protect it from the rising tide. Walked to the road and up towards the ferry dock and even past the ferry dock, looking for Roy. Thousands of people lined the streets, but none of them even vaguely resembled Roy. After twenty minutes or so, the parade started, so I gave up looking and stood at the side of the street, watching the parade. One group that went by was throwing out salt-water taffy, so I grabbed a couple of pieces and was eating one when I noticed a familiar-looking blue shirt out of the corner of my eye. Looked more closely, and sure enough, the shirt was on Roy. He had walked right in front of me without seeing me. I scurried up to him, took his arm, and asked, "Are you looking for a parade?" He was so startled, he jumped! But he was very glad to see me. We happily watched the rest of the parade together. We were really impressed by what a good parade this little town put on. Best we've seen in years. They had several brass bands and a bagpipe band. Very good and lots of fun.
Roy hadn't had any lunch except the candy the paraders had thrown out, so we went to a nice little restaurant after the parade. He ate lunch, and I ate a dish of delicious ice cream.
Bought a loaf of raisin bread and returned to our respective Royaks. I was very glad I'd put mine in back of the rock; the tide had come in, and the water was all the way up to it. Roy had put his Royak in the same place we'd been a couple of days ago.
Roy went to the boat to paint the wind generator, and I paddled to the other side of the harbor, where the creeks are. I had tried to go up the creeks a couple of days ago, but the water was too low. Had no trouble getting up them this time, but they didn't go very far. I had hoped to be able to land on sand and walk across to the ocean side, but there was nothing but marsh grass.
Saw a lovely little doe, standing stock still. I stopped paddling and watched her for several minutes. Then she ran off.
When I got back to the boat, Roy was washing the hull. He had given up on painting the generator, because it was too windy.
What a perfect day this was, from beginning to end! We're so glad we decided to spend the three-day weekend at Block Island.
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