That's it for this one

Hi-
This leg of the voyage is over - we rented a car in Norfolk, loaded the kayak and drove up to DC to visit the folks and regroup. V had had enough - she gave it her all till it was all gone, and when she said it was time to do something else, well...that's what we're doing. She said she felt like she aged 10 years in 2 weeks, and so had I...she said. I don't see it that way, but it takes 2. We're disappointed, but...hey - what the heck. I'll have an opportunity to get my bones back in their sockets and we're planning on heading back to fresh water and do some of the rivers running across this continent - kayaking in salt water is a stretch of patience and endurance and tolerance of inhospitable conditions like salt and staying too far off the coast to catch wind and there are too few good places to stop and stand or camp - we'd get in the boat at 9 am and get out at 6 or 7 pm... it seemed we were working to get somewhere and enduring where we were, ever struggling to move on. Rivers will carry us and life will be easier.

So yesterday we got in the Deep Creek lock at 8:30 (George the lockmaster is another saint), after I discovered my Brunton Solaris 26 watt charger had gone belly-up, as had previously my West Marine VHF250 radio charger and before that the DeLorme PN-20 GPS charging cable...and then the GPS lost its program and there was nothing to be done but resort to road maps and go lo-tech...actually a relief after all the wiz-bang tech stress.
The night before the Deep Creek police blasted us with light in our tent on the dock and after we explained our situation they were sufficiently amused to say it was OK to stay...that afternoon in Deep Creek we had hit a Chinese Restaurant and Food Lion and got a box of wine, tortillas, pnut butter, powdered milk, a couple of cans of vegetables and some granola bars...our rice and bean supply was great...oh yeah - after we used the Coleman stove the first time we couldn't get it running all the next day, so we gave it to a kid at the dock.
Below the lock the water was brackish, and we paddled N up the S Branch of the Elizabeth River and through miles of the maritime industrial zone, where they dismantle ships into hills of steel, where old docks and pier stumps and big rusty ships with flags from who knows where were tied up idle, doing who knows what, and barges and tugs and a few pleasure boats on the "main" Intracoastal Waterway met the few boats of the Dismal Swamp ICWW, old steel railroad bridges raised, and car bridges, I-64 over a tall bridge and other roads across draw bridges that didn't need to raise for us...the wind dead calm and the temperature climbing in a hot sun, on up to Portsmouth where a police boat didn't answer our greeting wave and where drydocks had ships getting maintenance and under the bridge I used to pedal across back in the winter of '77 or so to get to the aircraft carrier...it charged a bicycle a dime to cross, but I usually skipped the toll...
And all the Navy ships in drydock or tied up with lots of security...watchmen with guns and friendly workers waving and hollering...the sun getting warmer and a little breeze now and then...on into the main Elizabeth River, past downtown Norfolk and up the docks and newer construction, past the Norfolk Southern RR coal docks and on up the shore until we got near the Lafayette River with the USS United States (fastest Atlantic crossing at one time) idle ahead, with some big swells coming through us from passing boats and Hampton Roads getting closer and the temperature climbing and us paddling and sweating in the salt air and me jabbering trying to keep V calm as we saw Hampton Roads ahead - she saw nothing good ahead and said it was time to end, so we did. She cried a little, but it was a good cry. We went to the Norfolk Yacht Club and pulled up the kayak and I got a rental car and we drove up to see DC to see my folks, and now it is on the grass and V did laundry, and now we're looking at French Creek in W PA which flows into the Allegheny River and then the Ohio. Looks like we'll rent another car and head up there next week.
We learned that Pamlico Sound NC is a wonder of nature with diverse birds and water creatures and trees and grasses and rivers and creatures of the land...and don't forget great humans doing the best they can to help and enjoy every moment...Albermarle Sound, the Dismal Swamp...wow. We had a great leg on this ongoing trip, and we'll now go somewhere else and see what we see.