Michael, the novice, and last summer

Michael here...

I'm the novice on the trip. Well, not a complete novice, but I have pretty much forgetten everything I learned last summer. Rem sailed the Ohio river last summer, starting in East Liverpool, Ohio, where Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia all meet, and the Ohio stops going north and starts heading south. The Ohio is what forms the borders and the panhandle of the tri-state area.

I had broken my ankle last June 11th on a basement staircase, and was pretty much homebound all summer. I had no idea that he had even taken this trip until he returned. At this point, I was getting out a bit more (thankfully), and ran into him at our local watering hole. When he told me that he had done the Ohio River, but had started in East Liverpool, I asked, "Why didn't you start the trip in Pittsburgh, where the Ohio starts?"

I'm from Pittsburgh originally, so I was a bit incredulous that he hadn't. After all, Pittsburgh supposedly has more boats registered than any other inland city (or something like that - Pittsburghers grow up with these kind of least/most stats all their lives). Well, he said he couldn't find any launches there, so East Liverpool it was. Well I knew there had to be a launch somewhere in Pittsburgh. Rem was eager to find it, and as the conversation progressed, invited me to join him on the trip if we found it.

But there I was with a cast on my right leg.

I knew I was getting it off by mid-to-late August - and it was my neice's birthday party in Pittsburgh on the last weekend of August. So, since I was going home to Pittsburgh that weekend, and knew I should have the cast off, I suggested either side of that Sunday, if everything worked out.

Well, we did find the launch, and I got my cast off just a week before the trip. But I still hadn't ever been on a sailboat yet...