Motor Trouble and Hurricane Ike

Crusising along in the morning after picking up load of Laundry I informed my husband that tomorrow I wanted to stop in the morning to find a church and he informed me that today is Sunday. Oops I lost a day somewhere. Passed through Lock B28 and before we made it to Lock A28 Dick mentioned an engine issue. Nice Butt had come up beside us and we realized we were only making 5 knots and reving at the same rpms we do when we do 7 kts. Stopped after Lock to
A28 and checked the Transmission Fluid. It was hot and thin and hard to tell what was going on. Only able to progress at 5 kts of speed our comrades hung in there with us and put up with the slow pace. Scenery changed to predomiately rural and lots of forest and duck ponds around. The greens area along the shore were inhabited by Amish families complete with horse and buggies enjoying picnics by the water. How pastoral is that. The Lock master at Lock 26 recommended we talk to Andy at Lock 25 and he could recommend us a Mechanic and Marina for support. Andy said we were in a remote area and needed to keep going until we made it to a Restaurant at Weedport called Delvaney's. It was near Interstate 90 and it would be open today for us to get the Transmission Fluid. Andy recommended a Mechanic at EssKay at Brewerton but at 5 knots we would not make it farther than the Restaurant. When we made it there the state dock was dominated by a Dredger and here was no where to tie up. OH no desperate to try to figure out what to do with all three boats Larry from Sinn Fein asked a fellow by the name of Kevin if we could use his private dock and raft off. He kindly agreed and even drove Dick to Interstate Service Centre. During all this day the heat was sweltering and the humidity was unbareable.
Captain remainded positive and kept taking things in stride, FM was singing hymms and reciting scripture in her brain. After a hugely frustrating day the crews went out for dinner. At dark we returned to our boats and the wind kept building. The tale end of Ike was upon us and no one got any sleep from 1-4 a.m. The wind strongest I have ever experience, evidence the next day it had blow a big top tent over and lifted a pontoon plane upside down, knock a tree over take hydro down. Anyway I learned something about anxiety it has nothing whatever to do with reality. When you are in the situation there is peace and commraderie and even a few jokes exchanged as you try to keep a vigial on all your earthy possessions. I know this is only a taste of what maybe ahead for us but I am confident of abiding Grace that gets us threw these things. I am also very grateful for our commrades who stood by and supported us threw a frustrating day.