July 24-28                             North Kingstown, Rhode Island

Cool weather and workmen arrived when the rains stopped.  Rupe came to complete the repair and painting needed on the aft deck.  Dave came to remove the plastic curtains on the aft deck and measure for new ones.  We were notified the life raft and responder device were ready for pickup at the shop in Tiverton.  This provided another excuse to explore unseen areas of Rhode Island.

  

The life raft, formerly contained in a metal container mounted on the side of the bridge, was no longer certifiable.  A new one would cost at least $3,000.  As it is not mandatory to have a life raft and it is highly unlikely we would be able to utilize it in case of an emergency, we opted to throw away the old one and depend instead on the dinghy.  The responder was certified with a new $400.00 battery and remounted for easy access. 

The journey to Tiverton was interesting. We discovered the area was home to large facilities of General Dynamics and Raytheon, defense contractors with the navy.  We also found the impressive campus of the Newport Auto Museum and planned a visit when our grandson comes in August.  Their collection of expensive, unique domestic and foreign cars is renowned.

David is an avid fan of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives TV show and takes notice when a place is featured in our area.  He remembered seeing a recent program featuring Evelyn’s Drive-In in Tiverton and we found it on a back road near a lovely bay.  It was definitely a drive-in but a charming place with a patio and deck surrounded by lovely blooming plants.  The menu was mostly seafood and our orders of fried clam strips and fish and chips were outstanding.  Very casual, very clean and very good!  The waiter noticed Pretzel’s Baylor embossed leash and began rhapsodizing about Baylor and its sports teams.  His cousin has been a football player there under Coach Briles and he and David re-hashed the entire scandal scenario.

Our view over the bay from our dock at Wickford Shipyard includes a long finger of land with trees, homes and large commercial buildings near the point.  We assumed this was a naval facility but an afternoon drive provided different information.  Hidden in a densely wooded area were some lovely condos, charming neighborhoods and a road leading to a busy site dominated by huge buildings bearing signs designating them as belonging to General Dynamics Electric Boat division.  To me, the name implied some kind of toy but obviously this was not true.  Wickford and other nearby places are involved in a multi-billion-dollar contract to build nuclear submarines.  Impressive!!