OK, so here is the “story” as to why we are here.

Well I guess after this post I’ll find out who all is following the blog.  SPOILER ALERT:  WE ARE OK, EVERYTHING IS FINE, DO NOT WORRY.

After the Rendezvous, the northbound Looper boats each head into the Chesapeake into various locations, and many then reunite after the C&D Canal / New Jersey and New York as we gather in the Erie Canal to head into Canada. We don’t usually travel in a pack or group, although we all watch for the AGLCA burgee (small flag) and often socialize with other Loopers along the way.  Artie and I decided to head to Tangier Island, a small island in the middle of the Chesapeake.  While it is geographically in the center of the Chesapeake, it is remote in the sense that there is little or no cell phone service or internet connection.  There is only one small marina, Parks Marina, run by its 85-year-old proprietor, Milton Parks.

As we were headed on our several hour cruise to Tangier, Artie started to complain of a pain in his heel and said that as soon as we got in, he wanted me to check for a splinter.  His sock was a bit bloody when we arrived, and I saw what might have been a small splinter.  I cleaned and bandaged it and off we went to see the Island by golf cart.  Artie quickly started feeling “not well”.  By that night, he was running a temperature and agreed that at our next stop, we would go to an Urgent Care and have the foot looked over.  Within a couple of hours, he spiked an extremely high temperature and I was able to have the local clinic opened that night to take his temperature ( I was sure that my home thermometer MUST have been wrong).  Long story short, the local PA took one look at his heel and temperature, and called in the State Police Air Rescue.  I left the dog and the boat with the marina and fellow boaters, and we were air lifted into the trauma center about a half hour away.  He was seen in the emergency room, and a CT scan of his foot showed that he somehow had a 1.5 centimeter long, thin piece of metal in his foot.  He never felt it go in, and yes, he always wears shoes.  He’s not a barefoot kind of guy.

Given the high temperature and the CT scan, it was finally determined that he had a very bad infection and that the piece of metal had to be removed.  Fast forward, he had surgery, was kept in the hospital for most of the week, , then transferred to a rehab facility in the town of Crisfield, MD.  I was able to take the mail boat back to Tangier and have a local captain assist me in bringing the boat over from Tangier to Crisfield, and here we remain as he completes his course of treatment.  We will likely cut the northern portion of the Chesapeake short and head home to NY as promptly as possible, before eventually continuing on the Loop.