A new cruise boat arrived in Sunapee Friday after a long journey from the Ozark area of Missouri and a delay of over a week in Kentucky. Many folks were standing along Route 11 in Sunapee to greet it. The photo above shows it Saturday in its temporary home on High Street waiting for a top deck, stern enclosure, and pilot house.
We first saw it when it sat at the base of Trow Hill waiting for the scheduled time for its grand entry into the village Friday around 10:30.
Here it is being pulled out onto Route 11 and heading toward town.
It parked in front of the Sherburne Gym, taking up a full lane of Route 11. For some reason the truck pulling it unhooked for while. Maybe the driver wanted a donut and coffee, though he could have gotten them by simply walking across the road.
While the truck was absent, the trailer rested on a few pieces of wood.
The driver returned, hooked up and got ready to move.
Here it is in motion. This rig is a very low rider, barely inches off the pavement.
It crossed the Sugar River while people watched and photographed. Almost all were using their phones to record the event.
The boat had to be driven backwards up Route 103B so it could be parked correctly in a lot off High Street. The truck couldn’t pull it into its temporary space heading forward. So the truck drove a bit past Route 103B and stopped in the middle of Route 11 so it could back up along Route 103B.
Traffic was halted on Routes 11 and 103B.
Starting to back up, the rig scraped bottom. Then the truck backed up a bit more …
… and ran into trouble when the rear wheels seemed to have a mind of their own and veered off at a bad angle.
The truck that led the parade had an unconcerned dog riding shotgun.
I climbed onto a rock to get an overview of the scene.
A full fifteen minutes after stopping in the middle of Route 11, the boat finally was heading up Route 103B — backwards.
It passed the Town Offices with more folks watching and photographing.
From a web site set up by Sunapee Cruises, here is what the boat will look like with some additions. I believe it will get a new name in addition to a top deck and pilot house.
If you go to the site below, you can learn more about the journey and the plans for the boat.
If you missed my Rainbow Over Lake Sunapee blog, you can see it if you CLICK HERE.