Breaking Away's Adventures on the Great Loop Cruise

Sun has set on Great Loop adventure

2011-06-29T17:32:00.000-07:00

Today I "crossed my wake" on Breaking Away, and the end has come to this glorious Great Loop trip after 14 months.

This picture captures the very moment I reached the spot near the originating marina in Kent Narrows where I turned north back on May 4, 2010 with Bruce Perry. Today, I reached the same spot from the south with Janet Amuchastegui, and turned in toward the marina, which means I "crossed my wake".

With nine different mates along the way, I circled over 7000 miles of waterways in the eastern U.S. and Canada. I went up and down through 106 locks, under countless bridges, many of which had to open for me, and into and out of numerous challenges to achieve this dream. Overall it was a wonderful, incredible trip, with so many memories linked to sights, history, scares, old friends, new friends, kindnesses, peacefulness, food, missing loved ones, getting to see loved ones, and living a special life for a year. I will miss some aspects of it, but I am glad it is over and it all came out the way I hoped it would. An experience I will, of course, cherish and never forget.

This picture takes us back to yesterday morning leaving Solomons on the western shore of the Chesapeake, and heading north to the eastern side of the bay. These cliffs were unique for the Chesapeake, and Janet and I had read in the museum the day before that geologists had learned from the shell and fossil layerings of these cliffs how the seas had risen and receded numerous times over the eons.

The lighthouse at Cove Point on the western shore was pretty neat, with more of the cliffs in the background. It was here we slanted on across the bay toward the Choptank River, which led to our destination, Oxford. (If we had continued farther up the Choptank, we'd have reached Cambridge!)

We anchored in the calm little bay at Oxford and took the dinghy to a dock to explore the town. It is famous for its old "picket fence" charm. They are proud to say that it was declared a port city by Maryland's legislature back in 1683, and one of Maryland's signers of the Declaration of Independence, Robert Morris, was from here.

It truly was a cute little town to see, but dang, it was HOT and HUMID. We needed shade and A/C, but they were in short supply.

Here's another handsome old home in Oxford. The sidewalks were all of old brick, with different laying patterns and brick types, indicating old patchworks over time.

Here's the Robert Morris Inn, dating from 1710, where James Michener spent time while writing Chesapeake.

This ferry is famous because it is the oldest privately operated ferry in the country. It dates from 1683 and operated until 1775. It resumed service in 1836 and has been continuously operating since then. It was going all day while we were there, even passing in front of us when we were arriving in the boat. It held 9 cars.

We wanted to see the Oxford Museum, since it was the only thing mentioned in the AAA book about the town, but it was closed on Tuesdays.

We finally got back to the dinghy in our sweaty condition, and went back to the boat and turned on the generator and A/C. Wow did we need that! We took showers and after thoroughly cooling off, went back into the dinghy over to a nearby restaurant, Schooners. I got to have the crab cakes I'd been craving for a while, since they're so advertised in the Chesapeake Bay. They were yum yum yummy! Janet had fish tacos she liked a lot too. In the background of the picture, if you look carefully, you can see Breaking Away.

Outside the restaurant we saw this elegant white bird, but we weren't sure if it was a Mute Swan or a Snow Goose.

Today we left Oxford at 9 am, after a night that included wild lightning, rain, strong winds, dragging anchor, and little sleep. At 4 am the workboats (that harvest oysters and crabs) headed out behind us and rocked us with their wakes. I was thinking how glad I was this sort of restless night would finally be over.

As we cruised west out of the Choptank River, we found this little shortcut through Knapps Narrows. It separates the mainland from Tilghman Island, and has this bridge that had to open for us. My last bridge to call on the radio phone to request an opening. The last time cars had to wait for me. It was a scenic little spot, and we learned it was used in the movie, Failure to Launch.

It was then only about 20 miles to reach my trip's end, but again, here we were facing some dicey conditions on my final day to remove any doubts that I should be glad it was finally over. There were pretty strong cross winds and swells rocking us, and those are always the worst.

Here we are approaching the Kent Narrows bridge, which I went under many times while practicing to operate the boat. Bruce and I went under it to begin the trip too, and I recall looking back as we were leaving it behind in the distance on our first day.

And here I am celebrating the end of my journey! The little Great Loop burgee flag has been flying there at the bow since September. Felt great! I was so happy to have Janet with me for this emotional event; I missed her so much during the times we were apart in the past 14 months.

I got lots of smiles and congratulatory hugs from her today, as well as encouragement to dock the boat safely in the wind because I had to back in and hope for the best. It was actually a struggle to tie up here, but we did it! It seemed like an appropriate ending of relief, since the previous 24 hours had included so many reminders of what can make this kind of trip a challenge (storms, winds, dragging anchor, worrying and boat wakes allowing little sleep, heat, bugs inside the boat, side swells, docking in a wind).

I shut down the engine with 1021 hours on it. 914 had come during the trip. I counted hours and locks and miles, but I'll say it again, I'm glad I didn't count the beers! haha Time for another now! Goodbye!

Fun in Solomons!

2011-06-28T04:07:00.000-07:00

What a delightful scene to wake up to last Saturday morning, a line of birds on my bow rail. I just didn't want them to poop, since we'd spent much time cleaning the boat! One of the highlights of the previous two days was watching all the birds and their antics with each other, so having them lined up on my rail was fitting.

Janet's comment: We also got a kick out of the schools of little fish that would make the top of the water's surface look like dotted-Swiss...they all of a sudden they would leap out of the water when they were under attack from a predator fish from below.

So, we had to depart this peaceful dock in VA, where friends Eric and Sue are having a home built. Janet and I got to relax a lot and enjoy scenes like this from our chairs on the dock.

The workers started their saws and hammering at about 7 am, but we needed to get up and get going anyway. We had a long trip out into the Chesapeake Bay and up to Solomons, MD, a famous boating area.

Janet's comment: we were entertained by rays and dolphins which delighted us and we kept our eyes wide open and hoped dolphins would join along side the boat, but they never did. It was exciting to see 6-8 dorsal fins surface in unison.

What kind of people would just throw their cans into the dinghy like this? Slobs. Luckily, we did get to recycle this aluminum, which has been a challenge along this entire boat trip.

This is the lighthouse at Lookout Point, where the Potomoc River starts at its north end. We finally got back out into the Chesapeake after 9 glorious days in the Potomac.

Once we reached Solomons and got docked at our marina, Andy and Pauline Benson drove over and picked us up and we had a totally fun evening with them. Andy works for an association I had belonged to in D.C., and they have a condo here for their weekends and holidays. They gave us a tour of Solomons and Solomons Island, highlighted by this stop at the famous Tiki Bar.

In late April every year, up to 14,000 people descend here to celebrate the opening of the Tiki Bar for the season. Hard to believe that many people could squeeze onto this island, but they do. Even the guide books said of all the special events surrounding this boaters paradise each year, the Tiki Bar season opening is the biggest.

On a hot, humid day, we sure enjoyed these cool drinks at the Tiki Bar. We loved hearing their stories of how they met in York, England, and found their way to America in 1980.

After this, they took us to their home. Then, as their guests, we attended a dinner block party in the neighborhood for a community of boating fanatics! Many of them liked hearing about the Great Loop. It was sorta funny how boaters must, right away, distinguish whether you are a sailor or a power boater. Janet and I had a fabulous time there.

The next morning, Sunday, Andy and Pauline drove us to a grocery store to get much-needed supplies. It had been 6 days since we'd been in a city, and therefore near a store. In the afternoon, we went with them on their really cool 29-ft speedy cruiser for a tour of the wide Patuxent River. What a huge difference to be boating along at 35 mph hour after being used to 8 mph! Fun!

We cruised into several bays and coves off the river, which were filled with Sunday boaters, and finally settled on St Leonard's Creek to anchor up for lunch. It was a quiet spot they knew of, away from the crowds. Andy and Pauline served us up a yummy picnic lunch, and then we lollygagged. Andy swam.

They eventually sped us back to Solomons and then idled up to Breaking Away, tying up next to her. Janet and I stepped from their boat to ours! We said our goodbyes for an incredible two days of visiting and fun.

Yesterday we did some more touring around the area, using the dinghy to get from place to place. Here we are at the Calvert Marine Museum, where they have the 1875 lighthouse that used to be nearby at the entrance to the Patuxent River. Interesting to see how the lighthouse keepers lived, especially knowing they had children. We also saw two otters in a tank, as well as many other interesting fish and crabs and local history.

We walked around the village for more history, and here is an 1889 church. We enjoyed a quiet and scenic dinner at a waterfront restaurant, and finally took the dinghy back to the boat. We were by now anchored just 50 yards off of the marina we'd been at for the previous two days.

And here is the scene this morning as the sun rose over our anchorage in Solomons. Only one more sunrise tomorrow from Oxford, MD, and then the sun will set on my Great Loop adventure. We plan to cruise tomorrow afternoon to where Bruce Perry and I began 14 months ago. Breaking Away will cross its wake, and I will have finished one of my life's most exciting adventures.

Fixin' a crab dinner!

2011-06-24T17:59:00.000-07:00

See those two "monster" crabs? (haha) Well, that was dinner tonight! Janet and I are now crab experts in the land of crabs. We caught em ourselves, boiled em, cleaned em, and relished em! You can have no more fun than that here in the waters of the Chesapeake.

See more on our case of the crabs at the end. First we need to get caught up from the last blog entry.

Here I am at the St Clements Island Potomac River Museum (that's a mouthful) last Tuesday. A week earlier we had cruised past St Clements Island and I showed a picture of a 40-ft-high cross and a cool lighthouse on it. I remarked how in 1634, Lord Baltimore landed with two ships and 140 men to found the state of Maryland. Well, there's a museum dedicated to that landing, and it has its own dock for visitors. That's Breaking Away out there.

Trouble was, there was a big swell slamming the boat against the dock, and that made us uneasy, especially because we stayed there an extra amount of time while I rode the bike to a grocery store 4 miles away. Poor Janet tried her best to continuously position the fenders to minimize the banging, but it was still bad enough to make her think the boat was going to crack apart.

This relentless swell was a surprise given that the long 55-mile cruise that day had been flat and boring. The only exciting thing had been when the Navy came on the radio telling me exactly where I had to cruise down a 4-mile section of the river to avoid their explosives exercise. They had Navy boats monitoring both ends of this section of the Potomac. Anyway, the bad swells came only as we were finally docking near the end of the day.

This picture shows St Clements Island in the background. It used to be 400 acres in 1634, but is only 46 acres now. Lord Baltimore (actual name - Cecil Calvert) wasn't actually on the boats that came over; he sent them, because King Charles I had just given him sole ownership of the land that comprised Maryland. Calvert's goal was to provide religious freedom, since he was a persecuted Catholic in his pro-Protestant homeland.

It turned out the landing party stayed at St Clements Is for only three weeks, before deciding to move back down the Potomac 20 miles to St Mary's River. We went there the next day. On this night, we couldn't wait to leave the dock and sail back farther to an anchorage in calm water. We dropped anchor in the same place we'd been a week earlier. Such a peaceful spot it was!

The next morning, last Wednesday, we cruised the 20 miles down to St Mary's River, and tied up at a free dock at St Mary's College. The college is all that's there, where in the 17th century had been an active town and the state capital. When Maryland moved the capital to Annapolis in 1695, the town declined and vanished (as a town) before long.

The area became farm land, until in about 1934, when Maryland wanted to celebrate the 300th anniversary of its original founding, people, and then archeologists, discovered relic after relic from the original town. Before long, the state converted the entire 800-acre area into Historic St. Mary's City. It has been, and is to this day, an active archeology area, and is now also a tourist attraction.

Janet and I paid our fee, watched the intro movie, and then walked all over the acres to see "ghost houses" like the one in this picture. They have found where building posts had been, but they know little else in their attempts to reconstruct houses. Still, in a few cases, they have reconstructed them as best they can figure and have described how life was in the 17th century. They have found millions of artifacts in their digs.

The two ships that arrived in 1634 were the Dove and the Ark. This is a replica of the Dove, the smaller of the two. What was interesting about the Ark is that it carried 106 tons of beer and 6 tons of wine!! These adventurers knew what would keep them content on their grueling challenge in a new world. I think it's only right that Breaking Away has tried to emulate the libations these early settlers deemed important!

When we completed our touring in the blistering heat and humidity, we rested on the porch of the college boat house. You can see Breaking Away out there.

Once we returned to the boat for a happy hour of homemade fruit slushies, we noticed some kids doing something on nearby rocks. We guessed they were crabbing, but I had to find out for sure. So over I went, and Yes, they were indeed getting crabs. The girl would throw out a line with a chicken neck as bait. Very quickly, crabs would attach themselves to it to eat it. She'd pull it up slowly, and when the boy could see it near the surface, he'd net it. If the crabs get too near the surface, they let go, so the netter has to be quick. They had a bucketful of them, and it was fun to watch. As I was leaving, a family of 7, with baby in his carrier, arrived to do the same thing.

We eventually left the college dock and traveled a couple miles back to a side river, and then into a quiet cove for the night. It was so beautiful, and we took a long dinghy ride to explore the entire river and its many coves, as the sun was setting.

The next morning, yesterday, we cruised south across the Potomac to the Virginia side. Our destination was the private dock of Eric Hentges and Sue Borra, friends who had been at our boat party in Washington, D.C. (and at the Bon Voyage party a year earlier before we departed on the Great Loop). Eric and Sue are building a home here, but their dock is finished and they offered to let us tie up. We've been here two days, and it's a beautiful spot! We've seen a bald eagle fly across the bay, lots of ospreys, herons everywhere, a big white goose, a million swifts, terns, cardinals, and other colorful birds. Fish jump constantly, and during our dinghy explore today we saw a big turtle surface for a breath. (One important goal of the dinghy ride was to find beer. We haven't been near any stores since Monday in Alexandria! A distant marina had the prize.)

Both yesterday and today, Janet and I have been seriously cleaning the boat, since the trip is almost done and Breaking Away will be up for sale. We scrubbed and polished and disinfected...the venetian blinds, the upholstery, the moldy ice-maker door, the black streaks on the hull, polishing all the metal railings, and on and on. We were exhausted yesterday in the high heat, saved only by cloud cover.

A side benefit to Eric's and Sue's dock is that they have two crab traps they said we could use. So, we've been baiting them with anything we could find - pork fat, pork bones, ham, steak. And you know what? Janet and I got crabs! Two of them got into one of the traps. Here I am pulling up the trap when we finally decided it was time to eat them. And see how pretty this setting was?

Janet's addition: Late last night we found 2 crabs and a fish in the trap, and thought what the heck, we are not going to mess with them this late, so we set the trap back thinking the population would grow during the night. Imagine our shock and disappointment to wake up and find the cage was empty. The crabs we got today were probably the same that we had, and escaped, but trapped again.

Here I am reaching into the cage to grab our crabs and toss them into a bucket. Good thing I was wearing gloves, since they quickly pinched my hand HARD when I went for them. When I got them from behind, they grabbed onto the wire cage and would not let go. No matter how hard I pulled, their claws held on. I finally had to use all my finger strength to separate their claws to loosen their grip and pull them out of the cage.

We then tossed them into our freezer since the website we consulted said it was more "humane" before dropping them into the boiling water. We were just hoping they wouldn't tear into our frozen broccoli in there.

Eventually we removed them from the freezer and plopped them into the boiling pot. 10 minutes later, we had them out on the dock cracking them and cleaning them.

Finally we got to eat em up, using my tool-box pliers to crack their claws. We got crabs!

One reason we had to stay here today was because there were small-craft advisories out on the Potomac and Chesapeake Bay. Tomorrow is supposed to be better, so our plan is to cruise up to Solomons, a boater's paradise. We will meet up with Andy Benson, whom we visited last Friday at his office in D.C. He has a boat and a weekend home in Solomons. We're planning on a party weekend once we arrive! If all goes as planned, Breaking Away will cross its wake next Tuesday where Bruce and I began a year ago May 4th. What a celebration that will be!

Janet's comment: Being out here with Ken the last few weeks has been exciting and novel! I feel honored that I will be with him when he "crosses his wake" sometime next week. Meanwhile, even though we are spending time each day cleaning bits and pieces of his boat, we are having wonderful adventures.

Mt Vernon for free...and a DVD!

2011-06-20T19:43:00.000-07:00

Sometimes you just have to GO FOR IT. Tell em all to go jump in a lake and just DO IT.

Yesterday we visited Mt Vernon and had a great time, but it almost didn't happen. The fact that we "fooled em" made it 10 times as much fun!

But first, let's review the first part of the day in Alexandria:

On a misty moisty morning after rain most of the night, we ventured out and visited Christ Church, where George Washington and Robert E. Lee attended and had their own pew boxes. It was built in 1773 and has been in use continuously since then. Most presidents have worshiped there, as well as Winston Churchill with the Roosevelts on World Day of Prayer for Peace on January 1, 1942. They added the upstairs gallery and choir in 1787, and built the bell tower with the stairs to reach it. To this day, when anyone wants to go to the gallery, they have to walk outside the church and use the stairs in the bell tower.

Here's a picture inside the church, which has looked the same for 230 yrs. It is Episcopal, which the guide called "Catholic Lite". lol

George prayed here, George slept here, George ate here. This house had a plaque that he used to live here for a short time early in his surveyor career. He actually laid out the town plan in his early 20s.

Janet and I then went to the city museum and saw lots of old photos and stories and artifacts they'd dug up from early Alexandria. The nation's first black sit-in occurred here at the city library in 1939 to protest racial injustices (only whites could visit the library then).

We then headed back to the boat to leave for Mt Vernon, but passed this ice cellar site they recently excavated next to Gadsby's Tavern (still there since mid 18th century). They stored ice here that they cut from the Potomac during the winters. Had to keep that beer cold in the summer!

George ate here!! We were cracking up at all the George signs in town. We rounded the corner from the previous ice cellar and there was Gadsby's entrance with this sign.

Okay, so we shoved off from the Alexandria dock at 12:30 headed to Mt Vernon. One of my older guide books said the boat dock there was free. My newer one from 2010 said the dock itself was free, but you now had to buy the $15 tickets to tour the mansion. No problem; we planned to tour it anyway. The tour book recommended you call ahead to make sure there would be dock space.

So I called, and first he mentioned that on Mondays they do not offer shuttle service from the dock up to the mansion and grounds. No problem, we can walk. Then he dropped the bomb -- they would CHARGE ME $80 TO DOCK (it was $2/foot) in addition to the $15 each to tour the mansion. WHAT??? $80 to dock for a couple hours? Most marinas during the trip, with water, electricity, showers, bathrooms, and loaner cars were half of that. So, Janet and I said the heck with them, we're not paying $110 to visit Mt Vernon.

But then we started making what at first was a joke, but it became serious -- why not anchor, use the dinghy, tie to something other than their hoity toity dock and do our visit? SO WE DID! This picture is from our landing spot, and off in the distance is Breaking Away at anchor. We landed at a wall near the dock (that had NO boats) and tied to a tree. It all worked perfectly!! Screw em!

We noticed right away that there were posters everywhere explaining things, for self-guided tours. We just fell in and toured and walked up the hill. We passed George and Martha's graves, farming sites, and finally up by the mansion, the out buildings with their explanatory signs. This picture is of the carriage house. Others explained how their 318 slaves worked and took care of everything. Basically, we got to see everything, except the mansion.

Should we pay to tour the mansion? That was the question we pondered as we sat on the front porch over-looking the Potomac River on a perfect day.

Those Washingtons had a spectacular view, didn't they? We actually sat in the chairs quite a long time relishing that we had pulled off an $80 savings. And we decided to make it a $90 saving by skipping the mansion tour and instead buying a $20 DVD (76 minutes long) about Mt Vernon. We'd take the mansion tour by video!

There's one more picture of the front of Mt Vernon that faces the river. We had finally gotten our butts out of the porch chairs to finish the walking tour and go buy the video. There was actually quite a bit to see, about their lives and the lives of the 318 slaves. George was first and foremost a farmer, on his 8000 acres there. He experimented with new plant species too, and had a greenhouse.

Eventually we finished and made our way back to the wharf. Notice how the dinghy is so hidden inside the tree branches. It makes it look like we were trying to hide. Actually, the current just moved the dinghy back into that spot. But it did look funny all hidden in there.

Here I am pulling the dinghy up to where we could board and return to the boat. It all worked fabulously, made better knowing that we'd shoved their $2/ft docking policy up their noses. (And still not one boat was using the dock.)

It remained a perfect day as we cruised downriver to the same creek where we anchored last Wednesday night (where we watched our two beavers). Now today we plan to visit Colonial Beach, VA, and then anchor in the same place we did a week ago, St
Clements Bay.

Capital Escapades

2011-06-20T06:04:00.000-07:00

We loved our time in Washington, D.C. Friends visiting, touring national treasures, caught in a downpour with no protection, cruising past Georgetown on a perfect afternoon, history, emotions. We will never forget this part of the Great Loop!

When I last blogged last Thursday, we were headed to D.C. The Potomac River is actually quite scenic during the final 30 miles into our capital. One of the sights is Mt Vernon, which we will stop to see later when we return downriver. George and Martha (and their 318 slaves) had a pretty nice view of the river, huh?

Another beautiful site along the way was Fort Washington, about 10 miles before we reached D.C. It was built in 1809 and looks like a castle in Europe. And, like a castle, it has a drawbridge to enter, over a moat. We didn't stop to tour it, but it sure looked impressive from the river!

We are nearing the Interstate 495 bridge! Just past it, on the left, is Alexandria, Virginia. We will see that on our return trip. On this day, we needed to get to our marina in D.C. to clean the boat and get ready for the Happy Hour party I'd been planning for over a year.

This is a picture of only PART of the huge marina where we stayed while in D.C. - the Gangplank Marina. We could see the top half of the Washington Monument, and we were pretty close to the Jefferson Memorial.

On the evening we arrived, we had our Happy Hour party I'd arranged a long time ago for my many friends in the area. (For my job with Nestle, I came to Washington, D.C. many many many times over the years.) I even told everyone a year ago I'd be having a party on the boat in June of 2011.

Well, it happened! Despite the rain. It poured just before people arrived, and then it started again when they left, but during, the weather cooperated. HOWEVER, I made a major mistake that I regret: I forgot to take pictures! Both Janet and I thought about it during, and figured we'd remember, but alas, everyone had left and then we realized we'd forgotten the camera. Darn!

Anyway, the gathering was fabulous!! We had eight friends drop by: Rick Cristol, Martin Hahn, Eric Hentges, Sue Borra, Bob Earl and his partner Steve, Regina Hildwine, and Dave Schmidt. Everyone knew everyone (which amazed Janet), and it was an evening to remember! The complexities of food industry issues never ceases.

The next morning, a Hawthorne, CA friend of Janet's, Jim Swaboda, came by for an incredible visit. They were childhood friends via their church, but later they also were buds at Univ Calif Santa Barbara. Jim arrived at 6:30 am with donuts, bagels, and fruit, and we talked until 10! Not just about frivolous stuff, but soulful "heavy" topics including religion, life tragedies, raising children, and life goals. I was so happy to meet Jim and be able to now call him a friend. He had to get home because that day he was moving from his long-time home into a condo, in nearby VA suburbs. Janet hadn't seen him since 1972 at UCSB.

Later on Friday, Janet and I took the subway to visit the International Food Information Council, which Nestle had belonged to, and for which I had been on the board of directors when it formed in 1985. This is a picture with staff members, Tony, Geraldine, and Andy. Dave Schmidt, the president, who had been at my boat party the night before, was in my next photo, which I posted already on Facebook.

Janet and I then toured the American History Museum. We returned on the Metro (subway) back to our waterfront station, and decided to get a few groceries at the Safeway right there. Problem was, when we emerged with our goodies, it was POURING rain. We had to walk about 15 minutes in the downpour and we looked like we'd worn our clothes in the shower by the time we got to the boat. Oh well, we dried out. At least we had fresh food and drink!

The next morning, Saturday, we took the Metro to the Newseum, a fabulous treasure of history and education of how the media evolved and has influenced our society and daily lives. Their special exhibits were full of emotion, on the 9/11 tragedy and how the media covered it; the Katrina coverage; war correspondents; and so many more remembrances.

This picture is from the Newseum's 6th-floor balcony. Of course, it's right on Pennsylvania Ave, which connects the Capitol with the White House.

Here's a picture of inside a Metro station. We took the Metro all over the place, since it's so clean and efficient and convenient. Interestingly, every station looked exactly the same from the inside. And, they are extremely popular with the locals, and therefore VERY crowded at commuting times each day.

On Sunday morning, we went to the National Archives on the mall and waited in a long line to get in when they opened at 10 am. See Janet sitting there on the left of the photo? It was so cool that there was a huge triathlon event going on right in front of us!

For about 45 minutes while we waited in the line, we got to watch hot-shot cyclists speeding down Constitution Ave in front of us, as well as runners on their final leg of the race. I wished I were out there with them! (...although my last triathlon was in 1982. But the cycling time trial was enticing!)

After our Archives tour, where we saw the original Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights documents, we returned to the marina to cast off. We cruised farther up the Potomac River to see more of the famous sites from the water, including this view of the Capitol.

As we approached the Arlington National Bridge, which crosses the river right into the Lincoln Memorial, two security helicopters were passing over. This was appropriate, given that during the entire three days we were docked in D.C., helicopters flew low over us on their surveillance missions. I kept teasing Janet that they were looking for her because of her Basque terrorist group activities with the ETA.

As we cruised north on the Potomac, we had to pass under five fairly low bridges in a row, the lowest being a railroad bridge we passed under with only two feet to spare. It looked like we were going to hit, but whew! I was ready to throw it into reverse if we weren't going to clear it.

We are just about to pass under the Arlington Memorial Bridge, and there's the Lincoln Memorial.

We continued up until we passed Georgetown and all its hustle and bustle, under the Key (Francis Scott Key) Bridge, and into unspoiled beauty near the Three Sisters Islands. I was so surprised to see all the boats out just anchored up enjoying the scenery, since in all my years, I'd never seen ANY boats up there. I think since it was a Sunday, Father's Day, and a beautifully calm afternoon, we weren't the only ones who decided to go see the natural beauty of the river north of the metropolis of D.C. and Georgetown.

We finally turned around and headed downriver. This picture shows the relatively new Georgetown Waterfront complex of restaurants and shops with boats coming and going. The infamous Watergate Hotel is just to the right of this photo.

We continued back down the Potomac, back under all those bridges, and ended at Alexandria's Town Marina. This was last night. Janet took me out for Father's Day dinner to a cool Thai restaurant, and then we walked all over the place. The marina was right in the happenin' part of the waterfront, with street performers, crowds, and tour boats. You can see Breaking Away tied to the end of the dock in the background.

Today we toured a few hot spots in Alexandria, then cruised down to Mt Vernon for the afternoon. I decided to post a special blog for just today's fun. I meant to get to it tonight, but I'll post it tomorrow morning. We had a special adventure to see Mt Vernon. We did George proud!

Potomac Potpourri

2011-06-15T18:22:00.000-07:00

The good, the bad, and the ugly...a potpourri of sights, seas, serenity, severity, experiences, and friends, not only on the Potomac River the past two days, but on the Rappahannock River before that.

Here is a highlight! We watched this beaver this evening for about 20 minutes, swimming under the bridge we were on, and then chomping on plants just a few feet away. Then a second beaver swam through the pond, carrying a branch the entire way. More on this later.

Here's another highlight -- a calm day today cruising 57 miles up the Potomac. It was a welcome relief after yesterday, my roughest seas of the entire trip. Janet and I truly have had a wonderful time, despite the rough seas yesterday.

My last blog posting had us leaving Yorktown to head north last Saturday. We had an uneventful, but hot, cruise out the York River and up into the Rappahannock River, to the town of Urbanna. It was a pretty harbor with a couple small marinas and about six boats and scattered crab-pot buoys in the anchorage. We found a nice spot and anchored, and then I took a swim to cool off. (This is a picture of the bay I took the next morning on my bike ride.)

It was such a pleasant evening, we decided to grill steaks and eat upstairs. But right as I was grilling and gathering the stuff to bring upstairs to the table, the wind abruptly changed directions and picked up intensity. I could see dark clouds heading our way, so I hurried to bring everything downstairs and close all the windows. It just so happened that in our original leisure, Janet was taking her shower during this sudden change of circumstances. She noticed out the head window that the boat was swinging wildly. Sure enough, after I got all the windows closed, I saw that I and my neighbor boats had all swung in the opposite direction that we had been, now facing the strong wind, and I was dangerously close to hitting them. I also decided I was dragging anchor. Oh my! It also started to pour buckets about then, with lightning and thunder galore.

I started up the engine, and tried to maneuver out of harm's way, pulling up the anchor as I did (which means my hand was on the switch that pulls it in). But as luck would have it, the anchor got caught on one of the crab pot lines. So I lowered the anchor a bit, hoping for the best. Sure enough, it got untangled and I was able to raise the anchor.

We tried three more times to anchor in a safer place, but the wind prevented us from doing it successfully. So I decided to just cruise slowly out of the harbor and weather this storm until the winds died down. I idled into the big swells in the wide river for about a mile, then turned around and idled back again into the harbor, as the wind was dying down. Although it was still raining hard, at least the eased wind allowed me to dock at an open slip in the marina. I'd had it with trying to anchor with boats and crab pots everywhere. Janet climbed onto the dock (in the rain) as I eased the boat in, and she tied us up! Finally we could relax, microwave the cold steaks, and eat the dinner we were so close to 90 minutes earlier.

It rained all night, with many lightning shows.

The next morning was sunny, calm, and wonderful, and we got ready to head farther up the Rappahannock to visit friends. The dockmaster came by to collect his fee, and we realized they had washing machines and dryers. So Janet did two loads while I took a bike ride and did some other chores. Then the dockmaster let us use his car and we went to a grocery store for a few things.

Finally we departed and it was a pleasant two-hour cruise to Bowlers Wharf, where we anchored in the main river just off where my friends have their cottage. We took the dinghy in to their dock, and finally got to visit what had been planned for about a year! The photo shows Breaking Away anchored off their shore.

This picture shows Bob Riggs next to me, and Ray and Sherry Collins. Bob has been a valued Charlottesville friend for 18 years. Sherry is his wife's daughter, and Ray is Sherry's husband. They live in Richmond. Two years ago, Bob drove Annette and me here for a visit, and we got to enjoy Sherry and Ray and their cottage then too.

When we landed, Ray had a fabulous chicken salad lunch for us, and Bob contributed a fruit pie. At one point, we decided to all go out to the boat for a tour. My first trip took Bob and Janet. By the time I returned for Ray and Sherry, a thunderstorm was threatening, so I stayed in to visit with them while Janet and Bob chummed out on the boat. Eventually it was calm enough to fetch Janet and Bob.

Then Bob drove us into Tappahannock for more grocery shopping. When we returned, I took Ray and Sherry out to the boat, but wouldn't you know, the thunder clouds quickly came in. We hustled back into the dinghy, but by then the swells were splashing and Ray and I got pretty wet on the short trip in. I had to borrow some of Ray's clothes while mine were in the dryer. We were rewarded with Ray's avocado/tomato/cilantro/onion...(and other stuff) dip! YUM!

For dinner, Ray grilled us fabulous pork loins, with a side of local squash. Eventually it was time for Janet and me to head to the boat for the night in the pitch-black darkness. I'd forgotten our flashlight and to turn on the anchor light, so Bob moved his car into position such that his headlights showed us our way back to Breaking Away. He's a genious!

The storm waves on the river were relentless and never stopped all night nor the next morning. This meant we could not use the dinghy to go in to say goodbye. We phoned and waved as we pulled anchor and headed back to the Chesapeake. What a wonderful time we had with these friends!

Now that it was Monday, we wanted to get all the way to the Potomac River and stay about 20 miles up, at the dock of some friends whom I know from Washington, D.C. There was a Small Craft Advisory out in the Bay, which was supposed to end at 1 pm, so we timed our arrival back to the Bay for 1:30. Sure enough, it was manageable out there, but it still was pretty rough and Janet was on sea-sick medication. So, I decided to seek shelter in Mill Creek, south of the Potomac.

What a beautiful decision that was! Janet finally got some relief, for a start, but the setting way back in the river was incredible. Tall trees everywhere, no wind, glassy water, cozy homes in the woods. After happy hour, we launched the dinghy and took a ride all up and down Mill Creek to view the scenery, the herons walking and flying everywhere, the homes, the coves, and the peace. That night we just sat outside and watched the full moon and listened to the fish jump. What a quiet evening, night, and morning we had in Mill Creek!

The peace turned ugly, however, once we returned to the Bay to head 7 miles north to the mouth of the Potomac. The swells kept getting bigger and bigger, and eventually the weather service issued a Small Craft Advisory. Since I was headed directly into the 3-ft swells, it wasn't THAT bad...yet. But by the time we got to the mouth of the Potomac, the swells grew to 4 feet and they came not only from the north, but northwest from the Potomac. Janet was downstairs asleep from the motion medication, so I was at least grateful that she didn't have to experience these conditions the whole time. My only option was to head NNW to the far bank of the Potomac, where I assumed I'd have protection.

It was the worst sea condition of the entire Great Loop trip. Luckily, the boat handled the swells and bouncing in a safe manner, and we had all the windows closed so that all the splashing water stayed outside. I was going slowly, so the 10 mile trip across the mouth seemed to take forever. I could not use auto pilot either -- too rough. When I finally got to the other side (in Maryland, the state where I began!), the seas still came at me from the direction of traveling up river. I poked along until I arrived at the first deep creek where I could seek protection, Smith Creek.

Oh what relief it was to be out of the turbulence! I couldn't wait to anchor and get some rest. Janet was able to get up and join me upstairs too as we entered the creek. My anchorage book told of a great spot just inside, in 8 feet of water. The charts showed it as 8 ft also, with a wide entry into the cove. Well, guess what? The 8 ft turned to 1 foot in an instant, and I RAN AGROUND! Oh no!!! (I later called the nearby marina to inform them about this so they could arrange to put a warning buoy there, and he just said, "Oh yes, we know there's a sand bar there." I couldn't believe it.)

I collected myself for a few minutes, and then checked the direction of the tide. It was lowering! Yikes, better do something fast. My only hope was that the propeller would still turn and not be stuck in the mud. I started the engine, held my breath, and put it in reverse. The prop was turning! I kept giving it more and more reverse throttle until it was almost at full RPM, and it finally inched backward until I was free! Whew! Didn't have to call the tow boat for the fourth time.

We gently cruised a little farther up the creek and anchored in another quiet cove. Finally we could relax and have some food and drink and rest. The Small Craft Advisory was scheduled to end at 6 pm, when waves were predicted to be only one to two feet. Since we wanted to get to mile 78 on Wednesday and we were only at mile 6 (up the Potomac), we elected to pull anchor and head back out and travel 20 miles to St Clements Bay for the night. It wasn't smooth out there, but was so much better than earlier. We dropped anchor just after dark, about 8:45.

This picture is of St Clements Island this morning as we departed our totally peaceful and pretty anchorage (sitting off some stately homes). We had a great night of rest and quiet.

See the tall 40-ft cross in the picture? St. Clements Island is where Lord Calvert first landed when he came from England with 140 others to establish Maryland in 1634. He didn't stay here long, moving back down the river to St. Mary's Bay. The cross was erected to commemorate this initial landing spot. The lighthouse there was pretty cool too.

Anyway, the Potomac River was a pleasure today. Light breeze, cool, smooth water. What a welcomed difference from yesterday.

This picture is of an old rusted hulk in a fleet of "ghost ships", about 30 miles from Washington, D.C. This Mallows Bay was a gov't-approved dumping ground in the 1920s for wooden steamships that proved un-seaworthy and were left over from WWI. They were rafted together and set afire. Their wooden remains became an artificial reef for fish, birds, plants and trees. Other boats, like the one in this picture, were dumped there in later years.

Here's another picture of the beaver we watched eating this evening. After we anchored in Mattawoman Creek here, 20 miles from D.C., we had our usual slushy happy hour drinks. But then we decided to dinghy to the state park dock and explore. A bridge went across a marshy area off the river, thick with grasses and lily pads. We spotted many turtles, a huge fish, and then...the beaver. It was so neat. He swam closer and closer to us, and finally right under us and then settled in to munch his dinner.

Every so often we had a symphony of tree frogs, which swelled up into a din of sound, and then die back to quiet a few minutes later. We took a walk through the campground, and generally enjoyed this evening. That is until we were invaded by billions of flying bugs, who somehow got through the window screens and swarmed all around the lights while I was writing this blog. I have stopped three times to turn on the generator so we could vacuum them up. Of course, we had to closed the windows completely, after Janet used her hair dryer to blow them off the screens. EEUUUUUU yuk. Luckily it's cool tonight so the windows can be closed.

Tomorrow it's Washington, D.C. and a Happy Hour party for all my old friends here I could muster up. We'll see a Hawthorne High friend on Friday. See ya then.

I forget...17th or 18th century?

2011-06-10T17:44:00.000-07:00

In 2 1/2 days we've gone back and forth between the 17th century attractions for Jamestown and the 18th century attractions for Yorktown about 8 times! And Colonial Williamsburg was thrown in a few times for good measure. Enjoying air conditioning in the stifling heat, we've taken 16 shuttle rides, been to three theaters that tell the histories, strolled through five museums at the five sites, and, without A/C, walked in 100-degree heat around battlefields and historic sites. We're lost in history!

You see, in Yorktown (on the York River) there are two museum complexes, both dealing with the conclusive battle of the Revolutionary War in 1781. They are on opposite sides of town. Then, over on the James River, 23 miles west, there are two museum complexes for Jamestown, where John Smith and the band of 104 men and boys landed in 1607. In the middle is Williamsburg. Shuttle buses connect all three, plus there are local shuttles in each of them. Yesterday and today we went to the three locations and mixed and matched the five attractions until we couldn't remember what was what and where we'd learned what. But we did learn LOTS! We truly loved it all, despite the heat.

Last Tuesday morning, Janet and I drove the rental car to the same Norfolk Naval History Museum where George and I had toured a month earlier. I was so impressed with the USS Wisconsin tour, we wanted to do it again. We got there too late for the guided tour below decks, but still were able to take the self-guided tour above decks. Hugely impressive!

We also saw some of the Naval Museum before heading back near the airport to lunch with Richard and Debbie Rechechar, friends of Janet's who moved to the Norfolk area from Ohio two years ago. After the Italian restaurant, we visited on the boat for a couple hours of catching up and smiling.

Next morning I went for a bike ride and came across this street, where I figured I should take a break, huh? hahaha It was near a huge naval base, so I can guess how this street got its name. It felt good to ride outside again, the first time since George and I rode on May 5. I've tried to stay in a little bit of shape on the trainer back home in Ohio, but it's just not the same.

We then fired up Breaking Away and departed, hoping all the boat's systems would function normally after a month off. They did. It was one of those lazy days of auto pilot on a vast Chesapeake Bay, as we headed 30 miles north and west to the mouth of the York River. We enjoyed calm water, and we both took naps with Otto at the helm. Interestingly, nearing the York River mouth, a Mainship 40 exactly like mine crossed in front of me. As with all passing boaters, we waved, but that was that.

The only anchorage for Yorktown is in Sarah Creek, north across the wide river. We found a perfect spot, with rural scenery in every direction, big estates, bird sanctuaries in the tall trees, and a far-off view of the tall bridge crossing the York.

We quickly launched the dinghy and sped across to the town docks, and then caught the 1st of our 16 shuttle rides to the Yorktown Victory Center. After a short visit, we took the shuttle across town to watch the Fife and Drum Corp perform in front of the Yorktown Victory Monument.

Before the corps arrived, we got this photo of Janet and me in front of the monument, finished in 1884. Many of the inscriptions properly memorialized the critical role the French Navy played in assuring an American victory at Yorktown.

Then the Yorktown Fife and Drum Corps marched up the street and to the monument, playing all the way. They were all young men and women, aged 10 to 17. They spoke about the roles that the fifers and drummers played during the Revolutionary War, such as communicating orders to the troops who would not be able to hear verbal commands.

We enjoyed their music and explanations of their costumes and instruments.

After this at about 6 pm, we returned to Breaking Away, which was 91 degrees inside and unbearable in the sun. First solution: slushies we had made and put in the freezer the previous evening. We sat outside in the shade and had a happy hour. But I needed to get the A/C started, which meant going into the bilge and bleeding the water pump since it had not worked when we checked earlier. I finally did get the A/C going, and WOW it felt SOOOO good. Running the A/C at anchor means running the generator, so it was churning away for about an hour to cool us enough to be able to have dinner and survive until the sun went down. Watched our old HBO series we're hooked on, Six Feet Under.

This picture is back at the Yorktown Victory Center the next morning. We needed to finish going though all the exhibits about the Revolutionary War, what led to it, and how the new country managed immediately after it. They also had an outdoor exhibit about how small tobacco farms operated, and this turkey was raising Cain among the tourists crowded around a reproduction of a tool shed. Janet and I sure felt sorry for the players in their period clothes, which piled on layer after layer on a 104-degree day.

Since the shuttles were air conditioned, we couldn't wait to travel over to Jamestown, which meant first stopping in Williamsburg. Well, since we were SOOOO close, Janet wanted to take "just a short walk" to a bakery in the old historic square where a few years earlier on a vacation she had bought "the best" gingerbread cookies she'd ever tasted. Just a short diversion...except it was 104 degrees, and it was about a mile. But boy were those cookies worth it when we finally got there (well, at least the ice cold ginger ale was). hahaha

We did get to walk through the historical parts of Williamsburg and see many cool old sites, and got this picture in front of the King's Arms Tavern from 1772. But since discretion is the better part of valor, we quickly found air conditioned shuttle #6 to take us back to where we could take shuttle #7 on to the original destination, Historic Jamestown.

But when we got there, we realized the shuttle schedule was forcing us to leave within 35 minutes in order to get back to Yorktown. So two more shuttles got us to the Yorktown Battlefield. We had only enough time before it closed to watch the movie and tour the museum, more respite from the heat.

When we returned to the boat, it was 100 degrees inside. Whoa! The generator, then the A/C, fired up right away, and we cooled off with another frozen slushy (at least the freezer had been working right). We left the generator and A/C on for about three hours, which was the longest it has run for my entire boating trip. Desperate times call for desperate measures!! lol

This picture is from this morning after we took three more shuttle rides to again reach the Historic Jamestown, where we had only begun yesterday afternoon. Today it was mostly walking outside around the original site of the settlement. This church was built in 1907 over the site of the 1608 church, inside the walls of the original 1607 fort.

This is a statue of Pocahontas, whose friendship led to warm relations between the new settlers and the Powhatan Indians, which in turn meant the colonists were able to survive. Later she married colonist John Rolfe, but died after traveling to England.

What was really cool was that archeologists were actively digging at numerous sites all over the area. They still make important finds, such as the very first and second churches that historians thought were lost forever. We talked to one digger, and learned what they're doing.

After strolling all over the grounds of the original Jamestown and visiting a museum with numerous artifacts from the digs, we shuttled a couple miles to the next attraction, Jamestown Settlement. This a more polished museum and living-history of the settlers' lives from 1607 to 1699, when Virginia moved the capital to Williamsburg, and Jamestown declined into non-existence as a city.

The costumed actors again had to bear the stifling heat, but for this photo-op, even I donned a breast plate worn by the soldiers. There was much to see and learn about how they lived and survived their harsh conditions.

Here are the reproductions of the three small ships the original 104 men and boys (no women) sailed in 1607. One-third of the settlers died the first year.

The Powatan Native American tribe played a vital role for the settlers, since they would have perished if left to their own devices. So, the living-history museum devoted a section to the lives of the Indians. This picture is in one of their weaved-fiber huts, with furs drying.

After Yorktown Settlement, we took two more shuttles back to the Yorktown Battlefield and did a tour with a ranger who gave a most excellent tour of the battle and all its strategies and outcomes. Janet and I spoke to him afterwards and learned he's a history major and loves his job. He told us some other little-known stories about the fickle nature of warfare and how easily outcomes can change based on a day's weather.

We hopped in the dinghy and sped back to the boat to beat the approaching thunderstorms. We enjoyed a cooler evening with lots of rain. Tomorrow we head north to the Rappahannock river and the historic town of Irvington! We are having such a great time!

Ready for the Chesapeake Bay!

2011-06-06T19:57:00.000-07:00

Janet and I arrived yesterday in Norfolk to finish the Great Loop! It was a beautiful day (and so is this morning!). This map is something I did for a slide presentation for our 5th-grade class during the final few days of school. You can see how short the distance is between my starting point in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay, and where I wrote "NOW" at the bottom of the Chesapeake. After nearly the entire Loop, there's just a few "inches" to go!

We did have some problems getting things going here at the boat; the batteries were dead, and there were no electrical hook-ups near my berth. The service guy came out and we tried everything to get a hook-up to work using extension cords, but I just wasn't getting electricity. I finally had to resort to using the generator to charge the batteries, while we drove to find some lunch. When we returned, the batteries were fine and we started Breaking Away and moved her to an outside berth (where George and I spent our final night here on May 7) and plugged in.

But then we had to do a major refrigerator/freezer cleaning because the service guys a few weeks ago closed the doors I had left propped open, and the inside was completely covered with mold. Janet was a scrubbing trooper, and when that was clean we did our grocery shopping. There actually was a lot to put away and clean up, like making the beds, vacuuming, wiping counters, unpacking, etc. At about 9:30 we finally felt done for the night, and watched an episode of Six Feet Under that we brought along (we're hooked on it; we're up to the end of Season 3).

Today we hope to drive into Norfolk for some touring, and then will have lunch with Janet's friends, the Rechichars. We will probably stay here one more night before heading up the York River.

During the month I was in Monroe, OH, Janet decided to retire. It was completely unexpected prior to about mid-April when the school district made a severance offer. She had planned all along to work five more years. But after much thinking and consideration and agony, she decided to retire a few weeks ago, just two weeks before the end of the school year.

Word got out slowly, but a few students caught wind of it and here is a picture on the last day of school as they bade her farewell. All the teachers stopped by for hugs and extending jealousy and best wishes. Janet was LOVED by one and all.

As the students leave on their final day, the school has a tradition of the entire staff coming out to wave goodbye. It was a special, heart-felt goodbye for Janet of course. They set up their music equipment and blasted out "School's out for summer, school's out FOREVER!" We all sang those last three words with emphasis for Janet!

Here we are waving as the buses departed. (Janet's leg is in a boot because she had a foot surgery on May 12 to scrape away spurs and arthritic growth).

We then spent the next day and a half clearing out her classroom. One does build up lots of "stuff" after 25 years of teaching.

A couple weekends ago, we drove about 100 miles into southern Indiana to the historic canal town of Metamora. We had arranged to meet up with a Hawthorne High School friend, Chris Higgins, who was visiting from California. We had a fabulous day of memories and catching up on 40 years, and here's a picture of Janet and me in front of an old canal boat. The canal from here to Cincinnati was used between 1838 and about 1900, and now 14 miles have been restored. But the entire town seems like it's been preserved from that era, so it was a cool tourist attraction.

I will keep posting here over the final few weeks. We plan to be in Washington, D.C. on July 16 for a big Happy Hour party with my Capitol buddies and another high school friend, Jim Swaboda and his wife Eileen! See ya!

Great Dismal Swamp and Norfolk

2011-05-09T16:54:00.000-07:00

As of today, Monday May 9, I am home in Ohio. Flew from Norfolk yesterday afternoon. Helped Janet in her class all day. Great to be home, but let's see the cool happenings on Breaking Away since my posting last Wednesday.

This is the Great Dismal Swamp Canal, connecting Elizabeth City with Norfolk. Isn't it gorgeous? This swampland has been a source of lumber for 400 years, and George Washington set out to drain sections for lumber early in his career. Congress approved a canal connecting the waterways of Albemarle Sound in NC with the Chesapeake Bay in 1793. It was completed in 1805, and is the oldest operating canal system in the country.

It gets the name "dismal" because that was the word the early settlers used for "swamp". The two terms were synonymous, but somehow both became the name.

There are two locks, near each end of the swamp, to raise boats from sea level to the higher level in the wetlands. We left Elizabeth City at 1:30 pm, when the drawbridge I showed in my last posting opened for us. We started so late because we were waiting for a special-order zinc anode fitting for the generator to come in. While waiting, we washed the entire boat, did laundry, and got our first pump out, all firsts since this segment began in Charleston. The salty residue on the rails had gotten pretty disgusting.

When the shipment came in (and we determined the zinc was the wrong one), we took off as quickly as we could to try to reach the lock, 20 miles north, for its last opening of the day at 3:30. They open both sets of locks only four times each day, so as to not drain the swamp. Anyway, we had to travel much faster than usual - about 10 mph - to make it to the lock, and it was actually quite a kick "weaving" the sharp turns of the beautiful Pasquotank River, lined with its tall trees. Along the way we spotted a beaver swimming near the shore.

We arrived at exactly 3:28, needing the extra two minutes to switch our fenders from starboard to port. Then the gates opened, and George got to experience his first lock. It was number 105 for me! As has so often happened on this trip in the locks, we were the only boat there.

Once through the lock, we slowed WAY down and soaked up the beauty of this old canal, with the incredible reflections in the glassy water. We saw no other boats until we reached our destination, the Great Dismal Swamp Welcome Center (which was the ONLY place to stop for the night along the entire 30-mile canal).

The canal was hand dug by slaves, in horrible conditions of hot, humid, wet, buggy misery. We did learn that since there were so many black work communities there, it became a hide-out for runaway slaves and the Underground Railroad.

When we arrived at the Welcome Center, where we knew there was free dockage space for three boats, we found five large sailboats. The extra two were tied to the ones next to the dock. We were immediately welcomed to tie to the loner, a common practice for Loopers who find scarce dockage (called "rafting"). Except that I had never done it before!

Here's what it looked like when Breaking Away was rafted to a sailboat. As you can see, you must walk across your neighbor's boat to get to the dock, which means you make friends awfully quickly. The five boats already there had become best buddies, and it was 5 o'clock, so we immediately decided it was Happy Hour. Which boat was best suited for a big party?

Breaking Away was the obvious choice! They took their happy hours seriously, as we salivated as the dips and nuts and crackers made their way across the sailboat and onto our flybridge. I loved the whole thing, getting to have fun on my floating home, learning about others' cuising adventures and plans.

Just as Happy Hour was beginning, a 53-ft luxury trawler arrived from the other direction (he had made through the 3:30 lock opening 17 miles north). He also HAD to tie up to one of us, and it was easiest for a flat-sided trawler to tie to another flat-sided trawler, so I was suddenly getting sandwiched in. I was a rafter AND a raftee! Our new friends soon joined the party, and we had 12 up top my boat.

The next morning, all five sailboats left early, so we trawlers each got out own dock space. George and I toured the museum, then went on a 20-mile ride. On the way back, we stopped at a pick-your-own strawberry patch, and George selected us a bag full. YUM!

We headed north as three other boats passed the dock, and we gently cruised the 17 miles toward the next lock. Along the way, we passed a sign saying "Welcome to Virginia." Once through the lock, we soon entered the Elizabeth River, which flows north a few miles to Norfolk. We settled in to a marina where the canal meets the river, got fuel, had a fabulous dinner at the fancy restaurant there, and retired. What was cool about this restaurant was that the marina gave us $1 off the charge for every $2 spent. In other words, everything at the restaurant was half price! Well, we ordered all kinds of good stuff, including decadent chocolate desserts, and we got the bill up to where the marina was completely free!!!!

The next morning, Saturday, we followed this tug and barge into industrial, ship-building, Naval-base Norfolk/Portsmouth/Hampton Roads. We passed numerous huge naval ships, including the aircraft carrier Dwight Eisenhower. It was such a contrast a few miles back from the quiet idyllic Dismal Swamp Canal.

Here's a picture of a ship building yard. There were so many in this area. Most naval ships are built in the yards of Hampton Roads.

We docked in a small marina next to the waterfront section of Norfolk, for six hours to be tourists. This odd sculpture was nearby, and it was titled "The Tourists". You can see Breaking Away in the background.

George and I decided to visit the Naval Museum, which had the USS Wisconsin battleship. It was a fabulous tour, and just amazing to see how massive it is. The guide told so many interesting stories and facts. It's three football fields long (887 ft), and 108 ft wide. It carried 2700 sailors during WWII. It was most recently used in the Gulf War (Desert Storm).

Look at those six imposing 16-inch cannons! They shot 1900-lb bombs up to 26 miles.

After seeing the museum and battleship, we walked to Douglas MacArthur's memorial and burial site. They didn't make any bones about his firing by President Truman during the Korean War, except they slanted it in his favor as wanting to win the war at all costs instead of letting the peace talks take any precedent.

When our 6-hour marina stay ended at 4 pm, we had to cruise 16 miles to our marina where the boat will be stored until Janet and I return on June 6. After only one mile, we reached the end of the Intracoastal Waterway...or the beginning. It was Mile 0, with Mile 1065 in Miami Beach.

We continued out the Elizabeth River to where the James River empties into the base of the Chesapeake Bay, and then east almost to the ocean. Along the way, we passed many more Naval bases, including this one where the new aircraft carrier, the George H. W. Bush, is docked. It's pretty darn large too, isn't it?

Yesterday morning, another Naval base next to our marina played the National Anthem at 8 am, and we snapped to and cleaned up the boat. Breaking Away had made it back to the Chesapeake Bay, having traveled 6500 miles in one year and three days! Kent Narrows, where I began, is 200 miles farther north. Looking forward to finishing the Great Loop with Janet, seeing the wonders of the Chesapeake along the way, including Washington, D.C.

One Year Anniversary on the Great Loop!

2011-05-04T19:26:00.000-07:00

One year ago today Bruce Perry and I departed from Kent Narrows in the Chesapeake Bay. What a year it's been! So many adventures on the waterways, so many lasting memories, yet one agonizing tragedy with the loss of Rich Hess. Still, I am thankful for the blessings of so many wonderful changes in my life.

George and I left Beaufort last Monday morning, and cruised straight north for 60 miles to an anchorage by ourselves. It was a beautiful day, but uneventful.

EXCEPT for when we were boarded by the Coast Guard. YIKES! I remembered us passing a Coast Guard base along the narrow waterway and seeing no activity at all. They must have decided it was time to launch their inflatable and inspect the only boat that passed them in hours. They zoomed up behind me with their lights flashing. I put it in idle while they came alongside and three of them boarded me, leaving three others in their boat (they needed six for this?). They said George could keep driving while they did their inspection. I was so worried that they'd find some infraction or two, but NO! I complied with every request! I had everything the "book" called for, other than a sticker saying that we could not throw trash into the water. They gave me one, and now it's all stickered up! The fire extinguishers were charged, the holding tank discharge valve was closed, I had the throwable life preserver ready to throw, etc. Whew!

Our route took us inland from the ocean, and across wide rivers that seemed like lakes. As we had a relaxing happy hour, we viewed this "redneck compound" off to the east of us. Confederate flag flying proudly, junk everywhere. I imagined he was watching us thinking we were tree huggers since we took off in the kayaks.

See? We enjoyed paddling into a natural creek. See how far behind us the Breaking Away is? (That other boat joined our anchorage while we were kayaking.)

That was the night that was so frustrating because we were remote from civilization (redneck country??) such that cell phones didn't work, and neither did the computer. If I knew the cell phones would not work, it wouldn't be so bad; I could just do something else. But my texts to Janet went through the first few times after I arrived, and therefore I kept hoping they would continue to do so. Therefore, I kept hitting "resend" for hours, and eventually one would send, which only gave me hope that one more would send. I'd receive one from Janet, and try to respond and keep hitting resend for an hour. But then another would come in from Janet, so I'd have to change my response I'd been trying to send. Which spawned another hour of hitting resend and watching the screen endlessly. The evils of technology, much as I depend on it!! What would I have done this year if I couldn't communicate with loved ones?

The next morning I continued to have the texting issues, but after departing the anchorage and moving about two miles, I could call Janet and feel right again. What a relief that was to explain what had been going on at my end. She knew, of course.

We stopped briefly at the town of Belhaven to mail postcards and see the charm of the North Carolinians. Attractive homes, friendly neighbors.

The day continued again uneventfully. We headed northeast through a 22-mile cut canal connecting the Pungo River with the Alligator River. We had planned to stay the night in the Alligator River just before crossing the "dreaded" Albemarle Sound, but the weather forecast caused us to want to cross the Sound before thunderstorms hit the next day. So, it became a 12-hour day, 95 miles total and 90 nonstop, our second longest of the entire trip.

As we were nearing the end of the endurance cruise, after we crossed the Sound (potentially treacherous due to its shallow depth and wide expanses for nasty wind waves to develop), we passed this blimp-making factory. During the war the Navy built blimps to help protect our Atlantic shipping, and they have continued to build peacetime blimps here to this day. Notice the huge hanger on the left.

It was a relief to finally dock here in Elizabeth City. It's a free wharf...and famous. I suggest you read this website about the Rose Buddies -- http://www.elizcity.com/rose/
After reading about the Rose Buddies in my Great Loop books, I had been looking forward to being here. Sure enough, people ran over to help us tie up, and started welcoming us and telling us about all the things to do.

Here's the sign they have right here at the wharf.

Here it is in the daylight, with the rose bushes transplanted here from the original Rose Buddy's home after he passed away.

George and I went out looking for a greasy spoon to have a good ole Southern breakfast. We found it here, where the locals meet. We both had eggs and grits and a sausage gravy biscuit. On the menu was "scrambled eggs with pork brains." Ugh!

After breakfast we tried to rent a car to drive out to Kitty Hawk, but the only rental agency had no cars. So we went to the Albemarle Museum, did shopping, computer work, boat maintenance, reading, and hanging around talking to other boaters. The predicted thunderstorm came with a vengeance...for 5 minutes.

The shoe is on the other foot!!! I needed to walk across the draw bridge to buy a part for my boat engine, and I had to wait for a damn boat to cross under. Who do those boaters think they are anyway, to make everyone wait for them?

To celebrate the 1-year anniversary of the trip, we had a happy Happy Hour and then went to a local wine tasting event down the street. All California wines. Pretty tipsy by the time we walked back (at least I was). Couldn't spell a dang word chatting with Janet. She understood!

Wild horses of Shackleford Bank!

2011-05-01T16:01:00.000-07:00

We were so excited to see these, four of about 140 wild horses on this barrier island, the smallest and most southern of the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Many years ago I'd heard or read about these wild herds that roam some of the islands, descendents of horses left by Spanish explorers (from 1526) or who swam to shore when Spanish Galleons sank. They don't know exactly their origins, but it's still cool to know they've been wild and have survived for centuries.

George and I took the dinghy early this morning out to this 9-mile-long island about 6 miles south of Beaufort, NC (not to be confused with Beaufort, SC). We walked to and fro, here and there, hoping for a sighting. Janet told me I should just whistle and they'd come. hahaha Well, pretty soon, there they were!! Four of them, not moving. We got closer and closer and still they didn't move. We took lots of pictures, and finally decided we'd had our luck and we'd walk back to the dinghy. Once there, we decided to return for photos of us with the horses in the background. Lucky we did, because we were in for a treat!! Read about it further on when you see the other horse pictures.

Sunsets are always a highlight of this boat trip. Tonight (Sunday, May 1) we have left the marina and anchored out where those sailboats are. We are at this very moment watching another similar sunset. I'll never tire of them.

This photo takes us back to the evening of my last blog posting. We had arrived in North Myrtle Beach and were docked directly across from the patrons at a fancy restaurant, a few feet away. George and I had our happy hour up there on the back of the flybridge, within sniffing distance of their dinners. They were looking right at us, and us at them. Was just sorta funny.

I took this picture the next morning after our ride into Myrtle Beach. The area reminded me of Naples, FL, with resort high rise one after the other along a sandy wide beach. The commercial part reminded me of Branson, MO, with all the pizzazz and show theaters. It happened that our marina was right at an entertainment/restaurant/shopping complex with 115 vendors, so there were lots of people around there and it was the Happenin Place.

After our bike ride we departed and shortly crossed into NC. The waterway down here is very close to the ocean, just inside the barrier islands. We often crossed inlets from the sea and could see the breakers out there. In some areas it was solid waterfront homes with their long 1000-ft piers stretching out to deep water. In other areas it was plain marshland. The day was cooler, but the winds were still strong.

We traveled 45 miles to an anchorage near Southport, which is close to Cape Fear. 16 other boaters must have also read that it was a good anchorage in wind, and we had lots of company. We had been used to being all by ourselves in anchorages, but not that night.

The next day we went 47 miles to Surf City, where it's two girls for every boy! After anchoring all by ourselves in an open marshy area, this wake boarder sped by and gave us a show. It was the first skier I'd seen since the Trent-Severn Canal in Canada last July. While there, we got to see LOTS of boaters going by since it was the channel out to sea.

We took a dinghy ride over to the barrier island and then walked across it to see the ocean. There were a few people out sunning themselves. The peninsula was lined with homes, but they were more "affordable" than many areas we've seen from the waterway. The fellow sunbathing on the dock next to where we beached the dinghy had his "two girls" with him to live up to Surf City's motto.

Early the next morning, yesterday (Saturday), we left early and within 3 miles came to a low bridge. I had to idle for about 11 minutes until its scheduled opening at 8 am. Then we were off on another long, 64-mi day of cruising until we reached Beaufort, where we are right now. Along the way we had to go through a Marine base, where they routinely conduct firing practice and shut down the entire Intracoastal Waterway for hours. We were lucky they did not have war games scheduled yesterday, but there were several junk tanks and other old military stuff that looked like their targets. Like the one in this picture.

Another sighting yesterday was this - kids in the water with their doggie paddling after them. The waterway continued to be lined with homes with long docks stretching to deep water (although at low tide the docks were in mud). Other sections were just empty barrier islands with frequent openings to the sea.

Once we arrived at our marina in Beaufort and did a load of laundry, we ate dinner at the marina's Tiki Bar (with $1 beer!!!). Then we walked into the downtown where they just so happened were having their annual Wine and Food Weekend. The biggest event of the evening was a huge beer and wine BBQ ($60/person). With loud live music to enjoy while we toured the visitor center next door. We learned that Beaufort has retained its unique charm because the ocean was its only link to the outside world, until a train service made it here in 1907, and the first roads from the interior of the state didn't arrive until 1926! Isn't that something?

We also learned that the two biggest stories for Beaufort are the wild horses and Blackbeard the pirate, who hung out here. So, as I said before, we went to look for the horses early this morning. This is where we landed the dinghy, on a wide sandy beach of Shackleford Banks. We headed inland in our search...

...and we found some! As I mentioned earlier, we saw four of them. Took pictures (they never moved), and left. Then we decided to go back to get this picture, with me in the foreground. To our great delight, when we returned.......

...we saw a foal nursing! Where was it when we were here a few minutes earlier?? We didn't know, but we loved watching the baby with its mommy.

The foal eventually stopped nursing and then it lay down, after posing for the picture I put on Facebook this morning.

We finally departed Shackleford Banks and puttered around the harbor area, and then back to Breaking Away. Soon we walked back into town for some lunch and more touring of the historic district.

One of the first homes we saw was this one dated 1786. A woman walking up the street said it was her house, and would we like to come in and see some of the antiquities. Yes we would! So in we went and she pointed out the mantle, the floor, and the stairway, all from 1786. She and her daughter and husband were soon intrigued by MY story of the Great Loop adventure.

We had a great time talking, and here are the mom and daughter in front of the old mantle. These chance meetings and visits are one of the highlights of this kind of trip, and also when I rode my bike across the country.

We saw some more old homes on our way to the Royal James Cafe, where they claimed to have the best burgers in Beaufort. It didn't really live up to its claim. It was an old bar, really, with pool tables on top of floors worn to the floorboard from 60 yrs of play. Its highlights for me were these bar stools, and its name; Royal James was the name of Blackbeard's ship that plundered the coasts in the early 1700s. Apparently Blackbeard was welcomed here to hang out and sell his booty, because the citizens were eager for a good deal on his stolen wares. Because of all the various waterways along the Georgia, SC and NC coasts, this entire coastline was where pirates could hide out.

This is an American flag from just after the Revolution. Notice the way the stars are arranged...in rows instead of the circle we normally see for the original 13 states. The sign said that in those early days of our republic, there was no national guideline for how to arrange the stars, and whoever in Beaufort made this flag, did it his or her own way. In rows!

Here's just one more of many many historic homes in town, each with a sign noting the original family and the year it was built. This one is on Front Street, which is the waterfront. We noticed several boats with the Great Loop flag flying, so we went down and had a nice visit. One of the boats was exacly like my Mainship, so that added to the conversation. All five of these Looper boats were traveling together, which is pretty common. I traveled with other Loopers only for a few days on the Illinois River.

This is a wild story! We heard yesterday at the Tiki Bar here at the marina that this afternoon they'd be having a big pig roast. We decided to go. (First we departed our slip and anchored out here a few yards away, and dinghied in for the feast.) Well, here is George getting his meat and fixins -- collards, corn, string bean casserole, fried chicken, and fish. (We didn't take the fish, and I didn't take the chicken either. The pork looked too good.) Anyway, it was all you can eat, it was fabulous, and they even had the $1 beers. A real May Day feast and a half.

So then I went to the bar to pay the bill. I had no idea what it would cost since we never asked. She punched in stuf on the computer screen for about 20 seconds, and then said it would be $5. What? I knew the beers were $1, and that was $5, so I reminded her I wanted to pay for the meals too. SHE SAID THEY WERE FREE!!

Turns out they wanted us to be "guinea pigs" (har har - "pigs") for their new big roaster, in preparation for a huge wedding here next weekend. So they decided to do up this whole meal for free to test out their equipment!! I was dumbfounded. First thing I did was go back to the table and tell George it was $30, and that he owed me $15. But when I told him (and Janet), we couldn't believe what we'd run into. And it was so yummy. Another highlight of this great adventure.

Swimming with alligators

2011-04-27T19:37:00.001-07:00

I know he's hard to see, but I'm just glad I didn't see him up close and personal, like him having a taste of my legs. Yesterday morning, in our isolated anchorage in South Carolina, I decided to clean Breaking Away's hull and scrape off the barnacles that had grown while the boat sat for a month. I was in the water for about an hour, and got lots of crud off the bottom and from the bow thruster propellers.

Anyway, after my shower we took off, and in about a mile we passed a 6-ft alligator lying on the shore. !!! What?? There were alligators in these waters?? I freaked! My wake caused the beast to crawl out and swim across the river, so we drifted back for a better look. This was the best picture I could get. Regardless, I couldn't believe I was in the water for an hour and gators could have been right there with me. That's the last time I'm in the water! Besides, my hands got good and cut up from all the sharp barnacles, and all my fingers sting.

This goes back to my previous blog entry from Charleston on March 22. Brian drove down that day from Columbia to visit us and we ate at a Thai place. He then stayed the night on the sofa. Earlier in the day Cheryl and Rick and I had a long walking tour in the city. We saw the city hall, the gun powder hut (oldest building in the city), the market, and many other sights on a beautiful day.

The next morning, Brian drove us to good ole Southern Cuisine at the Hominy Grill, recommended by Grace Beahm. We all tried hominy grits along with our meals. Yum!

Later that day, Brian returned to Columbia, and we cruised the boat up the Cooper River to a marina where I had arranged to leave it for a month. We cleaned the boat, did laundry, ate up as much of the food as we could, and packed to leave. The next morning the dockmaster drove us to the airport and we flew home. I was so happy to see Janet after 3 1/2 weeks.

After only six days in Ohio, I flew to So CA to Bruce Perry's where my RV had been stored for a year. This shows how jammed in it was in his driveway. Wall on one side and his boat on the other. We carefully pulled out his boat and then my RV. We cleaned a year's worth of gunk off it, and I finished preparing everything for a 2100-mile trip to my new home in Ohio. Took me only three days, staying at WalMart parking lots in Albuquerque and Little Rock along the way.

I arrived late on Saturday, April 2, which made Sunday a big unpacking day. Here's a picture of me with all my junk in Janet's lower level, which used to be pristine. A week later I got it all put away, and the RV into a storage lot.

For Janet's spring break we went to Branson, MO. So did her brother, his wife, and their daughter Stacie. Janet and I saw 13 shows, including those during our two days at Silver Dollar City. This picture is Janet, Stacie and me during the cave tour at Silver Dollar City. We climbed 600 steps, way down and down some more. It was cool, literally and figuratively!

Two of our shows were to see comedian Yakov Smirnoff. In between the two, he met with fans and we got this picture. Janet had purchased a few years ago his painting he is standing in front of, which commemorates 9/11/2001 and is reproduced there at Ground Zero.

On Easter evening, I flew back to Charleston to resume the trip. George Tonner flew the red eye and arrived early the next morning. Needless to say, he had to catch up on sleep as we headed north, after our huge shopping trip to Wal*Mart. It was a warm sunny day, with the usual strong winds. We made it 45 miles to an anchorage all by ourselves near the Jeremy River. Who'da thunk there'd be gators in dem waters? (Everyone but me?)

Okay, so the next morning was when I cleaned the slime and barnacles off the hull, having to hold on with one arm to a rope from the bow to keep from floating away in the strong current. Then we continued north and we saw the big gator, and I wondered how I'm still among the living.

Later in the morning we arrived at a gem along this waterway, Georgetown. It's the third oldest city in SC, behind Charleston and Beaufort, both stops for Breaking Away in March. The old town is full of old homes dating from the 1700s. However, our walk around the historic district was a long time in the making...

We first anchored in the bay, but before we could dinghy to shore, storm clouds looked like they were rolling in. I decided to call the nearby marina to see if we could tie up at their empty dock for the afternoon (we planned to continue on 15 miles to an anchorage for the night). The guy said yes. We pulled anchor and moved over and docked and got all tied up securely. A deck hand asked who we were. Turns out I had called the wrong marina. So we untied, shoved off, and moved -- again -- to the marina I had called. Then the thunder storm arrived and we waited three hours in the hot boat, which needed to have the windows closed due to the rain on an 80-degree day. If we had departed from the first marina, we'd have been out in the city getting drenched, so we were glad I'd made the mistake that delayed us.

Eventually the rain stopped, but we'd run out our grace period on the free dock. So we decided to stay the night. We then did get to explore the town and have a nice dinner. This picture of George shows how picturesque the streets were on our walk.

Here's just one of many incredible homes in Georgetown.

This morning was rainy at first, but then was nice and we saw more of the town. We departed at 10:30 and continued north through the usual marsh land where rice had been grown on plantations before the Civil War. Eventually, however, the waterway became the Waccamaw River. As you can see, it was tree-lined and very pretty! I hadn't seen the waterway this beautiful since the lower St John's River back in FL. It meandered through natural, unspoiled country for about 30 miles. We saw turtles sunning themselves on logs, and lots of...

...bald eagles!! ...and other birds. We must have seen five bald eagles and a few more of their empty nests. Plus many osprey in their huge nests. No alligators though.

Tonight we are in North Myrtle Beach. We plan to ride the bikes into town and explore tomorrow morning. Then we will cross into North Carolina. This segment will end in Norfolk, VA on May 7. My one-yr anniversary of starting the trip is next Wed, May 4.

Southern Hospitality and Charm

2011-03-22T06:23:00.000-07:00

A stately home in Charleston, where we are until Thursday when Rick, Cheryl, and I fly home. I'm trying to finish this blog before Brian arrives here from Columbia, the capital, which is 90 minutes away in the center of the state. Therefore, I'm going to be brief for the 16 pictures.

We have a very hot day for March 22, 88 degrees!! We toured the museum today and two old homes. One was restored to its 1808 grandeur, while the other was left in a "preserved" state of decay. It was still very interesting to see how they lived and how the slaves lived.

One characteristic of many Charleston homes is shown in the picture above, namely, the false front door that actually opens to a side porch. They do this to help catch the breezes flowing through the homes. During the hot months they spend a lot of time on the porches, at both levels of the home.

With this picture we return to Savannah, where I was when I last posted a blog. We had played through St Pat's Day, but not yet toured the city's highlights. The town truly is beautiful with its live oaks with Spanish moss, its 16 squares, charming old homes, and waterfront history. Isn't this boulevard pretty with the parkway down the middle?

Here's where Forrest Gump's bench was in the movie. They relocated the actual bench (a Hollywood prop) to the local museum and we got to see it there later. Do you fans of the movie recognize this spot? Janet and I are going to watch the movie later this week so I can see this and a few other spots we saw where that movie was filmed.

They built this statue to honor a woman who waved at every arriving and departing ship for much of her life. Legend says she was always hoping her love would return, but he never did and she died of a broken heart. This statue faces the river where we did see many a huge ocean liner pass during our few days there.

A few feet away was the Olympic Torch from the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, because they held the yachting events here. Just up on the bluff was an old tavern (now a restaurant where Cheryl and Rick ate dinner) that had a secret tunnel down to the wharf. If a guy got too drunk, they'd whisk him down and throw him on a departing ship so he'd wake up in the navy. This happened to a city policeman and it was two years before he got home.

Springtime! We got to see so many blooming trees and flowers. They have 16 city squares in the downtown area, as laid out by Britain's General Oglethorpe in 1732.

We had a long, nice day of seeing the city on a narrated bus tour, and then walking back to places to see in more detail. Such as the cemetery, which stopped taking new "customers" in 1853! The tour guide said that while the Union forces were occupying the town (and not destroying it, luckily), the soldiers got their laughs messing with the gravestones by making the birth and death dates nonsensical; for example, the person would have died before he was born, or born before his parents were. Weren't they funny? groan...

Cheryl was driving the boat only long enough for me to snap this picture!! We were on our way from Savannah to Beaufort, South Carolina. Most of the traveling was through winding expanses of marshland, as it had been in Georgia.

We arrived in Beaufort late in the afternoon in a strong wind (what else is new?) and at extremely low tide - 1.5 feet below normal low. The tidal swing was greater than usual, linked to the extra full moon we were having. The total tide was 11.5 feet!!! We had just enough water to tie to a city dock. When we returned after walking the town, the dock had risen five feet and the sailboat behind us, which had been sitting in mud, had re-floated and was gone.

Beaufort was loaded with beautiful stately homes, all decorated with moss-laden live oak trees, spring flowers, and ivy. The town is a National Historic site. We walked up and down most of old town to admire the homes on a warm Sunday afternoon. One Africa-American Baptist church from 1863 was where they filmed Bubba's funeral in Forrest Gump.

Look at this oak tree!! They have been one of my lasting memories from the South, so formidable and draped with the moss, adding a special beauty to every scene.

At the St Helena's Episcopal Church, with its ancient cemetery encircling it, we realized many families have forgotten who won the "War of Northern Aggression", as they call it here. Can you see all five Confederate flags in the picture? There were hundreds of them in the cemetery.

Isn't it nice that they spare the live oak trees? You get to drive right under this bridge on one of the residential streets in Beaufort. In another spot, the huge oak was left in the road, and cars had to just make their way around it! Cool!

When we arrived in town, as I mentioned, it was extremely low tide. This picture is from when we were leaving the next morning, at extremely high tide (11.5 feet higher). Notice that the green channel marker is almost under water! The day before, we passed this same marker and it was sitting on dry land. A boat with a family of kids was beached and they were running around on the island. With tides like this, it makes the tidal currents extremely strong and swift. At the same engine rpm, my speed would alternate between 4.5 mph and 10 mph depending on where I was. Amazing!

This picture is meant to show you how long people's docks are at their waterfront homes, so that their boats can be in deep-enough water. It would be exercise in itself just to hike to your boat, about 200 yards out across the marsh. We have passed long docks like this for days on end out here in the "low country". One guy, however, got creative. He turned his dock into a driving range and putting green. I imagined the marshes across the river were chock full of golf balls from his drives over the years. (His huge backyard also was a mini golf course.)

We arrived in Charleston yesterday about noon and docked at their HUGE city marina. We had time to take a narrated city tour. This town, like Savannah and Beaufort, is remarkably beautiful. It helps to be springtime. This picture is along the "battery", their 300-yr-old waterfront with stately homes and parks. When Fort Sumter was bombarded from all sides at the start of the Civil War, the townsfolk viewed it from here as if it were a show.

Here are, from right to left, Debbie, daughter Grace, and John Beahm. What a great visit and dinner we had with them! Debbie grew up down the Hawthorne street from Janet Amuchastegui, and they have remained friends all these years (these FEW years! lol). Sister Janet knows Debbie too, since they were the same HHS graduating class, and they've been Facebook friends. Debbie and John have been married 42 years, he being the cousin of Debbie's and Janet A's best friend. They lived most of their married lives in Washington, D.C., but have followed Grace, a newspaper photographer, here to Charleston 7 yrs ago.

We had Happy Hour visiting on Breaking Away, with three separate and lively conversations going at once, and then moved across the river to an appropriately named restaurant, California Dreaming. The fun and multiple conversations continued all evening there too! So great to share old and new friendships. If only the two Janets could have been here too.

The Beahms brought me this fresh pineapple. Legend has it that sailors in port would display the top of a pineapple in their home window to show they were back from their voyages to exotic locations. They were quick to point out, though, that it most probably was designed to signal to the lonely wife's suitors that hubby was home and they'd need to wait until he sailed again to return for a visit.

So this morning I cut the top off the pineapple and displayed it in Breaking Away's window (it was fabulous to eat too!). However, it will make sense only if I now take it home with me and display it in Janet's window so her many boyfriends will stay away. lol

St. Patrick's Day in Savannah - WILD!!

2011-03-17T18:19:00.000-07:00

Here are Rick, Cheryl and I at the HUGE city party in Savannah. It was a coincidence that we happened to arrive here the day before St. Pat's Day, not knowing the city is famous for its wild celebration and completely closes down (even the schools)!! We had wanted to take a city tour today, but none of the companies was operating. We soon learned why. It's a week-long party here, one of the biggest in the country. Reminded us of Mardi Gras, with about 200,000 people attending. More photos farther down.

I returned from Rich Hess's memorial service (life celebration) on Monday morning after the red eye flight to Jacksonville, FL. Within two minutes I started the engine and Rick untied the lines to shove off. We had to retrace our course to the Intracoastal waterway headed north, after we had departed up the St Johns River 10 days earlier.

It was the first calm day since we left New Smyrna Beach on March 1. I tried to catch up on sleep while Rick piloted us the 18 miles back to the Waterway. Just as we were turning north back into the Waterway, I gave up on a nap and joined Rick to watch the new scenery. Our destination was our most northerly city in FL, Fernandina Beach. We tied to a mooring ball outside of the city marina, and dinghied ashore to sight see and do laundry. Fernandina Beach is an historic town, famous too for being a pirates' hideaway in days gone by.

This picture shows the old train station, at water's edge at the end of the quaint main street.

While the laundry was going, we biked around the town. What better place to sample local flavor than the tavern. This one dated from 1878.

The town also has numerous stately Victorian homes. We rode the bikes up and down each of the streets, and also down the highway a few miles to shop at the Winn Dixie grocery store.

The next day we got an early start since we needed to travel 75 miles. Why? Because Cheryl was arriving at the Savannah airport 130 miles away in just two days, so we needed to make some distance. Within a few miles of leaving Fernandina Beach, we entered Georgia. For the first time since Nov 2 (other than one night on Jan 16 in Alabama), we were out of Florida.

The Waterway in Georgia was a new experience! It was a serpentine maze of rivers and creeks through marshland and barrier islands. Flat as far as the eye could see with only occasional clumps of trees. Hardly any homes or structures, except for some vacation homes on Jekyll Island and Cumberland Sound. Georgia has the least populated section of the entire Intracoastal Waterway. Many of the rivers coming and going are posted with channel markers, so you have to pay attention to which one you're supposed to be on.

There also are many inlets from the ocean. This picture is of the tip of Cumberland Island at St. Andrews Sound. Luckily it was a calm day out on the ocean so we did not have swells hitting us as we crossed the inlets.

At one point I will admit it: I ran aground...again. I got confused based on the depths showing on the chart, and also wondering whether a red marker was meant for my channel or a side channel. Fortunately I slowed to idle speed since I wasn't sure, so when I grounded, I was able to put it in reverse with lots of throttle and just back off. Whew!

After 75 miles, we arrived at Crystal River, one of many possible diversions. In a mile we turned up a smaller creek to an anchorage recommended in our guide. The tides in Georgia are huge - 8 feet, so, you can imagine how swift the currents are. Therefore, we had to use both bow and stern anchors to keep from swinging.

Here is Rick grilling up our chicken, while I made the salad and heated the corn in the galley. It was such a warm evening we ate upstairs, for the first time since last October. Just behind us was a docked shrimp boat; we saw many of them in this section of the Georgia marshland.

Then we arrived in Savannah after a 55 mile cruise yesterday, with identical scenery of flat horizon. Our actual marina, southwest of town, is called Isle of Hope. They have two loaner cars, and I had reserved one so we could get Cheryl at the airport. While waiting for her flight and talking with the tourist information ladies, we learned about Savannah's very famous and monstrous St Pat's Day celebration.

Since we had the loaner car the rest of the evening, we went into downtown and saw the beginnings of The Party. The beer had already begun to flow, the live outdoor music was underway, wild green costumes/accessories were out in force, and this bagpipe ensemble marched past our outdoor cafe table to bring festivity to our dinner (with green beer).

One of the highlights of the day is their 4-hour parade. We wanted to go see it, but the problem was getting there. We talked to others on the dock, but no one had a workable plan to get to where we could be shuttled into downtown. So, we used a loaner car to do grocery shopping, then watched the parade on the boat TV.

But it was going on and on and on, and we soon learned that the marina would let us three and four from another boat use the loaner van all day long if we wanted! So we loaded up at noon and drove as close as we could to the festivities, and hoped a parking place would open up. One did! It was quite a walk, but we ran into the parade still going on, and got to watch quite a bit of it live. FUN!! This picture is just one of many I took as thousands and thousands lined the route whooping it up on a hot sunny day.

The Harley Davidson Girl on their float! She had a thing for me, yes? hahaha

When the parade ended, we wandered with the rest of Savannah all around the party until 7:30 pm. The hottest spots were along the river. Drinking everywhere. Beer sold everywhere. Mechanical bull riding, street performers, green green green everything. Shepherd's Pie for lunch. Bead necklaces tossed to us from windows above. Dancing to the live music. Oh, and did I mention beer?

Another picture of us having a blast. Course, my nose was usually in my cell phone texting Janet and sending her pics (no use trying to talk with the noise). I wish she could have been here for this party! Once her class was done for the day, she could reply and caught a bit of the party flavor.

This is just a typical crowd scene along the way, in a blocked-off street section up from the river. It's probably a lot more crowded out there right now. We left early.

I wore my green Margaritaville shirt I had bought in Key West, but eventually I bought this shirt and changed into it. Had to have a souvenir from this crazy day! And we just happened upon it! Now we knew why when I first was calling ahead to marinas, the one on the waterfront was quoting us $200. We had no idea what was going on here in Savannah.

Now we will take our city tours tomorrow, set back a day from our original plan. We'll leave here Saturday, and still arrive in Charleston on Monday evening. In that case, we ARE reserved at the waterfront marina. Lots of touring and visiting planned...son Brian is driving down from Columbia, and we'll have dinner with Hawthorne High friend Debbie (Christian) Beahm and her husband Johnnie). See you soon.

We saw our manatee!

2011-03-11T18:09:00.000-08:00

We traveled 122 miles south on the St Johns River to see a manatee, and here he is! We were not skunked. Sorry that Beth didn't get to see him. More on this fellow farther along in this blog posting.

The morning after I posted my last blog, Rick and I went "gator hunting" in the dinghy for about two hours in Deep Creek. We saw about 15 of the beasts!! Most were sunning themselves on logs near the shore, but a few were swimming at the surface. Here is one of them that didn't hop in the water when it saw us getting near.

Once we continued on south, we saw about four more along the way. Pretty soon it became commonplace to see them, but each one was still a thrill. Oftentimes a turtle was sunning itself on the same log, so we got to see a lot of them too, some very big!

Not ALL the waterfront homes are mansions.

As we got farther south, the river changed from wide and lake-like, to narrow and winding, and swampy! This picture made me think of a true swamp. Look at all the moss on the trees, and how the trees are rooted in water.

That night (Tuesday) we anchored in another incredible creek all by ourselves in total serenity. The days have all been very windy, but that night and the one before were completely calm and peaceful (which means I sleep better too).

When we anchored up on Wednesday night, this gator was right next to us! We were surprised that he never fled the entire time we were anchoring, which is a loud process. When we were all done, he was still there and I got this photo. We then took the dinghy farther south about 4 miles to see if we could find a manatee at Blue Springs State Park, where they were said to be plentiful. Incidentally, by this time we were directly west about 20 miles from New Smyrna Beach, where we began our trip on March 1. We had come as far back south as we had gone north.

Here he is again. We actually did not think we'd see any manatees. We asked a boat full of sightseers about them and they said the manatees had gone a few weeks earlier. We considered turning around right then, but decided to call the park to ask. They said there had been five that morning, but they didn't know if any were left. We continued on in hope. When we finally arrived, two park guides said they had all left because the 72 degree spring water was now too warm for them compared to the temp in the St Johns River. Just then we saw this one!!!

He happened to be one with a GPS float attached to his tail so officials could track his travels (I had also seen one like this back in Crystal River). The park had boardwalks along the stream, which was crystal clear. Our manatee swam slowly along most of its length, so we had perfect views of him for about 20 minutes. We also saw many fish, so it was totally cool. Rick was ecstatic!

Here's yet another. He's getting a breath, which they must do about every five minutes. This guy is actually small. Some I saw at Crystal River were three times his size. They said that in January, they had about 200 of them here.

We returned back to the boat just in time before total darkness, and a wild and crazy thunderstorm. The wind gusts blew us all over the place, even turning us completely around so we faced the opposite direction from when we had anchored. Luckily, before I went to bed the wind died down so I was able to sleep okay. It allowed Janet to sleep peacefully as well. Right in the middle of the storm, she wondered whether I was okay because she had a second sense that something was amiss. I had to tell her what was going on and reassure her, even though at that point I was so sure myself.

The next morning (yesterday) we left early because we had to get clear back to Jacksonville in two days. I am flying tomorrow to California to attend Rich Hess' memorial service. It was rainy most of the morning, and windy, and we were almost the only boat to be seen. We got to see birds galore. The best sighting was when a bald eagle flew across in front of us and snatched a fish right out of the water in full flight. He then continued up and landed in a tree on the shore. Immediately a second eagle from the same spot had to chase away an osprey, and the two had a "dog fight" right in front of us! When the eagle returned to his mate, I snapped this photo. The one had already begun to eat the fish, which was particularly cool to see.

This is a lock on a canal that was never used. It was part of the Cross Florida Canal, which was to have connected the St Johns River with the Gulf of Mexico. It was one-third completed before being canceled in 1971. This perfectly new-looking lock has sat unused for 40 yrs. We traveled along the canal 1 1/2 miles to this lock and tried to land at the wall, but the wind prevented us.

I think I've mentioned this before, but almost every navigation post has an osprey nest. This time of year they are particularly active in them, so I took several pictures as we passed. Here's one of many I took. The shoreline is also replete with snowy white egrets, herons, birds, birds, and more birds. We also saw several more alligators sunning themselves, whenever there might be sun.

This is Rick and me with two other Loopers at a brewery next to their marina in Jacksonville tonight. As we arrived in Jacksonville, we heard a radio conversation between two boats, one of which was named Magoo. We knew Magoo! We had traveled a few days with them in early Sept back on the Illinois River. So I found their card they had given me (it's common for Loopers to have "business" cards to share with contact information, although I never did them), and called them. We decided to have Happy Hour together and catch up on our travels and adventures. Rick and I walked across the bridge to their marina, and we all had a great time. Art and Sandra have been together since 7th grade, which sounded familiar (when Janet and I first met). They will complete their Loop shortly, when they get to N. Carolina.

When Rick and I walked back across to our same dock where we were a week ago, the square with the free concerts was PACKED. We asked, and country singers would be performing. We could tell it was a major deal, but the person we asked didn't know who it would be. After dinner we returned and could barely move in the sea of humanity. There were two front groups before the headliner, Chuck Wicks. The crowd was wild for him. I did recognize one song from the radio, Pick Up Truck. The girls were going wild and tossing pieces of clothing on stage (he draped bras over his guitar). I've never seen any place so jammed tightly with admiring fans.

Interesting notes about our travels since Rick and Beth joined on March 1: We stayed in marinas only twice. Since 9 days ago we used electrical hook-up only once, and went that whole time before having to pump out the holding tank today. In other words, we've been anchoring out or tying up to free docks with no amenities, as we are here in Jacksonville. For a yacht, we're roughing it! We love it.

Gators finally! And WOW, Jacksonville.

2011-03-08T04:58:00.000-08:00

Look at that fellow! Rick and I meandered up a creek that flows into the St Johns River near Palatka (for those of you following us with a map), and we've seen three alligators. This was the only one who remained out of the water for us to photo. Several others splashed wildly into the water ahead of us before we could glimpse them.

We saw two gators swimming along the surface, and this was one of them. We decided to anchor in here for the night, and take a quiet dinghy trip, using the oars, in search of more. We paddled for about two hours in the afternoon, but did not see any. Maybe this morning (Tuesday, March 8). It sure has been beautiful in this creek. All to ourselves and totally peaceful. Birds galore.

This picture was from last Friday morning, when Rick and Beth went searching for manatees. Alas, they did not see any. We had heard they might be where the warm water was discharged from a nuclear power plant on the way into Jacksonville on the St Johns River. We anchored off to the side of the river, and off they went. It was still very windy, so I stayed back to make sure the anchor held. We then continued west to downtown Jacksonville.

Look where we docked for the next two nights! And it was free! We were right in the thick of things, a few steps from the exciting downtown happenins. We got to people-watch as hundreds and hundreds strolled/jogged along the walkway. The only bad part was that we were exposed to swells from the wide river, and we jostled quite a bit. But it was worth it, as this was a fabulous setting and location.

Jacksonville Landing is where we were, and there was a big square filled with restaurants and shops, and people. We found Happy Hour specials, such as those $4 margaritas on our table. A dance troupe and choral group was rehearsing in the square, with its water fountain. A rock group was setting up for free music later, which we returned to hear after our dinner at an Irish Pub (a long waterfront stroll away, but worth the walk cuz it was a blast there!). We were happy to be part of the Friday night scene, such a perfect place to be.

The next morning I took an 18-mi bike ride, and snapped this picture from one of the bridges on my return. Do you see the glass-front building right behind Breaking Away? That was the concert hall, and guess who was performing there right next to us? Diana Ross on Fri night and John Cougar Mellencamp on Sat night.

Before I took my ride, we had hundreds of citizens out jogging along the waterfront next to us on a sunny Sat morning. But the most noticeable thing was the "boot camp" group immediately next to us, with the "drill sergeant" yelling encouragement to his charges as they did push ups, pull ups, running sprints, and much more. He must have had about 40 die-hards out there toiling to his commands.

Then there was the big street event a few yards away - the bed races. It was a fund-raiser for the homeless. Lots of dressed-up contestants and racers, all dancing to music on the closed-off streets. Fun to wander among them having so much fun.

Here are the dancers for their finished performance in the square on Sat afternoon. The choral group is on the stage. They were dance majors at the local college. It was a fabulous show (modern dance style). Later in the evening, a different music group performed for the crowds. They did oldies, and they WERE oldies, but we loved it. We even ate dinner right on the square and could continue to listen and watch impromptu dancers, mostly children, performing for the crowds.

Here we are enjoying our scenery on Breaking Away during our Happy Hour Saturday afternoon. We had on the oldies radio station and you can see Rick singing away. A wedding party came along and we watched them pose for about 30 minutes. We were in their background for some! All in all, you can see why we loved this spot and stayed two days.

Isn't the view at night so incredible? Lots of bridges in the downtown.

Beth left Sunday morning for the airport. She flew to Rhode Island to visit Sarah, Anthony, and little Bonnie. Great having Beth join us on the trip for a few days. Too bad she never got to see a manatee.

Rick and I headed south on the St Johns River, which is upstream. We arrived at a little village called Green Cove Springs. This picture shows the spring. It emits 3000 gallons/minute @ 78 degrees, and flows directly into the swimming pool. At the far end of the pool, it flows out and down a stream to the St Johns River where the pier was that we were docked at.

It had been continuously windy ever since Rick and Beth joined my on Feb 28, and that afternoon was no exception. Usually the wind was from the northeast, but luckily when I docked in a tight slip at the end of the pier, headed straight in westward, the wind was coming straight at us from the west. It made the docking easy. We had electric and water hook ups, and it cost only $10 (vs the usual FL marina cost of about $70). I paid the fee at the police station!

I got to watch the finish of the 1st stage of the Paris-Nice bike race, while we also watched the Lakers plaster the Spurs. We were in a cozy bar n grill across from the park. Nice. We then grilled chicken for dinner in our delightful spot on the river.

Here's a waterside church, from 1879, that we walked past yesterday morning before departing Green Cove Springs. We were carrying back some groceries from the market, and stopped into this pretty little find.

Here's where we anchored for the night, and are still here as I am typing this. It was like going on our own personal Jungle Cruise as we came in here yesterday, and what a serene and quiet creek. One of my favorites on the entire trip. Now we will go see if we can see any more gators. I'll let you know!

Looking for manatees

2011-03-03T17:17:00.000-08:00

Beth is DYING to see manatees. Haven't seen any yet (since she and Rick joined). We originally were going to stay two days in St Augustine, but we headed north to reach the St Johns River because it's rumored that they are more plentiful there. We just learned that they are, but only 150 miles from here, and she is leaving the boat this Sunday. Boo. But there's a power plant about 10 miles from here, and maybe they'll be there since the water is warmer. We'll hope...

This picture is in St Augustine, just after we docked at the marina. We were headed toward their landmark Castillo de San Marcos, a 17th century fort/castle made from coquina, a local soft shellrock. It absorbed cannon balls instead of allowing them to damage the walls, so it withstood numerous attacks over the years.

We departed New Smyrna Beach late on Tuesday morning, into a fierce northerly wind. It hasn't stopped yet, although it has turned to an easterly. The scenery along the Waterway has varied, from natural, to high rises in Daytona Beach, to modest homes with private docks, to wide shallow bays. The wind got so strong and cold we had to navigate from downstairs inside the cabin.

Late that afternoon we arrived at one of the only anchorages along that section. It was a short channel off to the side. The book said there was a boat factory on the channel and that boats used it non-stop, so to not anchor right in the middle. Therefore, I did something I'd not done yet on this trip: After anchoring normally in the middle with the wind keeping me mid-channel, I tied a line from the stern of my boat to a tree on the shore! In that way, I could pull the boat to the side, out of the middle, and facing cross-channel and crosswind. I wasn't sure if the anchor would hold, or if the tree would stay put, since the wind was blowing so hard. Fortunately, they both held, and know what? Not one boat ever went by us!

This picture is from the Castillo, looking back toward the bridge. Breaking Away was docked just on the other side of the bridge. That's Rick in the side of the photo. We actually were here once before, in 1968, on a family vacation. All six Mercs drove from Los Angeles to Key West and back again in 15 days. I bought a brochure on the Castillo in 1968 and brought it along on this trip. Funny.

Oftentimes when the town was under siege, the entire population would take refuge inside the Castillo. In 1702, hundreds were jammed in there for 50 days while the British tried to take the fort, but could not.

Rick and Beth in front of one of the sentry towers. We later walked all over the old town and sampled the taverns. Old taverns. Old everything. It was founded in 1565, and they've got the oldest everything in the country.

This is Beth and me in front of Flagler College. Henry Flagler was the railroad baron in the late 19th century who built Florida up for weathly tourists from the north. You see Flagler this and Flagler that, everywhere in Florida. Anyway, in the late 1880s he built three luxurious hotels here. This one was the Ponce de Leon Hotel, the ritziest, but eventually it was converted into a college. I guess that was how Ponce de Leon could finally find his Fountain of Youth - a college!

We had dinner at a brewery, and then "retired' to the boat for Skyping with Janet, and watching Idol. We had plans to move the boat to a nearby anchorage and spend another day in St Augustine, but the manatees called and we headed north this morning.

I know this picture is blurry, but I had to include it to show you what we were treated to when we were about 10 miles north of St Augustine. A bi-plane was doing unbelievable stunts for about 15 minutes, just for us (so it seemed, since it was in the middle of nowhere). It went straight up, as in this picture, and then would just hang there. Then it would twist earthward at high speed and eventually come out of the dive and do more stunts that we could not believe. What a show!

As we cruised farther north, we eventually got to a 10-mile-long cut canal, most of which was lined with homes as seen in this picture. Every single one had its own dock with a boat lifted out of the water.

Not long before this photo, Rick learned how unforgiving the marked channels are in the Waterway. He was driving while I was calling potential marinas for the night, and gradually he drifted too far to the side and we hit bottom! Luckily, we quickly moved into deeper water and all was okay. But boy is it scary when you feel yourself hitting bottom!

It's a good thing we are in that marina in this picture because it continues to REALLY blow hard out there. Rick and I walked to a grocery store on the other side of this bridge in Jacksonville Beach for more supplies, and then we grilled pork chops for dinner!

Tomorrow we'll head 8 miles to the St Johns River in Jacksonville, and then southward on this river that is the longest north-flowing river in the country. There are supposed to be alligators and MAYBE manatees.

Great friends!

2011-03-01T05:02:00.000-08:00

The photo below is Jerry and Dave on yesterday's bike ride from Dave and Sandy's in New Smyrna Beach to Haulover Canal, 25 miles away. Lee and I had cruised under this bridge on our way to Dave and Sandy's last Feb 16. Jerry is visiting Dave and Sandy now, having driven here from Eau Claire, Wisconsin. We three rode across the country together in April-May, 2007. Good to see Jerry again...

...and so good to see Dave and Sandy again! I wish I had a photo here of Sandy and Dave together (and Abby). They have been such good friends along this Great Loop trip. They (and Abby) stopped by for the May 2 Bon Voyage party before I departed. Then Rick and I visited them at their incredible cottage in Ontario last Aug 3. Now they have been gracious hosts here at their new FL home, right on the Intracoastal Waterway. They have done airport runs for us, took us grocery shopping, provided scrumptious home-made dinners (and the post-ride lunch yesterday), Sandy made homemade Key Lime pie last night, they've helped at this marina...they are THE BEST! Looking forward to visiting them again and again.

I arrived on Sunday after a wonderful 10 days with Janet. The 5th graders were actually happy to see me back in the classroom! And Rylee, Janet's 6-yr-old granddaughter, was glad to have her Barbie playmate back when we had her for a weekend.

Yes, this was our turn-around point yesterday on our ride. The bridge we're on was the only time it wasn't completely flat. We did have a headwind for the first half, but then got the tailwind home. Still, my legs felt like jelly when we were done, since 50 miles was farther than I've gone for the past year. In this picture we're not all that far from Cape Canaveral where the shuttle departed last Thursday.

This picture I took last Feb 16 when we first arrived. Dave drove Lee and me on the wide, hard beach. They let you drive right on the beach! The Daytona car race originally was contested right here on the beach. By the way, when Lee and I arrived, it was "race week". The Daytona 500 was three days away, and the place is jammed with spectators for the entire week leading up to it. We barely made it through the crowds to the airport last Feb 17.

This is a picture of a campground along the Waterway, south of New Smyrna Beach when Lee and I arrived last Feb 16. I just wanted to show that not EVERY location along the Waterway in Florida is high-priced mansions and mega yachts. Mostly yes, but in a few spots, they have "regular" old homes and more modest boats.

Here's a picture of Jerry, Dave and me at the end of yesterday's ride, in front of Dave's home.

Then Rick and Beth arrived in the early afternoon. Dave took us to the grocery store and had to wait patiently while we took the cart down every aisle to provision the boat for the next month. We'll head out later this morning. It's been storming outside since 7 am, but now it's stopped raining. It'll be a great day as the adventure continues, toward St Augustine, the oldest town in the USA (founded 1565).

Florida's Treasure Coast

2011-02-16T04:42:00.000-08:00

Lee and I have been having a marvelous time along this part of Florida they call the Treasure Coast. Palm Beach, Vero Beach, Cocoa Beach. And yesterday we toured the Kennedy Space Center, where they are preparing to send shuttle Discovery up next week (Feb 24) for its final flight.

When last I posted a blog, I had lost all the text I'd worked so hard on, and was so upset I just provided one-line picture captions. I plan to go back and re-do it later today.

We left that anchorage, in South Palm Beach, last Friday, Feb 11. It was a fairly routine day headed north, still seeing large waterfront estates and fancy yachts. I took this picture in a harbor at Jupiter Inlet (we pass various inlets where the Waterway opens to the ocean). I thought it was amazing to see such a huge boat shrink-wrapped. We guessed that this boat yard had outfitted a brand new yacht and they shrink-wrapped it for its transport to its new owner in another country. ?? Or maybe they were just fumigating an old rusty bucket. haha

Also near Jupiter we saw this cool lighthouse. I still am enchanted with lighthouses.

That afternoon we arrived at St Lucie Inlet, which is where a canal leads to Lake Okeechobee in the center of FL and then on to Ft Myers on the west coast. Many boaters doing the Great Loop cross here from Ft Myers and do not go to South Florida and Key West the way I did.
We anchored in a side bay called Manatee Pocket, but we didn't see any manatees other than this big painting of one. We walked around the harbor past waterfront restaurants having their Friday Happy Hours, and settled on a small local hangout called the Whistle Stop (which, shockingly, did not serve alcohol!). We soon learned how it got its name when a freight train rumbled by and it sounded like it was going to run right over the top of us.

The next morning I awoke to find we'd dragged anchor back across the bay, nearing the homes and docks behind us. I quickly fired up the engine and we re-anchored back where we'd started. We held fast this time as Lee stayed on the boat while I dinghied my bike to shore and rode a couple miles to a marine store to buy four new zinc fittings for the engine. These fittings are meant to dissolve to protect the metals in the engine from the salt water, and need to be replaced regularly. Mine were past due. When I completed that task and we filled the fuel tanks at a local marina, we continued northward. We were glad we waited to fill the tanks until we could escape the high prices in Miami and Ft Lauderdale, $3.35/gal vs $4.19 in the waters of wealthy yacht owners.

Actually, before continuing north, we headed westward first. We intended to travel about 12 miles to the first lock in the canal so that Lee could experience going up and then down a lock. However, after traveling about 5 miles and battling a VERY strong north wind, I phoned ahead to the lockmaster to inquire how the weather was impacting his lock. He advised me to NOT go there unless I absolutely needed to due to the winds and the fact that they opened only every two hours because of Florida's low-water drought conditions. Once I would ascend the lock, I'd have to wait 2 hrs to descend. I made an immediate U-turn.

Two quick stories to tell, one cool and one nasty: Cool: Three boats passing me heading south slowed down and the lead boat radioed me to say the president of Mainship was in the 2nd boat, and they were headed to the Miami Boat Show. I radioed that I loved my Mainship, and he replied he was pleased to hear that. Nasty: A HUGE yacht came flying past me only about 50 feet to my right, and I never saw him until he was there creating a monster wake. Those waves would be hitting me broadside in a matter of seconds, knocking us silly and probably causing damage as everything would fly sideways inside my boat. I immediately swung the wheel into his wake to minimize its effect on us, and luckily I was able to do it soon enough even though we still rocked violently. We could not believe a boat would be so insensitive like that. Normally a passing boat notifies you of his approach and slows way down for the passing.

Look at this incredible sunset in Vero Beach! It was even more superlative in person!

Lee and I docked at the Vero Beach City Marina, in one of the prettiest settings of my entire trip. We then walked about a mile to the main ocean street, past huge gnarly live oak trees draped with Spanish Moss that graced all the homes. We arrived to a street fair with live music and vendor booths with enticing food. And beer, which is what we bought, and then witnessed this stunning sunset. Everyone was marveling at it, so we realized it wasn't a usual sighting here.

The next morning we rode our bikes about 6 miles to where the Los Angeles Dodgers had their spring training for about 40 years before moving (to Arizona?) just a few years ago. It is an expansive facility of bungalows where the players stayed, numerous practice fields, and streets named for famous players like Koufax, Jackie Robinson, Drysdale, Lasorda and Alston. The entire grounds were behind locked gates, but Lee and I decided to go around the gates and look at it anyway. We never saw a soul.

Here's their little stadium where all those Grapefruit League games were played and the kids got to see their heroes in action.

Lee and I then rode back to the ocean beach highway and split up. I did a hard 20-mile ride and Lee rode many miles and explored.

We departed Monday morning after two days in this beautiful spot. It was finally a calm day after a week of northerly winds. We had scenic beauty most of the way, but it eventually opened out into wide bays and we had to stay within our marked channel. Late in the afternoon we arrived at our anchorage at the town of Cocoa, west of Cape Canaveral (which is on the ocean about 10 miles east). We dinghied in to shore and walked around the delightful village. We even succumbed to temptation and had dessert first at an ice cream parlor. That was our Valentine's Day treat, actually wishing ever so longingly that Kathy and Janet could be there with us.

I will never tire of the incredible sunrises and sunsets we are fortunate to admire on this boating adventure.

Not long after sunrise, we pulled anchor and cruised all of one mile to the Cocoa Village Marina, docking right next to a sailboat from Ventura, Calif! But we were not there long; we rented a car and drove the 20 miles to the Kennedy Space Center and stayed the entire day!

This photo shows the bottom half of the Saturn V rocket that was used to send our Apollo astronauts into space. It is so huge and figured so prominently in our space program to the moon in 1969-1972, that they have a whole museum dedicated to it. It is 350 feet long, with three stages, and above that was where the lunar landing module was kept and the tiny capsule at the top where the three astronauts lay during liftoff and re-entry.

Notice two of the five huge engines needed to blast this 6-million-pound skyscraper into space. Sadly, of this entire ship, only the tiny 10-foot-tall capsule was all that finally came back to earth intact. The three rocket stages fell into the sea, and everything else remained floating in space or on the moon surface.

This is a picture of Discovery on the launch pad for its Feb 24th trip to deliver goods to the International Space Station. After that voyage, there will be only two more shuttle trips, in March and June, before the entire Shuttle Program ends after 30 yrs and 135 trips. The entire facility will revert to private use for space voyages, and 4500 govt employees will be laid off.

In this picture, the actual shuttle faces the ocean, so all you can see are the tops of the external fuel tank and one of the two booster rockets (they put it all into place 30 days before launch). Overall, Lee and I had a fascinating day there, watching IMAX films and being reminded of the landmark events in our youth. I had forgotten that Neil Armstrong had to land the lunar module manually since the computer failed during his approach. It had overshot the intended landing spot by quite a distance, and then Armstrong had to maneuver around rock fields to a suitable new location. When he finally set down, he had only about 17 seconds of fuel left. What a hero!

When Lee and I left the Space Center as it was closing, we traveled east to the ocean and Cocoa Beach. There, Lee was in heaven when we stopped to shop at a massive Ron Jon's Surf Shop (Lee and his son are big surfers). Isn't this little woody cute?

Today we are traveling to New Smyrna Beach, where we will visit Dave and Sandy Thompson; I met Dave on my cross-country bike trip in 2007, and we have been buddies ever since. This will be my third visit with them on this adventure. They stopped by for my Bon Voyage party on May 2, and then Rick and I visited their home near Sudbury, Ontario, on August 2. Smyrna Beach is their Florida home. They also will take Lee and me to the Daytona Airport tomorrow. We are anxious to return to the women we miss so much.

I will return on Feb 27, then Rick and Beth arrive the next day from New Orleans and we will head north to St. Augustine and other ports northward. The adventure will continue!

The rich and the filthy rich

2011-02-10T19:29:00.000-08:00

I am going back to this posting on Wed, Feb 16 to elaborate. I had spent two hours that morning writing my usual wonderful blog (hahaha) and it got completely lost. My connection to the server had vanished, and nothing I typed in could be saved. Therefore, I initially just typed a few captions and was done with it, until now.

This is approaching the Miami skyline last Tuesday morning, Feb 8. I was pretty impressive, similar to when we'd approached New York City and Chicago. In this case, I was ina wide bay but had to stay within the channel markers. It still is remarkable to be in broad "ocean" waters and it being only a couple feet deep except for the dredged channel.

We entered the Miami Harbor amid tall shiny sky scrapers, massive cruise ships, and ocean freighters. We had to wait 20 minutes for a bridge to open, so I shut off the engine and we lollygagged on a perfect, windless morning. Once thru the bridge, we turned east (right) to move to an anchorage near South Beach, the famous touristy strip that is stereotypical Miami Beach.

This picture is one of the many channels lined with expensive homes, each with a swimming pool. At the end of this channel was our anchorage along with five sailboats, in a spot called Sunset Lake. It was only 11:30, and immediately Lee and I dropped the dinghy, loaded the bikes, and took off for the afternoon. We actually had to dinghy about three or four miles, a long way, down little canals until we reached a place to tie up and unload.

Then we rode south to South Beach along the ocean pathway, teeming with eye candy that of course we didn't look at. Young and old, from all over the world it seemed from the accents (in addition to Spanish), all enjoying a sunny, hot day where the beautiful people sunbathe. And cruise up and down in their muscle cars and imported sports cars to show off and see who wants to catch a ride.

We stopped to walk out onto the beach, and look how crowded it was! I had to close my eyes because of all the cute.... Anyway, we weren't dressed to join the bathers, so we headed to find lunch along the happinin ocean avenue. Somewhere in there, walking my bike down the sidewalk, I "lost" my wallet, or someone lost it for me. What a pain that turned out to be, losing my wallet. Lee has had to pay for every single thing, and I will write him a check tomorrow (Feb 17) when we depart for the airport.

We eventually rode back to where the dinghy was, and continued on a big loop trip around other homes and channels until we found our way back to the boat. We saw a manatee, but only for an instant. We passed huge yachts, one with a "regular" speed-boat dinghy in addition to an amphibian car/boat. Another had its "garage door" open at its stern to reveal two jet skis and other toys. These were the rich. The next day we would discover the filthy rich.

We left early the next morning and headed up to Ft. Lauderdale. Before we reached the main yachting haven, it is a port for ocean freighters. There was this Chiquita Banana freighter being pushed by a tug up to a dock to unload as we passed by.

It was windy when I docked the boat at our marina, and I was pushed sideways into the huge yacht next to me. I scratched his hull, but we could not tell how serious it was. The owner took all my insurance info and called in a repair man. Luckily it turned out to be only a blemish, and the guy waxed it away in 10 seconds. I gave him some bills for his trouble.

Lee and I then went sightseeing. We bought all-day tickets on the water taxi, which travels up and down among the massive estates and mega yachts to 13 different stops. We had a captain and narrator who told stories of whose homes or yachts we were seeing, and their shtick was hilarious. We were laughing the whole time. I would love to repeat some of them, but...Suffice to say, the FILTHY rich live in Ft Lauderdale and the city from our vantage was way too opulent.

this is just one of hundreds of mega yachts. When we first arrived and had not yet docked, I was stunned at how huge the "ships" were and they were everywhere. One like this, visiting at a marina, had to pay close to #1500/day to tie up there (we paid $72). I was gawking at all the ships so intently that I passed up our marina and had to circle back to it. One yacht was $81 million.

One of thousands of opulent mansions there. The water taxi narrator said one paid $44,000 per month in property taxes. The stories of their lavishness were endless. One had its swimming pool on the roof (every single one had a swimming pool).

We eventually got off the water taxi to have dinner, then got back on it for the ride home, getting to see the mansions and yachts all lit up for show. The next morning we did chores like laundry and washing down the boat, and then departed at noon.
Under the second bridge were these iguana. Aren't they cool?

A little farther along we came to Joe Namath's home back when he was his most famous, in the late 60s and early 70s. We knew this only because our water taxi host had told us about it. We also saw right about there our best view of manatees since Crystal River weeks earlier. A mom and her calf swam slowly along with us as I put the boat into neutral so we could extend our view of these massive creatures.

As we continued north, we went under dozens of bridges and continued to see opulent and fabulous homes/yachts. No bridge, however, was as fancy as this one. We ended that day in South Palm Beach, anchored up in a little bay, 33 miles north of Ft Lauderdale.

Gator, iguana, tarpon, man-o-war sightings!

2011-02-07T17:46:00.001-08:00

Yesiree, we've seen it all now. Bert will be so jealous since he was shut out on seeing a gator, which he was so desperate for. And then we heard about the giant 6-ft iguanas on Bahia Honda Key, and we saw an iguana there.

Uhhhhh.....they were both about 3 inches long. Vicious beasts! The gator was on the dock next to Breaking Away. The guy living on his boat next to us confirmed it was a gator, and then the cute little guy scampered off. When Lee and I departed Key West, our first night was an anchorage at Bahia Honda State Park. A biologist was trying to catch something in the shrubbery and he told us they were trying to eradicate the iguana, which are non-native and wrecking the environment. He said they were up to 6 ft and all over the place, and that we'd see them for sure. We looked and walked and searched, and finally we saw one...a tiny baby one, and he scooted away too. The Great White Hunters we are!

Change of subject! These bras. Back in Key West, Lee arrived late on Feb 3. I spent the entire day cleaning the boat, changing oil, doing laundry, and tons of other maintenance things I'd put off. It was Janet's birthday, so I visited quite a bit with her too. The next day Lee and I rode around the island and later stopped in at the various watering holes the way Bert and I had. This picture of the bras is at Capt Tony's, where Ernest Hemingway used to drink (altho then it was called Sloppy Joe's). Apparently girls like to leave these autographed decorations, perhaps when it gets too hot or something. haha

Anyway, Lee and I sampled some of the bars I hadn't been in yet, searching for my lost shaker of salt. We had a good time last Friday.

Here's where we had lunch, at Kelly's -- "The Southernmost Brewery". As you can see, the weather was gorgeous. The foliage was immense and lush. The handcrafted beer was exquisite. Later, we had dinner at a vegetarian cafe.

Back at the dock on Saturday morning before we left, this huge tarpon was lying there behind my boat, not moving. If only the gator and iguana had been that large!

We were going to take the short route from Key West to Bahia Honda Key, on the Atlantic Side (south side of the Keys), but when we got out there, the swells were large and hitting us broadside. So we did a U-turn and went out the way Bert and I had come in, and took the Gulf route. When we got there, we were anchored between two bridges, Hwy 1 and the old original railroad bridge. Wasn't it a pretty setting for us? Yes, pretty, but also uncomfortable because the ocean swell coming in rocked us the entire night and next morning. Luckily neither Lee nor I get sea sick.

While walking along the sandy beaches on the Atlantic side, we saw little jellyfish thingys washed up on the shore. The park ranger told us they were baby Portuguese Man O Wars, and NOT to touch them. Later during the entire day's cruise, we saw 100s of them floating on the water as we passed by. Another vicious hazard if you want to go swimming here!

The railroad bridge dates from 1905 to 1912, when Henry Flagler built tracks and bridges all the way to Key West. However, on my mom's 15th birthday, a huge hurricane damaged the rails beyond repair, and rail service ceased. This bridge stands to this day, and they had to cut out this section so that tall boats could enter the bay.

Yesterday, on Super Bowl Sunday, we cruised all the way to the little town of Islamorada, on Motecumba Key. We anchored way out in a bay with about 30 other boats, and dinghied in to find a restaurant or bar to watch the game. Not long after we landed, Janet sent a text making sure we would not forget to take flashlights to be able to see when we returned to the boat late at night. Well heck yes we needed those, so we went back out to the boat to get them and returned a second time.

We chose a Mexican restaurant for the game, and spent four hours there. These margaritas were THE BEST, better than any I'd had in Key West (and not just because they were larger!!). The first was so good, we had a second. And that was only the beginning...for me anyway (Lee knew when to stop). We look happy, no? It was not crowded at all in there, so we became friends with the staff and we all enjoyed watching the game. Somehow I could even continue to text Janet coherently, and start and operate the dinghy, and find Breaking Away in the pitch black night.

After nursing a bit of a hangover this morning, we took a swim in the warm, clear water, and then departed on a 55-mile trek through narrow marked channels and open sounds, in and around Keys and Everglades, to tonight's gem. Isn't this spot cool?

It's one of the final Keys before Miami, and it used to belong to Mark Honeywell of the Honeywell electronics fame. He bought it in 1937 and developed it into his private estate by 1939. But then he halted work because his wife died, he sold it in 1945, and it became part of Biscayne National Park in 1985. It has a completely sheltered harbor, so we are protected from tonight's strong winds. He built this lighthouse as a decoration (the Coast Guard would not let him put a light in it). It and the other six or seven buildings here still look like the day they were built, all out of coral stone.

It's one of the best "discovery" spots of the trip, similar to when Rick and I happened upon the Fayette State Park in Michigan. Only the mosquitoes marred perfection. Tomorrow we plan to reach and explore Ft. Lauderdale.

Lee has been a super boat mate, and I look forward to our next 9 days...almost as much I look forward to seeing Janet again on that day. I miss her so much.

Margaritaville!

2011-02-01T17:39:00.000-08:00

We are in Key West, and boy does it live up to its reputation as a drunken party town! We arrived yesterday evening, and walked to the "hot" street, Duval St. So many open-air bars with live music, T-shirt shops, bars, souvenir shops, bars, and yes, Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville bar (and T-shirt shop).

Today Bert and I took a bike ride all around not only Key West, but also Stock Island. You should know that Bert's last name is Stock, and "his" island is the very next island on your way back toward Miami. Then we came back and rode around the entire key and enjoyed the beautiful sunny day and wide beaches and homes and history.

At the end of the day, we walked along the wide pier near the cruise ships, and there were lots of performers working for tips. This fellow was interesting, mostly because with all that hardware, he was gently singing the Beatles' I Wanna Hold Your Hand.

We toured Ernest Hemingway's home, and seemingly the most interesting part for our guide and the group were the 44 cats who live there. They are all descendants of a six-toed cat from 60 yrs ago that the family brought in, and let them propagate. About half are born with the six toes. Anyway, the owners cater to those felines, and they can sleep anywhere and do anything. They all have movie-star names, or other famous people.

And here are their ancestors, in the Cat Cemetery. We saw Frank Sinatra's grave, Marilyn Monroe's, Merna Loy's, Bette Davis', ...you get the idea.

We also toured the lighthouse, first built in 1847. We climbed the 88 steps and took pictures in all directions including the next one...

This picture shows the two cruise ships in the distance. The main party street is off to the right a bit, and runs right to those ships. Today there were two different ships in port from the two when we arrived yesterday. Man, does this place get a ton of tourists from those huge ships! They are by far the tallest structures on any horizon.

Here's the sign post at the end of Hwy 1. It was quite an achievement to build first a railroad and then a highway across the Keys to Key West.

This marker was a popular photo stop for tourists. There was a long line to be able to have your photo taken next to it. Cuba, at 90 miles away, is closer than Miami!

I was shocked to see chickens running around the Key everywhere. Ya hear cock-a-doodling all over the place, any neighborhood, any beach.

Here I am posing on the wide sandy beaches on the Atlantic side. The Gulf side has the marinas and harbors, while the Atlantic side has the beaches. Regardless which side, there are shallow reefs stretching way out to sea, and a boater has only a few marked channels where you can get into the islands.

We rode to the airport too, and this mural was painted on the wall there. They are proud of their feelings of independence, as the Conch Republic. They have a Conch Rep flag too. I saw a funny bumper sticker saying, "We seceded where all others failed."

Here's a picture of our Gulf nemesis, the cherry bomb. It's what we call the endless crab and lobster trap buoys that we must constantly avoid hitting when we have cruised in the Gulf. We traveled about 80 miles from Shark River to Key West, out where we could see nothing but water in all directions, yet the entire way we were dodging these cherry bombs. Janet joked that they are dinner waiting to happen, but no, we didn't pull one up and swipe the catch.

Here's a picture of the sunset from our anchorage in Little Shark River in the Everglades National Park. Later that night, I could hear manatees passing by the boat because I could hear their breathing. Cool! And the stars were spectacular.

On Sunday morning I did some maintenance in the bilge. We then headed out into the open Gulf after another one of Bert's signature breakfasts. He makes egg scrambles, omelets, pancakes, hot cereal, and other tasty creations.

It was a 50-mile jaunt to Little Shark River. There is NO civilization anywhere near it, so it was special...even if we had zero cell phone and Internet service for 28 hours. I really do not like being out of communication...with certain friends...with a certain friend...

As soon as we anchored, Bert and I launched the dinghy and took a long adventure into the park. It was a maze of waterways, and one could easily get lost. We kept hoping we'd see a gator, but didn't. What we did see were hundreds of birds, a raccoon, and swampy little offshoots to explore. This is a picture of one of those inlets.

Another one. It was sorta spooky, being miles from anyone. We shut off the engine and it was peaceful, with various bird calls and the sound of their poop hitting the water (from their perches in the trees).

See how it truly looks like a swamp? Branches coming down and everything. We explored about five of these inlets. No gators. Bert said the only Gators in Florida must be those at the university in Gainesville.

Here we are speeding on back to our anchorage, with swamp all around. Fun.

Now, Bert and I have one more day here in Key West. Then he departs and Lee Smith arrives. We will need to reach Daytona Beach by February 17.

Snowbird paradise on the Gulf

2011-01-29T17:34:00.000-08:00

In the last few days the temperatures have increased, the sun has been shining all day, and the snowbirds have finally been showing their true colors. Bert and I had been wondering where everyone was, after hearing how Florida in winter would be so crowded. We found them! Especially today in Naples and Marco Island, on a sunny Saturday. Boats, bikes, walkers, revelers - showing why they so eagerly ditch the cold north if they possibly can.

Since my last blog, the first exciting thing was meeting up with new friends Joseph and Terry. Janet and Joseph have been friends for 10 yrs, and Terry is a new friend of Joseph's from Oregon. They've been enjoying their first visit together, for about three weeks now. I was so glad they could meet up with us at lunchtime as we cruised near his home. Fabulous time we had, but too short.

As we continued south on the Intracoastal Waterway, we passed many fishermen and many birds. These two went together! I'd not yet seen a pelican sitting like this on a small occupied boat, so I'm glad I could get this picture. Most of what we saw along the Waterway were incredible mansions with "Florida landscaping". There's a certain "look" the rich real estate has here. I could show you some pictures, although you've probably seen them over the years already.

We anchored that night (last Thursday) in a green, pretty cove off of Sanibel Island, which is just outside of Ft Myers. We were the only ones there, and it was pretty windy, but NOTHING like the "hurricane" winds we'd had a few days earlier. So we were comfortable and slept well.

Friday morning, after awakening to a spectacular sunrise over the island trees, we cruised a short distance to Ft Myers Beach and tied up temporarily at Salty Sam's Marina for a bike ride. During the bike ride I got the sad call about Rich. I gathered myself and we continued the ride over this tall bridge back to Sanibel Island. The picture is from Sanibel back toward Ft Myers. Interestingly, I attended a conference about 10 yrs ago at the big high-rise resort you can see at the far end of the bridge. I recall then watching the boats coming and going and hoping my dream to someday be here on my own boat trip would come true.

We concluded our 23-mile bike ride and went back out into the Gulf to reach Naples for the night. While cruising off the coast, essentially by ourselves, this parasailing boat took off from far off to our left and passed immediately in front of us!! I guess they wanted to give us a personal show. By the time the couple passed over, they were so close they were waving to us and I could see their smiles.

Then a little farther along, we watched this Coast Guard helicopter and boat doing an exercise over the water for quite a long time. The copter hovered in one place for at least 15 minutes. But it was some distance from us, as I had to use a telephoto to get this shot.

But then, about 10 minutes later, after the copter had gone away, a sheriff's boat came speeding up to us and I realized they wanted to stop me. Oh no, what did I do now, that I have no idea of? It was strange - they wondered if I was okay. Huh? Wuddya mean? Well, he said, we saw the copter buzzing your boat for quite a while and wondered whether you were having some trouble. No sir, we're fine; that copter was not really near us at all, and I believe they were doing a Coast Guard exercise of some sort. Okay then, and he sped away. I thought the sheriff should have been able to contact the Coast Guard to find out what was going on instead of speeding way out to me in the ocean to ask if they were buzzing me. ??? At least the sheriff didn't notice my beer can.

Then we arrived at the inlet to Naples. I had been here four consecutive Januarys in the mid 1980s, but I sure had never seen Naples from this vantage point! Talk about fancy waterfront homes! Oh my! This picture is just one of a few thousand I could have taken as we cruised two miles back into the bay to the City Dock. Lots of boat traffic out there too.

We decided to eat dinner last night at the restaurant right there at our marina. It was hoppin! It seemed like THEE happenin place on a Friday night. And to our surprise, there were even some young folks there in addition to the usual older crowd of retirees!

This morning Bert and I went for a 34-mile bike ride through the incredible streets of this city, and then on the roads farther north. The populous was out in force on this sunny weekend morning. We saw so many cyclists, it seemed like Los Angeles. Joggers, walkers, walkers with dogs, and later...

...sunbathers. This picture of me is on the beach in front of the hotel resort I stayed at each of those four years that Nestle sent me here (and then the annual meeting was moved to Nassau in the Bahamas. I know, I know. Hey, why do you think the prices of Coffeemate and Butterfinger are so high?).

After the bike ride, we departed to where we are now, Marco Island, 18 miles south of Naples. We got to take an inside passage through uninhabited swamp land and see lots of birds. Osprey have built their huge nests on just about every navigational post, and right now all the mommas are sitting on their eggs. We also saw tons of egrets and herons and cormorants. There were signs constantly along the way for manatees, yet I saw only one, and only for an instant as it got its breath. It goes without saying that dolphin sightings continue all day long, and they oftentimes play at our bow, our sides, or our wake.

Oh NOOOOOOOOOOO. Ya know what Breaking Away is doing in this picture? It's stuck! Yes folks, I ran aground this afternoon. And only 300 yards from my day's destination. We could see our anchorage (where we are right now) from our stuck spot.

I'm going to blame it on the Garmin, as usual. It's certainly never MY fault! haha But the Garmin showed me in deep water, close to, but not at, the shallow water. Right in front of a big marina, no less!

Luckily I was going only idle speed, so it was a gentle landing. Therefore, I thought I might just drift off eventually since there was a rising tide. We waited about two hours, doing pretty much what we would have done anyway if we'd made it the next 300 yds and anchored up (shower, Happy Hour, Facebook, phone calls, dinner). Funny how numerous boats passed me, and nearly all ignored my predicament. The few who said anything just remarked on the obvious (well, obvious by then anyway): "It's deeper over here", "You stuck?", "It's too shallow there." No one offered to help, even the guy at the marina who was close enough to speak to me in a normal voice.

I finally tried backing off the shoal but the prop was still hitting mud. So I broke down and called my friends at US Boat, the towing service I've had save me three times now. He arrived just after sundown, and eased me ever so gently off the shallow spot. I was barely stuck by the time he pulled me off. Finally we could travel those silly 300 yds and drop anchor for tonight.

Tomorrow we have a 50-mile cruise out in the Gulf to Shark River, on our way to Key West by next Tuesday.

In memory of Rich Hess

2011-01-28T15:09:00.001-08:00

February 20, 1951 - January 27, 2011

My best friend, a wonderful man, loving memories always.

This picture is Annette, Rich, and Denise a few years ago on Rich's birthday, which also is Annette's birthday. Annette works at City Of Hope where Rich was treated, and he called her is guardian angel over the past many months.

Goodbye Rich, I will miss you terribly. You will be in Your Father's arms.

Near disaster

2011-01-25T17:19:00.000-08:00

Yesterday afternoon (Tuesday)at 5 pm, a hurricane-force squall passed over where we were peacefully anchored for the night near St. Petersburg. We knew we were in for some strong weather, so we found an anchorage rated best for its holding quality and well suited for the wind direction. I laid out LOTS of chain in the 8-foot bay. However, it became far worse than expected, and we nearly had a disaster.

I was about to take a shower, but the rain, lightning, and wind had begun to get REALLY hard so I decided to watch the show. It was a good thing I did. At first it was fascinating, because it was blowing as I'd never seen it blow, with sheets of white blasting over the water. That's when I took the picture above. But then it got totally wild, with the rain blowing in so hard we could not see a thing out the windows and the boat was swinging and surging violently.

We were still in ignorant bliss about how exciting this was, until the docks from the homes behind us came into close view and we realized we'd dragged anchor. We were about to get slammed into the docks of the very homes in the picture above, and be a story on the local news station. See how far we dragged anchor?

I quickly started the engine to pull forward, and luckily Bert clued me in as to which direction I needed to go. For the next several minutes, it was wild chaos to keep from getting slammed because I would go in one direction with a surge of the engine to get away from the docks just a few feet away, but then the hurricane blew me too far in that direction and suddenly I would be near the homes on the other side of me. So I had to slow while spinning the wheel the other direction, and then thrust the engine again. Bert was pointing out each new hazard as he keenly watched around as best he could; visibility was only about 20 feet. (We also had to watch out for another boat anchored not too far from us.)

This went on back and forth, each time barely escaping a crash. And the whole time, the anchor was still down. I'm sure it had some effect on how my boat was responding, but I didn't have time to think about it because I was constantly averting disasters. Finally I got a few seconds of control, and I had Bert push the button next to me to raise the anchor. It took a while, but I was able to maintain control while the anchor eventually was lifted.

At that point, we used the Garmin to guide us farther out in the bay, while Bert watched for the other boat and some posts we remembered. Whew, we finally got away from everything and could re-anchor once it calmed down to "normal" high winds and rain. We later turned on a local news station and they were showing "tornado" damage to a gas station and several homes, saying how much force the squall punched as it passed over. It continued to rain on and off all night, but the wind never approached what it was during our "hurricane".

This dolphin and his buddy were playing right in front of the bow as we departed Crystal River last Monday morning. It was a perfectly calm and warm day on the Gulf, such a change from the previous Saturday. We traveled about 70 "boring" miles (what a relief) to Tarpon Springs, which is where the Intracoastal Waterway starts up again. We got to use Otto, so it was a relaxing day.

Tarpon Springs is Greek! It is world famous for its sponge industry. In 1905 a Greek man started a sponge-diving business that grew into Florida's leading industry in the 1920s. Greeks flocked here over the years, and still do. We docked right at the end of the famous waterfront street where all the sponge boats dock and the sponge markets thrive. We had our choice of about 8 authentic Greek restaurants, and we chose Mama's.

This is picture of me in front of one of several sponge merchants, and it was only about 50 yds from where Breaking Away was docked. The whole street, while authentically Greek and with an active sponge industry, was touristy. But I loved it.

See, they really did sell sponges. Everywhere. I thought they were expensive. $10 for an average-sized one.

And here is one of the many sponge boats docked there, with their Greek names. Actually, this was one that carried tourists out into the local waters to observe the divers at work retrieving the sponges from the bay floor.

Yesterday morning, before we departed Tarpon Springs, Bert and I did some serious laundry. We packed the dirties into our backpacks and rode about three miles to a laundromat. Waited. Packed in the cleanies, and rode back.

By then, a strong southerly wind had picked up. We were sure glad we weren't out in the Gulf! We traveled the rest of the day until about 4:30 against that strong wind, into big chop considering we were in protected waters. One of my placards with the boat's registration number blew off into the water (bummer), and Bert saved the front flag that got blown off its holder. We were the only fools out on such a bad day. The entire boat was salt-stained from all the splashing and blowing (but the hurricane cleaned all that off!!). Little did we know then how much stronger the wind would get.

This last picture shows the 12-mile-long Sunshine Skyway Bridge across Tampa Bay's mouth. The clearance is 175 feet there in the middle. Today we traveled 57 miles with a strong tailwind, across Tampa Bay, past Sarasota, and here to another Venice Beach. Along the way, Bert and I kept exclaiming about the never-ending string of huge mansion estates, with their private docks, yachts, swimming pools, and homes large enough for at least families of 15 to 20.

Soon after arriving at our marina, we rode a few miles to a grocery store for much needed supplies. We then had a fabulous Happy Hour with three other Loopers docked here (one had done the Loop twice). It was so much fun sharing stories of where we'd been and what we'd experienced. This truly is an amazing adventure for all of us.

Manatees!

2011-01-23T17:34:00.001-08:00

They are incredible! These gentle giants were wonderful today. Look at how close you can get to them. You can see this one's face and eyes. I have many more photos below, after telling you about Steinhatchee and the trip here to Crystal River.

As soon as we arrived in Steinhatchee last Thursday, we went to pay the marina fee and this parrot startled me as I opened the door. It took me a few moments to realize he was real. And he had a partner sitting nearby. This made it really seem like rural Florida in the unspoiled Big Bend area where we were.

This is one of the houses we saw on our walk around Steinhatchee. Note all the crab pot bouys for decoration! I learned to hate those things since we had to weave an obstacle course around them coming and going, and again yesterday when we came here to Crystal River. Anyway, this house again reminded me of the kind of place this area is: earthy in a fisherman sort of way!

We decided to stay in Steinhatchee an extra day since the Gulf was rough, AND, we couldn't depart until the tide rose in the afternoon. That would have made it too late to arrive at the next possible river to the south, Suwanee, because of the tides.

I should mention that when you cruise in my size boat along this part of FL, you are a prisoner of the tides. The rivers here are so shallow that you may travel in and out of them only at mid tide or higher. I mentioned our plans for Suwanee River and the dockmaster suggested I speak to the local guy who rescues grounded boaters (with the company that has pulled me out of the shallows twice on this trip!). He said even if I entered Suwanee at highest tide, it'd be dicey and he would not recommend we go there. Who am I to argue with THIS guy?? So we planned to go to the next possible anchorage 25 miles farther on Saturday, but ONLY if we would leave before dawn to avoid the low tide.

Here's another house on our walk around Steinhatchee. It also captures the way of life here in this old, small fishing village. On our walk I was thawing out, since I'd frozen earlier while cleaning the barnacles and growths in the bow thruster prop blades. Even with my wet suit, I was so cold, and it took a long time to pick and brush and clean in that narrow opening in the bow (and on both sides of the bow). My hands ended up with 25 cuts (which I felt all too painfully when I made the mistake of eating salt and vinegar chips. lol).

But the good news is: the bow thruster works normally again! Sitting for 2 1/2 months allowed it to get all nasty and therefore ineffective. And boy do I need a bow thruster when docking!

One more photo that reminds me of what this area looks like. Many of the trees had tons of moss like this.

After our walk and I stopped my shivering, we took a bike ride. Here's Bert, and in the background you can see Breaking Away at the marina dock.

After a cozy night in our heated boat that protects us from the 20-something lows at night, we were up at 6:00 in the dark to prepare to leave by 6:45 - which we did! We beat the low tide, and escaped back out into the mine-field Gulf with all the crab pots. Our goal was a 60-mile trip to Cedar Key, half way to our next destination, Crystal River with the manatees. But once we got to where we'd turn into Cedar Key, it was early enough that we decided to just go on to Crystal River. It would be a 95-mile trip.

It was a horrendous 95-mile trip!! It was the roughest day on this entire trip, with 25 mph winds, 4-6 foot swells hitting us from the back and side, and we confirmed later there was a small craft advisory. I could not use Otto Pilot since the swells were crashing at the stern, so I fought the wheel for 10 hours. Luckily, Breaking Away is a safe trawler for these conditions, and we plowed on in, relieved to be safe and sound in a marina. Poor Bert got seasick early on, so he had a truly miserable day.

We awoke this morning after a long sleep to recover from the stress, and immediately wanted to go see the manatees. Boy, were they better than we ever imagined! We kayaked only about a quarter mile from a new marina farther up the river, and there they were, coming and going along a little channel that had several side channels with houses on one side and nature on the other. It was a bright, sunny day and the tourists were out. Many many boats carried manatee viewers and snorkelers.

This picture shows a mama and her calf. They move so slowly, if at all. And they seem to have zero fear of humans and our kayaks and boats. Unfortunately, about 50 of this endangered species dies from propeller wounds each year. When we first saw them swim by us so close to us and near the surface, we were so excited.

They come up every few minutes to breathe. This one is breathing, and only the snout surfaces. They can get up to 10 feet long and 2000 lbs, yet it seemed many were bigger than that.

Here you can see its eyes as he was right up next to the kayak!! Oftentimes they were just under us or next to us, hardly moving.

Bert and I kayaked far back into the river, which is fed by natural warm springs, which is why they like it here so much (and why I could go into the water without freezing). There were quite a few tourists out crowding some parts of the waters, so we went down one of the channels between rows of homes and found our own treasures. We were all alone for 45 minutes with a group of about 20 that just hung out there to delight us.

On the kayaking back to the marina, I got this shot of a huge one with Bert in the background. There were still tons of tourists out and about, and they were not disappointed as the sea cows were everywhere.

Once back to Breaking Away, I got out my wet suit, mask, snorkel, and fins, threw them into the dinghy, and went back to try swimming with them. Bert took a bike ride (and bought me a scraper for hull barnacles). I motored along at idle speed to avoid them, and then cut the engine and paddled in the final 100 yards to where I wanted to snorkel. As luck would have it, I was the only human there, right where 30 or so had been earlier.

It was fabulous, beyond words! I pretty much stayed motionless out there, and they came right up to me and stared me in the eyes a few inches from my mask. I couldn't believe it. At first it was scary to have such a huge beast so close, but they were motionless and I soon lost my fear and just pushed them away if I needed to. One took a liking to me and would always return to face me up close. She yawned once and green vegetable yuk spewed from her mouth. I finally wanted to see some others and swam away and suddenly there she was next to me, not wanting me to leave her. I put my hand on her back and let her pull me along.

Another one out there seemed like it was 20 feet long. It had to have been a granddaddy since it had lots of algae and green on its body. A big school of fish kept cleaning off the green as he just lay there still in the water. I swam up close and personal with them, all alone, for about 30 minutes before heading back.

More local color in manatee land. Bert and I saw this on our bike ride. We were too late for the Manatee Festival in town this weekend since it closed at 4:00.

Earlier, after my snorkeling, I scraped barnacles off the metal trim levelers at the back of the boat and brushed the green gunk off the hull. Luckily the prop and rudder were completely smooth and clean. I also had to wash the boat down to get all the salt off, and a few other chores like vacuuming. Bert cooked a great steak dinner,

All in all it was a fabulous day, and I'm glad we came all the way here from Steinhatchee to have the entire day for fun and chores and bike riding. Tomorrow we plan to make it to Tarpon Springs, which will get us off the open Gulf and back into the protected Intracoastal Waterway.

Successful crossing!

2011-01-20T17:47:00.001-08:00

This is the scene we enjoyed after successfully crossing our section of the Gulf today. A sleepy fishing village in a mostly uninhabited and natural section of Florida, on the Sheinhatchee River (pronounced Steen-hatchee).

Here's another photo from the river here, one of many sunken boats left to rot along our route since last Saturday.

The trip across was just fine. Thank goodness for Otto Pilot! We left at the crack of dawn after refueling almost in the dark. We puttered across the waterway past Dog Island, and once we passed it we were finally out in the open Gulf of Mexico for the first time. At that point, I just set Otto on the straight-line route to Steinhatchee, and Bert and I relaxed most of the rest of the way across.

The headwinds and swells never got too large, it was sunny much of the time, and we just kept hoping the favorable weather would hold. It did, but barely. It started raining on and off as soon as we arrived, and by now (9 pm) it's pouring outside. We're snuggly tied up at a marina, and ate at our first restaurant since we began last weekend.

I almost didn't land when I arrived here; more like almost crashed into all the boats down current from me! The dockmaster waved me in to land on my starboard side AGAINST the current. I don't know how one can land against a strong current, and essentially I didn't. Bert threw her a line as my bow went straight into the dock (gently). Bert luckily hopped off the bow onto the dock, and helped pull me in against the flow. The two of them almost could not hold on, such was the force of the current pushing my boat away from the dock. I couldn't do anything to help. They kept using all their muscles and gradually were able to pull me in. So much for experience - I still don't know how to pull off a landing like that.

This is a picture of a dolphin swimming right behind the propeller wash! We had more dolphins play with us as we got close to our destination. Even more notable were the crab pot floats we had to avoid. Hundreds upon hundreds of them during the final 15 miles, all scattered about forcing us to dodge this way and that way, lest their lines get caught in the propeller. I'd read about them, but this was ridiculous!

Depending on the storm, we may stay here all day tomorrow and another night. We can depart and enter the next few rivers down the coast only in the afternoons at high tides, and the weather forecast is for continued rough weather and seas. So, we'll see what comes

It was a sad day for Bert. He learned last night that his dog of 13 years, Peanut, had taken a sudden turn for the worse with his kidney failure. He went to bed knowing only that his wife would be taking Peanut to the vet with the possibility of having to put him to sleep. He learned this morning as we were crossing (3-hour time difference) that indeed that's what had happened last night. We had a few toasts to Peanut after we landed this evening.

Ready to cross the Gulf!

2011-01-19T17:57:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow morning we will make our only ocean crossing of the entire Great Loop trip. It should be okay, but you never know. I've been in the ocean before -- off of New Jersey -- but we could see land the entire time and could dodge into a harbor if the weather turned bad. And on the Great Lakes we could take refuge if needed as we cruised within sight of the shore. But many have asked all along, "Will you ever be out at sea?" Tomorrow will be the only time, where we are out a great distance from land and must either make it all the way, or turn back to our origin.

We are snuggly in a marina here in Carrabelle, FL. It's the last city on the Intracoastal Waterway before it ends and one must cross the "armpit" (bend) of Florida over to the Steinhatchee River, about 80 miles away. We need to make it before sundown not only for the light to see, but because a big storm is scheduled to arrive by sundown tomorrow. I'll hope the seas are calm enough (they're supposed to be) to travel at a faster rate than I usually do - about 9 to 10 mph. We will fill with fuel tomorrow morning at 7 am and then take off.

Now that I've built up all this suspense, I'll try to post a quick blog entry tomorrow night announcing how it went.

The Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland!! I always wondered whether I would pass through any bayou land or swampy areas on the trip that would remind me of the beginning of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. In the past three days we have! Here is one of many examples of the little shanties we have seen in the wooded swamp land we've passed through. I have another photo farther along in this blog.

On the other hand, we've seen even more land with high-rise condos and stately homes. It's hard to believe the density of the condos. This picture is just one of hundreds we've seen lining the waterway.

To explain, the entire distance to here from Mobile, AL has been in an inside waterway called the Intracoastal Waterway. For the most part, it is separated from the Gulf of Mexico only by a thin strip of barrier islands. On both sides of the waterway are a constant supply of high-rise condos and estates

In two other instances, the waterway has been a canal dug through swamp land. One cut was 25 miles long, and the other 45 miles. THAT's where we saw the shanties and other scenery that looked like Pirates.

In one of the canal sections (yesterday) we kept flushing these birds along in front of us, much as cattle drivers would push the herd forward. As we'd get close, they'd fly forward and land again, and the process kept repeating almost the entire 25 miles. Most of the birds were pelicans, and it was fun watching them dive for fish and gulp them down as we got closer before they had to fly off in front again.

Ever since we reached the Gulf, we've also had tons of fun with the dolphin. They do love to play with boats, and ours is no exception. They swim alongside us, right behind the propeller, or they surf (and jump) in our wake. And so many of them!

Here is Bert driving the boat. It's been so cold this week that we've navigated from the downstairs helm a majority of the time. On several occasions we've done something I haven't done yet on Breaking Away - running the heater while underway, which requires the generator.

And yesterday was really foggy most of the day. Worst fog yet on the trip (other than a short spurt of it on the TN River one morning). We had to slow down and keep a sharp eye out. That's when your GPS chartplotter pays for itself since that's the only thing showing you where to go. I would have just stayed in port otherwise. (Yes, I know, you can use paper charts and a compass to run blind, but I wouldn't now that I'm spoiled with the Garmins!)

How about this sighting in Panama City?

Here is just one of hundreds of fancy estates lining the waterway. Multiple boats, big home, big view, big pocketbook.

Last night we anchored in California Bayou (the night before was Joe's Bayou). We grilled steaks in the calm evening with a full moon. When we went to bed it was totally calm. When we awoke this morning it was totally calm. What happened in between was anything but calm! A squall blew over in the middle of the night and was a doozy!! We were rockin and rollin as if in a hurricane. I couldn't sleep with the force of the wind, the pounding rain, and the waves bouncing us around. I'm glad the anchor held!!!

Here's another of the Pirates/Caribbean shanties from today. This one actually looks like the one on the ride.

Interestingly, we are about the only boat out here in these waters. We've seen only two other boats doing the Loop, and only about 10 other boats total in the three days we've been out. A few small fishermen, a couple large fishing boats, and a few sail boats. I think it's the wrong time of year for boating in general here, and most Loopers are ahead of us. Certainly, it's been too cold for outdoor activities.

Doesn't this look just like what a swamp is supposed to look like? In the final miles of today's 45-mile cut canal, this is what we saw. We expected to see alligators, but we didn't, no matter how many logs we at first thought might be! Lots of pelicans again today, and cormorants, a few eagles, hawks, and egrets, and...I'd need my sisters to identify the others.

After three long days of non-stop travel, we arrived here in Carrabelle at the end of the Intracoastal Waterway until it picks back up in Tarpon Springs, which is just north of Clearwater. Luckily there was an IGA grocery store right across the street, since we had already run low on a number of items.

In just the last three days, we've run 27 hours and 215 miles. On each of the days, once we started we never stopped all day. We're tired, yet tomorrow will be the longest yet. Then we'll get to rest for a day while the storm passes through on Friday. Can't wait to see what the unspoiled natural coast of FL will be like, up the Steinhatchee River.

2011-01-16T16:52:00.000-08:00

Bert and I arrived yesterday! The first thing we did when he arrived with his rental car was go to a grocery store. Wine was on the list, as you can see. So was blackberry cobbler. We're really roughing it, aren't we? As I type this, the cobbler is in the oven. mmmmmm

So far so good on everything still working on the boat, and finding all systems as we left them on Nov 3. I couldn't believe coming back after 2 1/2 months to such a clean boat and nothing out of sorts (other than my bike chain, but rust is inevitable there). I arrived a few hours before Bert, and got things going and heated up. I ate a soup-and-spaghetti dinner from what had been left here.

Last night was so cold! We're going to leave the heater on tonight so it won't drop to 50 degrees as it did on the shivering last night.

We had visitors right away this morning! This is a picture of Annie, her daughter Carrie, and Carrie's friend Dylan. Annie and Carrie are friends from Charlottesville, VA, although they moved here about 10 years ago so it's been a long time since we've visited. We drove Bert's rented car to the airport early this morning, and then Annie picked us up there and returned us to the boat. We had a wonderful visit on a beautiful, sunny morning.

This picture shows where Breaking Away has been since last Nov 3. I'm looking west toward Alabama, which is precisely where we traveled this afternoon - "backwards" to AL. I wanted to stay one night in a state other than being in Florida for 4 1/2 months, in case FL decides I have become a resident of their state and needs to charge me taxes.

When the time came, the engine started right up, we released the six tie lines, and traveled all of 3 miles into AL since the border was only about 200 yards west of us. We got to see dolphins playing near us along the ride!

When we got to this marina, we did several chores. One I had planned to do was scrub the hull, but after I donned the wet suit and dipped in the water, I jumped right back out again! It was FREEZING. So, I did my best by getting in the kayak and scrubbing the sides from there...but it didn't work too well. Still, I stayed with it for a long time to get as much of the gunk and barnacles off the hull as I could. I'll hope for warmer water in Key West to finish the job then.

Late in the afternoon, Bert and I decided to take a bike ride. Well, he got to anyway - 21 miles! But my chain had rusted solid, and it took almost an hour to get it operational again. I had to work on each chain link, one at a time with WD 40 and then lube oil, and manually pry each link back and forth to get it cleaned and free to move. I eventually did take it out for a ride, but I must have ridden only a few miles. But it was my first time on a bike outside in about three months!!

While I was on my short bike ride, I took this picture of the houses here on their stilts. The hurricanes are common enough that the home owners want the flooding to stay below them. We saw these stilted homes along the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers too.

Tomorrow we plan to make some good distance to the east. We have about 200 miles until the Intracoastal Waterway ends, at which point we have a 70-mile crossing on the Gulf to reach the Steinhatchee River. Look it up on a map, and you'll see how we are rounding Florida's Nature Coast bend before reaching civilization again down by Tampa Bay. We hope to see manatees! The weather forecast is for rain tomorrow. Breaking Away can handle it! See ya soon.

Will resume trip on January 15

2011-01-09T15:10:00.000-08:00

My vacation from my vacation will end Saturday when I return to Pensacola, FL Saturday to resume my Breaking Away adventure. Bert Stock, my friend from Valencia, CA will join me until we reach Key West. Then, Hawthorne High friend Lee Smith will be with me for about two weeks as we cruise north to Daytona Beach. Both Bert and Lee have been on the boat before. I look forward to seeing them again and getting back into the saddle (although I will miss Janet!).

This is a picture of a sports sculpture outside the orthopedic surgeon's office who repaired Janet's torn rotator cuff in a surgery on Nov 11. He is the "famous" doctor for the Cincinnati Bengals and Reds, and his office was a virtual sports museum of autographed mementos and photos of famous Cinci athletes. I loved it. This sculpture is a man swinging a bat, and it's made entirely of baseball bats. Janet's surgery went well, and she's improving her range of motion. However, it is still painful and full recovery is months away.

This is of Cheryl, Janet and me on Christmas morning. We loved Cheryl's week-long visit. Cheryl and Janet had lots to yak about, both being elementary school teachers and book readers.

I've gotten some serious school experience during my time here, as a full-time volunteer in Janet's class. I really do like it, helping teach math, tutoring some of the kids, and in general helping with the daily routine. I look forward to seeing them again in late February.

I visited Simi Valley in early December to pack my things into the motorhome, which is stored at Bruce Perry's (my boat mate in May and June).

In about 10 days I hope to post again with an account of the first four or five days in Florida's Big Bend.

We saw an alligator!

2010-10-31T19:32:00.001-07:00

What, you expected a picture of it? Well, sorry, it slipped into the water before I could get my camera. But we really did see a 5-6 foot alligator on the bank of the Tombigbee River here in Alabama, about 80 miles north of where we are now on the Gulf Coast. Rick was doing "bow duty" (sightseeing from the bow) and he spotted it slowly plodding toward the water. I got out the binoculars and watched as he took his final several steps into the water. So cool! No more swimming for us!

This picture is from Columbus, MS, the last time we stayed in a marina before tonight. We are now in Mobile, back in salt water, but luckily we've seen no signs of the oil spill.

When I last posted, we were in the marina in Columbus on our first of two days there. It was a good thing we stayed the second day because that was the day the terrible winds and rain swept across the Midwest and did so much damage. We were at the southern end of that front and also had periods of intense winds and rain. When it cleared in the afternoon, we used the courtesy car and went sightseeing.

Columbus has about 200 antebellum homes because it was never touched during the Civil War. This was just one of the many spectacular estates we saw.

In front of the Columbus Court House was a Civil War statue. On the top was this soldier holding his rifle. A local man clued us in as to what the statue becomes when you view it from the side..... (see next photo)

....a Klansman. Oh my gosh. I suppose their official explanation is that it's just a coincidence. I doubt it.

The scenery along the entire Tombigbee River has been naturally beautiful - just tall trees or cliffs or sandy beaches, with hardly any industry and only an occasional dwelling. It is a very curvy and winding river too, so it gives you the sense that you're on a wild waterway compared to the major rivers we'd been on before. The houses are "country", certainly not the estates that have been more typical along the entire Great Loops waterways up til now.

Here's a home, but what made it interesting was the phone booth sitting there. They must have a teenager who lacks a cellphone but still wants his phone privacy!

This is the US Snagboat Montgomery, at the Tom Bevill Visitor Center in Alabama. We anchored and took the dinghy to the dock next to the Center for a visit. This old paddlewheeler is on display, having been built in 1926 and in service until 1982. It has a crane on the front that lifted trees and other debris from the rivers to keep them clear for river traffic. The center was full of interesting displays on the Tenn-Tom Waterway and the days of steam paddlewheelers.

One two-mile section of the river had these dramatic chalk cliffs.

Here's another section of cliffs, and this picture is neat because of the reflection in the glassy morning water. Several spots along the river had stunning cliffs like this. So beautiful! We had the river virtually to ourselves for the past five days. A few barges would pass us each day, but we would almost never see another boat, other than small fishing boats, until we reached our anchorage.

The anchorages are few and far between along the Tenn-Tom, with only a few marinas. The last marina was at Demopolis, but it has been full because when the oil spill happened, boats from the Gulf were taken up there and have stayed.

The safe anchorages were only about every 35 miles, so those of us on the move these past four days have tended to aim for the same ones each night (although there was some leap-frogging too because boats cruise at different speeds). They were LONG days of non-stop cruising; four 9-hour days and one 10-hr day. As we would finally arrive at our intended anchorages, we had to sweat out whether we'd get a spot because they are small and hold only a few boats. Luckily we always did, but there's no room to swing on your anchor, so we had to set a second anchor out behind the boat.

This picture shows one narrow anchorage, where we had this boat in front of us (who anchored with us four times) and another behind us. It ALSO shows the fog we had that morning. What a harrowing experience THAT turned out to be. The fog looked like it was lifting, and this boat in the picture left, so we did too. As I entered the main river, it became pea soup and I could not see anything. I used the Garmin to stay mid-river, I traveled only at idle speed, I sounded the horn every two minutes, and had my radar on. It stayed like this for about 20 minutes or more, and finally the fog was gone. The next picture shows what we left behind.

See how thick that fog was that we just emerged from? I hope that won't happen again. I would never have gone out if I'd known it was going to get this thick.

Here we are entering our FINAL lock of the entire Great Loop. It was the 101st lock and the 104th time we locked through (once I went thru the same lock 3 times, and once twice). This was 116 miles north of the ocean here at Mobile Bay, so once we descended, we had tides again for the first time since my first lock on the Hudson River at Troy. I remember how nervous I was at that first lock, and how routine they had become by now.

The farther south we went, the more the banks of the river looked like bayous and swamps. This picture was as we neared Mobile, and to me it really looked swampy. The number of cranes and Great Blue Herons and other birds increased too.

Here we are today approaching civilization again, Mobile. It is our first big city since St. Louis, and our first city at all since Columbus, MS.

All of the river through Mobile was industrial, with factories, refineries, and ports for ocean-going ships. This picture shows the final ocean liner before leaving the river and entering Mobile Bay, which is essentially the Gulf of Mexico. We followed a marked channel south for about 10 miles and then followed a secondary marked channel to the west into Dog River to our marina. As we were getting fuel, a couple came up and proudly announced they had completed the Great Loop only 8 days ago!

Tomorrow we'll enter the Intracoastal Waterway a few more miles south, and head east to Pensacola, FL. Breaking Away will be docked at a marina there for 2 1/2 months while I take my "winter break" with Janet. I'll be visiting So. Calif for a week in Dec to visit Rich Hess, Katie, Sarah and Anthony and Bonnie, Beth (well, Rick too I guess, hahaha), Bruce Perry, and other friends. (By the way, right now the Jan 15 to Feb 13 spot on the boat trip is wanting of a first mate(s). Anyone who would like to join me for all or part of that segment, down the FL Gulf Coast to Key West and up the Atlantic side to around Miami, is WELCOME to call me. Please do!(805) 624-2062.)

By the way, I've put 522 hours on Breaking Away since the start of the trip on May 4. I've had 22 visitors/guests (not counting the Bon Voyage drop-in on May 2). I've added 1,332 gallons of diesel fuel. I've run aground twice. I mentioned the 101 locks. I should have counted the beers!

Mississippi Meandering

2010-10-25T19:37:00.000-07:00

It's been 8 days since my last posting, so I'll be brief to keep this from being a novel. We have traveled 215 miles southward in those 8 days, on the Tennessee River in TN, and then on the Tenn-Tom Canal in Mississippi. The scenery, friendly people and adventures continue to be fabulous!!

The picture above is typical of the beautiful scenery along the TN River in the south part of the state. The banks of the river have limestone cliffs and occasional estates or modest homes. This time of year here is perfect, with the trees changing colors and the weather warm during the days and cold at night.

We anchored all by ourselves behind an island at the town of Clifton, and dinghied a few miles to the city. It had an historic old downtown, but gosh, no pubs. We enjoyed the walk and old buildings, but soon traveled back to Breaking Away for happy hour and a grilled chicken dinner. What a peaceful site we had that night!

As we continued south on the TN River (which, by the way, is upriver since it flows northward from the MS/AL border to the Ohio River), we continued to relish the views such as these cliffs. We had the river virtually to ourselves. A tug/barge passed perhaps once a day, and there were quite a few fishing boats, but that was it. We are late in the season here.

Then we reached Savannah, and look at this mansion on the river bank! We anchored just past the city, again in a secluded spot behind an island. We dinghied to a landing at the city, and did some sight seeing in this historic Southern city. I visited the TN River Museum while Rick tended to some personal matters. We then had a scrumptious dinner at a grill where we were the only patrons. We made it back to the boat just before it was pitch dark.

The next morning, Rick and I biked 6 miles to the Shiloh Battlefield National Park. We had to load both bikes into the dinghy, and once we found room to sit, we puttered up the river a short ways and unloaded for the ride. This was a famous 2-day battle in April, 1862, with 23,746 casualties. Basically, the Confederate Army won the first day and drove the Union forces back and captured 2100 soldiers. Overnight, Gen. Grant's forces were reinforced with arrivals from the north, and they reversed their losses and the Confederates retreated. So, in one sense, nothing changed other than 23,746 tragedies. I know, there were more strategic consequences that resulted, but....

We rode our bikes around the 4200-acre park to see some of the places we'd seen in the descriptive video at the Visitor Center. They have put cannon and monuments at all the spots where forces fought during the two days. There are 217 cannon, 156 monuments, and 650 historic tablets scattered about. It was sobering to see and read what happened.

Ironically, "Shiloh" means "House of Peace". The battle was named for the Shiloh Church which sat in the middle of the battle arena.

One happy part of the battlefield park was the Shiloh Indian Mounds National Historic Landmark. They have preserved the remains of a native village from 800 years ago, the highlights of which were the mounds. The pre-historic town was the center of a society that occupied a 20-mile stretch along the TN River.

Rick and I took the 1-mile walk through the remains of the old village. This picture shows one of the many mounds still there. They served as platforms for important structures like a chief's house or a religious building.

Rick and I rode back to the dinghy (and stopped at a classic southern biker bar for lunch), dropped the bikes off at the anchored boat, and then went on to tour Savannah. This had been a crossing spot for the shameful Trail of Tears saga in 1838 when the government forcefully displaced over 16,000 Indians from their homelands and made them march hundreds of miles to their new reservations in Oklahoma. Nearly 4000 died. An American tragedy in all senses.

We walked the Historic Homes tour and this picture was one of 21 sites. They were all really cool! We then walked to a grocery store and a liquor store and hauled all of it back to the dinghy and boat. (Note: Most grocery stores don't sell booze. Certain stores sell beer, but only separate liquor stores can sell wine. So, we have to shop at three different stores to get our "food". Those who passed these laws weren't thinking of us who must walk and carry our bags.)

So last Thursday we continued south. Not every residence along the TN River is a mansion. Pretty interesting site, huh?

We soon reached the Pickwick Dam and Lock, right above the border to Alabama and Mississippi. We lifted 57 feet into Pickwick Lake. This was my final lock going up. All remaining locks (12) would descend back to sea level. We immediately went to a dock to fill the fuel tanks. For the first time I could calculate my exact miles per gallon since the rivers all have mile markers. Other than the fact that the generator uses the same diesel fuel, I got 3.0 mpg. (So, it would have been more without using the generator.) Considering Breaking Away weighs about 25,000 lbs, maybe that's not so bad.

We then cruised a few more miles and entered Mississippi, and almost immediately tied up at a fancy marina, Grand Harbor. We used the courtesy car to go shopping (we asked ahead this time to learn that most of the counties we'd be cruising through to the south were dry, so we needed to stock up on important items). I then changed, for the first time, the fuel filter on the engine. It was successful, but I did get fuel all over me. The usual fuel filter changes are completely clean, but this one is messy.

The next morning Rick and I performed one of our REALLY THOROUGH boat cleanings. It took a long time, but whoa did Breaking Away need a deep scrub all over!! Then, we installed the new horn that I'd ordered a week earlier and had delivered to this marina. It's hard to believe, but when we were done, the horn actually worked!

We departed late, at about 1:30, and went all of three miles to anchor out in the "middle" of Pickwick Lake. We decided to go explore nearby Goat Island. Who should immediately come to greet us but these four furry beasts! They stayed right with us, watching our every hand movement, for about 15 minutes until they were convinced we were not going to pass out any Halloween treats. Then we never saw them again...and the island was pretty small. What we DID see, however, were two more armadillos! These were shy, and didn't let us get close enough for a photo. In fact, they can really sprint when they want to. We saw one go into his underground tunnel to escape.

This picture is trying to show how deep the cut is in this part of the Tenn-Tom Canal. When we headed south from Pickwick Lake/TN River, we first took the Yellow River, but quickly entered a cut canal. This initial 25-mile section is called the Divide Cut, and it cuts through the hills that divide the TN River basin from the Tombigbee River basin. The deepest cut was here where I took this photo, 175 feet down from the natural hills.

The Army Corp of Engineers removed 150 million cubic yards of earth from this section of the canal, more than was removed for the Suez Canal. The entire Tenn-Tom Canal (connects the TENNessee River to the TOMbigbee River) excavated 350 million cubic yards, twice that removed to make the Panama Canal. Construction began in 1972 and it was completed in 1985. Before this, anyone doing the Great Loop would have to take the Mississippi River all the way to New Orleans. Yuk. This new route is SOOO much better, with the Ohio River, Kentucky Lake, the TN River, Pickwick Lake, this new canal, the Tombigbee River, Mobile, AL and tons of scenic beauty and waterways and people compared to the industrial MS River.

Every day Rick makes THE BEST sandwiches for lunch!!

After cruising through the Divide Cut section of the Tenn-Tom Canal, we ended up at Big Springs Lake, just above the first dam and lock of the canal. We anchored all by ourselves in this beautiful cove, with the changing autumn leaves reflected in the glassy water. Rick and I kayaked, we dinghied to the (closed) visitor center and took a nature hike, and then had happy hour.

The only problem with this spot was it had no cell phone or computer connection, so I dinghied out into the lake and drifted a long way north in the wind for a conversation with Janet. Luckily I was able to get the dinghy up on a plane to return the long distance quickly, by tying the gas tank to the front of the boat to shift weight forward. (Normally with the gas tank at the rear, one person cannot go any faster than 1 mph since the boat tilts backward when you give it any throttle.)

That night Rick grilled juicy steaks for dinner, to go with baked potatoes and a garden salad! YUM!

The next morning we loaded the bikes into the dinghy and went to shore for bike rides. After three miles we came to the Natchez Trace Parkway!! This is a bicyclist's paradise just as the Blue Ridge Parkway had been for my "comeback triumph" ride in 2008. It too is a National Park roadway, 444 miles from Nashville, TN to Natchez, on the MS River. It originally was a Native American trail and later a trade route. Now it is a 50-mph scenic roadway with no commercial stops the entire distance. I rode 14 miles north and into Alabama, then came back. Rick went the other direction. I loved it, and someday hope to do a group ride the entire length with Paul Wood, who led the Blue Ridge Parkway ride.

Rick and I showered up and headed off for the day, first going down this HUGE James Whitten lock, an 84-foot descent! That was the highest lock I'd been on yet of the 90 or so I'd been through. Can you believe how high those lock walls are?? This time we were not alone; another cruiser joined us for the mighty drop.

After that first lock, we dropped through three more during the day, anchoring out for the night just above the lock at Smithville, MS. That was last night, and boy, did we have a wild and crazy thunderstorm hit us for two hours in the middle of the night! I don't sleep well when we're anchored and we get nasty weather. I'm up a lot checking on our position and everything. We were swinging in big circles, but at least we did not drag anchor. We survived.

We pulled anchor early and immediately went through the lock we were next to. We had two more lock-downs today, and got to enjoy the river scenery to ourselves. This picture is another "Bridge to Nowhere", but nearly all of the river was beautiful and natural. There are wide "lakes" all along, but they are very shallow and we must cruise only in the marked channel right down the middle.

We have ended today at the Columbus Marina, at the town of Columbus, MS. We plan to stay two nights. We used the courtesy car to go shopping and eat at a Mexican restaurant in town, and tomorrow I have several things on my to-do list: change alternator belt on engine, bike ride, see the 200 antebellum homes (Columbus was not hit during the Civil War), hair cut, dinghy ride around Columbus Lake, and sleep in since I'm finishing this blog posting at nearly 1:00 am.

On Wednesday when we leave, we will quickly enter Alabama and continue down the Tombigbee River toward Mobile.

Cuba Again?

2010-10-17T18:01:00.000-07:00

Breaking Away was in Havana (IL) for 3.5 weeks, and now we're in Cuba again -- Cuba Landing Marina, TN. It's right near Interstate 40, and Bert had to leave today for the Nashville airport to fly home. Bob had to leave us on Friday because he had a business trip to Shanghai yesterday. We had a fabulous time with them here. They and we loved every second, even the running aground a few days ago.

Bert was the breakfast man! He made either fabulous egg or pancake specialties -- or he'd say "Hey, you can have cereal this morning." hahaha Not really, he would have always made specialties if we'd wanted them.

I should mention that Rick is the lunch king. He makes us "Dagwood" ham/turkey/cheese sandwiches with all the fixins every day. YUM!

Isn't this interesting? Bridge to Nowhere. You see some unusual stuff on the Great Loop. Right next to it was an old skeleton three-story building from the days before they created KY Lake and it had been sitting at the TN River's edge.

Isn't he cute? We had anchored in a little cove for our mid-afternoon lunch/lolly gagging, and we kayaked over to the nearby tiny island to explore. Bob first spotted this little armadillo rummaging around for food. He paid no attention to us regardless of how close we got. How did he get there? Janet A. told us later they can swim, although with all that armor they look like they'd sink.

Anchorages here on Kentucky Lake/TN River have lots of bugs, as we've seen many many times on this boating adventure. The midges were squishy, but sometimes we got invaded by the common housefly. Well, Bert was like son Brian was once on our Trinity Lake houseboat trip -- he HAD to kill em all!! Quickly! It worked. The survivors must have flown back to tell their buds there was a madman on that boat, so don't go there.

Bob, Bert and Rick at one of our nightly Happy Hours. We enjoyed our quiet anchorages, our kayaking, our dinghy excursions, these happy hours, our dinners, and finally watching movies. Great times with great friends!

Here's Bob exploring our anchorage. We had just investigated a duck blind, where hunters hide inside a branch-covered shack so the innocent cute little ducks can't see them with their rifles aimed at them. It looked like there was enough room for a stove, ice chests for beer, and a TV to watch football.

This is the scene from Pilot Knob, TN, the highest point in Western TN - 669 feet! It's looking back across the KY Lake/TN River toward our marina called Pebble Isle. After Bob had to depart, Bert, Rick and I took the dinghy across the lake to Nathan Buford Forrest State Park and hiked up to this point. There was a TN cultural museum there (which we enjoyed) plus a monument to good ole Nathan. He was famous for destroying a Union supply depot on the river there late in the Civil War, but apparently he later helped form the Ku Klux Klan and was its first Grand Wizard. What a guy! I think his state park should have been at the lowest point in Western TN.

We later borrowed the marina courtesy car and did some grocery shopping to restock. Luckily there was a liquor store nearby, since grocery stores in TN don't sell booze.

Every morning we get pretty thick fogs rolling across the water, and this sight was one of the coolest. Our nights have become very cold - in the 30s - yet the days are still hot - in the high 80s or 90s. Rick calls these "perfect" days.

Later this same morning from Pebble Isle Marina, Bert and I took a fabulous 30-mile bike ride across the TN hillsides. We crossed this Dog River Bridge and thought the rock walls were stunning. Just last spring when we heard about the terrible flooding in TN, this river got right up to the bottom of the bridge and flooded all the surrounding fields. And, Bert and I twice had to out-sprint a pit bull that came chasing after us, just as TN hunting dogs are bred to do!

Isn't this attractive? Yesterday we departed from the main river channel at a place called Birdsong River to anchor for the night. It was still early, so we dinghied farther up the river to a marina/campground to explore. Well, the first thing we saw was this monstrosity. An old riverboat from Memphis that had sunk, which they had intended to be a floating restaurant. They paid to haul it from Memphis, but this plan didn't work out as intended. The bottom two floors of what used to be a floating hotel in Memphis are under water now, and they have no idea what they're going to do with it.

But this photo at exactly the same place was one of those special "treasure finds" of doing the Great Loop. These are logs that are holding mesh bags of mussels that are producing pearls! This spot is the only "pearl farm" in North America! We did not even know this until we got there and the dock master told us about it.

We went to their little Pearl Museum and watched a CBS segment with Charles Osgood from some years back explaining about pearls and this only fresh-water spot on the continent. An entrepreneur and his family started it back in the early 60s after testing water sites all over the country for the right conditions. It was so much fun to find this "gem" (hahaha) accidentally while exploring in the dinghy.

Today we left Birdsong and cruised 9 miles to Cuba Landing. Bert and I took another incredibly scenic bike ride before his shuttle arrived to take him to Nashville. Then I took the opportunity to change the oil and filter, change the generator oil and filter, change the fuel filter, do three loads of laundry with Rick, and cook up a Nestle/Stouffer lasagna dinner! Rick and I now have 23 days to travel about 700 miles to Pensacola, FL where the boat will rest for two months. We will travel through Mississippi and Alabama, and reach Mobile on the Gulf Coast.

Bob and Bert, and trials!

2010-10-13T18:24:00.000-07:00

Here we are solving one of our "trials" this week. We almost ran out of beer! Twice!

We are in Paris Landing State Park Marina tonight in TN (named for a steamboat and freight landing on the Tennessee River that started in 1884), and luckily we could walk to restock our beer supply. Bob Brown and Bert Stock, bicycling buds, arrived last Sunday when Rick and I had completely run out of beer and wine. We planned to restock at the town of Grand Rivers, KY, but how were we to know that most of Kentucky is dry? And on a Sunday, even the wet counties don't sell alcoholic beverages.

As soon as I learned this, I called Bob and Bert who were driving from Nashville Airport. Luckily I caught them just as they were entering KY, so they could turn back to TN to buy us beer (their store didn't sell wine). Only problem was, they didn't buy enough. How could we or they know that every KY county along our trip this week would be dry? Luckily, our supply JUST lasted until we made it here to TN!!

My last blog entry was Saturday morning, and when I finished it we "sped" down the final 8 miles of the Mississippi River and turned east up the Ohio River. This picture is trying to capture the difference between the two major rivers at their confluence- the Mississippi being swift and swirling and muddy, and the Ohio being clean and glassy and calm. Our 32 miles on the Ohio on Saturday were calm and pleasant, and much slower since we were going against a current.

This picture is the Cumberland River, which we traveled up for 32 miles on Sunday. It flows into the Ohio after we had cruised 59 miles on it total. The previous evening we anchored right on the Ohio below a low dam and a lock, but off to the side so it was nice and calm...until the next morning when they lowered the spillway and water churned by us and made us look like we were cruising at 10 mph. While it was calm after we first anchored, we kayaked over to the KY bank and I entered my 11th state on this adventure.

The next morning, we needed to wait about two hours for the lock since tugs/barges had first priority. However, when the operator called us to enter, he was letting us go in front of a tug/barges that had already been waiting there for quite a while. So, we were thankful for small favors. We were the only boat in the lock, and it was strange to look back over the gate at the guys sitting/waiting on the end of their lead barge while we got to lock through. We lifted 8 feet.

We then continued up the Ohio and then the Cumberland River. It was very pretty along this river, with banks of rocky cliffs and trees with their fall colors, as I hope you can see in this picture.

We eventually reached the huge Barkley Dam and lock, and again, we were the only boat in the chamber. This photo shows the tall gates closing, as it was about to lift us 57 feet into Barkley Lake!

And here's Rick doing his locking duty of roping the bollard and holding on as we ascended. Most locks use two ropes or ties, front and back of the boat, but this one needed only one. Note: The two locks on the Mississippi and the two on the Ohio required that we wear life preservers. Otherwise, Rick would not have been wearing one.

After we entered the vast and beautiful lake, which is about 75 miles long and which eventually becomes again the Cumberland River to Nashville, we quickly entered the Green Turtle Bay Marina for the night and to wait for Bob and Bert. The marina had a courtesy car which I used to drive 27 miles to the Paducah airport, where the guys had to drop off their one-way rental car. I also did most of our much-needed grocery shopping on the way. The four of us finally got to have dinner at a Cracker Barrel at about 10 pm!! It was a long day and we were anxious to get going southward the next morning.

And here they are driving southward!! Before we left we had to walk to the market to get the perishable grocery items I couldn't get the day before. Then, the first thing we did as we departed was to take a one-mile canal from Lake Barkley west to Kentucky Lake. It is the lake behind the dam on the Tennessee River, which is the one I need to take south for the Great Loop.

The Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers always had an unusually close course at this location, so when they formed Barkley Lake in the early 60s, they also decided to connect them. This created the Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area, 170,000 acres of park land with campgrounds, trails, and nature centers, and 300 miles of undeveloped shoreline with countless coves for boaters to anchor in...IF they can get in!!

On our first morning we traveled all of five miles before deciding to enter a cove to play and have lunch. Here's Bert kayaking (he went with Rick), and here's...

...Bob swimming. He swam to the shore and took a long walk. I swam too but ended up cleaning the boat hull and scraping off little clams that had built up on the metal trim tabs.

That evening and the next afternoon, we traveled down the lake only short distances because it was so much fun lolly gagging in scenic coves and swimming, kayaking, and hiking. Last evening we planned to do the same in yet another bay, but it was not to be....

Today, Bob had to work! As in Pepsi work. He's the only one here not retired, and duty called -- three times! In the morning he had a one-hour conference call, sitting on the flybridge while the others of us played. Then, he had to interview someone and that took a while. (Note: Bob is more than a biking buddy. He and I worked together at Carnation/Nestle for many years and remained good friends, industry colleagues, and biking buds after he moved over to Frito Lay/Pepsi in Dallas.)

Then, this afternoon he had a 90-min conference call. It came during his and my bike ride 15 miles into the town on Paris to buy wine. We could walk a mile to buy beer when we arrived, but wine was a ways away. On the return ride, it was time for his call so he pulled over to a road-side park and I continued on back to the boat.

While Bob and I did this errand, Bert and Rick completely washed the boat! It had gotten terribly messy from the swarms of midges that attacked us the previous two nights while anchored out. We were prisoners, afraid to open the doors since that's all it took for swarms to fly in. Then there were smashed and dead ones all over the exterior to clean off. When I returned from my wine run, Breaking Away was clean and shiny again!

Here's another picture that captures the relaxation we have during our slow cruising. Bert is doing his Sudoku puzzles (Bob does them too). Both Bert and Bob drove the boat a lot too.

But I was the one driving when we met our biggest adventure and "trial" in a long time on Breaking Away. I RAN HER AGROUND! The bay we were entering last evening was recommended in my guide book, so who knew it would be shallow in the very center of the entrance, immediately after being in 21 ft of water? It was so deep I did not notice the depth finder showing a rapid shallowing - 20 ft, 9 ft, 4 ft, 1 ft, "SCRAPE". Bob was watching it, but it all happened too fast to stop it. That feeling and sound when your boat runs aground is an agony difficult to describe.

We tried at first to pull it with the dinghy, but after I put on the mask and looked at the situation, I could see we were irreparably stuck in thick mud. So I called TowAssist, for which I have insurance and used once before in New Jersey when I went aground. He arrived in two hours, after dark, but he was able to pull us back off with a strong effort. We were REALLY stuck.

The insurance covered 100% of the $1440 charge, and my annual premium for unlimited assistance was only $125. As I mentioned the last time this happened, this insurance is a no-brainer.

After we tested the running gear (it made it through the ordeal unscathed!) and anchored in front of the cove entrance, I was bushed and we cooked our frozen pizzas instead of my making the beef stew (which we had tonight). It feels reassuring to be tied up in a marina after what happened last night. Especially when it costs only $25, and when shared four ways is only $6.25!! I'll sleep better tonight.

Tom Sawyering down the Mississippi!

2010-10-09T04:34:00.000-07:00

This sums up how we felt cruising down the Mighty Mississippi at "lightning" speed (12-13 mph instead of our usual 7-8 mph). Except for the barge tugs we passed all the time, we had the river to ourselves and it was calm and pretty and relaxing. Made us think of being Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn meandering down America's greatest waterway.

Going back to Wednesday morning up in Alton, above St. Louis, here is a picture of the marina with the bridge in the background (it sure looked pretty all lit up at night). Look at the height of the posts. They are floating docks and they rise and fall on those posts. Look how much the river can rise from what it was when we were there! The staff there said it had risen to the top of those posts in past years, and to think our level was 18 feet higher than normal for this time of year.

This was the first of only two locks we faced on the Mississippi, and you can see the bridge over our marina in the background. What was "special" about this lock was the amount of debris inside it, which I had no choice but to drive right over. You can see some of it if you look closely. If this had been in a river I would have avoided it at all costs, but I had to pass right into it here. I increased my speed to build up momentum, then put the engine in neutral and glided over it so that my propeller would not be turning and help to prevent any of the wood from fouling the prop. The lock operator shrugged off our comment about the debris, saying it was a lot better than it had been at an earlier time.

Down river a few miles we came to our final lock, Lock 27, which also is the final lock on all of the Mississippi River. Number 1 is in Minneapolis, I think, and after 27 there are no more. When I rode my bike across the country in 2007, we crossed the Miss River on a ferry at Lock 20, just 20 miles south of the Iowa border. When we got to Lock 27, we had our longest wait yet for a lock - two hours, while tug/barges locked through ahead of us. I had a chance to ride the bike on the trainer and to do some maintenance in the bilge.

The Gateway Arch! I'd been there a couple times in the past, and imagined passing down the river on my Great Loop adventure, and now here we were! What a thrill! We tried to slow down to savor the moment, but with the river current pushing us along and tug activity everywhere, we had to pay attention at the helm.

There is no way for recreational boaters to stop and see St Louis, as there are no marinas or docks between Alton 20 miles north, and where we were headed 23 miles south.

The river was completely jammed with industrial plants and tug and barge activity until we got about 15 miles south of the Arch. We did get to see the huge Budweiser factory, so we toasted a Bud to honor it. Eventually the river got more scenic and we reached Hoppie's Marina, a set of barges lining the bank that served as a marina, the last one until Kentucky, 240 miles farther.

Hoppie's Marina was at the historic Missouri town of Kimmswick. You should Google it because it was a charming river town, established in 1859 to serve river and rail traffic. They have preserved many of the old original buildings, such as this one.

Here's another old Kimmswick structure, the all-important winery.

Fern Hopkins, who owns the marina, is very helpful to all boaters who stay with her. Each afternoon she gathers the transients to go over what we will be facing as we cruise the river south, and gives us the few places we can safely anchor all the way to Kentucky. There were only four places she could recommend!!!! We have stayed in two of them, and will stay tonight at the third. The fourth was only 45 miles from Hoppie's, so that's why we didn't stay at all four.

The barges on the Mississippi below St. Louis are much larger than the already-large ones we've faced on the Illinois River and above the two locks north of St Louis. Why? Because there are no locks below St Louis, so they can be as large as a tug has the power to move it upriver against the current. Here's a picture of a tug passing Hoopie's Marina pushing 42 barges! It was 6 wide by 7 long. The tug has about 10,000 horsepower.

Each barge carries the equivalent of 50 18-wheeler trucks. So, a tug pushing 42 barges is transporting the same as 2100 trucks! The tug pushing that against the current kicks up a HUGE wake, and as we've passed such tugs we have to slow way down to cross the wakes because they are as tall as the worst of the Lake Michigan or Lake Huron swells/waves we faced. On the other hand, if the tug is going downriver, it uses hardly any horsepower and they leave virtually no wake at all. Such is the power of the current in this mighty river.

The scenery along the river can be stunning, as were these cliffs. There were occasional power plants and quarries and other industry, and barges stored along the banks or anchored right out in the middle of river, but most times it was just natural and pretty.

After leaving Hoppie's Marina on Thursday morning, we traveled 112 miles to Cape Girardeau, MO. That distance easily broke our old record of 81 miles in a day. It was a long day, but we still arrived at Fern's recommended diversion canal off to the side of the river at 4:30 pm. The other two boats from Hoppie's the night before were already there anchored up and relaxing.

It was early enough for Rick and me to take the dinghy about four miles back up the river to the downtown section of Cape Girardeau, where there was a cemented "landing". In this picture you can see our dinghy tied up in the background. We had a wonderful time walking around this town. Its distinctive character to us was their painted walls everywhere.

This painted wall is the flood wall facing the river, right above where we landed the dinghy. The paintings went across the entire wall to the right of this picture, depicting the history and river culture of this area.

Inside of the flood wall they had about 400 yards of paintings showing the entire history of Missouri and the city. Rick and I walked the entire wall to view the paintings and read the tablets describing each of them.

Here's the City Hall and an old clock sitting in the center of the intersection of the old town where we walked. We were so glad we took the time to scoot up to this city. We had dinner at a tavern called Breakaway, since its name was close to my boat. Pints of Sam Adams beer were only $2. What a deal; "I'll have another please."

Here's just one more image of how pleasant our cruise down the Mississip has been. Calm and scenic and relaxing.

I hoped this picture could demonstrate how strong the current is. This is a green can marking the right side of our navigable channel as we go downriver. Red bouys mark the left side.

Our anchorage here is off to the side of the river behind a wing dam (underwater wall extending a short distance into the river to keep the water centered in the channel). We are only 8 miles from the confluence of the Mississippi with the Ohio River. Last night we decided to go visit the local town of Cairo (they pronounce it "kayro"). That meant a dinghy ride of about 11 miles one way -- down the remaining 8 miles of the Miss and then up the Ohio 3 miles. Luckily our dinghy is fast and stable for such a long trip on these mighty rivers.

Once we got to the Ohio River, we faced schools of Asian Carp! They were jumping everywhere, scared up by our speeding dinghy. One jumped and brushed across my shoulder! We were lucky we didn't get hit by any, because they can really do damage. They did get us wet though!

When we landed and tied to some rocks on the banks, we found ourselves in an old decrepit waterfront that was well past its heyday as a bustling part of town. This picture shows how run-down this area was, and it was deserted except for a single bar, where we of course had to stop for a beer and talk to the locals about the Asian Carp that jump everywhere and about the rivers, since one guy was a Corp of Engineers guy who works on the buoys and dredging.

They had this big fancy sign welcoming people to the old historic downtown, but it sure seemed out of place given what the area looked like.

We returned in the dinghy for the long ride upriver back to the Breaking Away. Here's what it looked like when we arrived, just as the sun was setting in a beautiful scene.

We were again lucky the Asian Carp did not hit us as we zoomed down the Ohio River (they were only in the Ohio, not the fast-moving Mississippi). They got us wet with all their splashing and jumping, but they missed us.

Once we got back here last night, we feasted on grilled chicken, saffron arborio rice, fresh green beans we had been given free back in Havana, and a fine Merlot wine. Now today we are about to head up the Ohio 62 miles to anchor just below a lock and dam. See ya then!

Deer, Carp, Fog, Mississippi River!

2010-10-05T18:11:00.000-07:00

Rick and I returned to Breaking Away in Havana, IL as planned! I brought with me my new Great Loop burgee (the triangular yachtsman flag). Now I'm official. Well, at least now others will know we're doing the Great Loop. I've been a member of the Am Great Loop Cruisers Assoc for over a year now, but I didn't buy the burgee til recently. Others on the Loop fly it, and everyone wondered why I didn't. It helps you meet fellow Loopers and also get discounts at marinas and for fuel.

Last Saturday Rick flew to Peoria from Providence, and I took the bus from Dayton. We met Gary right on time, who had driven us last Sept 7 from Havana to the Peoria Airport. We made such good friends on that trip that we called him and he was anxious to take us back again. He is a local Havana real estate assessor, and Rick had found him via the barber in town when he inquired whether anyone wanted to drive us to Peoria for what it would be to take a cab. Well, not only did Gary drive us there and back, but treated us to dinner at the nicest restaurant in Havana last Saturday. Then, he generously drove us to the grocery market and waited while we shopped to restock our galley. Finally, he delivered us to the marina. The folks along this trip have been so friendly and helpful.

Everything on the boat was fine. We washed it first thing Sunday morning, after using the heater to warm up after the 35-degree night. It mysteriously got colder during our 3 1/2 weeks away. haha We did other necessary chores and then departed back out onto the Illinois River. For the first time on this river it was not horrendously windy. It wasn't windy at all. It was glassy and serene, and we meandered 31 miles down the scenic (no factories or barges lining the banks) to the little village of Beardstown.

We had read in our guide books that the only place to tie up a boat in Beardstown was on a barge tied to the river wall. When we got there, we could not tell which one it was (turns out it changes since it's a working area). We yelled to some guys on a tug and they motioned us to a barge and also walked over to help us land. Then he said it was $1 per foot for the night ($37 for my 37-ft boat). Really? That's what marinas charge, and they have electrical hookup, water, bathrooms, showers, coffee, laundromats, etc. This barge had nothing, and you even had to walk precariously across the other barge with logs to get to the gang plank over the river wall. Why didn't we just anchor and save the money? The charts for the Illinois River do not give depths, so I never knew how deep the water was near the banks. Oh well, the beer at the local tavern was only $1.25.

Oh, let me not forget this: Since this was a working site for tugs and barges, and they can come and go at any time, we endured a 15-minute noisy bouncing in the middle of the night as tugs were moving in and out and all about.

Yesterday, Monday, was just as placid on the river and we again had it to ourselves. And then we saw these four deer swimming across the river!!!!!!

We stopped the boat to let them pass in front of us. Here's a close-up of two of them.

And here they are running off once they reached the right bank. It was SOOO cool to see this "nature moment"!

This shows me passing a tug with 15 barges (the most we saw was 18, three wide by six long). If you want to pass a tug/barge, you must call them on the marine radio and ask whether you should pass on the right ("one whistle") or the left ("two whistle"). You can see he told me two whistle, so I'm puttering by him. But I was barely going faster than he was, so it was taking me forever to pass him. We were approaching a turn, so I had to really give it some gas to get in front so he wouldn't run into me when he had to turn.

Earlier we had to wait 90 minutes for this tug at a lock, as he dis-attached his load to get it all into the lock. We finally decided to anchor while we waited, so I rode my bike on the trainer to pass the time. Another trawler doing the Great Loop arrived and locked down with us, but they motored on ahead when we were done.

This bridge, in Meredosia, is one I pedaled my bike over when I rode across the country in May, 2007. I recall stopping with Dave Thompson in the middle of the bridge and telling him that someday I would be cruising right down this river on my own boat. Well, that day had finally come. As I approached the bridge, I called Dave and told him where I was and he remembered, and we had a nice little chat! This photo is after we passed under it and a tug/barge went by us.

Shortly after this bridge, we reached the westernmost point on the Great Loop as we headed south. Only now, we were going slightly easterly, paralleling the Mississippi.

So there we were, minding our own business in the serene quiet of the river, when we were startled by a loud thumping. Both Rick and I thought we'd run over a log. But then the thumping continued as I put the boat into neutral. Rick went down the stairs and saw this! We couldn't believe that an Asian Carp had leaped over the three-foot boat side into Breaking Away.

It was about two feet long and weighed at least 20 lbs. We'd heard about Asian Carp jumping into boats, but not trawlers with high sides like mine. He continued to flop around while I took pictures, and then Rick, wearing gloves, tossed him back over the side. Amazing! We didn't think we'd fish on this trip, and I guess we didn't need to. They were coming to us!

We arrived late at Mel's Riverfront Restaurant dock, where we tied up for the night. there to help us land were the crew from Lady Royal, the boat we had locked through with earlier in the day. We joined Rob and Deb for dinner and enjoyed comparing stories about our Great Loop adventures. They left from Cleveland, so our paths were different except for the Illinois River. It was a great evening with charming folks.

This morning, this is what it looked like on the river - pea-soup fog. We were not going anywhere until that would lift. This was the first time on the trip when fog was interfering with my travel. After a leisurely pancake breakfast, and it still was foggy, Rick and I walked around the small town of Hardin. By the time we got back, the fog was lifting and we took off for the final 21 miles to the Mississippi River.

For the 3rd day in a row, it was totally calm and glassy and beautiful. We eventually saw homes lining the banks, but look how they must be built. That shows you how the river levels can fluctuate around here. It was the same way once we got to the Mississippi, of course.

The Mighty Mississippi River!! This picture shows the swirling of the water at the confluence with the Illinois. Rick was driving at the time, and he had a heck of a time controlling the boat. We also picked up speed with the stronger current of the Mississip.

But almost immediately we turned upriver and went against the current, heading just two miles upstream to a marina where the fuel price was significantly less than others. We had not gotten fuel since upper Wisconsin on August 26, and there would not be any opportunities on the Mississippi since it is not meant for pleasure craft. So the boat slowed down from 8 mph to 4.5 mph, and we now had to dodge floating logs and branches everywhere.

Here is Breaking Away at the fuel dock, and they have a sense of humor here, don't they? Jaws was just completed a few days earlier.

Once we reentered the Mighty Mississip and went downstream, our speed increased to 11 mph. In other words, the current was about 3.5 to 4 mph to push us along at lightning speed. Dodging all the logs was now easier since they were floating in the same direction as we were traveling. And we got to view the rocky cliffs and stately homes above them along the way. Our destination was the Illinois town of Alton, 15 miles down from the confluence and 202 miles from the Ohio River.

It was pretty cool cruising down the Mississip!

The mass of white in this picture are white pelicans. We had seen huge flocks of them in certain places along the Illinois River too. Now here they were again, and they were also flying overhead in large V formations headed south. It was pretty amazing to see so many of them all over, and they are so regal as they fly by, just as brown pelicans are in Southern California.

After we arrived at the marina in Alton, cousin Carole Prietto drove up to spend the evening with us! Carole has lived in St. Louis for 21 years. She is an archivist, and also a singer with Sweet Adalines. She has composed/arranged about 25 "barber shop quartet" style songs which are sung now as part of the four-part-harmony repertoire.

We walked to a nice Italian restaurant and enjoyed our visit!

Tomorrow we will go through our only two locks on the Mississippi, then pass the Gateway Arch in St Louis, and end the day at Hoppie's Marina 23 miles south of St Louis. The adventure never ends!

Vacation from my vacation to end Oct 2

2010-09-27T03:49:00.000-07:00

Rick and I will return to Havana, IL on Saturday to resume the adventure. In a few days from then we will be on the Mississippi River. I get my stitches removed today from my hand. The healing has been fine, with no pain or problems.

In the meantime, Rick has been enjoying his new granddaughter Bonnie and his other family there in Providence, RI. I have had a fabulous time with Janet here in Monroe, OH. This picture is at a county park where we took a hike a couple weeks ago. I remember how windy it was and thinking I was glad I wasn't out on the Great Lakes on a day like that. I've learned that in 1826 they built a north-south canal from Cincinnati on the Ohio River to Toledo on Lake Erie. It was called the Miami-Erie Canal since much of the course followed the Miami River. There are still locks to see, which I have. It takes on an increased interest for me given all the canals and locks I've been through on this boat trip.

On four occasions I have helped out with Janet's 5th grade class. The first time was on an all-day field trip, when we walked a mile to a regional park. The kids learned about animals, bugs, conservation, science, plants, and other fun stuff at six stations taught by local experts. The live black rat snakes were a favorite, as you can see in this picture. We also petted a red fox, watched a possum (they don't "play dead", they faint!), a barn owl (they have 14 cervical vertebrae vs. the 7 in mammals and the 2 I have left that aren't fused), and got to see numerous other critters, dead or alive.

I also have been in the classroom helping to maintain order while Janet evaluates individual reading abilities one at a time out in the hallway. I have a new appreciation for teachers, seeing how challenging it is to motivate, convey ideas, stimulate thinking, discipline using positive feedback, and in general handling 30 10-yr-olds for 7 hours a day.

This past Saturday we attended a fabulous concert at her church, in which her granddaughter, Morgan, was a member of her school choir. They had on stage 260 performers, from two high schools and two colleges. The full orchestra sounded professional. We also made fresh bread and two pumpkin pies over the weekend as the weather has cooled off to fall temperatures.

By the time I post here again, Rick and I should be heading down the Mighty Mississip. On Oct 10, Bob Brown and Bert Stock will be joining us for a week starting in Paducah, KY, which is about 60 miles up the Ohio River.