What a hassle but we are finally at the boat

The best laid plans....sigh....we left Roanoke bright and early on Wednesday, the old Subaru with 205,000 miles (the car that we leave at the marina during our trips) packed to the gills, and one unhappy cat in my lap.  50 miles later the radiator burst...  We got a tow to the nearest Subaru dealer who put in a new radiator.  By then it was 7 pm and we opted to head back home instead of the remaining 4 hours to Deltaville.  By the time we got home, the engine temp was still OK, but  liquid had spewed all over the engine compartment.  On Thursday, bright and early, we moved all of our stuff, cat included, to the Toyota and headed back to the Chesapeake. We have moved aboard, unpacked, provisioned, etc, etc, etc.  A few things are left to be put away.  Now we are waiting on the weather to cooperate so we can leave and begin our cold trip southward.

Smoke remembered the boat immediately - especially the sun drenched enclosure. She's content as long as we sit quietly.

The next hurdle is the weather. It's pretty amazing. There are a series of fast moving cold fronts that have 15 + kt winds blowing from the S and SSW, essentially on the nose for heading south. While we could force the issue, it wouldn't be much fun to slog into the Chesapeake bay chop. Right now Sunday is looking somewhat promising for leaving Deltaville.  We're closely watching the weather!!!

A wonderful Christmas

Merry Christmas to you all!!! And best wishes for a wonderful, healthy, and happy new year!

We have had a great family Christmas in Roanoke this year.  Dad and my daughters Heather and Nikki are all here.  We started with a traditional unhealthy breakfast - cinnamon rolls. Yum!  Nikki and dad are waiting, only somewhat patiently.

After a quick breakfast, we gathered in the living room to exchange presents.  Nikki helped me sort them out while Luke built a fire (not really cold enough for one, but it IS Christmas!)

It is good to have dad here.

Heather is slowing off new bull riding earrings with the roaring fire as a back drop.



Smokey has kept a low profile - too many people in her house.  She couldn't stay away completely, though, and watched the gift opening from a safe distance.

Santa Luke enjoyed Christmas, too!

Nikki and Heather are in Ronaoke now, visiting family on their dad's side of the tree.  We are relaxing (aka napping for dad) and will have left-overs later.  Tomorrow Heather will return to NC and I'll take dad back to Charlotte.  Tuesday will be preparation day and hopefully we'll be able to leave for Latitudes on Wednesday.

Again, a Merry Christmas and love to all!!!

It's almost Christmas and time to head south!

I can't believe it's almost Christmas!  We are looking forward to a good one this year, the first time in about 6 years that both of my daughters and my dad will be able to be with us in Roanoke.  That was the plan - to have a family Christmas this year.  Of course, seeing all of our friends has been great, too!  We visited friends Phyllis and Peter in New Bern for a few days, went to Savannah for Beth's big 60th birthday party, had Thanksgiving with neighbors Neva and Dave, and have had many wonderful Christmas parties/visits with our local friends.  Dad will be here tomorrow, Heather and Nikki arriving Christmas Eve.  Can't wait!

I've hit a bit of a snag, but we do NOT plan on letting it stop our trip to the Caribbean!  I've not mentioned that my  right ankle has bothered me for about 1 1/2 yrs. Swollen, hot needle pricking pain, popping sensation....I tried anti-inflammation drugs and a couple of Cortisone shots - they didn't work and the problem has gotten worse. I finally saw an orthopethic doctor who specializes in ankles rather than the general ortho.  SO-guess what I need to have surgery on --- yulp, my right ankle. Torn ligament. As the tear is progressing slowly, he is willing to wait until we return in July, so it's not a desperate situation.  BUT--- I learned that good ol' Anthem denied my MRI and pending surgery. They want me to wear a full air cast for a month and take another month's worth of an anti-inflammatory as a last ditch effort to heal the ankle instead. The doctor is as annoyed as I am. But, I'm dragging  around in the damned thing around now. I walk like a mountain goat.  It's lovely....

When I get back in July and almost certainly have surgery to repair the tendon, the recuperation won't be fun - 6 weeks in a cast and crutches, 6 weeks or so in this brace, and then PT. No driving for 6 weeks at least! UGH! We'll be home next summer. Guess I'll be teaching Luke Laundry 202...

That said, I do have a little protective brace that fits in my shoe and isn't as high. It's much more comfortable and convenient to wear.  I can use that when necessary on the boat.  I'll be wearing this most of the time when I'm on board or ashore.  I'm going to need a bigger backpack to lug this thing back and forth to shore!

Meanwhile, Luke has spent about 4 man-hour weeks getting the paperwork together and approved for getting our little princess into the various Caribbean islands that we hope to visit.  With the innoculations, tests, ID chip, and need for USDA certification, we are considering renaming her "Goldie".  It's been a tough road, but Luke has managed the process well and thinks we are almost done.

Our plan is to take dad back to Charlotte on the 26th, pack up, close up the house, and leave for Deltaville on the 28th.  After a couple of days for moving in and provisioning, we will leave, pray for good weather, and make the fastest tracks possible to the Bahamas and then the Caribbean.  Don't plan to be back in Roanoke until July. Hope to post from warmer climates soon!

Changes, changes...

So, the only constant is change, right?  Well, we've got change!  Never a dull moment.  At the last minute, we found that our usual dock space in Savannah is not available.  We completely understand the reasons and are totally ok with it.  But, that did mean that we needed to find a new dock for a month in Savannah while we came home for Christmas.  By the time that we figured out that we'd spend for dockage, leaving Latitudes there, renting one-way cars both ways, gas, etc, it was way too expensive. One way drop off charges are just unreal these days! We decided that the smartest thing to do is to simply stay in Roanoke for the holidays and leave the week after Christmas for our southern cruise.  It will be cold the first couple of weeks, but we've got heat in the boat and we all three (yulp, Smokey, too) will be ok.

So here we are, on the hard in the marina in Fishing Bay (Deltaville), painting the boat bottom, cleaning the prop and the ICW mustache from the hull, living 10 feet above the ground with no water but 2 electric heaters. The nearest toilet and running water are about 200 feet away.  It's not all bad, but it'll be better on Tuesday when we finish up and go home.

I just love painting the boat, especially the part where I kneel on rocks and paint over my head.  Love the way the paint splatters my face.  My neck, arms, knees, and most other parts ache.  See that smile?  But we did get both coats of paint on the hull!

We did get back out newly regalvanized chain and anchor.  They look great!  That gray mess on the ground is the chain and anchor, awaiting their turn.

SO! Thanksgiving and Christmas at home in Roanoke!  We will enjoy it all!  And we plan on a big southern cruise starting in January!

Visiting Heather

I made one more trip to Heather's in NC before we leave for our winter trip.  We always have fun.  I think we had too much fun yesterday afternoon at lunch - we ate and giggled too much.  Yes, a small amount of alcohol was involved.

Last night we stayed up way too late and idly watched about 4 Grade B monster movies.  I didn't know there were so many bad ones!

Heather has been doing some major projects to her house.  The most recent was to dig out 20 feet of sewer pipe (not toilet sewer, but washing machine sewer line).  She dug it up, replaced the pipe, and just finished repacking the soil today.  I'm so proud of her!  Here is Heather, along with Isis and Lily, and a very short section of the 20 foot line.

She's been playing scrabble with me while I'm here.  I love this coincidence....Heather is ahead by 12 points, I have only 5 letters left, and look at what they spell.....

giggle...

Pizza in, beer, and NASCAR tonight - A great visit!

Beginning to get ready to leave

First few steps..... off to Deltaville for an overnight visit.  We picked up the sails and put them back on the boat.  They needed a little replacement stitching, some tape replaced, and a general check-up.  Getting them back on was a major accomplishment, as we can't do that when the wind is picked up at all. The wind catches them (as it is supposed to!) and flaps them around while we're trying to feed them into little groves. Fortunately, we had a calm morning.

Next housekeeping item was to take the 200 feet of chain and the anchor off of the boat, load it into an oversized cart,  into the trunk of the car, and off to a shop in Richmond.  The chain had begun to rust badly, not a good thing when we rely on it to hold us in place every day! We were a bit dissapointed that the chain rusted after only 4 years or so, but then, we've used it almost every day, down and up, for 9 months of three years.  Our quick guess was that's about 2000 trips in or out of the anchor locker. The shop in Richmond will re-galvanize the chain and anchor, making them as good as new.  Not a fun project, but a lot cheaper than buying new!  They should be ready for pick up next Friday.

This trip also gave  us an opportunity to review how the boat is doing ---- she needs a "bottom job"... we had hoped to avoid that.  The barnacles are growing like wild weeds and the bottom obviously has growth.  Sigh.  So, when we go back next week for our final push, we will have Latitudes pulled, put on the hard, and clean/fast paint the bottom.  If all goes well, the chain is ready, and the wind gods are smiling, we should be able to get back into the water and set southward sails on Monday.  Smokey will be so excited.....

We did make a dinner stop in Charlottesville to visit Luke's cousin Miette and her husband George.  Had dinner at a REALLY GOOD funky little pizza shop in Crozet, named appropriately enough Crozet Pizza.  If you are ever in the area, try it!  It's a couple of miles off of US64 exit 107.  But the really nice part was seeing Miette and George again.

So, things are coming together for a big southern cruise - more on those plans in a bit!


 

The tooth fairy....

I've had some on/off pain in a wisdom tooth for several months and a visit to my dentist confirmed that I needed to have the tooth extracted.  My dentist recommended a very good oral surgeon for the job and today was the big day. Out it came, stitches in, antibiotic and pain pills picked up, and I'm home.  Not feeling so great, but the pain pills are doing their job.  Unfortunately, the combination of them, the antibiotics, and a very limited diet has resulted in nausea.  The tooth fairy better come see me!!

Show me the way to go home...

"Show me the way to go home...

I'm tired and I want to go to bed..."

Does anyone else know that old 1925's song?  My ex-father-in-law, sweet soul that he was, used to sing that, especially when he...

"had a little drink about an hour ago

And it went straight to my head"

So, we DID find our way to go home, with the help of GPS and our maps!  We're glad to be here after a couple of weeks of car traveling. It's so different than being "home" on our boat. 
Sweet Smokey had lots of care and loving while we were gone, but she - and we - are glad to be here.  But it WAS a great trip!  ok, time for some kitty-lap sitting and relaxing.

Bedbugs!!!!

NO, we did NOT experience them, but we did learn from a hotel about checking http://www.bedbugregistry.com/ to see if a hotel has had any reported bedbug incidents.  Actually, this saved us from several suspect hotels (we aren't exactly staying in Hiltons). Check it out before you make reservations.

We are in Grayson, WV; home tomorrow.  Yeah!  We're a little tired of driving.  But the trip has been great and we've seen a lot of beautiful places, not to mention beautiful grandchildren!

4 Presidents and a wild wilderness

Mt. Rushmore is one of those places I assumed I'd never see.  Not even sure which state it was in... But, here we go, bright and early, into the Black Hills of South Dakota, to Mt. Rushmore.
http://www.npca.org/parks/mount-rushmore-national-memorial.html?adwords=1&gclid=CIzspPGI-KsCFYxU7AodGCF0AA
 Wow, it's impressive!  You can see it from the highway, but we opted to pay the $11 parking fee  (good for 1 year and no admission fee....) to see the boys up close.  It's awesome to see as you approach it from the park entrance.

But when you get to the viewing terrace, the work becomes incredible.  One eye is about the height of a man.  The sculpture took almost 20 years to complete.

There is a nice Presidents' Walkway around the base of the mountain, letting you view the sculpture from other angles.  The part we liked best was the presence of a goat family, confidently grazing just next to the path.  Baby was the cutest.

The parents were close by.  One was grazing also, the other one was on watch.

A much smaller denizen of the park was just as cute....

Next, off to the Badlands National Park.   http://www.nps.gov/badl/index.htm  I've never seen anything like it and I can't describe it well enough.  The park is made up of geologic deposits, full of fossils.  This is the most desolate, barren, ruggedly beautiful place I've ever seen.  Here is a sampling of our pictures but they can't begin to do the park justice.

 
One of the park area is Prairie Dog town.  Lotsa little ones, running amok, calling, and chirping at our intrusion.  They are fat, little rolly-polly guys.

Stayed at a really dumpy hotel last night, sped through SD today, and are spending the night in Grinnell Iowa.  Home (and Sweet Smoke) are calling.

Home on the range (South Dakota range, that is)

Home, home on the range...

Where the deer and the pronghorn antelope play

Were the buffalo roam (in the road)

Where seldom is heard a disparaging word

And the skies are not cloudy all day

And those prairie dogs!  My gosh, they are cute, but the fields are overrun with them!  Imagine a field full of over-sized hamsters....

We drove from CO today through eastern Wyoming on our way to the Black Hills of South Dakota.  WY is beautiful in it's own strange way.  Endless highways

All going through barren land

We made our way to the southwestern corner of South Dakota, to the Wind Cave National Park.
The park consists of over 132 miles of cave, all layered beneath a square mile of land.  It's the 5th longest cave in the world, as measured by total length of explored passages.  The wind through the cave is caused by changes in the barometric pressure as air in the cave is constantly trying to equalize the pressure within the cave to the outside.  When the barometric pressure falls, wind rushes out of the cave.  When the barometric pressure rises, the wind rushes into the cave.  Cool, huh!  The natural entrance to the cave is only 10 inches in diameter.  Needless to say, we took the man made entrance!

It was impossible to get good photos inside the cave.  If you are interested, please check out the webpage.  http://www.nps.gov/wica/historyculture/index.htm

As we drove toward Rapid City for the night, we passed the Crazy Horse Memorial.  http://www.crazyhorsememorial.org/   Started in 1948, the project has never been finished.  It's been on hold for a long time, but is "in process".  VERY impressive!

Tomorrow we'll visit Mt. Rushmore!  Then the rest of the day in the Badlands National Park - after that, we start the long march home.  It's been a great trip.

 

Estes Park and the Pumpkin Patch

Sunday was one of those chrystal clear, sunny, perfect days.  We left Longmont early and drove the 45 minutes to Estes Park, at the base of the Rocky Mountain National Park  http://rockymountainnationalpark.com/.

So beautiful!  All views are breath taking.

The snow has already falled on the peaks.

The  leaves on the aspen on the higher elevations have already blown down, but the lower trees still have the bright yellow leaves.

Elk live in the park - and thrive!  This is a normal herd, a harum of about 30 female cows per one bull.  This group was just at the outside of the park.

The bull was relaxing behind them, carefuly watching his little household, strategically placed between his many cows and about 15 aspiring younger bulls.

After our wonderful ride we met with the rest of the family at a pumpkin ranch.  Great fun for kids!  Simon really likd the pumpkin field.

Evelyn prefered the "train" ride.

It was a great time for all!

The trip so far...

We left Roanoke waaay to early on Wednesday and headed westward, across the many states.  First, the mountains of WV, already showing fall color.

Of course, you can't leave out the shinning dome of the capital building in Charleston, WV.

The next photo is the St. Louis Arch, high in the gray sky of MO.

The wind turbines of western KS, hundreds and hundreds of them dotting the skyline.

Then the flat, flat, flat praries of the Midwest in eastern CO.

FINALLY, 2 1/2 days later, the high Rockies in the distance.

By lunchtime on Friday we reached our goal - newest grandson Kiran, 3 months old now.



And wow, have the 3 year olds, Simon and Evelyn, grown!

They had a most excellent tea party with Bompa.

Today promises 86 degrees and sun - yeah!  We all plan to go to the local farmers market here in Longmont and then a pumpkin patch.  I think there is some pumpkin carving in our future!