Back on the boat (again!)

June 26

Just about a month later, we are back on the water in Brunswick.  This time we arrived with our good friend, Jim Garfunkel, and a few "necessities" that we've learned will greatly improve the quality of life on the boat. 

Jim was a tad surprised that we managed to fill his car with stuff before leaving Minneapolis since we had told him that the boat was already packed to overflowing ... but that didn't prevent us from bringing Dan's guitar and my sewing machine. With 3 drivers, we opted to drive straight through to GA, something we haven't done in many years (for good reason!). We left MN around 11am and arrived in Savannah 24 hours later, in time to go to lunch with Craig and watch the US/Ghana World Cup soccer game in AC comfort at his place.

Addition #1:  Honda2000i generator.  Thanks to Tim Ryan, we encountered an offer too good to pass up!  Now we shouldn't have to be such "amp misers" when at anchor.

Addition #2:  Air conditioner.  I really thought we'd be able to do without one of these, but if you check the weather from Florida to Maryland, you'll understand the change in priorities!  Plus, now that we have a generator, we figured we needed something big to run. We spent one night on the boat in GA heat and humidity, then learned from a dockmate that we could get a small AC (5 amps) at Home Depot for $99, so off we went ... taking advantage of having Jim's car in Brunswick.

Considering that the heat index today is 110, and it feels like a blast furnace outside, we consider the AC unit to be a very good investment!  We don't even care that we're not sure where we are going to store it when it comes out of the companionway (which is how we enter and exit the boat).  Dan and Jim made a good team in constructing an easy way to insert the AC unit ... and still have room to climb over it when needed.  It's been a wonderful addition to our marine home!  We sleep better ... the refrig runs better ... and now there's a cool place to escape the GA heat and humidity.

Last item of business is food shopping, and then we'll be in good shape to shove off.  It looks like we'll have a decent weather window from Tues (6/29) to Thursday (7/1), so our fingers are crossed that we'll get to Southport or Wrightsville Beach in NC.  Our goal is to reach Washington DC before Jim has to return to MN (~July 26).

Time to say goodbye to our favorite dockmates, Chris and Karen, who are leaving their boat in BLM until September while they return to their home in Houston.  Not only fun to hang with during happy hour, they have been a great source of information as we plotted our course north.

Cruising plans are etched in jello

Friday, May 21.

One of the many valuable lessons we've learned during our first 6 months on Maja is that crusing requires flexibility.  Things seldom go as planned ... which is the main reason most people won't even talk about "plans".  When asked about their timeline for leaving the marina, most will simply say "soon" or "later".  It has proven true that the moment you announce "a plan", events inevitably transpire to change it.

Take us for example ... we started out with a plan to arrive in Georgia in early January (which we did), drop the boat in the water after a week of work in the boatyard, and head south.  In real life, the boat wasn't ready for splash down until mid-February, and the entire SE experienced the coldest winter in 150 years .. meaning that the major anchorages and marinas from Ft Lauderdale to Key West were full to brimming with boaters waiting for milder weather ... which never came so they continued to wait. Next, we announced plans to leave Brunswick the first of May and head north to the Chesapeake with several other cruisers, only to discover that our water heater needed to be replaced first. Another part to research, order, wait for delivery, and install.  So we decided to go to the shuttle launch while we waited. 

Today was definitely our "cast-off-lines" date.  We had a good two-day weather window to take us to Savannah.  We had reservations at the Isle of Hope marina in Savannah.  We had a refrigerator stuffed full of food, a freezer full of frozen meat/fish, and a shower overflowing with reserve containers of rice, peanut butter, tuna, crackers, hot sauce, refried beans, toilet paper, beer.  We had charts marked with our course from Brunswick to Wrightsville Beach, NC.  We went to the marina office to settle up our final bill and filled the tank with 50 gals of diesel. We even went so far as to share our plans with our dockmates at evening cocktail hour last nite.

Fatal flaw!

Our daughter called with a dilemna.  Her car was in Savannah, but she and Craig planned to drive his car back to MN the first of June.  Since she's looking for work in Minneapolis, she really needs to get her car back to MN.  Hmmmm, if only she knew someone who could drive it back for her .....  enter the retired parents who live on a sailboat .... don't we have the most flexibility of all???

Ye Gads!  Changing plans again?????  As the wise and lovely Sheila Yule told me: "Your new lifestyle is all about being flexible so that there's room for your 'full life' not just your 'boat life'..."  Indeed, Minnesota is part of our full life, and we really want to see our son, James, our nephew, Steven who's HS graduation party is May 29th, our god-daughter Collette who's HS grad party is June 12, and our many friend's who will be gathering in Webster WI over Memorial Day weekend for Jim Garfunkel's annual bocce tournament, swim party, campout, and all-around-good-time.

So, yes, once again we changed our plans, proving we can be flexible ...  (ignoring the mental sounds of loud gears grinding!).  As Sheila also said -- "you'll never know if this is a good idea or not until you've tried it!"  So, we are taking advantage of the opportunity to drive back to MN and return in 3 weeks with Craig...or stay longer and return with Jim Garfunkel.  The boat (and most of our provisions) will be here when we return.

Leaving Savannah .... last night with Michelle and Craig.

Wednesday, May 26.

6:00 am.

Up bright and early, leaving Savannah with Starbucks in hand for the first leg of our return to MN -- destination, Louisville KY ... to stay at Sheila's new condo (aka. our inland port!).

We love this place!  It's always hard to break away from Sheila's wonderful hospitality (I guess that's why we call her AWESOME!).

Saturday, May 29.

5:00 am.

Up early (and less bright) for the final leg of our journey ... KY to Rochester MN. Gotta arrive by 4pm to surprise my sister and family at nephew Steven's HS graduation party.

Beautiful day to drive thru the Smokey Mtns.

We zooooommmmmed through Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota to arrive at 3:30pm for Steven's grad party. Too bad I did not have camera in hand to capture my sister's face as we walked up her driveway to join the people gathered in the garage.  Priceless! Yeah ... the long drive was definitely worth the surprise!

Sunday, May 30.

8am.

Up bright and early again for the drive from Minneapolis to Webster WI -- site of Jim Garfunkel's annual Memorial Holiday Bocce Tournament and Campout.  We were lucky enough to catch our gang of best friends having breakfast at the 10th Hole (famous for it's eggs benedict and bloody marys), a holiday tradition.  They had just gotten their drinks when we entered -- and needless to say, we created a loud and tearful reunion!  The looks and reactions made the 2000 mile trip worthwhile ... (where was my camera????). 

Who could have asked for better weather over the holiday weekend?

The winners!  Marianne and Renee

It's GREAT to be back in Minnesota (and Wisconsin)!

The weather is GREAT!

Seeing old friends is GREAT!

We thoroughly enjoyed not having to partake in the ritual of leaving Webster, WI on Monday afternoon along with the rest of the holiday vacationers!  In fact, we so enjoyed relaxing by Jim's pool that we stayed an extra 2 days!  The weather is so fabulous compared to Georgia!

Sunday, June 6. Collette's HS Graduation

After leaving Webster, our next stop was the Devereaux's grest room, where they graciously provide us with a very comfortable bed and a place to store our dressers (not to mention their friendship and a delicious meal every day!).  Our goal was to work off our room and board by helping them get ready for Collette's grad party, but we quickly discovered that it's very hard to outwork DWD, or keep up with Renee in the kitchen! 

It's great to be back in Minneapolis!  We really love this city ... especially the beautiful West River Road neighborhood where the Devereaux's live.  We can walk to a theatre with $3/seats (which we did 3 times!), drive over to James' house whenever we want, and even the drive to Breezy Point Resort to see Michelle and Craig for a couple of days was a manaageable 3hr affair.  

Wednesday, July 15

Twins Game
Colorado Rockies vs. MN Twins

Ahh, yes, we couldn't leave the Minneapple without a visit to the famed Target Field ... the main attraction of summer 2010 in Mpls!  We could only get standing-room only tickets the day before the game, but it was still worth the trip.  Beer and brats and Twins win!

Knowland Family ... potential Christmas card material!

Craig and his dad, Dewey, joined us ..

and Renee...

We head to Rocheseter this week to surprise a few more friends at Mayo Clinic.  Dan went back to the Rehab Unit and I stopped in on co-workers from the Compliance Office.  This was a good time to visit with these folks again.   

Here's Karen again. She has a real office when she's not in a JAX bar!

We are fortunate to have in-land ports at all the important places we visit -- and in Rochester, we stay with my sister, Laury, and Bob, Marie and Steven.  We've learned that part of living on a boat (w/o a backup homestead) requires setting up a series of guest rooms along our way. Fortunately, we have Dan's skillful fix-it services to barter -- his motto is "I like to fix nusance problems around the house so I don't become one ...".  We also figure if we keep moving every few days, we'll be able to come back again!

We will head back to Georgia with Jim Garfunkel sometime between June 21 and 26th ....

This side trip from our "big adventure" has been a lot of fun ... and kinda weird at the same time.  On one hand, living in a house has so many great conveniences, and so much space (cooking is definitely a lot more fun and flush toilets are a truly marvelous invention!).  But, it also feels strange in be indoors so much of the time, and not to be reading guide books and studying navigation charts to plot a future course for our travels.  We've been prepping to leave Brunswick Marina for so long that it feels weird to be taking this prolonged timeout ... it's a difficult balance, feeling like we should get back to the boat and get moving, and yet wanting to take advantage of our time in MN.  Nothing beats family and friends, and it was good decision to take this rather spontaneous diversion.