We headed over to Lakeland to visit my brother Matthew’s family. He has 4 daughters: Eve (19 years old and lives in Gainesville where she goes to college), Kylie (12 years old), Kendall (11 years old), and Kenzie (8 years old). New years eve Alyssa was set to fly home. She was a little worried because the flight kept getting pushed and pushed. She was sure it would be cancelled. With some extra time on our hands we drove to Clearwater to check out the…Continue Reading “New Years Family Visits”
One of the fun things we did while Alyssa was with us was to visit Myakka River State Park. A few years ago Kim (my youngest daughter) and I did a “backpacking biking” trip and biked from Venice to Myakka and camped in the park. We had such a great time and found the park so exceptionally beautiful I thought it would be a nice day trip. Of course we did not count on all the other people in Florida thinking the same thing! The…Continue Reading “Exploring Myakka River State Park”
One of the reasons I decided to retire early was to spend more time with my parents. My father has Alzheimer’s dementia and my mother is his sole caregiver. We moved them in the spring and early summer (it took several months from start to finish with the pandemic) from their house in Sun City Hilton Head in South Carolina to Aston Gardens in Sun City Center Florida. Their new community provides more services such as meals, rides, day trips, cleaning etc. It is also…Continue Reading “Christmas in Florida”
After arriving Sunday evening we relaxed on board the boat and did a some walking around on the docks. Monday (Dec 21) we showered and headed to Hilton Head airport to rent a car. Preston, the dock hand at Shelter Cove, was nice enough to give us a ride. We needed to pick up my parents car that we left at Cooper River Marina in Charleston. On the way we would stop by Beaufort, SC and have lunch. We did not get to visit Beaufort…Continue Reading “Exploring Hilton Head”
Started day: mile marker 522 Ended day: mile marker 563 The night was cold and rainy but we did well snuggled in our cozy v-berth. We were up and ready to attack the anchor at slack tide, 7:15am. With a bit of effort we finally felt a “pop” and the anchor came free. We were really relieved! We headed to Beaufort Safe Harbor Marina to get diesel and then on to Hilton Head!! The morning was a bit rainy and overcast but I was really…Continue Reading “Shelter Cove, We have arrived!”
Started day: mile marker 473 Ended day: mile marker 522 We pulled out of St. John’s around 8am to a very cold ride down the ICW, but it was sunny! We were planning to stop at Lady’s Island Marina in Beaufort, SC for the night. The marina was about 65 miles which would be a long day. We would only make it before sunset if the tide and wind were in our favor. We traversed several rivers today: Wadmalaw, Dawhoe, South Edisto, Ashepoo, Coosaw rivers….Continue Reading “Anchor stuck…”
Started day: mile marker 467 Ended day: mile marker 473 We woke this morning to sunny skies and the excitement that comes with knowing you are leaving the dock. We made our plans with St. John’s Marina for tonight – just 10 miles down the road. We didnt want to go too far just incase there were any issues with the new systems. We said good bye to our slip neighbors, Chris and Debbie. Boy, we could not have found a nicer couple. I wish…Continue Reading “Heading to St. John’s Island”
When we started the Balmar 60-YP-100-SV alternator and regulator installation last week we found we needed a new alternator support piece. The hole that holds the pin for the alternator was very worn and that is why our alternator was cavitating so badly (and probably why we had several things break related to the alternator!). The part wouldn’t arrive until Monday! We were hoping to leave Dec 15th (Tuesday) for Hilton Head… so we tried to do all the work we could while waiting on…Continue Reading “Installation of Balmar Alternator”
We closed up the cabin for the winter and headed south on Dec 4th. We spent an overnight in Greensboro, NC so we could schedule a Saturday visit with Stew’s mother in Murrell’s Inlet near Myrtle Beach. We had a really nice visit through the window – this time, no rain – yay! Saturday we got back to the boat with lots to put away!! I had Kim pick up an order at the Erie Wholefoods Co-op and she brought it to me at the…Continue Reading “Exploring Charleston”
We decided to leave by 6am Saturday since we had a long drive north to the cabin in Cammal, PA. In addition we needed to pick up the “cabin vehicle” in Harrisburg where it was being stored by a friend and drop off the rental car in Williamsport!! The ride was terrible – tons of traffic and 3 actual traffic jams where we sat for about an hour each! All-in-all it took 16 hours, arriving at the cabin at 1am in the morning on Sunday….Continue Reading “Trip North for Thanksgiving”