Another Day Hanging Out

Day 4: February 27, 2015

Need I say more?

Not a pretty day.  It was blustery, rainy, and chilly.  The sun did not make an appearance all day.  I was up at my usual time working on the daily blob (blog) while Janine enjoyed an additional hour of sleep.

We fixed a cheese omelet using only the best Tillamook cheese.  We refreshed with V-8 juice and hot coffee.  It can’t get much better than that (unless its sausage gravy and biscuits!)

I started my day with another trip to Lowes to pick up a fitting to replace the one in the water system that was still leaking.  It was an easy fix and the water system is working well all be it that the faucet wobbles when you turn it off and on. 

A Squatters Paradise

We futzed straightening up the inside of the boat that had the appearance of the aftermath of a suicide bomb attack.  We had cleared all of the lockers on the port side of the boat and had the contents scattered all about.  Since I did most of the packing, this was probably good so Janine would be able to find the stuff that I had so strategically and logically packed (but could often not remember where I had put a particular thing.  

About middle morning we decided to try to make tortillas with our new cast iron tortilla press.  I mixed up the mesa flour and rolled into the prescribed size ball in preparation our first squeeze.  I got the press out and realized that the press handle that actually magnifies the forces in the press was  missing.  So, back to the little Mexican grocery where the young fellow who sold it to us was most apologetic and willing to replace it, however, this one was the only one they had in stock.  He directed us to another Mexican grocery who could possibly have a press.

The next grocery is what you might expect to find 250 miles south of the border.  It was small, cramped, and filled with all sorts of goods the name of which I could not interpret.  They did indeed have presses for sale at ½ the price that we paid at the other establishment.  But, it wasn’t as nice a model as the first one.  It looked like it had been made in a little one man foundry 250 miles south of the border.

By now it is about lunch time and we are in need of a homemade tortilla so we began the process in earnest.  It took several attempts before we got a finished product that bore some semblance to the real thing.  I used a couple of my new creations to make a taco.

After lunch, I went back to a US grocery to pick up a bit more beer. The word is that beer in the Bahamas is really expensive so you need to take what you plan to consume with you.  We are not big beer drinkers and with little or no ice anticipated, we probably won’t need much.

Some of our neighbors in an attempt to show dreary.

The remainder of the afternoon we finished fitting out the boat for a future launch.  We worked between rain showers doing things like putting on the Bimini, attaching the new solar panel, mounting the motor.

We dined on pork chops, cabbage salad and garlic mashed potatoes. Speaking of cabbage salad, have you ever eaten shoe leather with salad dressing on top?  Uncooked cabbage is really tough but according to the old lady fisherwoman that we talked to the other day, I need my roughage!

We spent the rest of the evening reading and just sitting around.  Bed time arrived at between 8:00 and 9:00 depending on which one of the two of us you talk to.  You may be able to deduce that this was not an exciting day and the weather forecast does not hold much promise for tomorrow.  We are beginning to feel like squatters who are squatting on public lands.  To date, no one has challenged us.  My thoughts are that we have three choices.  We could launch the boat and drop anchor and then worry about dragging anchor in this wind, or we could launch the boat and pay some guy $80.00 a night to tie up to his dock or finally we can continue to be squatters and continue to get good worry free nights of sleep and save significant cash.  We continue to save the cash and sleep! 

 

Hanging Out and Maintenance Day in Port Salerno

Day 3: February 26, 2015

We had a wonderful night’s sleep but as usual, I was awake and up at 5:00.  I can’t seem to get past that magic hour. 



And a total washout. Waiting out a rain delay

We prepared our first “canned food” breakfast.  We had sausage gravy over a tortilla.  We use tortillas is place of bread because it keeps much long without molding.  We had cooked and canned the sausage for the mix probably a month ago; the actual measured flour part of the meal we vacuum packed at about the same time.  We added a bit of powdered milk to simulate the real thing.  All we had to do was add a cup of water to the mix and cook it to the level of gravy.  It Worked!  It was good.

It is really windy today, so much so that we put off raising the mast and bending sails until calmer times.  There are a bunch of other chores we needed to attend to before we could set off so we began by hauling water for our empty storage tank.  The boat has a 30 gallon tank and with the extremely cold temps in Ohio and the fact that 30 gallons weighs over 200 lbs, I put off filling the tank until we get go our destination.  That usually requires us to beg for water at some marina but this time, we are holed up in a boat trailer parking lot so there is no easy access to water.  I stopped a park ranger and asked if there were any hose bibs in the area and he told me that there was one in the rest room building but it required a key.  I had scoped that out and know that I had the proper tools to open the faucet compartment and reluctantly told me that I could do it if I didn’t damage the faucet.

I hauled the 30 gallons of water over the 100 yards from the restroom building to the boat in two 5 gallon plastic water cans.  I think my arms are now ½ inch longer than they were when I left Ohio.

Janine tried to use electric water pump to draw water from the tank, but it didn’t work as designed; not shutting off and building up pressure when she turned off the faucet.  I dug into the pump and plumbing work but could find no problem with the system.  I was concerned that it could be a pump problem.  We figured that we get around the problem by turning on the pump switch every time. 

As I was working around setting up the boat, Janine came up and informed me that there was 6 inched of water in one of our food storage lockers.  It turned out that the supply line to the faucet had frozen and burst was spraying out over our food.  Luckily it was all sealed and nothing there was damages.  HOWEVER, the faucet was obviously installed before the top and bottom of the boat were joined.  To make a long painful story short, we spent the rest of the day chasing parts and replacing the old faucet.  That included 3 trips to Lowes, two trips to the boat manufacturer who luckily is right in Stuart, and visiting three other boat supply houses.  I finally got the water system working at about 8:00 pm.  I still had a very small drip at one of the solderless fittings that will require one more trip to Lowes tomorrow.  More serious modifications will be required when we get back to Ohio.

So!  That was our day.  We did enjoy a good lunch at a really small restaurant called the Whistle Stop.  I had a nice chicken salad wrap and Janine had a bowl of Brunswick stew.  And for our evening dining delight, we had chicken alfredo made with our canned chicken.  It was also good.  This is going to work. 

We were both really tired and bed came willingly at about 9:00.

 

Back on the again heading South

Day 2:  February 25, 2015



What we left behind.  (Two days before leaving)

We got up and away from Charleston at about 7:00 am heading for Stuart FL.  Our destination is where we plan to launch the boat and store our truck and trailer.  We have a late afternoon appointment with a manager of a storage lot..  We have had a bit of trouble finding a place that will take both our truck and trailer.  Combined, they are about 47 feet in length and folks don’t have that kind of space. 

Compared to yesterday, the drive was a walk in the park.  It was great not having a pressing deadline that we had to meet so liesurely driving down through the flat coastal land from South Carolina, through Georgia and south in Florida was really quite pleasant. 

One little problem that we have encountered on the road is trying to find a place that has the room for us to park the truck and trailer when we stop for lunch.  We pulled into one place, packed the boat into the corner of their rear lot and were heading in when a group of cars began pouring in.  They began parking in front and so we ran back to the truck and made a hasty retreat.  The remainder of the drive through Florida was quiet uneventful.  We arrived in Stuart at around 4:15 and found our storage manager, Kathleen, to be a great person who was willing to work with our special problems of short term leases and over length vehicles.

From the storage area we traveled the short distance to Sand Spit Point park where we snuggled the boat back into a corner of their trailer storage area in preparation for a good night’s sleep and the rigging of the boat for our anticipated launch tomorrow.

One thing I really enjoy about these adventures are the people we run into.  As we were transferring our perishable foods from the truck to the boat, a young man pulled up pulling a beautiful homemade fishing boat.  I went over and complimented him on his boat and he told me that prior to having a family, he had a Hershoff sailing vessel and he and his young bride sailed over to the Bahamas on numerous occasions.  (For those of you who are sailors, you know that the Hershoff boats are of the highly regarded early design beautiful seaworthy boats.)  He said that he was a sailor at heart and had done research on boats and ran across the Seaward brand boats like ours and would probably have one someday. 

Also, parked near us was a lady who had been fishing and came and offered us a mackerel fish for supper.  We struck up a long conversation about all sorts of things sailing.  She had lived on and sailed on a boat from California through the Panama Canal into the Caribbean ending up in NYC.  She was really interesting as well offering numerous suggestions for our trip.  She ilnsisted that we get cabbage for our roughage.  She says that it will keep on a boat for months.  We told her that we were using tortillas for our bread source and she got all excited and told us of a little Mexican grocery in the area that sells a tortilla press and the mesa (sp?) flour for making her own.  She says that she takes the press and flour with her when she camps and only eats her own tortillas.

By the time she left it was dark so we went looking for an eating establishment.  The fish lady suggested that we eat at a place called Shrimpers.  After some hunting, we finally came upon this interesting establishment.  It was an open air building right on the Manatee Pocket.  You could pull you boat up to their wall and have a fine meal as did we.  Janine had a salmon club sandwich and I had grilled Grouper. 

Back at the boat, sleep came early and quickly.

We Are On Our Way

Day 1 February 24, 2015

 

We are finally on our way.  We awoke this morning at around 2am in preparation for a 3:00 departure.  The temperature in New Lexington was -14 degrees.  We have been packing and planning for weeks and really all we had to do was get the truck hooked up and the boat pulled out of the snow bank.  That all went off without a hitch and we were on the road by 3:05. 

Our destination is Charleston SC where we are to meet up with the Customs and Border Patrol folks for a face to face interview.  This is required for small vessel reentry permit that is used to grease the customs wheels when we return for our proposed trip to the Bahamas.  The last appointment that they provide is at 2:45pm so had to make a mad dash that make that slot.  Our GPS told us that we had about a 2 hour cushion and we drove away with confidence that we make it with ease considering numerous fuel stops and meals. 

Well, it didn’t work out that easily.  Our truck, when pushing it, gets 7.0 mpg so we had to stop 4 times for gas along the way.  We calculate that it takes about 10 minutes per fuel stop.  So at the first stop, Janine ran in and got a couple of Egg McMuffins while I fueled the truck.  Back on the road all went well until we got to southern West Virginia where we began to pick up a little light snow. As we moved into Virginia, the snow began to increase and as we were traveling down a particular 7 mile grade, at about 70 mph, I felt the trailer fishtail a bit.  I slowed down as did some of the many semi’s that we were traveling amongst.  Other trucks continued to barrel down the pike at a high rate of speed.  Ten miles or so on down the road, traffic slowed to a crawl as we passed though about10 jackknifed and smashed trucks.  Amazingly we saw only 2 cars in the mess that was scattered over about a mile long stretch of roadway.

We probably had about 40 miles of dicey roads.  And the clock was ticking.  By this time our arrival buffer was down to about an hour.  At Lake Norman, traffic again pulled down to a crawl and for the next 20 minutes our average speed was about 15 mph.  And the clock was ticking.  I began calling the Border Patrol folks but go no answer.  I was convinced that we were not going to make our appointment and past encounters with these folks reminded me that they do not have a sense of humor.  Finally at about an hour before our appointment time, they answered the phone.  It turned out that they had been slammed with a cruise ship that had just docked in Charleston.  They encouraged us to keep coming.

As it turned out, they were extremely accommodating and had a great sense of humor.  We did make it with about 15 minutes to spare and although they had some glitches with their modern equipment, the young lady who processed us that we would be approved and would receive our reentry “number” by email by the end of the week.  We walked out of the Charleston International Airport terminal to our very illegally parked truck and trailer with absolutely no more deadlines in our foreseeable future.  (If we had in fact received a ticket, the customs officer said to tell them that “Officer Clark” said that it was ok for to park there (Neat guy!)  Officer Clark advised us that the area where we had reserved a room for the night might not be the most secure place to leave the boat so we called and cancelled our reservations and picked a Hilton Home 2 motel for our resting place. 

Our next significant order of business was to fill our very empty stomachs.  We had not taken time to eat lunch on the road.  We unhooked the boat at the motel and found a Bonefish Grill where we dined in fine fashion on stuffed tilapia and au gratin potatoes.  Wow, what a feast.

Back in the room by 6:00.  A long wonderful shower (probably the last for a while) and bed by around 7:00.  By the way, did I mention that the temperature in balmy Charleston SC is 30 degrees and rainy.  Uggh

And Its Snowing Again!

Getting Ready For Another Adventure

Greetings,                                                                          February 14, 2015

Sitting at my desk in Perry County Ohio, I am looking out the window at wind driven snow, a temperature of about 20 degrees and warnings that there will be a wind chill factor of around 30 degrees below zero to-night and tomorrow.  I Don’t Like This!

Our boat, Second Wind, spent the early part of the winter shrink wrapped in white

Second Wind in hibernation

plastic keeping the foul weather out.  I did this on my own for the first time this year and was quite pleased with the results.  Absolutely no snow or rain got onto the upper parts of the boat and with the frame that I built to support the cover, I was able to work inside out of the weather virtually all winter long.  It was cold but doable.  

But now the cover is off, the frame put away and the packing process has begun for another trip to warmer climes.  We are planning on heading towards the east coast of Florida again this year with an ultimate goal of the Bahamas.  Now, I say that with reservation.  We need a favorable weather window in order to make the trip across the Gulf Stream and in the early spring, the prevailing winds are not optimal.  So, if we fail to get the window that we need, we will head south

Inside the cocoon

and enjoy the great sailing and weather in the lower Florida Keys.  The way we travel, just being able to sail, meet new friends and see interesting new places equate to successful trips.  World traveling sailors, Lynn and Larry Pardey, who have been romping around the world for the past 40 plus years, have a rule regarding destinations.  They don’t broadcast ultimate destinations to friends and acquaintances in case they don’t arrive as planned.  They take what comes to them and call it success.  I think that is a great philosophy to sail by. 

Saying that, we do submit plans to the proper folks as a safety precaution when we head out on a specific trip but if for some reason we can’t make a trip, it’s OK!

I plan to submit blogs again.  I do these musings

About Ready To Go!

as personal records to re enjoy on days like today when the snow turns to blizzard (as has just happened here, now!)

Also, you are receiving this email because, at some weak moment in the past, you made me feel good stating that you would enjoy hearing of our travels.  I understand that these things may get old and remind you that they are but a single strike of the “delete” key away from oblivion.  Also, my feelings wouldn’t be hurt if you want to receive less junk mail.  Let me know and I can remove your name from the list.

Finally, from time to time, some of you have responded to our comments and we do enjoy hearing from you.  We encourage it.  

Did I imply that the weather is ugly outside?

And the Dream (as remembered from No Name Harbor, Key Biscayne, FL)