Houma, Louisiana City Marina

Morgan City to Houma

Another very short and very uneventful day. We slept in--to 6 AM---knowing we had a short day ahead of us. Left the city dock around 7 and motored on down to a lock ( see photos below) This time we had to follow a tow through--very laborious as we had to follow close but not too close--thus we were in it's prop wash for an extended period of time. That tends to cause us to meander left and right back, and forth no matter where you steer. Had to check in with Berwick VTS --the air traffic control on the water---and then check out once we exited their territory--the lock. Then it was motor sailing through some extremely industrial sections followed by truly beautiful cypress swamps---lots of water hyacinths(I think) floating in the water and we have to constantly steer around them lest we get them wrapped on our prop.
Made chili dogs for lunch----ummmmmm----- and arrived in Houma around 1:40. Right now we're sitting around watching a football game but will walk the 6 blocks to down town and look for some local cuisine for din-din. Then we'll probably watch the Okl Neb game and fall asleep during half-time. This life is grueling.
Houma appears to be quite industrial but not like Morgan City. The town looks interesting and am anxious to stroll it on Saturday night. The dock is nice but just off the ICW so we get a little bouncy whenever a large tow goes by. We passed some very large, new, very nice homes along the waterway on the way into town. The place appears to be quite prosperous.

Wow!!! We are finally to Morgan City. This has always been the destination where I thought I would feel like we were really on our way. I was right. We are tied up at the Municipal dock---not much to speak of as marina facilities go---but close to town (a 2 minute walk away) and 1 minute from Cafe Jojo's where we had dinner tonight. Their meal was very good--a bit overpriced ---but if you are ever here, order the seafood bread appetizer---unbelievably good. We got there about 5:45 and there was no one there--a bit suspicious--but by the time we left the place was full . I definitely recommend it.

I apologize to all my dedicated followers (all three of them) for not having posted to this blog for the last several days but it has been really, really busy--and the times I have had to write I haven't had internet access (I'm still trying to figure out how to write a post and keep it and then paste it into the site when I have internet. Trust me--it ain't easy --for me)
I last wrote after we were ensconced in the Bowtie Marina, south of Lake Charles and next door to one of their sinful houses of gambling. We had a wonderfully warm night's sleep that night and awoke to frost covered decks the next morning and temps in the 30's. After threading our way out through low tide water down the winding bayou from the marina we returned to the Calcasieu River and ran downstream 9 miles to rejoin the ICW. Shortly after turning back to the east on the waterway we came upon our first lock--the Calcasieu Locks. After a brief wait for a tow ahead of us ( a "tow" is a tug boat type vessel pushing any number of combinations of barges---1, 2, 0r 3 long --single or double wide---HUGE---)to exit the lock we entered. We never stopped--by the time we transited the length of the lock, the west gate had been opened and the water came rushing at us. We just kept going and exited the east side--only to be met by a pontoon bridge that was closed across the waterway. It soon opened and we passed through and continued on our way to our next stopping place for the night--an anchorage on the Mermenteau River , about 2 miles up the river above the ICW----=a beautiful anchorage in an oxbow off to the east of the main channel of the river. The only problem---I ran us aground in 4 feet of water--in soft mud--trying to get to the anchorage---Oh well--Dave got us out quite skillfully (one of many learning moments on this trip--Dave is truly a knowledgeable and skillfull (and clever) (AND REPUBLICAN) captain. I felt like I wanted to stay at this anchorage a couple of nights, it was so beautiful.

The next morning we rose early and returned to the ICW where we were met with a thick mist (fog) up to about 20 feet but in combination with the rising sun in our eyes we were blind and had to motor on relying on our chart plotter and radar. Fortunately the fog dissipated with the rising sun before we encounterd any traffic. Eventually we were met by a beautiful, sunny day that allowed us to relax and enjoy our trip to the Shell Morgan Landing in Intracoastal City --arriving there quite early--around 1:45 in the afternoon. After checking in we walked over to the Maxie Pearce Grocery, about three blocks away-- a fully stocked grocery, with some really nice steaks (which we had that night) booze--(I was out of Vodka) and a great deli from which we ordered "crabburgers and fries". This was Dave's disembarkation point as he had to return to Kemah for work. Gene Wallin arrived around 7:15 that night--just in time to share in the steak dinner.

Next morning we arose early again---0530---- and said goodbye to Dave. and Gene and I set off for Morgan City, Louisiana--about 60 miles away. Another beautiful and WARM day.

We had heard about a couple in a catamaran that had preceeded us by about two weeks who had been boarded by the Coast Guard and had to suffer the lengthy and humiliating inspection process at a place called Bayou Petite Anse. Well, we made it through there without seeing the Coasties and were patting ourselves on the back for having evaded them but about 2 hours later we looked in our rear view mirror and saw a Coast Guard Cutter--not one of their runabouts--a damn CUTTER--approaching from our rear. OK--so we weren't carrying contraband, drugs or illegal (excuse me--"undocumented" )aliens--but still--you get nervous---------They passed by without even a friendly wave.---I felt cheated--I wanted something to complain about---Big Brother--intrusive government, etc--They ignored us.

Arrived Morgan City around 1530. What an amazing place. It is an unbelievable (and literal) crossroads of the Gulf Coast commerce. An amazing amount of water traffic of all kinds---barges, crew boats, work boats, equipment boats---and then there was me--- a little 36 foot sailboat in the middle of the most important commerce in the US. It is so busy here they even have a system like air traffic control. Beginning at mile marker "one oh two" I had to check in on VHF channel 11 with "Berwick VTS" and advise them who I was, where I was and where I was going. Then they asked me to report back at each of several checkpoints coming into Morgan City. Tomorrow as we head out to Houma we will check back in with them and they will monitor us until we are well away from the morgan City area--amazing.

So, here we are parked against a creosote bulkhead next to a vehicular bridge and a railroad bridge--very noisy---in downtown Morgan City. Shortly after we arrived and while we were enjoying another of Peppi"s(sp) Bloody Mary's a trawler--" Aquaholic" --pulled in behind us. They're from our marina in Kemah but they're headed the opposite way--they're coming back from the Keys (tried to make us envious until I told them I was on my way to the Bahamas for 6 months) ---Zing!!!

So here I am, sitting in the cockpit typing this update--in Morgan City, LA--Whodathunk????

The pics below are of Shell Morgan--a fueling stop and the marina where we stopped last night--not Morgan City. I'll try to remember to get some shots of MC tomorrow to see if I can impart a taste of this incredible place.

Taylor Lake to Lake Charles

Day two was uneventful and we arrived at the Bowtie Marina at around 1630. Temps were in the 40's all day and the winds, very brisk, gusting to the 30's all day long. Here's some pics along the way--most exciting the Ellender Lift Bridge pictured here. You have to estimate your arrival time and call ahead 4 hours to arrange for an attendant to leave the Dunkin' Donuts and get to the bridge to raise it. Fortunately we guessed right and only had about a 1/2 hour wait.

Then it was up the Calcasieu River about 10 miles to get to the marina for the night. We wanted to stop somewhere where we would have shore power so we could run the heat---in the 30's last night---without having to hook up the generators and burn gasoline. Tonight we'll be at anchor and may have to run the generators but there simply are no marinas between here and "there" that are reachable in one day.

Had a great dinner of Ceasar Salad and sausage and peppers last night. I think barbecued chicken will be on the menu tonight. Thanks to Pepi (SP?) Peoples for a jar of her Bloody Mary mix that we enjoyed last night.

Sure enjoyed the hot shower ashore at the marina and my first decent night's sleep.

The Journey Begins--Finally

At 0530 I (Dave) and our friend Dave Koplin departed Waterford Harbor for day 1 of the journey. The "plan" is now the reality. Dave and I will cruise the ICW to Intracoastal City, in Louisiana, where we will be met by another friend, Gene Wallin. Dave will then drive home in Gene's car and Gene will join me for the rest of the trip to New Orleans.
Right now, we are at anchor in Taylor Bayou, just south of Beaumont, at the southwest end of Sabine Lake (I've fixed the SPOT link--I think--so you can just click on that link to see where we are) We are anchored in about 18 feet of very pretty blue water---(you don't have to go very far to get out of the muddy brown water that we are used to in Galveston Bay) having put on around 70 statute, or 65 nautical miles today. We got to the anchorage about 1700 hrs.
It's a very nice and protected anchorage--only two problems---1: Immediately upon arrival we were met with the biggest swarm of mosquitos I've ever encountered. Even after closing ourselves in the cabin we swatted bugs for the next hour--probably killed 50 or so. Finally I found some bug spray and sprayed everywhere we thought they might be coming in and it seemed to do the trick. Peace at last----But not until we had contributed heftily to the nourishment of the bug population.
2: At 0130 on Tues an expected northerly front blew in with winds gusting as high as 30 knots. We are sitting on the hook swinging back and forth and listening to the wind howl---couldn't sleep with the wind and tension over whether or not the anchor will hold in this wind, so I'm up posting this blog at 4 AM. Oh well--I'll try to get some rack time while we're underway today.
It's really a shame about the bugs because this is truly a very nice anchorage and it would have been nice to have a sundowner in the cockpit after arrival as we watched the sunset. But then, there will be plenty of those evenings ahead.
I know it doesn't sound like a lot of fun so far, but truly the enjoyment is in the adventure---what's around the next corner, what's the weather going to do tomorrow?? What's the scenery going to be like? It really is fun---especially knowing that every day will be different. Of course I miss Diane, and am anxious for her to come aboard in N O.
What's that!!?? Quiet?? I think the wind is beginning to subside. Maybe I'll get some sleep after all. Hope so--we have another long day ahead of us tom0rrow to get to Lake Charles, Louisiana.
By the way, I've added a couple more links of blog sites of friends or acquaintances of ours doing what we are doing or about to do it. Check them out. S/V (sailing vessel) Kaleo, or "the kids" (sorry kids, but you'll soon learn how old we are and understand why we refer to you as "the kids")) as we refer to them are about a month ahead of us on the same route. Their site is really good, with lots of pics. Rusty and Linda Sitton--sittononthebeach-- went to the Exumas last winter and have been our mentors for our trip for everything from food, to navigation, to clothing--every aspect. We really owe them our gratitude. The same with Dave and Debbie Koplin. They went to Isla Mujeres and points south last year and have done the Bahamas thing previously--They've been a font of helpful information as well. Without the encouragement of these people I'm not sure we would be doing this as confidently as we are. Good night...

SPOT---GPS Tracking Link

I think I've figured it out-----Look to the left and find the LINKS section and click on "SPOT-GPS Tracking". Please write and let me know that it does or does not work---It has worked for me. But -- right now there is nothing showing on it as it has not been activated recently. Hopefully, there will soon be some tracking.

Weather, Weather, Weather

Weather to leave or weather to wait-----That is the question. Well, obviously we didn't leave on the 20th as last predicted. Actually, that decision was not weather related. Scott was still in town and we didn't want to lose this opportunity to spend as much time with him as possible before he went back to China. (He ran into some delays acquiring his China work visa and we were the very happy beneficiaries of his extended stay)Then, having decided to stay a while longer, we decided to just hang around and spend Thanksgiving with friends--a decision well made as we had a wonderful day of thanksgiving with our friends the Dormers and their youngest son, Jon. We had a great time watching the Cowboys get beat and the Aggies win over Texas.
The revised plan, however, had been to leave the Saturday after Thanksgiving---but---now weather has become a very significant factor. We are in the middle of a very strong northerly cold front with high winds and frigid temperatures. We could leave as scheduled but it would be a very uncomfortable trip, especially off-shore where it is predicted that the winds will be in excess of 30 knots and the waves 5 to 8 feet. Having waited this long the weather will govern. The only thing predictable about the weather now is its unpredictability. Thus, I have decided to stay in the "ditch" to New Orleans. The "ditch" for you landlubbers is the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW), or as its called in this section--Texas/ Louisiana-- the "Gulf Intracoastal Waterway" or GIWW for short. We like to refer to it as merely the ICW.
The ICW runs along the coast, but inland in mostly protected waters. The downside is that it is very busy with industrial barge traffic, tugs pushing or pulling long barges sometimes 2 and 3 wide. The other disadvantage is that it is imprudent to navigate at night, particularly because of the barge traffic but also because falling just a little bit off course in the narrow channel can cause you to run aground---so---you end up anchoring or tying up at a marina for the night, losing valuable hours on your goal of getting past New Orleans where the trip becomes quite a bit more enjoyable. Nonetheless, with the arrival of winter weather, I think it will be prudent to "take the ditch" and I am now anxious to get going as soon as possible. The other downside to me is that because of the extended time it will take to get to New Orleans I will probably lose at least some of my crew---they have JOB's. So---again just waiting on word from the crew to see if I am to have any help on this part of the journey.
In the meantime we have made the most of our down time. We've actually moved onto the boat, have stowed away all the clothes and toys and necessities and now have only the first week's provisioning and, of course, the wine supply, to worry about. We had the boat completely compounded and waxed by Alfredo and it looks like new. Our friend (and possible crew member, Dave Koplin, a licensed captain with scads of cruising experieince) will get together on Sunday to go over the boat from top to bottom, stem to stern, to check out all the systems, rigging etc--he'll even go up the mast to examine al the fittings up there--to make sure everything is a "go" and to fix anything that needs attention.
Once the journey begins this blog should start to become a bit more interesting to you with photos and descriptions of events along the way. Traveling the ICW can actually be fun as you transit the canal through swing bridges, locks, lift bridges, wildlife sanctuaries, towns and cities.
Until then---again---wish us fair weather and friendly winds.
I'll also reactivate the GPS tracking device --SPOT-- so you can follow our progress juxtaposed on a satellite earth image--Google Earth. The URL for our SPOT is: (I'm working on how to copy and paste it here but I've sent it to you in a prior email. I'm also trying to figure out how to post a link on the opening page of this blog site. If you don't have it and would like me to forward it to you in an email, send me an email--I know how to do that, at least.)

About the Boat

A friend of mine, Gunnar Lonson, wrote recently and suggested that I write some descriptive information about the boat. I guess I've taken for granted that everyone would have some familiarity with sailboats---Now that I think about it and have considered my distribution list, that assumption is probably incorrect.

"Assisted Living" is 2001 Catalina 36 MKII monohull sailboat. We purchased her right after my 60th birthday in 2007 when I realized the cause of my latest mid-life crisis. It had been almost 20 years since we had last owned a boat, a 34 foot O'Day sailboat named KRISCO (Kristin--Scott--get it?) When we got in to spending so much time in Colorado we kind of fell out of the sailing thing.

Asisted Living is a single masted sloop--It has a main sail and a head sail or jib. If we were going to do a lot of off shore sailing--blue water sailing where the weather would be too far out to be able to plan around we would carry a larger compliment of sails--including a "storm jib." As it is, we don't intend to be at sea any longer than a couple of days and this only on a couple of occasions. If the weather's bad we won't go--not being on a schedule will be very conducive to this kind of planning. Both the main sail and the jib are reducable in size to accomodate for wind changes. She sails very stabily with reduced head sail and reefed main.

She is approximately 37 1/2 feet long and about 34 feet at the water line. She is approximately 12 feet wide and draws only 4 1/2 feet of depth with a winged keel. One of the reasons we selected this boat is the unusually (for her size) large cockpit (the outside area in the back of the boat where the helm is). It has very large and comfortable seats and is actualy quite comfortable with as many as 6 people at one time. The helm, or steering station is located here. We have a very nice array of instrumentation right at the helm---navigation GPS chartplotter, radar, VHF radio, wind speed and direction, water depth, and boat speed. The chart plotter is quite a sophisticated instrument--it displays the boat in correlation with an electronic map of the sea, much like an automobile GPS system. But the plotter also shows the obstructions and hazards, and allows automatic steering to various points or over a course. You can set waypoints and the autohelm will take you there (as long as there is nothing in the path between you and the destination point--like a piece of dirt. It also displays the water depth around you, provides tide tables and other useful information as well as info about shoreside services--restaurants, marinas etc--come to think of it its exactly like an automobile GPS--just has more functions--and it all interrelates with the other instruments through an interconnection called "Seatalk".
The cockpit has storage underneath the seats and has a cover/awning called a "bimini". It also has a windshield, or "dodger" that is to protect from wind and water. All the working "ropes" or "lines" lead back to the cockpit so that most sail handling can be done from the protection and comfort of that area. There is an electric windlass for handling the anchors and I carry two large anchors of differrent types for different bottom conditions.
The cabin or salon (below) is really quite spacious and comfortable. It has seating for as many as 8 people or even more, a large dining table that folds up out of the way, a chart table and instrument or switch panel that has all the breakers that operate all the various electrical items--lights, pumps, fans, TV, instruments, exterior lights--running lights, anchor light, deck lights, etc. . There is a galley (kitchen) with double sink, 2 burner propane stove and nice sized oven, a microwave and refigerator with small freezer. Its what we call a "one butt" kitchen but it works. There is a full head, or bathroom, with sink, toilet and shower.
There are 2 sleeping cabins--one forward called the V berth and one aft the size of a king sized bed. Since we like to sleep in the V berth we use the aft stateroom for storage including the plastic bins that will hold all the stuff we're not using at the moment. Each stateroom has a small hanging locker and drawers--actually a surprising amount of storage. The boat has air conditioning and heat that runs off of either shore power or the Honda generators that I recently added and that we will use if we need air when "on the hook". We have approximately 80 gallons of fresh water--enough to last us around 4 to 5 days if used prudently--ie no long showers. There are many hatches and ports that open and provide excellent ventilation. The bimini has attached screens that completely enclose the cockpit to protect from skeeters and those noseeums that I'm sure we'll encounter in Florida. (We Texans rid ourselves of those nasty varmints along with other nasty varmints like those carpet baggers and democrats a long time ago). The boat really provides a very comfortable platform for seeing the world--or at least that limited part of it in our plans.
Under sail and in the right conditions the boat will cruise between 6 and 7 1/2 knots --Sailboats are not the fastest means of travel but provide a thrill nonetheless. In sailboats its the getting there as opposed to the being there that matters most. We have a 25 HP diesel engine that will push us along at around 6 1/2 knots at a fuel consumption rate of about 1/2 gallon per hour. With extra fuel cans I carry about 40 gallons of diesel, for 80 hours of cruising. At 6 knots (a knot is roughly 1.1 statute miles per hour) that covers about 500 miles--plenty to cover us for any long passage we have planned.
Soooo--that's our boat. We love her. If this post has bored you--blame Gunnar. If you've enjoyed it--thank me.
BTW---Gunnar and I go way back to when he was a clerk and I was a new associate attorney at my first law firm. He sailed with us on our early boats and in fact was one of the other 4 that were with us on our very first bare boat charter in the British Virgin Islands around 1980. He moved onward and upward to fame and fortune in Santa Barbara, Cal with his wife Carol-Anne but we've stayed in touch over the years---in fact did a bareboat charter in the Abacos a couple of years ago. Oh the stories we could tell!!!!!

Abacos October 2010---With Bernie and Jane

Well, as I think I mentioned in an earlier post, we made our 2nd (my 3rd) trip to the Abacos for a week long bareboat charter--this time with my old (and I do mean "old") Army buddy and wife Bernie and Jane Boryc from Madison (that hot bed of liberalism), Wisconsin. Bernie recently retired from a career with Sears and Jane, as a teacher. When I emailed an invitation to join us on this trip they immediately jumped on it---a great leap of faith considering a. they had very little sailing experience and b. we had only seen each other once in the last 30? years, and that for just a couple of days. "Bernie? Do you think Dave is still the great fun loving wonderful and generous in every way Dave that we remember from Fort Hood????" : "And that Diane---I just don't know!!!" It was GREAT!!! We had a wonderful time. The weather, as you can see from the photos, was perfect. What a wonderful way to renew a dear relationship with 2 really fantastic people from our past--Oh the stories we could tell!!

Well, we're back now and back into preparations for our upcoming life change. Because of all that lay ahead in preparations, on our return we decided to put off our departure another week--to the 20th of November. This we did not knowing at the time that our son, Scott, was going to have such trouble getting his work visa to return to Beijing and his new job with his new firm. (As I'm sure most of you know, Scott has spent the better part of 3 years living and studying in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan with a brief sojourn of 3 years at the University of Texas School of Law . He recently completed a 1 year intensive language course of study at Taipai University
in Taiwan and then landed himself a position with a "small" (350 lawyers) Chinese law firm--The Allbright Law Office---They are actually located in Shanghai but are establishing a new Beijing office under the managemant of another American attorney who has hired Scott to assist) Since it now looks like Scott won't be returning to China for another week or so we decided to just put the whole departure off until after Thanksgiving---Soooooo--looks like I'l be leaving around the Friday or Saturday following TG.

So far it looks like I'l be joined by a couple of sailing friends from the marina for the first leg of the trip which I hope will be offshore from Galveston to south of Morgan City (Atchafalaya Bay), then inland to New Orleans. This will take 3 to 4 days depending upon wind and weather. (Diane is not keen on encountering all the offshore rigs and the inland barge traffic on this part of the trip--so she'll join up with me in NO and the crew will then use the same car to drive back to Houston.) Anyway--thats the curent plan. In the meantime preparations go on. I've had the steering checked out by professionals; we've added a new charger inverter that will allow us to have 110 volt electric capability when "on the hook" (not secured to shore electric power at a marina) and to much more rapidly recharge the batteries once they've run down; also to assist in this process we've added 2 Honda 200 watt generators that do everything we require electrically, from recharging batteries to running all the energy draining appliances even (and especially) our on-board air conditioning system-----Hurray!!!!! I don't intend to use it much for this purpose given the time of year that we'll be out, but I know we'll encounter some muggy, buggy nights from time to time and it will sure be nice to be able to go below into cool, dry air when necessary. We've aded a small convection/toaster oven. We've purchased a bunch of see-through plastic bins for storing everything from clothes to shoes to paper products to our precious wine. I suspect we've about doubled our ballast, but she doesn't appear to be riding too low on the water line. We purchased a new folding, 6 speed bicycle--really cool---it folds up to about 1/3 the size of a regular bike and stores easily. Last week-end I purchased a bunch of spare parts for the inevitable breakdown---fuel filters, oil filters, fuel injector, water pump, bilge pump, macerator pump (that's the thing that grinds up the youknowwhat before its dumped overboard--offshore---in deep, deep water), serpentine belts. We hung our cockpit screens. This week I'll install some boards along the lifeline stanchions to secure our numerous gas and diesel cans to. Still need to overhaul the anchor windlass. We've been obtaining all the charts and cruising guides we'll need for all the places we'll be going. Our friends, Rusty and Linda' turned us on to a free download of over 400 NOAA and Coast Guard charts through a free program called "Seaclear". You add a usb connection GPS antenna and the software and the GPS integrate to where you have automatic GPS tracking on an actual navigation chart on your lap-top. Really cool!!! (We will have 5 usable GPS systems on the boat---our Raymarine GPS Chartplotter at the helm, a handheld Garmin, the Seaclear program on the lap-top, my TomTom and navigation software app on my new Droid phone. If we get lost it will be because a. we are really stupid, or b. the world as we know it has come to an end.) Oh yeah!! Almost forgot--Even if we do get lost (or something should happen) we will have our "SPOT" sending out a signal to the rescue authorities to come find us at Lat and Lon xxxx. So--those of you who are worrying for us---Don't.

Well--fingers getting tired now so will post again soon. Remember what that famous sage, Bob Bitchin said---"Don't dream your life--live your dream"

Abacos October 2010

Preparations Part 3--Slight Change of PLans

Time is flying by and we are busier than we've ever been. The two oldest Grankids were in for a few days, we're getting ready for our trip to the Abacos with our friends Bernie and Jane from Madison, Wisconsin, there is an endless flow of tecnicians on the boat working on, improving and adding systems and a constant outflow of money to compensate the latter ( It's not that I don't know how to do it myself--I just don't have the time--------OK, OK, I DON'T know how to do it but I'm learning).

First--the kids---Our daughter Kristin and her husband, Paul, and their three kids, Anna (6--AND A HALF), Asher (4 AND A HALF) and Elli (2) -- (That's our two in the foreground of the above pic) recently moved to Colorado Springs, from Seattle---a move with which we're thrilled as it brings them a whole lot closer to us--here as well as in Vail. So, the first opportunity we had we brought the two oldest ones to visit us over Columbus Day weekend. Anna's school district had a week long "Fall Break" that allowed it. Diane flew up to get them and flew back the same day with them--Sat. the 9th of Oct. Sunday, we took them to Galveston Island to the beach--to our friends Brian and Nina Clary's beach house on the west end of the Island. They have 2 boys the same ages as our 2. Long story short--They had a blast, got along beautifully and Anna and Jackson developed their first "romance". That night we stayed on our boat in Kemah and the next morning Brian and Nina and the boys came to meet us for a short sail and fun at the Kemah Boardwalk (Amusement Park rides). Tuesday we turned them over to the other Grandparents (reluctantly) and then the following Sat the other "Gwammaw" flew them back to Colorado.

I met Bernie at the "Reception Center" at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri on February11-12 , 1970 as we began our illustrious US Army careers. I think we actually met while we were on our knees scrubbing a barracks floor with our toothbrushes at 2 o'clock in the morning (true story). We went through Basic and AIT together and got staioned to Ft Hood, Texas together. In fact, after a short leave following the training I, Diane and Bernie traveled together from Chicago to Ft Hood in the front seat of our 1964 Ford Galaxy convertible--with no air conditioning in June----the back seat and trunk filled with all our worldly possessions. Bernie married Jane while we were still stationed at Ft Hood and a long running friendship began--with a brief 30 year lapse when we didn't see each other--they in Wisconsin and us in Houston. They came to visit us in Vail two summers ago and the friendship was revived--they were the first people we thought about when we decided to reward ourselves with this trip to the Abacos. They jumped on it and we leave Saturday.

More on the things going on with the boat in a future post--the change in plans is that we have decided to skip the run down the coast to Port Aransas and head immediately in the direction of Florida--I think that's east??--Oh well, Diane's the navigator! So, the current plan is to leave on or about November 13. I have had a number of guys offer to crew the New Orleans leg as Diane doesn't want to participate on that portion-too many barges and offshore rigs. Can't wait.

Diane's turn

I have hesitated in posting because I feel that I have unfinished business here. First of all, I first posted 3/8/09 when we decided to go on a one month trip down the coast of Texas to see if this was something that we would like. I ended up using e-mail instead of blogging but as I have talked to my friends about our current plans, one friend commented "I thought you returned from your last trip not liking living on a boat" Wow, was I surprised. Did I say that?? So, I went back to my e-mails. Reading them reminded me how much I enjoy the water and being on a boat. How much I like the "adventure". Yes, I did comment on being "Marina Hoppers" and not liking "letting go of the land" but as we continue to sail I am more than ever drawn to this particular adventure. How long will it last? Who knows!



Now for this business of getting certified by the ASA (American Sailing Assoc.). A great program. Yes, I was absolutely "giddy" about taking the courses. I looked forward to sailing with a certified "captain" and being in a teaching situation. While I have years of experience sailing with Dave, there are definite areas of my skill that needed tweaking or were lacking altogether. My 3day 2 night trip was intensive and definitely helpful unfortunately, sailing with people you don't know can be a real challenge. (read between the lines!) And, yes, I did get my certification. My next class is navigation and chart plotting which was what got me started with ASA in the first place. Dave is thrilled and I can't imagine setting out without as much knowledge in this area as possible. This class is two days in the classroom. Yes, they will be strangers but at least your not living with them.



I am still in the overwhelmed stage. Not about the trip but in the preparations leading up to our departure. While Dave has concentrated on the boat, I have concentrated on the house and our properties and setting everything up on line. There are days when we just look at each other and say, "I can't wait to get started" Part of my overwhelmness (is there such a word?) has to do with all the traveling I have been doing. The good news is that I have seen almost every member of my family in the last month and Scott's return to the U.S. and having the two oldest grandchildren this week have been wonderful. Busy busy times. . . . . and Dave wonders why I don't post much. This will probably be it for me. I look forward to posting after we get started.

Admiral or Chief Navigator

So I said to the Admiral, the other day, "Honey, I'm really going to need some help on this cruise. Do you think you would like to be our chief navigator--you know, learn a little bit more about how to use all our wonderful electronic instruments, GPS, chartplotter, radar--beyond the basic stuff we already know??" She replied that she felt like she might want to do that, so we decided she would go online to the various sailing web-sites and see if she could find some kind of navigation course she could fit in between now and when we leave. Well, the next day and $????????.00's later she is signed up for an extensive course leading to her certification by the American Sailing Association (ASA). She is out on the water right now and will be for the next three days. BUT---I'm going to let her tell you all about it.
What is truly great is that I love the excitement she is experiencing with this. When she called to tell me about it she was absolutely giddy. I won't see her until Friday night and really don't expect her to call me in the middle of all this, but I can't wait to share her excitement when she gets in Friday. If I can finish my work on time Friday I plan to sail out to meet them as they come in from Galveston.
This whole thing just gets more exciting all the time.
I've been anxious for Diane to meet and talk with some boat neighbors who did what we are planning to do last year and who are getting ready to leave again for the Exumas around the time that we depart. Rusty and Linda Sitton (www.sittononthebeach.com) have a 30 plus foot Catamaran--Sea Yawl Later-- down the pier from us. We were able to talk with them at length last week-end and went into a lot of the particulars of cruising in an effort to benefit from their experience. We talked about everything from batteries to dinghies to routes to food storage and learned quite a bit---all helping to buttress our confidence level as the big day approaches. I have to say that every time I talk with them I gain in confidence in our ability to pull this off. They are very nice and fun people and we truly look forward to meeting up with them in the Bahamas (We ran into another couple while we were at the Marina Saturday who left today on the same trip--exchanged boat cards and will see them over there as well, we hope.)
Then, to top it all off we heard from our son, Scott, today who reported that he landed a job with a law firm in Bejing that he has been pursuing but also will be coming home (from Taiwan) to be with us for a month in October--Just really great news on all fronts. ( For those who don't know Scott--he graduated from Boston U. with a degree in International Relations and a minor in Chinese (and Business) and has been studying Chinese and has lived over there for several years. He did return to the states long enough to attend and graduate from U of Texas law school, landed a job with a huge firm in New York but then lost it several months later when the firm laid off a couple hundred of their lawyers including all the rookies--they specialized in mergers and acquisitions and got positively killed with the downturn in the economy in early '09. He then returned to Asia to further refine his language skills at the U of Taipai where he recently concluded those studies. He digs Asia!!)
Enough for now---I'm going to get Diane to post when she finishes her training this week---till then---Live and love

Preparations Part 2

The House:: As many of you know, in anticipation of this complete life change we have been trying to sell the house for the last year and a half. (Wasn't our timing impeccable??) We love the house but it is just too great a burden having to heat, cool, landscape, maintain, pay taxes and insurance on nearly 6000 ft of living space (2000 of which we hardly ever use) on nearly one acre of land--especially as we contemplate almost complete retirement andconsidering the fact that we don't plan on living here at all for much of the next year and possibly more. For a long time now I have wanted to sell and buy something, like a patio home, ( No townhomes--I've had enough "communal living" in our townhome in Vail) that we can lock the door and walk away from for extended periods without worrying about pool maintenance and yard maintenance and huge absentee utility bills------BUT-----it just didn't happen. I suppose we could sell it if we just kept lowering the price, but we don't need to give it away and I'm not about to. It's too nice of a place.

So, unless a miracle happens in the next 60 days we'll keep the house, lock her up tight, pay for pool and yard maintenance and hope she survives our absence. It would be nice to have someone rent it while we're gone so we could kill two birds with one stone---someone in the house to keep an eye on things, and some rental revenue coming in to help defray some of the expenses----let us know if you know of anyone interested.

Other issues that we're having to plan for:

The cars---Suspend insurance and keep them locked up in the house. But if we rent the house we'll have to find a place nearby to keep them. We'll want them somewhere near the airport for our occasional trips back to Kingwood

Bills---We're in the process of getting everything on auto pay or pay on-line, but we'll need to be sure we have internet access wherever we go. This could be a problem in the Bahamas, but more on that later.

Mail---We think we'll just have Lupe (our once every other week cleaning lady--and dear friend) come by every couple of days and gather the mail, sort out the junk, forward on anything that looks urgent, and send the rest of the relevant stuff every week or so----to where? This is the hard part. We'll have to plan ahead and make arrangements to retrieve our mail at different locations as we progress down and around the Fla. peninsula--different privately owned mail drops like the one here in Kingwood in the HEB center.

Climate control---We'll need to keep the air and then heat on so we'll need someone to come by every now and then and check on things---Ed?? Are you reading this??

Personal Belongings---If we rent the place we'll need to move our stuff (everything but the furniture) out. We have climate controlled storage at our building in Humble where my office is and there's plenty of room, but what a hassle, especially if we don't get it rented until after we've left---we'll have to fly home and spend a week moving "stuff"

Stuff---That brings me to a conclusion that I've come to as a result of all this planning. I'm tired of "stuff". I don't want to own anything anymore. If you own it you've got to make room for it, maintain it (I spend an inordinate amount of my time and/or money either fixing "stuff" or paying someone else to fix the "stuff " that I can't.) You have to insure it, pay taxes on it and then move it when it's time. It's that insurance and taxes thing that really irritates me---sorry Ed---. Imagine a world where you owned nothing other than your clothes and personal effects---No insurance, no taxes, no maintenance time or costs,---When something breaks you simply call the guy that owns it and tell him to fix it. All you have to do is make the rent payment on time and go traveling. Hmmmmm! Might get boring--Oh well, I guess there really is no perfect answer.

Well, we just keep adding to our lists of things we have to do before we take off, and believe me I've only touched the surface of the obvious things in this post. Kind of begs the question, doesn't it?? Is it worth it?? We sure hope so.

Preparations Part 1

We are already experiencing sleepless nights thinking and worrying about all that must be done before we can take off. Basically they break down into 3 categories: the boat; the house; and our personal and business affairs. The boat is mostly ready to go but I will be adding some equipment. There are three things that are problematic when doing what we're doing (other than the obvious things like weather, navigation, etc)---they are: water, electricity and comfort factors. We have already decided that we will probably be "marina hoppers", ie. traveling from marina to marina to spend our non-sailing hours and days. We certainly plan on spending quite a bit of time at anchor , hopefully in beautiful, isolated, quiet, private bays and inlets, but we do like our comforts and do not mind spending the money to stay tucked into a nice, secure berth from time to time. The difference is --shorepower---When we're in a marina we are plugged into 120V electric power. This runs our air conditioning and keeps our batteries charged so we can run our refrigeration, lights, radio, TV--all the creature comforts, without having to worry about running out of juice. Also--nice restrooms, ice available, plenty of water. At anchor, these things are not available and we have to provide our own . This is not so easy. Remember, we will be in salt water---can't drink it. We could add a water maker but they are very expensive and use a lot of electric power--so we have opted to go without it (for now) Our boat carries about 80 gallons of fresh water and we carry lots of bottled water for drinking. We have learned that we can get by for about 4 days on what we carry and since we plan to visit marinas frequently--we'll just replenish every 3 or 4 days.(This could become a bit more difficult in the Bahamas--cross that bridge later). For electric--my battery bank will get us through about 3 full days without having to recharge---that's not enough. I can recharge by running the diesel engine for a couple of hours a day but that is annoyingly noisy and very fuel inefficient. Thus, I have decided to add a small Honda portable generator. They are amazingly quiet and efficient and will even be capable of running the air conditioning on those sticky nights. The only problem is that we'll have to carry a couple of jerry cans of gasoline to run it--no biggy, I'll already have spare diesel fuel cans scattered about on deck--what's a little more clutter? This little generator will run our 115 volt charger which can recharge our batteries in far less time than running the big diesel. So, we've addressed the water, electricity and comfort issues. We may add an alternative power generation (wind generator or solar panels, or both)system later after we see how this system works out.
I have a few other things to get ready on the boat--auto pilot needs a repair and anchor windless needs servicing but essentially the boat is ready to go. Next post I'll talk about our plans for the house.

Thought I'd add this picture for those of you who have already forgotten what we look like (or who don't know us at all)

The Plan Details

Remember---it's still just a plan, but we think we know what we want to do and how we want to get started. It should be interesting to come back to this post after a few months "at sea" to see how the plan played out.
We have always felt that we like to "walk before we run" into any major changes in our lives, so, we think we will start out with another run down the coast to Port Aransas and Corpus Christi, just to get our feet wet. Besides, Port "A" is one of my favorite places. It just has a nice rustic charm about it that appeals to me. After returning home I plan to set out along the intracoastal waterway, towards the west coast of Florida with stops along the way in New Orleans, The Miss. and Alabama coasts and various ports of call in Florida. Diane is not thrilled about the ICW route between here and New Orleans as it can be very busy with commercial traffic, especially large barges and tugs, so I'll probably be looking for some crew to help me navigate this leg of the journey.
Eventually, we want to explore the west coast of Fla and the Keys and then hopefully over to the Bahamas, returning to the States before the new hurricane season ensues--head up the east coast with the thought of summering somewhere in the northeast (I'd like to spend a month in Washington DC and see the monuments and museums the way they should be seen, with plenty of time to spend.
Who knows!! we may hate it after the first few weeks or we may love it and keep going. We'll certainly take time out to visit the kids and grandbabies and we hope to see a lot of friends and relatives along the way. The boat has a guest cabin!!

The Plan

Well, we have finally made the decision. We will be leaving the comforts of our huge home, and the close embrace of our dear friends and heading off into the wild, hopefully blue, yonder in November of this year. We didn't sell the house but we were more successful with our Colorado properties, such that the "dream" is now financially feasible.