December 16 thru January 11, 2022
Trip home, trip back to the boat, first day’s cruise
We flew home from Ft. Myers on December 16. Friends who also had their boat at the
Doyle’s dock, Rick and Monica on Best Mate, kindly drove us to the
airport. We had an uneventful flight,
and our friend, Bob Ridgway, gave us a ride home. We so appreciate our friends! We found no surprises when we got home after
our three month absence – always a relief!
We had a very nice time while at home, reconnecting with
friends and family. I was able to spend
a day with each of my three Michigan grandchildren. Isaac, age 12, wanted to go to the Detroit
Science Museum. I took him first to a
unique old Detroit place, Green Dot Stables, for lunch. Ella, a 14 year old young woman, loves
Mexican food, books, and Starbucks drinks, not necessarily in that order! We went downtown to Mexican Village for
lunch. I had hoped to take her to The
Whitney, an elegant restaurant in an old mansion, for dessert – but, they were
not open at that time of day. Instead,
we went to the bookstore, where there is also a Starbucks! Declan, a young man of 16, wanted to go to
The Henry Ford, one of Dan and my favorite museums. Dan went with us, and I was so glad he
did! Dan is interested and knowledgeable
about so many subjects, and Declan and he enjoyed the machines, cars, and other
things – I enjoyed watching them! I LOVE
my time with these kids, who are delightful companions.
We spent Christmas with my son and family in the morning,
then afternoon and evening with them and my niece’s family and my sister-in-law
and her husband. Fun times!
Our Christmas present from Travis and Lisa was an evening
together with them – first, dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, Traffic
Jam and Snug. Then we attended a Manheim
Steamroller Christmas concert in the fabulous Fox Theatre. My favorite Christmas present from them for
sure. The rest of our time home, we were
able to reconnect with our neighbors, Fred (had over for dinner) and Claudia
(had us over for coffee and cookies0. I had
time with friends, Claire, Colleen, Peggy and Bob, and Laura. We had plenty of time to relax, read, catch
up on our TV shows (we don’t watch TV while on the boat).
We were approached by a tree service company – they noticed
our scraggly and huge blue spruce in the front and gave us a quote for removing
it. We ended up calling a company we had
used before, and they did an amazing job of removing the tree – in and out in
90 minutes!
Trip back to the boat
Instead of flying back to Ft. Myers, we decided we wanted to
drive…for a couple of reasons. Dan was
able to find oil and filters for a couple of oil changes, plus some other items
we wanted to have on the boat. Plus,
since we will be staying in marinas for a total of 6 weeks in the Keys, we’d
like to have a vehicle with us. We
canceled our flights (and applied for a refund), and planned to leave the
morning of January 5. We had the car all
packed, the house secured, the thermostats turned down, and were ready to pull
away….then, Dan made one more check in the basement to find that our boiler was
cold and unresponsive. Darn! However, it was a really really good thing to
discover BEFORE we left instead of getting really bad news while we were away,
i.e. frozen pipes, flooded basement… We
called repair folks, and were very fortunate to get a company to send someone
out that same day. He diagnosed the
problem, replaced the part, and we were on the road at 3:00. We didn’t get more than 4 hours from home
that day. Next day, Thursday, we left
from Dayton in some blowing snow….that fairly soon turned into snow that wasn’t
blowing. People down there in Kentucky
really have no idea how to drive in snow and ice. Suddenly, there were accidents on both sides
of the freeway – time to remove ourselves from that craziness. We crept in traffic to the next exit and turned
into the Days Inn that was right there.
We stood in line with other wise folks and got a room for the
night. So, for our second day’s travel
that should have taken us to Atlanta or beyond, we made it about 2 hours to
Lexington! We had a surprisingly good
time in the bar/restaurant at Days Inn with other stranded folks.
Next day, we were on the road again – this time, in stop and
go traffic behind snow plows that blocked every lane! After two hours of that, we were able to get
around them and make better time (than their 5 mph!). Soon, we were clear of the bad roads and got
down to just north of Atlanta. Next day,
we made it to Gainesville, Florida, about 4 hours from the boat in Ft.
Myers. We arrived back at the boat
around 1:00 p.m. on Sunday, two days after we had planned.
In our absence, there had been a big storm with winds 55
mph. The front of our bimini had pulled
out of the boat, meaning Dan had some fiber glass work to do before the screws
could be reinstalled. Our friends, Rick
and Monica, had secured the bimini so no further damage was done. Before we could leave, it had to be
repaired. We took the canvas off the
frame and scrubbed it. I went to the
grocery store for provisions. Next day,
we managed to reinstall the bimini (not easy!). With high winds looming in
coming days, we decided to go ahead and head out. On trying to leave the dock, we discovered
that one of our lines (because of the high winds) had gotten securely wedged
between a post and the dock. We COULD
NOT get it out! Finally, we tied it
tight to the boat, started the boat, and managed to drive it out! Off we go!
We got as far as the Ft. Myers City Marina (less than 2
hours down the river!). We heard the
Coast Guard warning of small craft advisory, high winds, etc. Plus, we were really exhausted. So we decided to stay for the night. Next day, same warning was being broadcast,
but it seemed ok to us. We decided to
brave it and see how far we could get.
We were scheduled to be in Key West on Wednesday, and we really were
excited about being there. What we
found, once out on the ICW and then on the Gulf, that the cruising was
delightful and not a problem at all! We
got all the way to Marco Island, to an anchorage recommended by Rick and
Monica. Lovely bay surrounded by
residential properties, very quiet.
Several boats were already there.
We had a nice evening, dinner on board, and were prepped for an early
morning departure for Key West.
Ss
