FINALLY!

We left Aqua Yacht Harbor this morning at 7:30 A.M.  We made a brief stop at Grand Harbor for fuel, locked through Pickwick Lock and then it was smooth sailing.  The lock master said we are the first boat to head north this year.  I hope we didn't start too soon, but we are anxious to get home.  All of the towboat captains were really nice and just a bit gabby.  This is unusual.  Maybe because it's so early in the boating season and they aren't fed up with the boaters who are rude yet.

We put a call in to Perryville Marina and discovered that they are closed on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays.  However, the recorder mentioned another phone number.  So, we called and left a message.  Someone called me back and said we could dock there tonight.  It's $ .75 a foot with a Boat US discount.  I promised to slide a check under the door.  We arrived here at 4:00 P.M.  It was a long, cold day on the water.  John tried to drive from the lower helm because of the cold, but his good electronics are on the flying bridge.  We only saw two boats similar to ours out and about today.  There were, however, many fishing boats. 

We plan on leaving as soon as it is light enough tomorrow morning.  Hope it's at least as warm tomorrow as it was today.  Colder would be really uncomfortable.  WE ARE ONE DAY CLOSER TO BEING HOME1  YEA!!!!

New Plan

Well, the current plan is to leave here in the morning.  It's supposed to start out pretty cold, but warm up to 55 degrees.  We plan on leaving at 7:30 and stopping at Grand Harbor for fuel when they open in the morning.  We hope to make it to Perryville tomorrow.  Let's hope that the weather isn't too cold in the morning.

Still at Aqua Yacht Harbor

Last  night it stormed and the wind blew so hard that it blew off part of the roof cap on the dock.  It made a horrible racket.  Today it was cold and still very windy.  So, here we sit waiting.  What happened to all of that nice weather we were supposed to get?  Each day it seems the good weather gets pushed back further and further.  Tomorrow doesn't sound good either.  So, who knows when we will leave.

Still Waiting.......

It stormed all night and is still raining, just not as hard.  It's supposed to get really cold too.  So, here we sit, waiting.  John thinks maybe Tuesday we can leave.  I hope so.

Still Waiting........

We got up this morning expecting to untie our lines and cruise toward home.  However, the weather is not cooperating.  We are so disappointed.  We can't wait to get back.  The next few nights are supposed to be in the 20 degree area.  If we would not be able to make it to a marina where we could plug into electric, it would be way too cold, besides all the rain and the flooded river.  So, we wait.  Right now it looks like maybe Monday or Tuesday we could leave.  My fingers are crossed.

On the Road

Wow!  After spending a week in Texas with John's brother and sister-in-law, we went to Cincinnati for two weeks.  We got to see our children and grandchildren and spend some time with each of them.  We also had dinner at Dean and Debbie's house along with ten other of our Aurora dock mates.  It was great to see them all.  Especially, to see them all in one place.  Dinner was wonderful and the conversation was equally as good.  When that group gets together, there is never a shortage of conversation.  By the way, our daughter-in-law is feeling much better.  Thank you all for your concern.

After leaving Cincinnati on March 4th, we drove directly to Venice, Florida.  We visited with John's parents there for the better part of a week.  We played bridge, and went to the beach.  One day we went to N. Fort Myers and had a brief visit with Bob and Nancy, and then went to see Paul and Patty and even sang karaoke.  There was no swimming going on though because it was too cold.  However, it was not raining or snowing, so I am not complaining.  On Saturday, March 9th, we met up with Mike and Linda in Sarasota for a week of vacation.  We went to the pool once, read a lot in the sun, drove back to Venice to pick up an item of clothing we had forgotten, went out to lunch with Mom and Dad while we were there, made two visits to West Marine, shopped in St. Armand's Square a few times, had dinner with Claude and Yvette whom we met back in 2010 while doing the loop, and Norm came up to visit us.  From the time we left the boat to go to Texas, we have been having fun and socializing with friends and relatives.  It's been about six weeks, but we are back on the boat in Iuka, MS.  We have a few things to take care of on the boat, but we are hoping to be heading back toward Cincinnati by boat by the end of the week. 

Saturday, February 23, 2012

We spent last week visiting John's brother and sister-in-law in Texas.  We had a wonderful time and felt like they totally spoiled us. We got to see the lake house they built (and it is beautiful) and their condo in Plano.  We played cards in the evenings, visited with our nephew, his wife, and their baby.  We went out to dinner and the girls did some shopping.  There are lots of shopping opportunities in the area.  I found a dress for Easter for a mere $15.  Pretty good, heh?  As for the card games, the girls and the boys won exactly the same number of games at the end of the week. No bragging rights there.   It seemed the time went so fast and it was time to leave and go back to the boat.

On Wednesday, while driving home from Texas, we got  a phone call from our son.  Our daughter-in-law isn't feeling well and we decided to go home to help out.  We went to the boat, slept for a few hours and left again on Wednesday night at 11:30 to go home to Cincinnati. While this isn't the reason we desire to be home, it is necessary.  We do get to see our children and grandchildren.  That's always good.  It was a good thing we left the boat when we did.  If we had waited until the next morning, we would have run into icy roads. We are hoping that our daughter-in-law recovers quickly.