Ready to Go!

Diane, Mom, Jenny, and Me

This past Wednesday, I took our van home to store it for the foreseeable future. That night I spent overnight at my Mom's. Thursday morning, my two sisters picked us up and we drove back to Kentucky Dam Marina. Jenny, Diane, and Mom spent Thursday through Sunday here. They took a room at the lodge. We ate a lot, we went to the Bar-B-Q Festival in Paducah on Friday, we went out for a breakfast cruise on Saturday morning and then to see the show "Variety" at the Badgett Theater in Grand Rivers. Every night we played cards at the lodge in the lobby. It was so nice to be together and I miss them all already. It's going to be Christmas time before we see our family and friends at home again.

Tomorrow we are casting off our lines and heading out. Preparations have been completed. Food, fuel, water, clean clothes, and charts have all been loaded aboard. We plan on traveling slowly on the way to Joe Wheeler State Park. We have enjoyed our time here this summer, but we are anxious to get moving again.

September 21, 2010

We went home last Wednesday through Sunday to get one last grandchildren fix. We had dinner with each family and then one night we all got together at Jay and Cynthia's house. I thought that was it until Christmas time, but on the way back Sunday, John suggested that I take the car back tomorrow and leave it there. We decided it's going to be too difficult to drag the car from place to place when we won't be spending much time anywhere. My sisters and Mom are coming to spend the weekend (Thursday through Sunday). I am riding back with them so I get to spend a little more time with them.

Norm and Sue decided the same thing. So, they are selling their van to Norm's brother. Norm is keeping it until we come back from Cancun. That way we will have transportation to the Atlanta airport. It's nice for the four of us to brainstorm these kinds of decisions. There are so many situations that come up that wouldn't be an issue if we were staying put.

We are getting excited. We leave here on the 28th for Joe Wheeler State Park. It's time to get moving again. It's been nice to be close enough to home to visit and have guests, but we are all anxious to be underway again.

Monday, September 13, 2010

Lutis, Sagels, and Mayers anchored out in Kentucky Lake

Replica of The Pinta

Oh my goodness! It's been so long since I've blogged. Sorry. Since the last you've heard from us, so much has happened. Two weekends ago, on Friday we went to Green Turtle Bay to tour the Nina and Pinta replicas. That was a lot of fun. You can find out about them by going to TheNina.com. Be sure to use the word "The" or you get a porn site. The crew told us stories about how the poop deck got its name and why women tell their children or husbands "No elbows on the table".

That Saturday John and Norm went to Paducah to pick up a rental car for our friends Ed and Kyle. In the meantime, Sue and I went to a fabulous craft show in Grand Rivers. We bought a couple of things, but I got many ideas for future gifts to make.

Sunday was spent getting ready for our company. On Monday, Mike and Linda, and Ed and Kyle arrived by boat from Lighthouse Point in Aurora, Indiana. We visited awhile, went out to dinner and then Ed and Kyle had to drive back to Cincinnati to work all week.

Tuesday brought Charlie and Joan to Kentucky Dam State Park . Wednesday we anchored out and had a wonderful grilled salmon dinner. Charlie and Joan stayed until almost dark and then took their jet boat and went back to the lodge. Thursday brought Dave and Donna. On Friday night, Ed and Kyle were back and all twelve of us went to Patty's for dinner.

Saturday, Charlie and Joan had to leave. Boo hoo. We already miss them. We were so happy to spend some time with them. The rest of us went to Green Turtle Bay for a boat show. We looked at boats until lunch time. Then, we had lunch at Miss Scarlett's. Then we all played miniature golf and then we drove little race cars around a track. It was a lot of fun. Mike won the race and got to do a lap around the track holding the checkered flag. We grilled out on the back of our boat and ate dinner out on the picnic tables. It was a fun! fun! day.

Sunday brought another departure when Dave and Donna left after breakfast. We hope they had as much fun as we did while they were here.
The rest of us anchored out last night. It was perfect. We swam in the lake, grilled chicken for dinner and hit the hay pretty early. There's something about being out in the air all day that just makes you so tired.

Today we came back to Kentucky Dam Marina from our anchorage in Dunkin Bay. It's sad to think that tomorrow all of the rest of our company will be leaving to go home. It's been so much fun being with everybody. We were sorry that Dean and Debbie couldn't make it, but we are grateful for the ones who did.

On Wednesday we'll be driving home for a few days to see our family one more time before we take off for Alabama at the end of the month. The time surely goes by in a hurry. September 30th is one whole year since we retired. It doesn't seem like it at all.

Thursday, September 2, 2010

We have a new boat neighbor as of yesterday. Therefore, our happy hour group continues to grow. Last night we were out at 5:00 P.M., as per usual. When the ship store closed, they asked us to watch out for the replicas of the Nina and Pinta. They are going to be at Green Turtle Bay for the weekend for tours. They were supposed to arrive around 7:00 P.M. last night to our harbor, just for the night. Well, we stayed out until about 8:30 P.M. and at that point, gave up. About 9:10 P.M., a lady knocked on our window and asked John if he could tell her how to get to the restaurant. Her name is Constance and she is the current cook on the Nina. They were told there is a restaurant within walking distance. Well, we offered to drive them to a restaurant or to go pick up carry out for them, but they all needed showers and by the time they were finished, it was after 10:00 and they opted to skip it.

They were not informed that this is a dry county either. So, we supplied a couple of beers and sat and talked with them for an hour or two before going back in. This morning we watched them take off for Green Turtle Bay. Tomorrow we plan on going there for a tour. Most of the crew are volunteers. The Captain and Pilot are the only ones who are not volunteers. They sign up for at least 4 weeks at a time. They are not required to be experienced sailors. It sounds like fun with a minimal commitment of time.

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Tuesday Sue and I went to the LDS Family Research Center in Paducah. Their hours are 10:00 A.M. to 3:00 P.M. We were there from 10:15 A.M. until 2:45 P.M. The lady who works there was very helpful and spent the entire day helping us. Both of us were able to find information on one of our "brick walls". We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and look forward to visiting again. When we returned to the marina, we took our boats out to Dunkin Bay and anchored out for two nights. We swam and Norm and John fished. We had fresh fish (bass) for lunch on Thursday. Yum Yum!

The weather has been so much better this week. It's been only in the upper eighties. It's been pleasant sitting outside for Happy Hour, so much so that we don't want to come in and fix dinner. Friday night we went out to a Mexican restaurant called Habeneros. All four of us enjoyed our meals.

Last night the marina had a movie outdoors. It was "Blind Side" with Sandra Bullock. John and I both really liked the movie and it's a true story to boot. If you haven't seen it, it's worth your time.

It won't be long before the boat people (our boating friends from Cincinnati) will be here (the week after Labor Day). We can't wait to see them all. It's hard to believe that it's the end of August and school has started already. Where does it go?

Sunday, August 22, 2010

John's parents left for home Friday morning. We miss them already. While they were here, we anchored out one night with Norm and Sue. We swam in the lake in the afternoon and then again the next morning. It felt soooo good to be in the water. The water temperature is 90 degrees. I held lousy cards the last night we played bridge. That makes for a long game. We went to the Maritime Museum. We were disappointed because all of the interactive displays were broken, including the simulator. (Supposedly, the simulator allows you to drive a tugboat.) We ate at Whaler's Catch in Paducah and at Patty's 1880 Settlement.

Yesterday we went to Kuttawa to the Bar-B-Q Festival. There were lots of booths with food and pretty many with crafts. Parking was the biggest issue, but we had a good time.

Our plans for this week are: Tuesday, Sue and I are going to the LDS Family Research Center in Paducah to do some genealogy research. Tuesday and Wednesday nights we plan on anchoring out with Norm and Sue. That's all I know for now.

Tues., Aug. 17, 2010

We have visitors. John's parents are here for a few days. We are happy to see them and show them around. Tomorrow we plan on going to the Maritime Museum in Paducah. We also want to take them to Patty's 1880 Settlement for dinner. Of course, we have to fill in with a few games of bridge. It's nice to see family. It's also nice that we are close enough to Cincinnati that some of our friends and family will come to visit.

We finally got a break in the weather. The temperature is in the 80s for a change. We had thunderstorms on Saturday and Sunday. I think that' the first time all summer we had any measurable rain here. Hopefully, this trend of cooler temps will continue through the end of September when we head out and make our way to Joe Wheeler State Park for the AGLCA Rendezvous.