A Half-Time Note from Deb...

9/30/99

Hello Everyone!

Well, it’s been 5 days since we’ve been back and the house has finally stopped rocking. Jeanie, are you still taking Dramamine? I guess we’re officially landlubbers now, at least for a while. We walked into our house at 9:30 last Saturday night with mixed feelings. It’s good to be home on solid ground…but I’m sure we’ll miss our home on the water too.

Here’s some things we’ll miss: the morning ritual of Bloody Mary’s (Hooch’s for Darrell, Bud Lite for Les), …putting on a swim suit first thing in the morning and wearing it all day, …beautiful sunsets, …beautiful sunrises (yes, I saw a couple), …awesome seafood (catfish at Bobby’s Fish Camp!), …the evening ritual of watching the day’s digital pictures on TV (delete-delete-delete!), …reading BK’s daily chapters, …reading the daily responses from you guys, …Donna’s incredible coconut brownies, …sunshine …dolphins, …pelicans, …herons, …boatin’ sandwiches, …reading a book on the bow of the boat…

It’s nice to be home though too. It ’s nice to be able to take a long shower without having to turn off the water between soaping up and rinsing off. …to be able to turn on the hairdryer without first turning off the water heater. …to spread out in a king sized bed, …to see Beccah & Samantha, …to type on a full sized keyboard, …to watch a big screen TV, …to drive a car, …to be able to talk on the phone without waiting for a good signal…

The first thing we thought as we turned on the lights at the house last Saturday night was, “Man! Look how BIG everything looks!” For the last 3 weeks we were able to set the table, cook dinner, get chops out of the freezer, make a gin & tonic, steer the boat, watch TV, and look out the windows in all 4 directions… all while standing in the same spot! It was very cozy! Good thing we were all such good friends. We got to know a lot about each other on those 24/7’s we spent with each other…some things that maybe could have remained a mystery (“What IS that noise coming from the head?”) And I’m sure we could have gotten used to Terry’s morning hair-do but we never got the chance ~ ever since we caught him on camera that first day, he put a ball cap on every morning before he came out of his bedroom!

With each crew we also found that as every day passed, we got better and better at “working” the boat. We all got to know our posts and eventually, by the end of the week, we were a well-oiled machine…then a new crew would come aboard! I learned a lot of new things on this trip, not the least important was that when we pulled up to the fuel dock, which side of the boat we should tie our lines to. Each time we headed for the fuel dock I’d call out, “Which side?”, and each time BK would patiently answer, “Port side!” After a full season of handling lines on Headquarters he finally pointed out to me that the fuel intakes are on the port side so we ALWAYS tie up there…duh!

We saw some awesome/interesting sights along the way; The St.Louis Arch, an 80ft lock, dolphins jumping along side HQ as we cruised along, a barge on the Mississippi that was 7 long and 6 wide, a dredger that had pulled up a rusty old car, magnificent mansions, tiny shacks on stilts, white quartz cliffs along the canal, boils & eddies on the Mississippi, a huge barge repair dry-dock at Cairo, the C1 daymarker at Clearwater Beach (such a relief after 145 miles of nothing but water), pelicans flying in formation…

Some quotes:

“HOLY CAMOLEY!” ~ Donna (at just about any occasion)
“Do you think that smoke from the starboard engine means anything?” ~ BK
“It’s important to rotate your stock.” ~ Darrell (after crawling all the way to the back of the third bedroom on his hands & knees with a flimsy case of Corona under his arm)
“It’s not HER first parade!” ~ Donna (about CVA’s organized arrival to the boat)
“Have the fuel gauges ever been this low before?” ~ Steve
“Sometimes I wish…we could all go for a dinghy ride.” ~ Annie
“Guys…do you know what kind of bar this is?” ~ Jeanie (after a fun afternoon of playing pool in a GAY bar! – We talked to a man there who said he was from, no joke, Queens!)
“We’re off-like a prom dress!” ~ Darrell
“Annie, wake up…what time is it? ~ Les
“Get me off this boat. I’m bored out of my SKULL!” ~ Terry (after seeing we had 90 more miles to go on our Gulf crossing)
“DOLphins! DOLphins! 10 O’CLOCK! DOLphins! ~ BK (first dolphin sighting)
“Are we the first ones up?” ~ Debbie (to Jeanie)
“I’m glad I’M not going on that Gulf crossing!” ~ Steve
”Who wants a Bloody Mary?” ~ Annie
“There’s a nice beach…there’s a nice beach…THERE’S a nice beach… ~ Chris (she likes beach walking)
“Y’ever feel like drinkin’?…call me, I’ll talk to ya all night long if necessary!” ~ Ann (waitress at Bobby’s Fish Camp)
“Set your heading at 140 degrees, Cap’n – your next marker is Red 28.” ~ Terry
“While you’re there, bring me a Bud Lite.” ~ Les


Some tidbits:

· We were gone 21 days
· Traveled 1590 miles
· Used 2878 gals of diesel
· Went thru 19 locks
· Dodged 5 tropical storms &/or hurricanes
· Saw dolphins, jelly fish, pelicans, sting rays, herons, shark (only one), but no alligators
· # of dinners cooked & eaten on board Headquarters: 17
· # of times BK & DK cooked on the grill (combined): 0
· # of days of rain we had: 2 (neither times did it affect our fun)
· # of quarts of Aunt Marylynne’s hot peppers consumed: 2
· # of nights we anchored out: 2
· # of nights we were docked at a marina: 16
· # of nights we were tied to barges (fuel or otherwise): 3
· # of dingy rides for pleasure: 2 (The Double D’s & Koerners at Green Turtle Bay & BK, Terry & Les at Grand Mariner Marina)
· # of dinghy rides performed in the line of duty: 2 (once to get the aft anchor up at Cairo at 4am & then to “lighten the load” in order to float off the sand shoal in Clearwater)
· Best cruising aid: Tracking satellite TV with the weather station
· Next best: Terry
· Best cooking discovery: Pillsbury Poppin’ Fresh French Loaf bread
· Longest stay in one place: 3 nights - Green Turtle Bay Marina ~ engine trouble
· Most interesting meal: During our Gulf crossing, Annie brought up to the flybridge a loaf of bread, a jar of peanut butter & a knife and made folded over peanut butter sandwiches for breakfast. (We ate with one hand & held on with the other!)
· # of ball caps lost overboard – 1 (ST’s Pro Source cap)
· Deepest water: 87’ - Gulf
· Shallowest water: 2’ - Clearwater (our boat draws 4’)
· Tallest lock: 80 feet (Whitten Lock & Dam on the Tenn-Tom)
· Scariest time: 4am cruise in pitch black, no lights, no radar, barge coming up steadily behind us (Do you think he sees us?)
· Best time: Every new day!

I’m including pictures from the last couple of days that BK forgot to send with his last chapter. I hope you can tell from these pictures and from the above paragraphs what an awesome trip this was. We couldn’t have done it without the help of all of our great crews, and we wouldn’t have WANTED to do it without all of our great friends. Thanks for the memories. Can’t wait to get back for the next leg. Who’s up for it?

Since we’re not done yet, Terry suggested this trip should be called the GS-CT (the Great Semi-Circle Trip!)

Seeyabye---àDK

P.S. Does anyone still have his boat in the water? Do you need a couple of seasoned crewmembers?