Log 43; Day 132; 9/30/2008; Florence AL

Log 43
Day 132
Tuesday, September 30, 2008

6:15 AM CDT
Location: Florence Marina, Florence, AL
Weather: 62* and mostly clear; forecast is for sunny and 81* and a 0% chance of rain

This morning it is much improved from a fog perspective, verses yesterday morning. Actually it’s pretty clear out. We are still in this high pressure pattern that continues to give us great sunny days. I looked at the long range forecast for our area, and for the next 10 days it promises more of the same (although a little cooler).

Yesterday was very pretty and a great cruise. We untied the lines (after washing the boat and cleaning the bugs) about 8:45 and traveled 51 miles and arrived in Florence at 1:30. The cruise here was beautiful; easy to navigate; and uneventful. Florence harbor is small (a little bigger than Clifton), but very nice. Getting in and out is not a problem at all, and Terry the manager is very helpful. They have a courtesy car to get to town and when we checked in we decided to take the car and run to Wal-Mart (to look at a new camera, because Deb is having trouble with hers) but later decided not to go anywhere and took the keys back. Instead we took the time to work on catching up on emails; paying bills; and working on cruising reservations. (Oh...and following the DC situation on TV. I guess this is just a mess we’ll have to work ourselves out of over time. I’m trying to decide whether to put the for sale sign on the boat now and come home and go back to work. Nah...I’ll just stay out here and help the economy by buying goods and services from all these marinas. That should help). For dinner we cooked some great Mahi Mahi on the grill, and watched the end of Drop Zone...a move I taped earlier.

Last night was one of those scary moments you don’t like on a boat. At 12:05 both Deb and I woke up to a noise that sounded like a pump running (when you live on a boat you are always listening for noises that should not be there). I jumped out of bed and went to the power panel and turned off the water pump...and the noise stopped. I thought...come on...not another water leak. I took off a panel behind our bed and checked the leak we had before...dry as could be. I then got in the engine room and found the problem. (NOTE: I need to backtrack a minute. When we bought the boat I had them install 2 water filters on the boat. One in the back that would filter the water if we hooked up to dock water directly coming into the boat. That’s the filter that broke a fitting a week ago. I also had them put a filter on the boat’s water pump so it would filter any water coming out of the water tank...guess what?) When I had Deb turn on the water pump I could see water squirting out of the water filter. The exact same side, and the exact same fitting as the last water issue we had. So, like before, I laid there a few minutes trying to figure out how to fix this, and with a couple of fittings I bypassed our second water filter and fixed the problem. We turned on the water pump...and all was fine. The entire fix took 50 minutes and at 12:55 we were back in bed. Once Deb gets up this morning I need to go back down there with the wet vac and clean up the water in the engine compartment. I also need to get a different fitting for the pump...although it is fixed I am not happy with the way the water lines are run now and I want to tighten them up so we don’t have another issues down the road.

Today we have 21 miles and 2 locks to go through to make it to Joe Wheeler State Park...our home for tonight. The first lock is Wilson Lock...I think the largest we will ever go through...80 foot lift...just 2 miles up river from here. You never know how long it will take to get through these locks, so not sure when we get there today. As soon as I finish this log I’m going to give Wilson Lock a call and check the status, so we can decide when to pull out.

I’ll keep you posted.

BK.