Log 191
Day 661
Saturday, March 13, 2010
7:00 AM EST
Location: Cape Harbour Marina; Cape Coral, FL.
Weather: 62 degrees...only a high in the 70’s today
Unless I write an epilog...this will probably be my last captain’s log for this trip.
With a fair amount of thought going into our decision, we have decided to head back to Chillicothe, (and build our new home), somewhere around the last week in April. That leaves us only about 2 months remaining on this “Great Adventure”. And not long after that, the next great adventure will begin. The next one not being as clear in our minds, as this one was.
While there have not been any major events taking place here in Cape Coral, there has been a lot going on. Here is a recap of some of our highlights:
· Visitors...have been a great treat since we arrived back here in early January. First, our good friend Carl Melville (former co-worker at TLC) flew in from San Diego for a few days. Then Dave and Jane Smith (long time friends from Herscher) flew in from Chicago for about 10 days. Dave and I did a lot of fishing. Just as they were getting ready to leave, Les; Annie; Darrell; and Donna arrived, and they will be renting a home for 2 months just about 5 minutes from our boat. At that same time (Feb. 1) our friends Brad and Patti (from Salvage Crew) came into town, and they were renting a condo in Tarpon Point, which is about 5 minutes from our boat. Around the second week in February, Jenny (Les & Annie’s daughter) visited them, and we all spent some time together. And that was the same time as Andy and Mary Sarver (Good News) came and joined Brad and Patti...and they will share the condo for the month of February (we have had so many get togethers with them I have lost count). Also, Don & Char Hoffman (friends for many years) stopped by the boat; and we met up with boating friends Tim & Jan (from the M/V Our Turn, who we first met 2 years ago on the Tennessee River) Starting on Tuesday (March 2nd) Steve and Claudia Larry will visit us for a week or so, and stay on the boat. And finally, on March 5th, 7 of my friends, (and former co-workers) will descend on Cape Coral for a weekend of “lying to one another”. It has been a great time being with all these friends.
· Selling the boat...continues to be a daily project. The daily part is making sure the boat is perfectly clean at all times, just in case the call comes in that someone wants to see it in the next few minutes. So far, that has happened 2 times, and neither group has made an offer on the boat. We do have a couple flying in from Texas on March 6th to look at the boat, and the broker tells me they are very interested...so we’ll see.
· Fishing...has been a lot of fun down here. Even with all the guests, most of the time I go fishing by myself, because (other than Dave Smith) none of our friends really enjoy fishing like I do. While I have not caught any very large fish, I have caught lots of fish...and certainly learned a lot. The extreme weather changes has made the fish very tough to catch, but I have had a great time none the less.
· Weather...has been 10 to 15 degrees below normal much of the time. The normal highs this time of year should be 78 to 80, but we rarely see those highs. Much of the time it’s been in the high 60’s, and low 70’s. We keep hoping that we have seen the last major cold front come through...but the long range forecast does not show thing getting back to normal...yet. That said...we certainly have had a great winter down here. We have watched the rest of the nation get hammered by bad weather, so even though it’s colder than normal...we are not complaining.
· Coming up...there is really not a lot extra going on, other than our normal life here. The 3 biggest activities are cleaning the boat; fishing; and going out on the Whaler for day trips, and looking for a great lunch spot. All of which are fun, and (although routine) we love each day. Les; Annie; Darrell & Donna will be heading back to Illinois at the end of March. Although we have not spent much time with them, we have done a few things together. Once they leave, we are not aware of any other friends who will be in the area this winter, so it will be just Deb and me until the end of April.
· Heading home...is both exciting, and sad. Exciting because we are looking forward to building our new home, and what we do from there. Sad, because we have loved every day of living on this boat, and are not looking forward to seeing it end. But, we have said from day one that we wanted to stop cruising while it was still fun, and before the time we both said “get me off this boat”. Neither of us know if this is the right way to do it, but we wanted our cruising memories to always be happy ones, and not feeling like we can’t wait for it to be over. At this point neither Deb, or I, can come up with any bad memories...but there are sure lots of great ones.
· And finally...thanks to everyone for all the notes that you have sent me as a result of these logs. As I have said many times, I write these logs for me (so I can go back and read them later) but it is also a great way for others to follow us, and get some idea of what it’s like to live, and travel, on a boat. From these logs, I have got the coolest notes from people...many of them we do not know. Like one person who said they read these logs, and have fun sharing them with others on the boat docks; another who wrote and said they were following the logs and had a boating question I might be able to answer (the good news was I could answer his question); another who wrote to thank me because he had fixed his impellor issue (he lost some of the veins on his impellor) by using the method I had written about in one of my logs; and the many who wrote to say “we were living their dream”. All of which I wrote back to and let them know that they could live their dream as well...just start planning.
Bob
