Happy New Year

4 Jan 2009


This can pretty much sums up retirement. If you are not finished with what you were doing yesterday, you have all day today to accomplish it.

REFLECTIONS

After being off of the boat for over a month I can go back and look at the trip in a different light. What a fantastic opportunity and experience it was. It is not something that many people get the chance to do. We met new friends, saw new places and had lots of good times and bad.

Apologies to Jude's brother and sister-in-law, Jim and Marygael Veselenak. They were an important memory on this trip and I did not give them credit where credit was due. They live in Springfield, Ill, and on two separate occasions came to visit us on the boat giving us the opportunity to taste some of the local fare that could not be sampled with out a car. They drove north for a hour when we had just escaped from the flooding in Ottawa and took us to a great little dive bar for some great cat fish. A week later they came down to Grafton, Ill, another hour drive and again we had a fine dinner in that town. A tardy, but well deserved thank you to Jim and Marygael.

In the small world department. While we were in Demopolis we met a guy on the dock who knew of another sailor who has a daughter that runs the Iditarod. When asked, we discovered that their daughter is Aliy Zirkle. Now we have met her in passing in Anchorage and thought that was kind of cool. Her parents being sailors probably explains why she would want to run the Iditarod. (Something about genetics not being quite right!) A couple of days later Jude and I are sitting around waiting for repairs on Danny's Fault. A man and his wife come up to where we were and I noticed that he was wearing a "Yukon Quest" shirt. Now the Yukon Quest is another 1000 mile dog sled race that goes between Fairbanks and Whitehorse, alternating start points on opposite years. I inquired as to how he was connected to the Yukon Quest. He proceeded to tell me that his daughter ran in the race! It was Aliy's parents. To say the least, we were a little surprised to meet them. I think they were more surprised to find someone in the middle of Alabama who knew about the Iditarod, let alone the Yukon Quest. Oh, by the way, Aliy was the first woman to win the Yukon Quest.

Other thoughts about the trip. All of our Great Lakes friends told us not to get to Chicago before Labor Day. Stay ahead of the frost and behind the hurricanes. The frost and hurricane thing is a good idea, but if we were to do it again, we would have left earlier. The biggest disappointment on the trip was the speed we had to travel. I wish we could have spent more time in the Tennessee River and Kentucky Lake. That area has some great anchorages and deserves more than a quick pass through. We never got to just sit around in some nice anchorages and enjoy the day. Was it fun, yes, would I do it again, probably not. I have already seen the rivers. Will we ever finish the loop? I doubt it. I have no real desire to head up the east coast; expensive and crowded.

FAMILY

Carrie and Eric's House, Christmas Eve, 2008

Over Christmas we flew up to Seattle to see Carrie, Eric, and the kids. We got there the day before the snow hit. Boy, were we lucky. Hundreds of people got stuck in the airport and could not get out. They ran out of de-icing fluid. Seattle is not prepared to get a foot of snow over a couple of days. The city had about 20 snow plows and those plows have a rubber strip along their lower edge. The initial snow came down then froze to the streets. The rest just piled up. Things did not begin to clear up until the day before left when it was 40 and rain. They did not want to use salt because it was "harmful" to the environment. Now I am very concerned about protecting the environment BUT HEY, the salt would wash down to the OCEAN!! The salty ocean!

This is one of the side streets 3 days after the snow.

One of the highlights (?) for the trip was that on the last day there, we hit a second hand/antique store in Seattle. While I was there I picked up a pair of Mickey Mouse Boots for Iditarod time. Now, these are the white ones, good to -60F. I know I am not good to that temp, but at least my feet will be! The boots were new and I got them for only $40. Even with the snow there is not much demand for them in Seattle.

Air travel was typical, PIA. No problems leaving from New Orleans but the plane was late out of Seattle and we ended up spending the night in Houston, at the expense of Continental Air Lines. Boy, do they leave something to be desired.

The kids were fine, they are not 2,4,5, and 8. Even at that age all they seemed to do was eat. Grazing might be a better term. For Christmas we got them a family pass to the aquarium for the next year. We had the chance to go along with them and see the sea things. This is their Christmas card photo. They all went as penguins for Halloween this year.

Amanda and Julius were trying to fly down on a military hop, but that did not work out. Too bad.

We will be heading back home to Alaska at the end of February for the Iditarod and to buy a house. The market is a buyers market up there right now, as everywhere, though not as bad and some areas, like Michigan or Florida. Every once in a while we get the idea of maybe buying a place here on Grand Isle. That lasts all of about a millisecond. Just what I need is a place that will be washed away in the next storm! We do like it here however.

I suppose that is about all for now, Bob and Judie Scranton, part of our football gang will be down here this week. I know that means that the Judies will be plotting and scheming.

Best to All

Rob

90 DAYS

No, that is not what the judge said, that is the amount of time that it took to get to Grand Isle.

After getting the boat fixed in Demopolis, we set off for the last 400 miles. During that time the anchorages were mediocre and we had problems with the winter cold fronts setting in. Now a high of 63 may sound great to those of you who are up north some place, but when the lows were near freezing, you get up to frost on the deck, have a north wind blowing all day and the only heat on board is the oil lamp and a small propane heater (that didn't work for the first couple of cold days), it ain't all that great. The last couple of days getting down here I was layered for warmth; a t-shirt, a turtle neck, a denim shirt, a fleece vest, a heavy wool sweater, a hoodie, and my foul weather jacket. I felt like the Michelin man. And yes, I had my wool gloves on. We were cold.

One of the days dressed this way I looked in the mirror and discovered I looked like the Uni-bomber.

We did find a couple of nice places to anchor. One of them we stopped early (2PM) and got the dingy down and did some exploring in one of the "lakes" just off of the river. We did not see any gators but we did see a water moccasin when we entered the anchorage.

It was quite a pleasure to get out of the rivers and back into open water. Mobile was our first "salty" port. We still only got about a half hour of sailing due to bad wind direction and the fact that Mobile Bay is shallow and one must stay in the channel. We did see our first dolphin in Mobile Bay. We spent 3 days in Turners Marina in Dog River, 10 miles south of Mobile and got to see our surrogate grand kids who live in Gulfshores.



When we left Dog River we headed across Mississippi Sound towards New Orleans. We traveled 81 statute miles that day and anchored in 10 feet of water north of Cat Island. It was after sundown when we dropped the hook and it was dark by the time I was setting an anchor light. As I sat there in the dark I heard the unmistakable sound of a dolphin surfacing and snorting right next to the boat. To say the least it startled me. I was glad I knew what it was other wise I would have been more concerned about the mystery splashing around the boat.


That night was less than comfortable. The weather forecast was to be light and variable winds that night. That means very small waves; yeah right! The wind came up at about 1 AM. The boat was not in danger, but the rest of our night's sleep sure was. It was easy to get up at dawn the next morning and get moving as our destination that night was to be New Orleans. The best part of our evening in New Orleans was that we had electricity and thus we could get heat from our electric heater.

The next day we had to cross the Mississippi River again. To accomplish this one must lock up to the river level from the east bank through the Industrial Canal (one of the levee breaks during Katrina). After going through the lock we headed down river for 5 miles and then had to lock down to the Intercostal Waterway on the west bank. All in all the process went rather smoothly. We waited only 10 minutes at the Industrial Lock and only 2 hours at the Algiers lock. The reason it can take so long is that one must wait their turn and there are numerous tows trying to get through.

From there we headed to the Boomtown Casino, on the other side of New Orleans, for a free tie off and our first seafood. The food was good, but the happy hour prices no longer existed. Oysters were a buck a piece instead of 50 cents, crab cakes went up by a buck and drinks would have been cheaper just about anywhere, even the bars in Alaska!



The next day was our run down to Grand Isle across water that we have traveled before. It was cool and windy as we made our way down to Lafitte and the Baritaria waterway. These were waters that the pirate John Lafitte sailed. We did not see any pirates just some Saturday morning fishermen. As we got closer to Grand Isle, the dolphins welcomed us to our new winter home.

A quick summary of our trip:

• 2006 statute miles traveled
• 44 nights at a dock (Too many for me.)
• 34 nights at anchor
• 12 nights on the hard
• 23 locks
• Longest Day 82 miles (Twice)
• Days with the sails out 4
• Days sailing 1
• Fuel Cost--$525
• 15 mpg
• Dockage--$1400
• Total cost of trip including stepping the mast, repairs, maintenance, pumpouts/excluding food, dining, laundry, etc--$2800

Life in the Tree House

It is another weekend and here we still sit in Demopolis living on the hard, or as someone said living "in the tree house." It is kind of like that given we must climb the ladder to get on and off the boat. Yesterday morning was rather unnerving when I tried to get off the boat and noticed that the ladder had blown over. Here I am 10 feet in the air with the ladder on the ground. With the help of a dock hook, the ladder was retrieved.

The bent rudder has been repaired and the cutlass bearing has been replaced. The cutlass bearing is located in front of the propeller. It is necessary to keep the prop and shaft from just wobbling around in space behind the boat, one end of the shaft connects to the motor the other goes through the bearing to the prop. In the process of replacing the bearing the shaft had to be removed. Upon removal it was discovered that the shaft was too worn to be usable. A new bearing was not the complete answer, but a new shaft was.

That was on Tuesday. The old shaft was taken to the local machine shop to be copied. A new shaft was to be ready by lunch on Friday. Well, in Alabama lunch must be over at 3:00 because the shaft was not here in the yard until 3:30. After it was installed it was discovered that the shaft had not been cut properly and the prop would not fit properly over the end. The shaft is to be back in the shop on Monday. We will have to see when this is all finished!

Hopefully the whole project will be done by mid-day on Monday and we can be underway again. We are about 200 miles north of Mobile, 235 miles north of the Gulf of Mexico. When we get down there we will head to the west and on to Grand Isle.

I spoke with our friend Andy on Grand Isle today and was told that our 5th wheel is all set up and waiting for us. It will be good to get there even if Andy and Sue are not there. Their plans are to take their boat to Key West for about a month. They should be back to Grand Ilse in mid December.

The only positive thing is that we were just able to watch Michigan play a great game against Minnesota, the Little Brown Jug stays in Ann Arbor. Next is the Alabama vs. LSU game. Geaux Tigers!!

That's all for now.

Rob

On the Hard Again

Today we are sitting at the Demopolis Yacht Basin in Alabama. Our boat went on the hard Thursday night for rudder repairs. For the landlubbers that means that the boat was taken out of the water and is on land for rudder repairs. I (Jude) was steering the boat as we were leaving the pumpout station and backed into a bank of clay. With the rudder turned to one side it hit the bank hard and then Danny's Fault lost steerage. To make a long story short. We were taken out of the water and found that the rudder post was bent and the cutlass bearing needed to be replaced (not related to the grounding but to all of the silt in the Mississippi and Illinois river). Hopefully we will be able to float the boat Wednesday or Thursday so we can continue our travels.



In this marina are a lot of boats (big and bigger) that are stored here for hurricane season. This marina is at the 32nd parallel that the insurance companies have proclaimed is above the hurricane zone.



We are now 216 miles from Mobile Bay and we can see some semblance of light at the end of the tunnel. From there it will be only 150 miles to Grand Isle (our destination). When we get to Mobile we hope to see our "surrogate" grandchildren. Courtney and Gabbie are children of Ron and Jessica Lillie who Amanda was a nanny for up in Alaska. Whenever we came into Anchorage we became known as their Alaskan Grandparents. They even met us at the airport one night!






We saw our first alligator about 150 miles upriver from here and our first palmetto 125 miles upriver from here. Lots and lots of Spanish moss. It feels like we are finally getting down south. Some of the river is very boring and some of it is very beautiful. Here is a picture of some of the white cliffs that we have gone past.


Our hope is to be in Grand Isle within a couple of weeks. Our friends Andy and Sue came up from GI yesterday to check out how we were doing. We had a great lunch at the marina pub and we got some information as to our final options as to course to Grand Isle.


Until the accident, we had been traveling with another sailboat out of Michigan. Dulcinea, sailed by Alice and Tom La Belle have been our traveling companions since leaving Kentucky Lake. Their luck has been worse than ours. Aground 3 times, but worse than that, they had to put their 14 year old dog down. Sad day for them. Sometimes being traveling companions means other commitments. Tom's water intake got clogged with some of the vegetation that floats in the river down here. While he worked on the cooling system, we dragged him along behind. All was fixed within a half hour. Since our problems will keep us here a while they have moved on. Oh yes, it was cold that morning. We had frost on the decks two mornings. The temps those two days started in the lower 30s and made it all the way up to about 60. We do not have heat on the boat, but we do have a propane oven. We had a casserole one night and Jude's famous home made pizza the second night.


Jude and Rob

We Are in Mississippi

Progress toward our southern goal is being made. We are currently in Fulton, MS, on the TennTom River, half way to Mobile from our last post. The Tennessee River system was wonderful. It was almost as pleasant as being in the North Channel. We have found wonderful little anchorages along the way, out of the path of the tows.


The process of working our way down here has involved traversing many locks.

This can be a rather simple process or a pain in the butt. The above pictures are taken in a lock where we locked down 84 feet. This is largest single lift that we will traverse. We have waited as long as 2 1/2 hours or had the lock doors open when we got there. One guide book tells you

take a single wrap on the bollard and do not tie off both ends. The other book says to take a double wrap and tie off both ends. We are using the the first method. The bollards are metal posts attached to the lock walls that go up or down with the water. There have been no real issues except when the wind catches the bow and begins to blow us around.

We have charts of the river system that we borrowed from Ann and Jorma Poronto and cruising guides by Skipper Bob and Fred Meyer. These, along with our chart plotter, give us the information that we need to have to find our way around. Most of the information has been pretty reliable.

We are currently staying 3 nights at a low key marina that has a boaters lounge, free wireless, courtesy car, and a hot tub. Tonight we are headed to the restaurant where most meals are under $10. It should be a cheap dinner given the fact we are in a dry county.

Since our last post we have had a couple of gremlins on the boat. Some idiot, me, left the cap off of the fuel tank overnight and we had rain. By the time I found it was off, it was too late. When we left Green Turtle the engine quit after about 15 minutes. I changed the filter, went back to the marina, bought some "dry gas" for the fuel, and then we headed out again. That night as we were headed into our anchorage, we found the bottom with our keel. Yes, we ran aground, or ran "amud". I have helped many folks go through a process called "kedging off" so I had the experience to get Danny's Fault out of the mud. It involves taking an anchor out away from the boat in the dingy and then retrieving it from the big boat. It was just a pain to do and then the mud in the dingy and around the boat that need to be cleaned up.

The other problem was discovered last night. The kitchen sink drain developed a leak and all liquid going down the kitchen sink was headed into the bilge. It was good we were at a dock. A quick trip to the hardware store and a few bucks and I had the parts. I spent this morning fixing the sink and now all is well. Rob

At one of our anchorages we heard cows but didn't think anything of it. Dulcinea, a boat we have been traveling with, called us the next morning and said to look outside and see the pygmy goats. Besides the cows now we can list goats in our animal sightseeing list. Going down the river we have seen lots of turtles, wood ducks, vultures, and even snakes. Jude

Hangin' Out

Just a few thoughts and pieces of info as to our status.


First, the day before we arrived where we are at now located we logged over 1049 miles. For those of you who follow the Iditarod, that is the distance of the race. Now, I am not even coming close to comparing what we have done so far to the mushers who brave the Iditarod Trail, but we do know what it means to travel over 1100 miles at 6-12 mph. We have lots of goodies that they don't. No dogs to tend, hot showers every once in a while, good food, happy hour with new friends, Internet and once in a while TV. Wow, I guess that also means that we have electricity every now and then. All of the creature comforts that a musher does not have. 1100 miles is a long way.


Second. I have had a couple of questions from some of the non sailors who are reading this blog as to how we live. Well, the boat has a V berth in the bow. Jude and I climb in from the aft end or the head of the bed every night. We head in on all fours and then turn around. Kind of like a dog turning circles before they lie down. I will be glad when I can get out of bed from the side rather than the head! When one has to get up in the middle of the night to get a snack, or to pee, it means going through contortions. Aft of the bed is the head (toilet) on the port side and a closet on the starboard side. After that comes two bench seating on both sides of the boat. A table folds down for our dinner table. Moving aft is the galley on the starboard side. We have a propane stove, microwave/convection oven, and a refrigerator. The fridge is not what you have in your kitchen. It is a cold plate that is down in a hole that was at one time a built in ice chest. It is always a challenge to find what you are looking for in there. From there we move upstairs and outside to the cockpit area. There is room for 6 people to sit there comfortably as long as it is not raining. We have a BBQ grill on the back rail that makes a great steak dinner. We have a 10 foot inflatable dingy that we can use to get to shore when we anchor. We either tow this behind the boat or carry it on the fore deck. Showers--when we were in the North Channel we would jump in the lake. After getting in the river system this was not an option. The water in the Illinois River and the Mississippi was disgusting. Now that we are in the Tennessee we can swim again if we want. We either use the marina shower or we set up solar showers and get cleaned off in the cockpit while moving. Nobody is close enough to gawk at a couple of old farts. This was a concern before we left, showering not gawking, but has become a non issue.


The distance we travel really depends on the circumstances at hand. While clearing the flooded Illinois and the high current Mississippi, we would set a 6:30 alarm (still dark) and be moving by 7:00 AM (sunrise). On one of these days we did 80 miles. One hell of a long way for a boat that does 6.5 mph. Those were the days when the current gave is a boost up to 10 mph. For the next few days we will not be moving at that pace. No alarm, start moving when we want, anchor by 3 in the afternoon. Yes, we anchor the boat someplace where we are out of the current and out of the way (hopefully) of the tows (tug and barge combinations). We will usually spend 3-5 nights on the hook (at anchor) before we find a marina to take care of business. (Fuel, water, pumpout.) We have a holding tank for all of our black water but the grey water goes directly overboard. We will get a pumpout first thing in the morning and be on our way.


We are traveling with a group of boats who are doing what is called "The Loop". The Loop is a circle that starts where ever one starts, but goes through the Great Lakes, down the river system to Mobile, over to Florida and then up the east coast and back to the Great Lakes. Obviously one can start this trip from anywhere along the path. When we got hung up in Ottawa, IL, we had one boat that only needed to get to St Louis to finish their Loop.



As to social life, we have a happy hour most every night with the folks who are doing the loop. As we move along we run across the same people. Even with the different financial background we all have something in common: the experiences along the way. It is a very easy fraternity to join, all you have to do is, as Nike says, just do it.





Left, the Vee berth.

Right, from the Vee berth aft. Behind Jude's head is the propane stove, the coffee pot is on the counter, behind the coffee pot is the hole that leads into the cooler. The steps lead outside to the cockpit area.

This is taken from the companionway (stairs) looking down in to our "living" area. The v-berth, hanging locker, Jude's couch, stove and counter on the right and Rob's computer and couch is on the left side. The table is behind the burgundy cushions to the left of center in this picture.

If you want to play Where's Waldo, can you find the cat box?

Rob

We are a Sailboat Again

The mast went up on Thursday and the sails went on Friday, we are a sailboat again.


We are currently at the Green Turtle Marina in Grand Rivers, KY. We decided to take a week at the dock here given the fact that the weekly rate is equal to the 5 day rate. We were going to have to spend a 3 night stay someplace to put the mast back up anyway. Plus that there is a festival here in town this weekend.




The trip down the Mississippi River was interesting and tense. Danny's Fault has a top speed of about 7 miles per hour and with the river current we were traveling at speeds of up to 12 mph. There were numerous logs and sticks in the water that we were dodging, when we could see them. Daily we were hitting something unseen in the water. As a sail boat, the keel helped to protect the prop. The power boats are not that lucky.




The Miss River has been so altered and controlled by the Army Corps of Engineers that it is nothing like the Mark Twain tales. There are levees; wing dams on the sides of the river, pointing down stream, that are just at or below water level; weir dams under water that point slightly up stream to help flush out certain areas; and there are things called wicket dams that can be raised or lowered depending on how much water is the the river (Illinois and Ohio, none on the Miss). Most of the depths were in the 20-30 feet range, but there were holes where depths of 60 feet were not uncommon. In these areas the boiling current would take charge of the boat and tell Danny's Fault where we were going.



South of St Louis we stayed at a marina called Hoppies, a place with character. Fern, the owner who reminded Jude of the character in the old TV show Tugboat Annie, gave us a briefing of the river from her place to where the Ohio comes into the Miss. Her knowledge was invaluable. Our last anchorage on the Miss was off to a small channel on the right hand side that was on the outside side of a turn. This caused the current to be greater there and gave us a bigger challenge to get into the cut. With the engine revving higher than usual, we made it in at a whopping speed of about 2 mph into the anchorage. Sure is tough going against the flow of the Miss.






The next day we turned up the Ohio River, the south border of Illinois. Many others who have done this trip have hated the Ohio due to its current. The water is at very low levels so we had no problem with the current. Our anchorage for the night was not as safe and secure as advised. At 9PM, after dark a tow with empty barges came within 100 feet of our starboard side. Later that night our traveling companions, Adamant 1, had the same experience on their port side! The next morning we again headed up stream and had to wait 2 1/2 hours to get permission to go through the next lock. Commercial traffic has priority and pleasure craft is at the bottom of the list as to who gets to go next. After locking through, we headed further up the Ohio to where the Cumberland River comes in. We anchored is a safer place that night.

We had a rainy trip up the Cumberland River but finally got away from Illinois and arrived at Green Turtle Marina by 1 PM. This is a nice place. We have used the courtesy car to go into Paduca, KY, and make a provisioning trip to Sam's. There is a nice indoor pool that we have used and we had a group hot dog roast on the beach the other night. Since we have been here the weather has been perfect, high 70-low 80. The next bit of rain is to be on Tuesday. Guess when we take off!




Speaking of next Tuesday, the Discovery Channel will begin its newest series on the Iditarod. Jude and I are in the trailer so we assume you would be able to see us on the program. We were working the start line at Willow. We are the last two officials in the starting chute, Jude on the musher's right, and Rob on the musher's left. Watch for us.


Tomorrow or Monday we will do a bit more planning for our next few stops. Our traveling companions left yesterday headed further south in Kentucky Lake to a couple of anchorages. We will probably catch up with them in the near future.


Before we left we put Sirius radio on the boat so that we could listen to Michigan Football. As I sit here and listen to Toledo take the lead on Michigan, I am glad that there are a lot of other thing on Sirius!!



Jude managed to get fairly close to a Great Blue Heron. We have seen hundreds of them along the rivers. We have also seen Bald Eagles, White Pelicans, and a few deer.









Good luck to all. We will be able to receive email until Monday night if you want to get back with us.
Rob

Mississippi River here we come

We finally made it. Danny's Fault is in Grafton, Illinois. Wow we never thought we would see the Mississippi River. We saw a tremendous amount of flooding and homes that have a "bathtub ring" around them from the high water. We have anchored numerous times in the North Channel but last night we anchored in a 2 knot current. This was behind an island off the Illinois river.What a new experience. We are still traveling with Adament I (Canada) and we have picked up a new boat to travel with Phebus (France). They have been sailing for 2 years and have 3 teenagers on board. With their limited English they have sort of attached to us .We also help them with their translations. We are now known as the United Nations Cruise! The boat from Great Britian is slightly ahead, but we think we will catch up with them tomorrow. Sorry no pictures this time. Will put double on next time. Jude

God Willing and the Creek Don’t Rise

Dave Ten Brink, one of the football tailgating group, uses this expression whenever we part and say see ya. I never really had an appreciation for that expression until now.

This picture was taken when the water was still rising. It got as high as the white building near the cars in the top right of the picture.

This flooding is a new experience for a couple of Great Lake’s Sailors. We have put many miles under our keel in the Lakes. Almost all of Lake Huron, a trip to Cedar Point, the length of Lake Michigan, and a trip across Superior (paying our respects to the Edmund Fitzgerald as we passed 500 feet overhead), this has been our sailing experience. Give us 70 miles of the Illinois River and we really have something to talk about. We have been holed up for 5 days, with more to come.

It is now Thursday afternoon and there is no news as to when we will be able to move on. The river crested at a record on Monday morning. It raises a lot faster than it goes down. The locks along the river will not be opened for traffic for 5-7 days after the river crested. The priority for travel through the locks is commercial first with pleasure craft being allowed through as space becomes available. It really does not make a lot of difference at this point as both the lower part of the Illinois River and part of the Mississippi are closed to pleasure craft anyway!

When we entered the marina on Saturday night our depth sounder read 11 feet. At the height of the flooding it read 23 feet. Normal depth in this marina is about 6 feet.

The management here had been tremendous. There is no clubhouse but there is a “party barge” that we (15 stranded souls) can all gather. When we first got here the fridge was stocked with beer. Oops, free beer. Happy hour begins about 4 and we all spread the rumors that we have heard. Some of those are pleasure boats being stuck in locks and not being allowed to leave, a 30 foot power boat that broke free and then broke up. It must be true because we saw pieces of it floating by. The marina did a BBQ chicken dinner for us today at lunch. At the lunch some boaters from up the river came by for showers as they have no running water or electric. Our Marina invited them to get cleaned up.

As of now we have no idea of when we will get out of here. At least one of the boats is thinking of flying home for a bit to take care of some business. Hmm, wonder where we can fly to?? Grand Isle? No, they still have no power. Bruce Mines, no, there is no house there any more. Oh well, stay with the boat and make the best of a bad situation.

The group that we are hung up with is a pretty good group of people. Some of them are “bailing out” tomorrow and renting a car and heading back to Ohio for a few days. We will hang in here for the duration. The biggest question that all of us have is what will we be charged while we are here. I guess we will find out that info when we check out.

I am working on posting all of our pictures on the Web. Hopefully you will be able to see some of the things that we have seen so far.

On an earlier post I mentioned bad boat names. There are some great positive names out there too. We are staying with a boat named Marbles. I asked them where the name came from. For those of you with a “Bucket List”, this is something to consider. The name comes from a philosophy that from the time one turns 55 till the time turns 75 there are 1040 weeks left in your active life. Any more weeks than that are blessings. Each week of you life being a Marble, use your Marbles wisely. One must be very careful with those Marbles and not waste any of them, each are important. So as we sit here in the harbor it feels like we are wasting a marble or two here in rather than not being out in the river continuing our journey. On the other hand if we were to leave right away, our Marbles may sink with a tree taking out Danny’s Fault.

Here is another reason to count your blessings. I received an email from our friend Andy in Grand Isle. They do not expect to have power up and running for another 3 weeks. Sue is up in New Orleans living in the house with their daughter and Andy is on the Island living in the Exxon bunkhouse. Sounds like a thrill to me!! And Jude and I are bitching about being where we are. If that is not enough to make you count your blessings, check out the following link to see what Ike did to the Galveston area.

http://jakeabby.com/cb/

Take every day of your life and live it how you see fit. You will never know how many you have left.

Love you all, or at least most of you;

Rob

Sailors and Fools

Sailors and Fools

I have heard said that God watches out for sailors and fools. The crew of Danny’s Fault definitely falls into at least one of those two categories!

Last week we stopped in Chicago to see our friends Bud and Shirley Zalon off the sailboat EZ Baby. They treated us like royalty, picking us up from Belmont Harbor, taking us to their home for showers and a bed where our feet did not get tangled together and where we could enter the bed from the side as opposed to the head of the V berth. Not only were the showers and sheets clean, they treated us to a wonderful dinner at a rib place and then to breakfast at a pancake house. We had enough leftovers for an additional dinner and breakfast. Thanks so much Bud and Shirley.

After being delivered back to Danny’s Fault we proceeded to remove sails and lower the mast. All went well. The mast was strapped down/lashed to the mast cradle and deck preparing for the 4 mile trip to the Chicago River.

Up until this point the trip has been going better than planned. That was about to change. When we got out into Lake Michigan on Thursday morning the Lake was showing us some of what she is capable of. We had 3-6 foot waves on the port bow. This caused Danny’s Fault to both pitch and roll, pitch being fore and aft and roll being side to side. After about 15 minutes into the now 1 hour trip (due to the conditions) the mast began to move. The entire framework shifted forward and down. The down motion then caused the lashings to become loose. As I sat there for the next 45 minutes all I could see was the front end on the mast moving around and Jude looking up from the companionway where she was hanging on. All that Jude could see was me, the concentration on my face and the aft end of the mast. Fortunately her view of the mast was not as disconcerning as mine. The end that she could see had not moved after the initial shift.

We made it safely into the harbor in Chicago and locked into the river. The water was calm, the sun was shining, and the city was all around us. We took the time and circled in the river tightening the mast lashings and picking up the pieces down below. We were now ready for our trip through the city. All that we had gone through to get this far was worth it. It was fun to catch the sights of a city that we have seen from street level from a different perspective. We were about 25 feet lower than those walking the streets above us. Some waved; some asked where we were headed. All was at peace again on Danny’s Fault.

After the first hour in the river the scenery turned to industry. The air had an aroma that we are now glad to be out of. As we proceeded down river there was more and more barge traffic. The river is so narrow there is barely enough room for the barges to pass those tied on piers along the sides of the river. We had to keep a constant vigil to make sure that we were not coming down on a moving barge. All went well.

We made it to Joliet that evening and tied off to the city pier. It was a free dock with power. We then ran into two other sailboats tied up there from Sandusky, OH. The guys came on board and helped me reset Danny’s Fault’s mast.

The next morning we headed out in the rain (this becomes important) to catch up with Pat and Lynn Lortie, of Midland, ON. They are doing the Loop (down the rivers, around Florida, to the Bahamas, then back north up the east coast). We found them at the appointed spot, tied up along side (they were anchored) in the rain. We had happy hour on their boat, Adamant I, and it rained. Lynn made a wonderful dinner for us. We ate on their boat, and it rained. We all slept peacefully, and it rained. The next morning we were debating whether to leave as it rained. There was a sucker hole in the rain and they had been sitting there for a couple of days waiting for us so we left. This was shortly after a 6 foot log, 6 inches in diameter passed between the boats.

As we proceeded down the river it rained. When we got to the next lock we had to wait for a tow to lock through. We waited 2 hours and it misted. When we finally got our chance to get into the lock it started to pour. Three miles down the river we passed Heritage Marine. We were headed to Ottawa, IL, where there were some free city docks. Another 3 miles we were at the city docks but there was only room for one boat as a large rental houseboat had taken their half in the middle. We then checked our cruising guide and it showed us that there was an anchorage another 3 miles down river. Both boats motored downstream. By the way, did I mention that it was still raining? Or did I mention that the wind had now increased? Upon arriving at the anchorage we decided it was not suitable under the current conditions. Jude got the guide out and called the two marinas down stream. The first could not accommodate our depth and the second had nothing more than an answering machine. We decided to turn around and head back to the city dock where DF would tie up along the section of dock and Adamant I would tie off on us.

We slugged our way back against the current in the Illinois River. After a bit of work we got both boats tied up at the city dock in Ottawa. We went below on Adamant for drinks at about 6:30 PM. At 8:30, of course after dark by now, the owner of the houseboat came by, knocked on our boat and said that he was moving his boat because of the flooding that would be taking place. Pat and I went out to help him. Pat then moved his boat fwd on the dock and we tied off both boats in a manner that we could cast off from the deck of the boats without having to get off of the boats. While Pat and I were tying off boats the ladies were listening to the flood warnings on the radio; the river was to rise 8 feet overnight. It had gone up a foot since we had tied off the first time and the water was less than a foot below the dock.

After some discussion with some local boaters we were convinced this was not the place to be. With some phone calls at 9 PM we were casting off lines and headed back up river the last 3 miles back to Heritage Marina. The rain had stopped and it was a fairly clear sky. We could see lightning off in the distance. We ran the two boats side by side up the river. We figured it would be easier to spot debris and buoys with two spotlights, each hitting only one half of the river. My big light crapped out. I was stuck using my small 6 volt light. All and all, the trip up the river in the dark ended up being one of the most peaceful part of the day. When we arrived at the marina, the staff was there with lights on and hands on deck to help both boats tie off.

Our "dock" the next morning, just past the light post

We slept very comfortably at the marina on the floating docks. When we got up in the morning to go take showers the docks had risen so high that the ramps leading to shore were leading into the water. We waded to shore. I got wet up to the lower part of my bathing suit. I had to hold up my foul weather jacket to keep it from getting wet. Jude did not fare as well, she tripped on the cement step that was under water and she went down on all fours. Not completely soaked, but water on the front of her t-shirt and inside the sleeves of her foul weather. Oh, did I mention that it was still raining. I showered then had to wade back through the water to get back to the boat. Not sure how clean I felt after that.

At about 2 PM, Sunday, we borrowed the courtesy van and went into town to check out where we had been docked the night before. The four foot posts that we had been tied to were under water, no where to be seen. The river reminded me of the rivers in Alaska. There were trees (30 feet long, 18 inches in diameter) racing down stream at a good 5-6 miles per hour. Besides the trees there were all kinds of other unidentifiable objects floating out there. Oh, did I mention that it was still raining?

Jude, Lynn, and Pat with our "dock" in the background. Note the floating dock over Pat's shoulder.

Today is now Monday and it has stopped raining, well almost. We just had a short little shower. It looks like we will be here for a while. When we came into the marina the water was 11 feet deep. The last time I looked, it was 22 feet. The top of the posts that hold the floating docks in place were above our heads when we came in here Friday night. The tallest ones are now about knee high. We had to get the dingy off the deck to get to shore. The dock has not moved but the shoreline is now about 100 feet away, due to the flooding. The river is closed to any traffic. The water is only about 3 feet below record flood level. The water is flowing over the locks making them unusable. The water is to crest today. They will not open the locks for 5 to 7 days after the river crests. We have 7 boats here that are doing the loop, 3 power and 4 sail. We are working on a group dockage rate given the time we are here.

To add insult to injury while we were out in the dingy we had our first run-in with an Asian Carp. As we motored along this 4-5 lbs fish was jumping along out of the water behind the dingy acting like he wanted to attack us. A local tell us that one hit a 4 year old in a boat a while ago and killed her. I cannot get on line now to confirm that but I seem to remember something about that.

Lessons learned:
The mast—jack lines when out on the big water—I know this but I need to follow my own rules. Just because it was a short trip should not make any difference. With the jack lines I could have clipped on and gone fwd to secure the loose mast.

The flooding—Never having done any river boating neither us nor Adamant I were aware of the significance of the flood warnings. We were lucky to have some “local knowledge” to guide us out of danger. It was safer to move in the dark, up stream against a building current, than it was to stay put.

As was said, sailors and fools.


Rob
Monday, September 15, 2008

Two weeks into the trip

Thursday 4 September

Under the Mackinac Bridge

Danny’s Fault is now over 360 nautical miles from Bruce Mines and sitting in Milwaukee harbor. We are currently, September 4, sitting in the rain, leftovers from Gustav. Today is the first day that we have just sat still. Tomorrow we will do a little of visiting of the city and maybe leave in the afternoon or maybe just wait till the next AM. Most of the trip has been rather uneventful. I say uneventful but we had the second best sail of our lives as we crossed Lake Michigan. The sailors following this blog will understand what that means.

After spending Saturday afternoon watching the Michigan game with Gary Harris, a friend that I taught with we left Frankfort, MI, headed the 50 some miles across Lake Michigan to Wisconsin. Within the first ½ hour the wind filled in from the South at 12-15 knots. We set our sails and never touched them again until we reached Wisconsin. Otto, the Autohelm, steered the entire way. We sailed at hull speed, 5.5 to 6.5 knots, all the way. For the non-sailors reading this, that is as good as it gets!!

We have been to the following anchorages/ports so far:
Government Bay, in the Les Cheneaux Islands, just NW of Mackinac (anchor)
St Helena Island, 6 miles west of the Mackinac Bridge (anchor)
Lake Charlevoix, south arm in front of Chris/Dick Sobak’s new house (anchor)
Leland, MI, (anchored in the harbor—tight)
Frankfort, MI, (dock--$30)
Kewaunee, WI (dock—first of the big $ dockage--$45)
Manitowoc, WI (dock--$45)
Port Washington, WI (dock--$45)
Milwaukee, WI (dock--$50)
Paying for the docks reminds me another reason why I like the North Channel. When we get to Chicago the charge is $1.95 per foot plus $10 for electricity. Ouch. Can’t wait to get back to where we can anchor again.

We called the marina in Chicago that will take our mast down so that we can begin our river trip. We have an appointment next Wednesday at 2PM to get that done. We will then leave on Thursday morning and head into the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal for our first day on the rivers. We will have to get to Joliet that first day in order to get a place to anchor.

Our next destination is near Waukegan, IL, at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center. Being retired military we can stay there for $.70 per foot. Too bad there are not more locations like that along the way. Before that, we may bail out at Racine or Kenosha, just to see what is there.

While at Great Lakes, our sailing friends off of EZ Baby, who live in Chicago, will be getting together with us. We will have ground transportation again for a while. Sounds like grocery time.

Back in Charlevoix we bought a new chart plotter for Danny’s Fault. It is a Garmin 440s, which is similar to what you may have in your car but it costs twice as much (it’s for a boat!) It was finally time to upgrade. My old GPS was a hand held model with a fixed mount. I was required to enter the latitude and longitude all of the waypoints. This could lead to many errors. Now, I am poorer, but at least I know where I am at.

On a different note, recent US news has had quite a bearing on Jude and I. We have installed Sirius radio on the boat and this allows us to listen to CNN every morning. Last Monday there were two stories, Gustav coming ashore in Grand Isle, LA, (our destination) and Gov. Palin of Wasilla, Alaska (where we will be buying our new home.) How many people do you know that have ties to both of these stories?

Our friends Andy and Sue Galliano, who live on Grand Isle, took our 5th wheel down that way 10 days before we left Bruce Mines. I have not talked to them as of yet. The last I heard was that our RV was in Raceland, LA. This was right in the path of Gustav. I did receive an email after the storm that our “portable home”, as Andy put it, was safe and sound in Greenville, MS, some 350 miles away from the coast. We are obviously happy about that, but we have heard absolutely nothing else from them. We have left messages on their cell phones but we must just sit and wait. I am sure their families are okay, but we know nothing of their property, their family’s property, and more important their boat!! After having made many friends down on GI, we are at a loss for words as to our feelings for them. Things were just getting finished being brought up to standards after Katrina.

Over the years we have had a list of bad boat names; Wet Dreams, Crusty Seaman, Brain Dead, Salmonella, Foul Movement, Sunny Beach, Climax, Master Baiter, My Buckin Float, Bull Ship, and Butt Hole. Puking Dog had always been on the top of the list of bad ones until we saw this one here in Milwaukee. Yes, the graphic shows big turds being thrown both port and starboard. With that I will sign off for now.





Rob


Wrote the above on a rainy day. Today is Sunday, 7 September and we are just north of Chicago at the Great Lakes Naval Station. We are tied up along a wall/pier that is completely open to the South east. All of Lake Michigan can come at us at any time. The wind is not predicted SE but our alternate plan is to head out behind the outer pier if the wind shifts. Thankfully no SE winds are predicted. When we arrived yesterday afternoon there was a pig on a spit. What a great bit of luck, pig roast for dinner. This is a very friendly harbor. Only about 1/2 of the customers that we have met are prior military. I was surprised how many were not.


We will stay here until Tuesday AM when we will head down to Chicago. We have reservations at Belmont Harbor for a slip for Tues and Wed. We will also have them take down the mast on Wednesday. This sets us up for a trip into the Chicago River on Thursday morning. We are definitely looking forward to this part of our trip. We will be glad to get out of the Lake and all of its potential for bad weather.

BTW, our RV is making about as many miles as we are. It made it through Gustav by traveling north to Greenville, MS. It is currently there waiting to see what Ike has to say.

On the Move

This is going to be short and sweet. We are currently in Frankfort, MI. That is about 1/2 way down on Lake Michigan. In the morning we will make the crossing over to Wisconsin. So far the trip has been rather uneventful. The wind has been on the nose, but light. Today was the strongest winds we encountered at about 15 KN on the nose.

We left Bruce Mines on Monday, 25 Aug. arrived in Drummond Is and cleared customs. When there we got to see Peggy (Snyder) Seaman. I taught with her for about 20 years. She is what a teacher should be, tremendous!

From there we went and spent our first night in the Le Cheniouxs (SP)Islands. From there we went to St Helena Island just west of the Mackinac Bridge. The water was so clear we could see 25 feet deep in the water.

The next place was a 50 mile trip down to Charleviox where we connected with another one of my ex teaching friends, Chris Sobak and her husband Dick. They are in the process of building a new log cabin house. All I can say is that it is beautiful. We spent 2 nights anchored out in front of there new place. Chris gave us a ride to West Marine so we could buy a new Chart Plotter. It is a GPS for the boat. What a great piece of equipment. If you have a GPS in the car and think it is great, you should see what it can do for you on the water.

After leaving there we headed further down the Lake Michigan coast to Lealand Michigan. A nice little harbor, but we were just happy to stay the evening on the boat on the hook. (At anchor.)

We came into Frankfort today, Saturday. Of course Saturday is Michigan Football. We connected with Gary Harris, who I taught with, who keeps his boat here. We watched a less than a perfect performance from UM. Glad I have other things on my mind.

We head across the Lake in the morning.

Speaking of other things on our minds, our 5th wheel is currently in Louisiana, thanks to our friends Andy and Sue. Unfortunately it has a big bull's eye painted on the side and Gustav is headed directly towards it. Obliviously we are concerned for our own RV, but we are more concerned about our friends on Grand Isle.

When I get smarter I will figure out how to post our position on a map. Until then you will will have to just get out the atlas and find us.

On a couple of other notes, Amanda is no longer pregnant, she lost the baby last week, 2 1/2 months into the process. She is physically fine and working on the emotional part. I think I took it harder then her.

Thought I would also include an other picture of the Republican nominee for Vice President. I will say two things about her, she is an honest politician and the best looking Governor in the country.

Rob

We're Homeless

We closed on the house yesterday and now we are homeless. So what happens on our first day on the boat, pouring rain!! We are sitting at Val's house drying out. Tomorrow we will put the car and truck in storage. Depending on time, we may get out of here Sunday or Monday. While in the Sault yesterday we visited a few stores and couldn't think or find anything else that we could stuff into the boat. Even the cat has found her hiding places have gotten fewer and smaller. Oh well we heard there are stores in different parts of the country where we will be traveling.

Dealing with tax issues in a foreign country can be trying. The Canadian tax man has taken a rather healthy share of our proceeds with the promise of getting about half of it back in a couple of months, with the remainder back in a year! Of course, there will be no interest paid on the funds. Oh well, it is only money, we can always make more. That reminds me, I need printer ink.

It does look like that we will have a favorable weather window for the next few days. Hopefully this will allow us to get down to Charlevoix right away. The sooner to Chicago, the happier we will be.


We had a nice gathering last night in Thessalon. Val Netherton made her world famous pasties and Dave Mann made one of his infamous desserts.This was a last visit in the north land with with many of our sailing friends. Class Act, EZ Baby, Scampi, and new friends Outward Bound, arrived by boat, Kahlua III, Dunn Over, Gang 'awa, and Danny's Fault all arrived by car. No sense paying for dockage when Thessalon is only 10 miles down the road.


Rob and Jude

Grandfather's Coffin

What stress. There is no stress in moving. Just because Jude and I are ready to kill at a moment's notice I though it might be a good idea to be prepared!

Actually the box is for our grandfather clock, which fits in there rather nicely. We hired a couple of high school boys to help us move and the look on Will's face was priceless when he saw "Grandfather's Coffin" on the floor and ready to be moved.

We have all of the furniture moved out of the house that we are taking but there is still a lot to do. The nice thing is that I know it will all be done by 22 Aug, because that is when we close on the house. Not only that but we are running out of room in our storage area. We will have to see how it all goes.

For those who have not been able to figure out our plan, let me try to restate what we are up to.

Andy and Sue will be taking our 5th wheel and the new truck to Grand Isle next week.

In two weeks we will be taking Danny's Fault down Lake Michigan towards Chicago and the Illinois River. From there we will head toward the Mississippi River, up the Ohio River to the Tennessee River, then into the Tommbigbee waterway that empties out in Mobile, AL. We will then hang a right and head to Grand Isle, which will be Danny's Fault new home.

We will be leaving our belongings, including Jude's car and our "Alaska truck" here in Canada in storage until next spring. At that time we will be driving up a U-Haul truck, with a trailer for Jude's car, and our Alaska truck with a camper trailer, which we still need to buy.

Yes, we still have some logistical issues to work out, such as how do we get from Grand Isle back up to Canada to receive our belongings, and oh yes, the fact that we need to buy a house in Alaska! At least on the 6-8 weeks on the boat will give us time to come up with some plans.

Anyone want to come down to Grand Isle in the spring and give us a ride north? We would be happy to show you around Grand Isle and New Orleans!

Rob

Good News X 3

We have had three wonderful pieces of news this week:
1 Andy and Sue Galliano, our friends from Grand Isle, are flying up to Detroit to take our 5th wheel down there for us. This solves one of our logistical problems.

2 We have sold the house. We close on 22 August and will begin our sailing journey south on 23 August.

3 In our last post there was a comment as to Amanda and Julius being in the Detroit area for a little R&R. Well, it must have been successful. They are due with there first baby in April of 09. Unfortunately Julius will be deployed with the Army at that time. There are, however, discussions of her sister hosting her in the Seattle area for the birth. Army hospitals and what not.

The sale of the house is a rather melancholy event. We love it here but it just doesn't fit into the plan anymore. We will be leaving lots of great friends but we now have opportunities to meet many new ones. It is a corner piece in the puzzle of our life at this point. Now all we have left to finish in the puzzle is the sky. The pieces are all there, we just will have to fit them together. More on that on the next post.

Rob

The Saga Continues

Since our last post we have been busy getting things ready for our "plan" to become reality. When Amanda and Julius were in the Detroit area, we were not only busy with them, but busy trading in our old 5th wheel on a new truck. 2007 Chevrolet again with a Duramax Diesel. Yes, that is the old truck in the background and yes we are keeping that one.

So if I update our inventory that gives us one 2003 truck that will go to Alaska; one 2007 truck that will pull the Bighorn 5th wheel south to Grand Isle; one 2008 Bighorn 5th wheel; one 1999 Red Alero that will go to Alaska (our fuel efficient vehicle); one 1979 32 foot sailboat that will also take us to Grand Isle. That leaves us with a cottage here in Canada that needs to be sold, and the need of a small camper to pull behind the Alaska truck.

We have also been very busy on the boat. We moved it from Blind River to here in Bruce Mines, a seven hour trip. Once here we have been busy doing a refit (defined as throwing money into the hole in the water)!! I am very happy to say this morning that most of the miserable jobs are done. Those jobs included removing the mast; rewiring the mast; re-stepping the mast (putting it back up for you landlubbers); removing the old head (toilet) and all of the old hoses (they take on a nasty odor); putting in a new head and new hoses (fresh air again in the boat); tearing out the old refrigeration unit (crawling in the bowels of the ship); putting in the new refrigeration unit (again to the bowels of the ship); repairing the fresh water pump (once more into the bowels of the ship). All of this time in the bowels I am beginning to feel like a Colo-rectal surgeon. My body is currently covered in in boat bites (cuts and bruises for you landlubbers).

Rob

Same Boat; Same name, sort of

Rob and I decided that to take the boat down to salt water we needed to make some changes. Danny's Fault now has a new bottom and new graphics sort of. Because of documenting the boat we had to scrape the old name off(too big) and put the new name on with a hailing port. So after some scraping and then some more scraping we got the old name off. We now hail from Ft. Richardson, Alaska. It has made for some interesting discussions with passersby in our soon to be our former homeport of Bruce Mines, Ontario.



We are now refitting the boat with a new head(toilet), new wiring in the mast and a new refrigeration system. Hopefully all will go well so that we can leave Bruce Mines in mid August and sail down to Chicago to start our river trip.



Last week we had to stop all work and go down to Detroit because our daughter Amanda and her husband Julius came from Anchorage to long awaited visit. Most of the family had not met Julius so we had a "Welcome to the family" party. My mom Rita is posed with Amanda and Julius.

Jude

We Are Moving!!

Jude and I have decided to sell the cottage in Canada and move our "stuff" up to Alaska. We will keep the boat and the big new 5th wheel in Grand Isle. We will take Jude's red car and a different truck and camper to Alaska.

We made these decisions last winter, but we wanted to tell Jude's mom in person, not have her read it here on the blog. The logistics will be interesting, to say the least. We will be moving Danny's Fault down through Chicago, the Illinois, Mississippi, Tennessee, Tom Bigby river system and ending up in Mobile Bay. From there we will hang a right and head to New Orleans and Grand Isle. We will leave Canada on the boat in mid to late August. We are still working on details for the new 5th wheel and all of our Alaska stuff.

We are currently at the Cottage in Canada and it is colder than the devil. We have had a fire every day since we got here 3 1/2 weeks ago. I have the sauna fired up now and will be heading down there after this posting.

We have been working our butts off getting ready to sell this place. The first was to get rid of lots of "stuff". We had a yard sale that was very successful. We moved a bunch of things out of here and made a pretty good chunk of change in the process. While that was going on, I also put down 250 sq ft of laminate flooring. We showed the house last night to some folks who have 2 other friends who have places along our street. Maybe they will come up with an offer before the real estate agent's commission kicks in.

I have to go feed wood into the Sauna and try to warm up. Bye to all for the time being.

Rob

Okay, We're Back On Line

Wow, I obviously have not kept up with this blog! Okay, now that I have stated the obvious let me try to update everyone on our adventures. Many of you know what we have been up to but many of you do not so I will start with the most current and work back to last year.

We are currently in Grand Isle, LA. It is about two hours south of New Orleans. This is where we came to help with Katrina damage when we retired the first time. We get to sail about 3-4 days a week on Andy and Sue's Irwin 41, "Happy Ours". I don't care how many times I see the dolphins I still get excited.

We also spent the month of December here as campground hosts at the State Park. Andy and Sue took us in for Christmas. We had a progressive Gumbo dinner going from one relatives house to another.

Last weekend we had a boat renaming ceremony for another friend's "new" sail boat. After the appropriate callings to Neptune and the wind gods, we celebrated with a good old Cajun crawfish boil. With food like this why would you want to be anywhere else.

We have decided to bring Danny's Fault down here. Who says one must sail only in the summer. Hopefully we will be able to get it down here next fall traveling down Lake Michigan, Illinois River, Mississippi River, Ohio River, turn right on the Tennessee and end up in Mobile Bay. Take a right and head to Grand Isle. We will be the 4th sailboat on the island!


Before this trip back to the Island, we were up in Anchorage volunteering with the Iditarod Dog Sled Race, "The Last Great Race." This is the third year we have done this, what a blast. As we did last year, Jude and I worked the starting chute at the beginning of the race. Here is a picture of Jude giving high 5's to the this year's repeat winner. That is my hand in the way messing up a perfect picture. This photo was on Lance Mackey's homepage for the first few days of the race. What many people are surprised at is that the race is 1150 miles long (Detroit to Florida) and the 16 dogs on a team are only about 50 lbs each. This guy is just relaxing before getting started. He is getting his game face on!




We not only worked the starting line, we spent time in the computer room entering race data, in the communication room communicating, and in the phone room answering questions from all over the world about the race. Jude actually got a call from someone in Henderson, MI, just north of Owosso.

We stayed with Amanda and Julius. It was nice spending some time with our new son-in-law, given the fact that the only time I ever saw him was the weekend of their wedding.



On the flight up from the lower 48 our flight got messed up and we had to spend the night in Seattle. No problem, we got to see Carrie's family. We went to soccer practice and got to give Mickey his birthday present,a kite to him in person. It was a nice stop and a lucky break.




Before heading to Anchorage we spent a month in Harlingen, TX. While we were there we helped Liz Winter, a friend from Canada, celebrate her 80th birthday. One weekend we attended a kite festival on South Padre Island. Jude stood in line and got to try out a dual line trick kite. Two days later we bought a kite. After a couple of hours of flying, we went out and bought another one! Now, we go out to the beach a couple of times per week and "go fly a kite."


Before traveling all of the way down here, we stopped in Knoxville, where we had a Thanksgiving dinner with my sisters and a couple of my nieces and nephews. Great time had by all.

Before that we spent a couple of weeks hanging out in Michigan visiting Jude's family and friends that we had not seen in the 2 years we have been gone out of Michigan. During that time we bought a new 5th wheel RV that is a bit larger and more comfortable for us to spend extended time.

Our trip back from Alaska to Bruce Mines was uneventful with the exception of the bear on his hind legs with his paws up to the side of the RV smelling the red beans and rice that Jude was cooking. That happened near Thunder Bay, Ontario.


After leaving Sitka, last spring, we headed up to Anchorage to fill our freezer with fish and clams. We got that accomplished. Here is a picture of Jude with her first King Salmon. She did not get any more kings, but she did nail the Red Salmon. By the time we headed back to the lower 48 I think she out fished me.

The low point since the last post was having to put Hannah down last June. She had cancer and when it got to her bladder, it was time. I sure miss her but as I have always said since I have had her, she was my second last dog.






Well, that is a brief overview of what we have been up to for the last 10 months. We will be heading back up to Bruce Mines in the next 10 days or so. We are planning on spending a couple of days in Memphis, then up to Jude's brothers place in Springfield, IL. Then back to the Detroit area for a week or so and then as soon as the ice is gone in Bruce Mines, we will head back there. We have a boat to put in the water and a cottage to get cleaned up. I will do a better job of keeping this thing updated.

Jude's plate is similar--I Sail 2