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. A
s 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
