Due to damage from Hurricane Matthew, we could not head directly south to Florida. The main route: Rte 95 was closed in sections of North Carolina. HM had veered out at Jacksonville, but then came inland around Myrtle Beach & Hilton Head. Many trees & power lines were down and Marina docks were damaged. Electricity was out many places and some Gas Stations were out of fuel. We worked our way west for a while and gradually we headed south. Major flooding was evident in a few places with inland Rivers. We stopped for the night in Florence, South Carolina and the power was out in the campground, but they let us stay the night for free. We were able to get back on Rte 95 in South Carolina & Georgia. We were still seeing big trees down, deep standing water and lots of utility trucks.
We made it back to Jacksonville, Florida. Day Dreams looked great, not even a scratch or any signs of wind damage. Thank you to Lamb's Marina, our sturdy concrete roof and Roger, who kept a close eye on our boat.
We unloaded the RV, settled back onto Day Dreams (good to be back) and got ready to move back to The Marina @ Ortega Landing. Lamb's is great for storing and does have nice bathroom/shower facilities but it's like a cave under the roof and there is no pool, hot tub or clubhouse. The Marina @ Ortega has all that plus more of our friends too.
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| The Super Moon |
Our short cruise back to Ortega just reinforced our need to begin cruising again but we've got repairs to complete before we start moving south. These repairs encompass both of our bodies, Day Dreams and Summer Dreams (ourRV). We will be in this area till January 1 or 2.
Our sailor friends: Hope, Kevin & Windy(dog/child), we met this spring while @ Hammock Beach, are here and invited us to go for a sail. We sailed out to the St John's River and Doug & I had our turn steering. It was lots of fun!
We took our beautiful niece Wendi & her daughter Sam out to dinner to celebrate their birthdays. Tadd & Doug were along too. We went to Taverna in San Marcos, another trendy neighborhood not far from us.
Lots of Krogens have pulled into Ortega Marina and we all decided to go out to dinner together. What a great group of friends we have. That was Doug's last dinner before his repair work starts.
Doug is the first one to go in for his repairs to St Vincent's Hospital Riverside. This hospital and the Drs office are less than 2 miles away from the Marina, nice and convenient. Doug has elected to undergo a Heart Cath/Ablation procedure to see if it will stop his A Fibrillation episodes. He stayed in one night and so far so good except for the fat, cut & bruised lip that he came out of surgery with. Maybe they decided to knock him out with a punch instead of using anesthesia.
Ten days later, was my turn. I went into St Vincent's Hospital for a right Total Hip Replacement. My Doctor: John Redmond MD just left Mayo and moved to St Vincent's & joined SE Orthopedics. He's wonderful and I was walking out of the Hospital the next morning with a cane, pain & limp free. But I did end up with a complication due to an error by the Surgical Team, not my Dr. I received a third degree burn adjacent to my incision from an extremely hot retractor instrument. Two weeks post-op and I have to go back to surgery for a burn excision-ugh. Twenty sutures later with limited activity is very discouraging after doing so well with my total hip replacement. Our dear friends, Jill & Glen (our Staples friends) who we celebrated Thanksgiving with, came & rescued me right after my second surgery. They brought me to their beautiful home and then spoiled and pampered me. They are our angels!
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| Glen's latest find |
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| One of Jill's beautiful pies |
To make everything more complicated during my recovery, we had the boat hauled out of the water to begin the repairs it needed. We are not able to sleep on the boat while it is "on the hard". Here's where having the RV comes in quite handy. Prior to Thanksgiving, our friends Jeff & Ellen, on Sea Dweller had their boat hauled and we lent them the RV to sleep in. Now after Thanksgiving, it's our turn to sleep in the RV in a parking lot. I know, I know: Vagabonds, Right!
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| We will survive our repairs! |
After our bodies were repaired, it was time to work on our home. Day Dreams was hauled out of the water @ Lamb's Marina on the Ortega River. She was out of the water for 8 days. All repairs were completed to Doug's satisfaction. We were splashed back into the water & cruised back to Ortega Landings. We enjoy staying @ The Marina @ Ortega Landings: pool, hot tub, comfortable Captains Lounge, free laundry, great neighborhood and friendly boaters, who have become friends.
We continued to complete our month of Maintenance & last on the repair list was our Coach House RV. The RV needed some warranty work completed so we took it back to Venice, Florida where it was built. While it was being repaired, we drove to Punta Gorda to visit our friend Esther for the night. She took us to her Yacht Club's Holiday Lighting celebration. The docks were filled with decorated boats and once darkness settled in the countdown began & the boats all lit up @ the same time. What a beautiful scene-definitely helps to get one in the spirit. Our "Summer Dreams" RV was all fixed nicely and we headed back to Jacksonville. We found a covered storage area to keep "Summer Dreams" and put her away till June. 
We love being close to our niece Wendi & her husband Tadd and daughter Samantha. We had a fun time with them experiencing our first escape room. Sorry to say-we didn't escape in the allotted time but it was definitely a challenge trying. Doug's still talking about how cool it was.
Our friends, Barb, Joe & Sabrina were smart & visited us in sunny Florida. They stayed near by so we were able to spend time with them @ their resort and also @ our marina. 
We flew home to Ohio for Christmas. Jeri was nice enough to let us stay with her. We enjoyed spending time with our friends and celebrating Christmas & Paul's birthday.
Christmas Day was filled with dear friends, food, laughter and silly games! Craziest new game: Speak Out! Ever try to talk with a plastic contraption in your mouth keeping your lips from touching? It's not pretty!
