June 12-24, 2019 Elmore, OH for Paul & Jess's wedding shower

From Jacksonville, we traveled north, mostly on interstate 75. Our first day of travel was rainy & we got hit with a rock from a passing semi hard enough to chip & crack our front windshield.  Not a great start. The crack on the windshield kept growing so we called our new insurance carrier, Geico. They were great to work with and they got me in touch with Safelight auto glass who they recommend. We could have chosen any place but it was super easy to go with Safelight & we liked their efficiency & professionalism.  GEICO covered everything 100% because we have the extra coverage in our plan. We made an appointment the next morning at Safelight in Knoxville. Meanwhile, while we were in Knoxville, we stopped @ REI & Doug got new Keens. We stopped for the night just a bit north of Knoxville at a KOA in Clinton, Tennessee. It was a bit tired but clean and not very big.

The next morning, we turned back & drove to Knoxville to Safelight. When we got there, they took one look @ the size & location of the chip & crack and said we needed a new windshield and they couldn't do it right then. In hind sight, we should have taken a pic of it & sent it to them. They took care of setting up an appointment for us in Toledo.  We have the lane alarm so after the windshield is replaced, we have to take it to Mercedes Benz to recalculate the alarm, otherwise they could have replaced the windshield out in Elmore @ Craig's.

As we drove north, it got colder, which felt good because Florida's weather has been unusually hot, dry & stifling. We arrived @ C&C's RV resort in Elmore by cocktail hour.  The owners weren't in but the campground hosts: Jeri & Jerry were there to greet us. When Craig got home, we enjoyed a nice dinner, prepared by Jeri & Craig. Cheryl got home later in the evening.

We had planned on taking Summer Dreams to Middle Bass Island & stay for 5 or 6 days but the island has been flooded all spring & still is. So instead, we all just took the ferry over & stayed the night. Cheryl & I went over early so she could list a cottage. Craig, Doug, Paul & Jess came over after work.  The level of Lake Erie is extremely high, almost at record depths, so some of the roads & many yards on MBI are under water. We biked some of the island, running through water up to the pedals at times. Doug & Paul sanded the big round picnic table top & then wood burned it-it looks great. Craig had the guys do a Mexican beer tasting to help decide what to serve @ the Mexican themed Rehearsal dinner. He'll need to keep looking because they didn't like any of them.  Since Doug's favorite vodka, or so he thought, is Titos & there wasn't any at the cottage, Paul decided to have his Uncle Doug do a blind taste test of the many different brands of vodka that were available. Surprisingly, Doug picked the premium Costco Vodka & McCormick's as the best.

After leaving the island, next on the agenda was Lena Koskinen's graduation party @ Wayne & Tana's house in Pburg. C&C, J&J & Paul & Jess attended with us.  After we left the party, everyone except Cheryl stopped at Paul & Jess's house.

During the week, I got my haircut by Melinda Young in Fremont, Jeri & I did some clothes shopping,  Doug & I had our semi-annual dental visits by Brochin,  Doug saw Wayne to crack his back, I visited with Diane Hider, Linda Kalmbach, Janet & Barb. I saw Janet & Bob's new home & it is lovely. Our Patty had Jeri & I over to her house for a poolside luncheon which was very special & fun. We ran into Jim & Elaine @ Lamplight so we even got a quick visit in with them. Friday night, I helped Jeri sell Strawberry shots & blow jobs @ the Harborview Regatta. Saturday night, Ray & Patty, Craig & Cheryl, Jeri & Jerry & Paul all went out to dinner downtown Toledo for an early surprise celebration for Jeri's 65th. We dined at Table 44 and then watched the fireworks at Fifth Third Field.

All during this time, we were prepping for Jess & Paul's wedding shower. Jeri, Cheryl, myself and some of Jess's family hosted the shower on Sunday, June 23rd at Schedel Gardens in Elmore. It was a beautiful day, the weather was perfect & the shower went off without a hitch.  The table decorations were done by Jess, the donut display was designed by Jeri & built by Craig.  The food was yummy and there was a great turn out. Jess looked beautiful.

April 22-June 12, 2019 From St Pete to JAX, FL

Our normal route back to Jacksonville from the Gulf Coast was not possible this spring so we switched to Plan B. The Okachobee waterway was too shallow for us to navigate due to the Corp of Engineers keeping the lake level low to decrease the risk of flooding during the spring rains.  Plus it has been unusually dry so the levels are lower than expected. We are cruising with Waterford, it's nice to have our cruising buddies back.  Our first is a normal stop: Lemon Bay, where in the past, we have met Van & Lou, who live along the shoreline. They are in the process of building a new house in Pennsylvania & selling this one.  We anchored in the bay but they were not home. 

We liked Ft Myers moorings when we stopped last month so we stopped here again. Waterford got their dinghy down & took the four of us to Doc Fords Restaurant located in the harbor. We read Randy Wayne White who's main character is Doc Ford & talks about this area in his books.

So at this point, is where we would normally turn east & follow the "O" Waterway but this time we continued south to Russell Pass in the Everglades & anchored there. We were lucky with winds & weather-so far so good. While traveling with Waterford, we continue our rule of taking turns leading. The next leg was a bit stressful because neither boat had done this portion & it was said to be a bit shallow. We cruised along the Keys & entered Jewfish Bay & it did get a bit skinny under our bottoms for a short distance. The whole Gulf along the Keys is shallow anyway so it doesn't take much to be a bit risky but we made it just fine to Jewfish Bay anchorage.  From here, we left to complete an overnight to Ft Pierce.

We rode the gulf stream for awhile & were flying @ 10 knots. We actually had to slow down because we were making such good time with perfect wind & wave conditions, otherwise we were going to arrive @ the inlet before dawn.  It took us 24 hours to cruise to Ft Pierce Marina. We stayed 2 nights to recuperate & visit the Farmers Market. We dined at 121 Tapas & visited with KK Blue Goose who was spending extended time in the Marina. The Tiki Hut Bar was closing so they could tear it down & build new.

Our anchorages along the east coast while traveling north were at Palm Bridge anchor in Melbourne & Rockhouse anchor-north of New Smyrna, where we enjoyed a view of a lighthouse.  We couldn't pass St Augustine without stopping so we snagged two moorings & spent an evening in town. Waterford was gracious enough to cart us around in their dinghy because Doug's back was still a bit unstable & he was afraid to manually hoist the dinghy up & down. 

We arrived at The Marina at Ortega Landing May 1, right on schedule.  Waterford kept going to Brunswick Marina in Georgia where they will leave their boat for the summer. KK Rachel was docked right across from us & helped us in. The next day, we borrowed Hobo’s car & picked up the RV from storage. It had a heavy coat of pollen on it, but otherwise good. 

There were 7 krogens in the Marina. I set up a meet & greet with 4 of them: Hobo, Rachel, Sea Shanty & Rose Marie. Next Dance was there with no one aboard; the new owners who took possession last fall has put the boat up For Sale.  Promises is here but Judge is back east. 

The Marina hosted a Derby party in the lounge-I won the Hat Contest-Doug did a fine job decorating one of my hats. He found an example on line & it ended up being a pic from USA today with the name: Jan Baty on it-weird! We were serenaded from the pool deck all evening by a guitar, fiddle & singer. 

this was my Birthday present from Jeri

Doug’s now an AT&T user, we are a mixed family. We get HBO included so we watched the last season of Game of Thrones. We both have new phones. Sold our Folbot Kayak through Craig’s List. Jeri had given us 2 Liberty Jigsaw Puzzles to work & we became obsessed. These are wooden lasered pieces in many different shapes & sizes making it quite challenging. 

Our Social life slowed some: Jill & Glen came to see us & we brunched at Black Sheep. Cindy & Pete on Journey were here for awhile & we biked to dinner @ The Loop. We had fun hanging out with Rachel & George. One evening, they had us over for Cosmos & Apps & then we rode with them to dine @ Hawkers & walk around 5 Points. Biked with G&R to the Farmers Market-which is always a fun time-there are always new vendors. We spent a few days with the Smith’s & saw brother Bob & Karen on their way back from their TransAtlantic Cruise. The weather has been very hot & Memorial Day was a scorcher so we attended the Potluck @ the Marina but didn't stay around too long visiting. We love going to the Sun Ray Movie Theater in 5 Points & we biked there to see Rocket Man-Elton John's story-I cried.  Our last visitors: Joe Cleveland & Cliff were in JAX for work, so they picked us up & took us out to dinner on Lathrop-Thank you!

When we weren't having fun we spent the month cleaning & prepping the boat for the summer. Doug hired Alex to wax the hull & eyebrow of the bridge.  Very hot & dry weather, earlier than usual.  June 1st we moved Day Dreams to Lamb’s to be under the roof for the summer, out of the intense sun. We then spent a week provisioning & stocking the RV. 

On June 12, we said Good-bye to Day Dreams & moved onto Summer Dreams. Eric is boat sitting.