May 24-28, 2021 Driving North from JAX, FL to Sutton's Bay, MI

 In the morning, we said our good-byes to Day Dreams and hopped into our new Ford Van, filled with whatever we may need this summer. We took route 95N out of Jacksonville for awhile. We hit a lot of traffic: stop & go, around Charlotte, NC. We stopped for the night in Jonesville, NC @ a Hampton. The COVID pandemic is still ongoing so we ordered take out from the neighboring Cracker Barrel. It's very hot-up into the 90's when we began our travels north.  I drove some & of course it was through the hilly construction areas of West Virginia. 

We arrived @ Jeri's beautiful new house in Elmore in time for cocktails. Jeri served dinner & invited C&C, J&P.  It's a bit tense because Cheryl, Paul & Jess are not vaccinated. Cheryl & Paul have had COVID so feel they are immune. Paul was not ill enough to even know when he had COVID  but he is going by the fact that the Redcross found antibodies in his blood for COVID when he gave blood. Cheryl was sick in November with the virus. Jess has neither been sick or tested for antibodies. I have tried giving them scientific & medical resources recommending everyone should get the vaccine but they refuse to listen because they are brainwashed by misinformation & lies from the Trump & Republican extremists media. while we were in the area, Doug & I drove to Maumee & Perrysburg. We went by our old house on Tappan-the curtains/drapes are still mine.  No changes have been made that we could see, other than a stairway up to the bedroom balcony.  The next night, Jeri hosted Elaine & Jim for dinner so we could visit with them-Elaine brought one of her delicious pies. Doug bought me a new Apple watch from the Apple store at franklin park mall-he's so good to me. 

Jeri gave the boys Bags of Shit
for an early Father's Day gift

The temperatures have greatly changed, when we left Jeri's to go north to David & Susan's in Chelsea, MI it was 43 degrees. We spent the night @ David's. They made us a nice dinner with a yummy dessert. We had a good time catching up & reminiscing. 

April 23-May23, 2021 The Marina @ Ortega Landing, Jacksonville, FL

 I usually love coming back to Ortega but my joy has been dampened because the office staff here are not vaccinated except for Bill, our wonderfully capable Maintenance Guy. This has become such a divisive situation because instead of it being a public health issue it's turned into a political mess. Social Media has become a distributor of misinformation & conspiracy theories. 

It's been almost 2 years since we sold the RV. Our plans for this summer require a vehicle to transport our "stuff" to our rentals on Lake Michigan & in the U.P.  Doug was thrilled because he decided it needed to be a Cargo Van in order to fit all of our "stuff".  He chose to order a new Ford Transit Van from the commercial dealer here in JAX. He ordered it the end of 2020 and it arrived last month and has been sitting at the dealer waiting for our return. Doug ordered it just as a shell with 2 front seats so he could finish it himself. He first applied sound deadening material on all of the walls, ceiling, doors and wheel wells. The next step was to insulate all of the surfaces with Thinsulate insulation. He wanted all of the surfaces to have a hard, impact resistant panel, so he purchased a custom cut system that also included the floor. our friend Larry offered his driveway and garage and helped install the panels. it turned out great and made the van very quiet inside.

When we arrived @ The Marina, there were 5 other Krogens here. I organized a meet & greet cocktail party poolside. My Way too, Figment, Avalon, Karissa Leigh attended. We exchanged boat cards and experiences, always great to get together with fellow Krogen owners.

We enjoyed some visits with our niece Wendi, Tadd & Sam, friends, Jill & Glen and Larry & Lena. We are so lucky to have friends most every where we go. We made new friends with Ray & Susan on Copeing across the dock from us. We found out by FaceTime @ a Gender Reveal party that Jess & Paul will be having a baby boy.

Doug hired a crew to wax the boat-he has decided he's not going to work that hard anymore. One of the guys, Peter, who lives here in the Marina on his boat does laser engraving and he engraved a cutting board for us with the sketch of Day Dreams-it's very cool. I cleaned the interior of the boat while Doug finished the interior of the van. We bought bins to load our "stuff' in, which will go into the van for our summer adventures. 

We will be leaving Day Dreams here for the summer, so we had to prepare it for Hurricane season: extra lines, put everything away- nothing that could blow. We have hired Eric to check on the boat, Karen to wash the boat & Ollie to clean the bottom. It's always difficult to walk away from Day Dreams, knowing it will be months before we return but we know she is in good hands & in a safe place.