September 20-25, 2021 our drive south to Florida, with a short detour to Ohio

We left Jamestown and instead of heading south to Florida, we turned towards Ohio. We stayed one night in Lamar PA. Once in Ohio, we stopped in Sandusky to check out Son Rise Marina. We are hoping to store Day Dreams @ this Marina for the winter of 2022. We met Frank, the winter storage/dockmaster and the 2 gals in the office. They all were so nice and the facilities were in great shape. We signed a storage contract. 

We stayed with Craig & Cheryl in Elmore for 2 nights. Doug received his COVID Booster from the CVS in Woodville, OH near Elmore. He had a sore arm, headache & fatigue the day after. He also was still fighting the infection in his finger-I lanced it and put him on a second round of Keflex. We saw Paul & Jess one more time and she's not ready to have the baby yet, so we are going to head back to the boat in Florida. We said our Good-byes & Thank you's for their love & hospitality to Jeri, Paul, Jess, Craig & Cheryl. We stopped & stayed the night in Jonesville, NC @ the Hampton, which is one of the nicest ones we've been in. 

On our way back to Florida, we were able to add one more National Park to our long list. Congaree National Park is a small, only 41square miles, relatively unknown park in central S. Carolina. We walked the 2 mile boardwalk through an old growth bottomland hardwood forest. According to Wiki, these lush trees growing in the flood plane forest are some of the tallest in the eastern US, forming one of the highest temperate deciduous forest canopies remaining in the world. It's a pretty place on a river but there isn't any camping or lodging. It's the 10th least visited National Park and earned its National Park status in 2003. 

Sept 10-20,2021 Connecticut & Rhode Island

 We traveled in our van from Ohio to Connecticut, stopping twice for the night: once in LaMar, PA and our second night in Middleton, NY. Years ago, we would have driven straight through or slept in our van but now we are spoiled and old so we stayed in nice hotels along the way. 

Our friends, Al & Bette are from Connecticut and up until recently owned a home in Waterford. They are now living on their yacht in Point Marina for the remainder of the summer. This Marina located in Waterford is a charming small, privately owned place where Al & Bette have kept their boat for years. They had invited us to come stay with them. It was a joy to get back on a boat and feel the lull of the water. We enjoyed our own private stateroom & full head in the bow of the boat. Al & Bette are gracious hosts who fed us well and kept us entertained. We celebrated Doug's birthday with a delicious flourless Chocolate Cake that Bette baked for him.

 They drove us to nearby Mystic Seaport where we spent the day touring the property. There is a lot to see: wooden ships, whaling ships, exhibits, live working educational workshops and a very captivating museum. After a few wonderful days, we said our good-byes & a see you in October, back in JAX.

Doug had banged up 2 of his finger tips & nail beds while working on the deck on Middle Bass Island back in August. During our visit in CT,  his fingers were not healing but actually developing an infection to the point of pain, tenderness, redness & edema. We stopped at an Urgent Care on our way to Rhode Island so he could get an antibiotic. 

In Rhode Island, we visited our good friends, David & Tricia at their home in Jamestown. We timed our visit so we could join them at the Newport Boat Show. We've been to a lot of boat shows but never this one. We spent the day looking at boats, seeing friends (other Kadey Krogen owners) and shopping. Kadey Krogen Yachts had a display & boats at the show. We were all invited to join them for a cocktail party where they made a Public Announcement with press present, regarding the new ownership and change in management. 

After the boat show, David & Tricia invited all of our KK friends (Jeff, Ellen, Martha, John, Lisa & Greg) back to their house for drinks & carry out. It was a beautiful evening spent with great friends out on their patio overlooking the Narragansett Bay. 

David & Tricia love live music and they took us to Narraganset Beach to hear a band-the weather was perfect, we sat in the sand listening to some great music. Another day, we cruised though Newport Harbor on their center console. We had drinks & dinner on the roof patio of the Newport Yacht Club. We ran into Mike & Maria, more KK friends. Our last day visiting, Jeff & Ellen invited the 4 of us out to their new Sea Dweller for lunch. Jeff picked us up in his dinghy, we brought pizza and we had a nice visit out on a mooring ball in Newport Harbor. On our way home, D&T took us to the Castle Inn for drinks while sitting in Adirondack Chairs on the lawn overlooking Narragansett Bay watching the boats sail by. We said our good-byes the next morning. This good-bye was a bit tougher because we don't know when we will see them next. We truly are so lucky to have such wonderful dear friends.

July 31, 2021-September 9, 2021 leaving Michigan & hanging in Ohio

Our stay in the U.P. of Michigan finished at the end of July. We packed all our belongings back into the Cargo Van and headed south. The gypsy life continues. First important stop was in Howell, Michigan where our dear friends, Garry & Jacque have moved after they sold Waterford. They are renting a nice townhouse halfway between their twin daughters & grandchildren. We enjoyed a nice visit eating delicious food & catching up on each others recent adventures. After leaving G&J, we continued south, making a short stop back at our old Marina: Toledo Beach. Surprisingly, our former dock neighbors were still in the same dock & on their boat. It was great to see Svein & Elaine. Next stop was at Jim & Elaine's in Perrysburg to see his completed Ferrari collection and all the improvements they continue to make to their beautiful property. 

From there, we drove to Elmore to  temporarily move in to Jeri's new house. Her house is super nice & situated at an end of a cul-de-sac with a pretty pond on the property. She is next to Sugarcreek Golf Course, which makes it feel even closer with nature. The few weeks we stayed with Jeri went fast-everyone was very busy. It was tough dealing with the COVID Pandemic and friends who had different philosophies and believed the misinformation & the politics instead of Public Health & science. The big focus of our visit was preparing for Paul & Jess's huge baby shower which was titled "The Pregger Kegger". The party was coed and had a long, long list of invitees. It took place on Craig & Cheryl's property here in Elmore. There were weeks of planning, cleaning, organizing Craig's Barn, ordering decorations, purchasing food, picking up equipment, prep and the list goes on. When the Wendt's have an event, they go all out & of course, we were there to help. The day of the party was extremely hot but it was a great success and Paul & Jess have enough diapers to last the new baby for months, we hope!

Another project that was taking place simultaneously that Doug was more involved with, was tearing off the old deck & replacing it with Trex at C&C's cottage on Middle Bass Island. We had built the cottage with C&C in 1989/1990. When we took delivery of Day Dreams in 2003, we sold C&C our half of the cottage with a lifetime warranty of help when needed. 

In between our chores, we were able to meet some friends for lunches & dinners. Jeri was gracious enough to host some fun dinner parties. Sadly, I have gotten out of the habit of taking pics so I don't have pictorial documentation of our get togethers with our friends. We shared dinners with Paul & Jess, Craig & Cheryl, Jim & Elaine, Doris & Jerry, Barb, Joe & Sabrina. We cooked a family breakfast @ Oak Openings in memory of Doug's Mom & Dad with Doug's 2 nephews, Jason & Matt & his niece Jo along with Rebecca, Jen & their kids: Spencer, Bea, Killian & Jamison-the get together was quite special. 

I enjoyed lunches with Linda, Janet, Barb, Terrie, Karen, Sue, Christie & Diane. I visited Dianne in her new home & we enjoyed great walks together. Dianne & I went to an outdoor concert @ Toledo Botanical Gardens on a beautiful summers evening. I enjoyed dinner with my Wood County Public Health friends: Janet, Helen & Judy. We were invited with Jeri to her cousin's Madeline along with Donna and families. It was very nice visiting with so many friends we hadn't seen since before the Pandemic began. 

Doug & I took our bikes to one of our favorite parks, Farnsworth, along the Maumee River and rode our bikes on the tow path from Waterville to Grand Rapids. Jeri & I even found time for a round of golf @ Sugarcreek. Jeri & Paul joined us for a day @ the Solheim Cup International Golf Tournament. We were able to get tickets from Deb @ Lathrop-thank you Deb! It was a beautiful day & great fun spending it with Paul & Jeri. After the golf tournament, Paul & Jess had us over to their house for dinner & to see all the fun baby gifts they received at the shower. We had a campfire in their backyard, what a delightful day! 

After the baby shower clean up, when we had overstayed our welcome (according to Jerry O), we took the ferry over to Middle Bass Island and spent time at the cottage while Craig & Doug continued to work on the new deck. The weather was nice & we even took C&C's new dinghy out for a ride. Doug did have 2 mishaps while at the cottage:1st, he injured 2 of his nail beds removing the nails in the deck and dealt with infection for weeks. Second injury was from slipping down the slimy boat ramp while launching Craig's dinghy. He ruptured his Bursa sac on his elbow-that was nasty with blood & fluid leakage. But luckily for all, he survived! While at the cottage, our longtime island friends, Sue & Roman invited us over to their beautiful log home for dinner-WOW, can they host a party. Everything was delicious & the company was tons of fun!

Middle Bass Island State Park

Former Lonz Winery

We stayed with Craig & Cheryl for a few days when we returned from the cottage. Cheryl is still working hard at Real Estate, so we didn't see too much of her but we had a great visit with Craig. Thank you to Jeri and C&C for your incredibly generous hospitality. 

When we left Elmore, we stopped at Cuyahoga National Park outside of Cleveland. Jerry & Jeri joined us there. We all had our e-bikes and rode the paved tow path 24 miles between the old Erie Barge Canal and the Cuyahoga River. Doug & I stayed the night at the Brandywine Inn B&B right next door to the Gorge and Brandywine Waterfalls. Our room was called the Loft and it had been a horse barn in it's former life. It was decorated so cute with lots of farm & barn increments on the walls. Our breakfast was delivered to our room and a sweet aproned young lady set it all up on our table in the nook.