Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Day 2 Tuesday 12/31/13

Happy New Year's Eve!!!
We have had another great day on the water with much to see!! It started out this morning a little cold of which we wore long johns and sweatshirts!!  We wore them all day!!! I thought we were going south!!!  Never saw the sun all day. Even chilly cold we had fun!!
Traveled 82 miles today as we left Charleston around 7:30am and was able to catch a great falling tide that really speeded up our power down the waterway most of the day. 
I am downloading some Pics of dolphins that caught our wake and swam right by my window for 10 mins!! The one thing I noticed, they had Pink Noses?? So I ask google why they had pink noses. And it is a gene passed on from an albino mother!! learn something new everyday!!! Albino dolphins are pink all over!! They are so beautiful and they were so playful rolling and jumping beside the boat!! made me smile!!
We are in Hilton Head tonight just anchored at a place called Skull island Creek. Smooth calm water with a incredible view of Hilton Head!! I may see some fireworks tonight but only from behind my eyelids!!Ha
Took the dinghy down this evening for a good walk on the island to stretch our legs and give Lexie some land to do her business! She enjoyed so much and got really excited when she heard the dinghy come off the top of our boat!! (What we won't do to make our pets happy!!!)
Already had dinner, dishes done and PJ's on ready for bed!! ( I know it's only 7pm, but Rod rings the "get up bell" early!!)!!
2013 is almost over and I hope we can all look back and count our blessings!! many trials and many smiles we have had but overall, My Bucket is Full !!!! We are blessed!!!!
We both send many Blessing in 2014 to all our friends and family, Ms. Fran and Capt Rod 



Monday, December 30, 2013

Day1 Monday 12/30/13

We pulled out of our home slot this morning about 8:30am, a little later than expected, as we could not get gas for our boat yesterday!! Thanks to Mark, Wanda, and Cory Singleton that came by yesterday evening we were able to put all our STUFF we did not want to bring with us, in our storage unit. Thanks For the help!!
Had a wonderful easy cruise down the ICW ( Intercoastal Waterway) today that was a little chilly but, with an enclosed bridge for driving, we stayed comfortable most of the day. As usual, just like most humans, we came right back to the same spot just South of Charleston to anchor for the night. Arrived around 4:30pm at Elliott's Cut and decided we would go ahead and get set for the evening, rest, fix supper and relax!!   We are blessed to have had a good trip today and feel very thankful!! As always who can come through Charleston and not take pictures of the Battery and the Rainbow Row of Homes!! Attached are a few pictures.
Oh and Lexie had a good day too! She slept most of the day in her little hide hole we made up stairs with us where she seemed to be very content!!
Tonight we took her to the front of the boat where we had placed her potty patch and, YEAH she did her business!! We have been in training on this for several months!!! 
Keep us in your prayers!!  Love to All, Ms. Fran and Capt Rod 


Friday, February 8, 2013

Day 59 HOME FROM THE KEYS!!! 2/7/13

We arrived home around 5:30pm this evening via TOW BOAT US!!! Again, the engines stopped on us about 7 miles from home!!! It was pouring rain and the wind in the bay was 50-60 mph!! That's sub-tropical, almost hurricane winds!!! When we left Charleston Harbor this morning it was beautiful after we were traveling about 3 hours it begin to rain and got heavier as we got closer to Georgetown!! Finally we discovered our water problem it was rain getting into our fuel tanks via the nozzle where we put in fuel!!! SOOOO we called our friend Ronnie Campbell who is the Tow Boat US representative in Georgetown, and bless his heart he came to our rescue in less than an hour!! He towed us home and put us right into our home slot, even in that kind of wind, he parked us like it was nothing to it!!! Chris, our home harbor master, was waiting and took our lines and tied us right up!!! In that kind of wind I rain, I still wanted to get out and Kiss the ground!!!!! we are so glad to be home. we start tours on Monday and of course Rodney will need to clean out the water in the fuel tanks again. Will be hitting the ground running tomorrow!! WHAT AN ADVENTURE this has been!!
I do hope to have another trip at some point, but do hope we have solved a lot of the issues and pray for a little less stressful trip next time!! This is the trials of owning a boat!!!! Also after spending ALL our time together for 60 days, stress and all, guess what? Rodney and I still love each other!! Ha
Love to all!! Fran

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Day 58 of now "Returning from the Keys" 2/6/13

Well we finally were able to leave Sail Harbor Marina yesterday and made it back to the last place we anchored when we had the bad storm and the motors died at Pigeon Point Landing in Beaufort, SC!!! We had a wonderful night last, we even talked about how incredibly smooth the water was all night !!! We left there early this morning and made it Charleston Harbor and have anchored here for the night. The weather is beautiful and we are so excited to be this close to home!!! We cooked BBQ chicken and steamed veggies on our grill this evening and had a salad. We plan to leave as soon as the sun is up in the morning as we really want to get to home port before the predicted rain tomorrow evening!!! We sat this evening and discussed our trip, the good and the bad, and what we would have done different or how we would have prepared better. We are both ready to get back to doing tours and we have several months to talk about all the happenings the past 2 months!!!
I will follow up tomorrow evening just to let all know we did arrive home safe!! I hope all have enjoyed reading about our trip as much as I enjoyed telling about it!!!
Love to all, Fran

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Day 57 of now "Returning from the Keys" 2/5/13

Well we were ready to untie our home and take off this morning at 7:30am, but no go!! We had one motor that refused to start this morning. They had everything running so well yesterday afternoon we were sure we would get to leave this morning. The mechanic is here and working hard to get us underway in a few hours and if at all possible we will start home.
If people ask "How was your trip?" I would have to say we had a wonderful time.!! even with all the problems we have had we have had MANY good times and and met some wonderful people and saw wonderful views that were just incredible. It'd hard right now to be positive but we are hanging in there and know the Lord will get us back home safe and soon!!
Pray for us !!!! I will keep updated!!!
Love to all, Fran

Monday, February 4, 2013

Days 55 56 of now "Returning from the Keys" 2/4/13

Yesterday was Sunday and I made Rodney rest all day!!! We were able to attend church with the people we met here at the Marina. It was a small Church 30 or so members, named Island Community Church. We meet many nice people and the couple that came and picked us up from the marina even took us to lunch at a Japanese Rest after church!! It was wonderful !!! We rode our bike for a while after we got back to the marina and went by Paula Deen's house and took pics and even used her garbage can!!! Ha She has a beautiful home with horse stables and a 4 car garage attached. Her home sits way off the rode but right on the waterway !!! Pics will be attached.
We walked around a small mall and then decided to go home and watch movies. That we did till 11pm and went to bed!!!
Rod started in again this morning before the mechanics arrived working on the motors. They came by and will be starting on our water issue and trying to get a our second motor started here in a few minutes!!! Pray we are able to get completed and out of here tomorrow morning!!
I am ready to go home!!!
Love to all, Fran
PICS: Pics at Paula Deens!!! I am sure she would have invited us in for dinner if she had of been home!! yeh right!!!








Saturday, February 2, 2013

Day 54 of now "Returning from the Keys" 2/2/13

Well promptly at 8:15am Tow Boat US Capt. Roy pulled up to us at the Marina in Beaufort and off we went back to Savannah. This is a 55 mile trip and will take most of the day as they can not tow us very fast!! Rod worked in the engine room the entire trip still trying to get the 2nd motor to start!! We have one motor running but can't run it to long as our gas is still contaminated with water!!! The other one just won't start!! 😕
Boring trip as all I did today was sit at the steering wheel and watched just in case the tow boat needed me to do anything. I did have to steer some going under the bridges. Most of the time I played solitary or played with Lexie. Took pics of her enjoying the wind, she loves sitting in the doorway!! and some of her enjoying the view out the window and basking in the sun!! In Hilton Head we switched to another Tow Boat as they can only tow in their territory, so we were picked up by another Tow Boat US Capt Mike that will be taking us on in to the Marina.
So at 5;30 pm this afternoon we arrived at a small marine but big facility and they got us docked and set up for the weekend. They will not start our work until Monday morning. Oh well !!! What can I say tomorrow is Sunday!!
Talked to a few people that live here on their boats and we were invited to go to church with them tomorrow !! We will probably ride our bike tomorrow if weather is good and just hang out!!
Check out the blog tomorrow and i will let you know what we did!!!
Love to all, Fran
PICS: 1. Lexie enjoying the breeze at the door. 2. 3. she loves looking out the window, but she caught me taking her pic. 4. I'm sitting in the drivers seat watching the tow boat pull me along.







Friday, February 1, 2013

Days 51/52/53 of now "returning from the Keys". 2/1/13

First of all today is day 53 of our trip AND My Birthday!!!! Thanks to all who text, emailed, call and thought of me as it was the worst birthday I think I have ever had!!!! Let me explain!!!
We left Savannah day before yesterday, a day late if you remember because the weather caused us to stay another day. It was still not the best weather to travel in but we did ok until we got to St. Andrews Sound just South of Beaufort, SC. The wind was extreme coming across that sound. we had waves breaking over the front of the boat, the boat tossing about it turned over almost everything in the house. I got most things to the floor in time to save breakage, and just put it all back together again when we got into better water conditions. (Un-knowing to us water was breaking on the deck of the boat, this water was going in our fuel tank vent tubes.)We were so tired we anchored at a place called Pigeon Landing, a small cove with a great dock landing to dinghy over to for Lexie. This was about 4 pm. By 10 pm the wind was up again and were fighting every wave just to keep the boat at anchor and stay with the wind coming straight at us!! Believe me you don't want to ever have to do that!!! (again water was going into our fuel tanks)
We worked until about 3am wind was down and rain had stopped so we were able to at least rest for a little bit. 5am it started again lasting about another hour. So by 6 am Rodney wanted to try and move the boat some as the tide was really low And we where in some shallow water. When he tried to start the motors, THEY WOULD NOT START!!!!! After an evaluation by my Capt and mechanic, it was discovered that we had LOTS of water in the gas tanks along with 400+ gals of diesel fuel. Nothing we could do but call Sea Tow and made arrangements for them to take us to a small private marina that was close to us for help. It was Marsh Harbor Boat-works Marina. Peter, the owner, Sue his mother in law, Shane an employee there that had knowledge of diesel motors and water separation. They were all helpful and willing to do whatever, but this afternoon it was discovered the problem was way to big for them to handle. So back to Sea Tow for help and they were very helpful!!!
They will be towing us back to Savannah (sometimes do do have to go backwards in life) to a large marina that has a machine that can pull our fuel out, clean it, and replace it clean of NO WATER!!!!!
Got a call just a little while ago they will come attach to our boat tomorrow morning around 9 am and back to Savannah they will take us. Arrangement have been made for us a docking slip and we will just stay there till Monday morning as they will probably not work Sat evening or Sun.
I loved Savannah but this is NOT the way I wanted to return!!!
I pray insurance will help with the cost as I will submit a claim when finished with all this work. it was a mechanical problem and I so hope it will be covered.
I am ready to go home!!! We will have to hit the ground running when we get back as we already have tours scheduled Feb the 11 th with a tour bus of Canadians.
Pray for us a good day tomorrow !! We need it!!! Rodney has worked almost nonstop for 3 days. I hope he will rest some tonight as there is nothing else he can do right now till we get to a place that has the equip we need!!
Love to all, Fran
PICS: You would not have wanted to seen any of us today!! Ha

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Day 50 of now "Returning from the Keys" 1/29/13

Well if you read my post from yesterday, you would know we were on our way to Beaufort, SC this morning,, BUT NOOOO !!! Woke up this morning to a fog that was so bad we could not even see the bldgs that were 50 ft from the boat. So we waited and waited and by 10 am or so it was still bad !! What a shame, we must spend another day!! Ahhhh!!!
We have walked and walked and walked. It was close to 80 degrees most of the day. We visited city market again ate breakfast at a little cafe that was once a filling station and garage turned into a breakfast and lunch cafe called Jay Christopher's!! How neat!!! Revisited some of the parks, visited the maritime museum and went into a magnificent church that had stain glass windows valued and insured for over a million dollars!! when purchased for the church they cost 8-10 thousand dollars. Just Beautiful!!!
We had ice cream and have eaten our self silly, we must leave here soon as we are already putting on weight!!! Ha. Dinner this evening was at a local Mexican restaurant Cilantros!!
Like I said we have eaten way to much, but sure have enjoyed each and every place !! There are vendors on every corner of River St., selling something, singing or playing an instrument. I had purchased a bouquet of Savannah roses that the locals make and sell here a couple of days ago. This evening we men a young guy that was able to give us the history behind the Savannah rose and of course I purchased a few more from him!!! A homeless, young, veteran making a living selling these beautiful hand make roses out of Palm leaves. I walked Lexie, Rodney stood and talked to him for almost and hour!!!
We will leave here tomorrow even if we get a late start as we must get on up the waterway toward home. We hoped to,spend a few days in Beaufort, SC but we will just have to see how the weather holds out for us and if time permits!
Love to all, Fran
PICS: 1. The fog around 10am 2.Rod conversing with a statue (heard of talking to a fence post? Just proves Rod can talk to anyoneHa) 3.4.We wanted to eat breakfast at the restaurant where Jenny worked in Forest Gump but is is closed the month of January. 5. Rod and I on the waterfront at River St. 6. Rod and his new friend Cal White, that makes beautiful Savannah Roses











Monday, January 28, 2013

Days 48-49 of now "Returning from the Keys" 1/28/13

Well we have spent 3 wonderful days in Savannah!!! Yesterday, Sunday morning, i woke up with a terrible cold so i have been sick the entire time we have been here. Lots of DayQuil and cough drops, i have continued on !!! The past 2 days we have took in all the history via the Savannah Tour Company!! It makes the route through town and you get off at different stops, see all the museums and parks, then get back on again to the next stop wherever you want to get off. We spent Sunday afternoon on the tour and rode the entire 90 minutes and marked where we wanted to spend our time.Today we started off with a great breakfast at Huey's, and walked 22 blocks to a Kroger to get a few needed supplies and fresh vegetables, bread and milk. we caught the tour bus back, unloaded our groceries, and off we went on the our again. The train and history museum was our favorite and the city market and of course we have spent lots of time on River street, and just walking around the old historic town. I have not see Paula Deen anywhere, but saw a couple of her restaurants as we toured the town. We have had a wonderful time and wish we could stay another day but weather predictions has made us feel we need to get on up the waterway and try and miss, or dodge, this weather. Hope to make Beaufort, SC tomorrow and depending on weather we will stay 1-2 days!!! I have soooo many pics of Savannah but will share a few below!!
Love to all, Fran
PICS :1. This is where Forest Gump sat waiting on the bus to go see Jenny!! 2. Forsyth Park where loses of movies are shot here in Savannah and several scenic from Forest Gump. 3,4,5,6 food, food food and candy(pralines) ice cream!!! 7. We docked right behind the Savannah Georgia Princess paddle dinner cruise boat !!! this is right on River St.













Saturday, January 26, 2013

Day 47 of now "Returning from the Keys" 1/26/13

What a beautiful day!!! Received a text from Sherry this morning she said it was snowing at her house I sent a pic to her of Rodney with no shirt on and holding thermometer showing 80 degrees!! Well to be honest that was sitting in the sun on the upper deck of the boat. But really it was about 65 degrees!!! And very sunny all the way to Savannah!!!! We arrived in Savannah around 2pm and docked at the Savannah City Docks right on River Dr!!! What a great place to be!!! We walked up and down the street looking at all the shops and stopped at the visitors center and decided we would take the trolley tour tomorrow and see the entire town and mark our map to revisit the places of interest. We wore shorts and a t-shirt all day but it really was chilly later this afternoon. Suppose to be 65 tomorrow so I think I will layer up, and wear jeans instead of shorts!! Can't wait to be a tourist here. You will hear more from me tomorrow.
Love to all, Fran
No pics today but I will have some for tomorrow I am sure!!!

Friday, January 25, 2013

Day 46 of now "Returning from the Keys". 1/25/13

Left Jekyll Island Harbor Marina this morning at 8am after a good long walk with Lexie and telling everyone goodbye. Just as we remembered from our trip down Georgia is beautiful marshland but NOTHING else to see!! A rather boring drive for Rodney, me I cleaned house !!
We traveled 72 miles today the tide was with us and helped us move a little faster. We anchored this evening behind Ossabaw Island on the Bear River at Killkenny Creek, (bet you can't find that on a map) Ha. Rod calculated or mileage so far and we have traveled 1,408 miles as of today!! We took Lexie to shore but all that was available was Oyster beds!! She was NOT happy she likes grass. She like to have never found a place to do her business, but out of necessity she decided oyster shells would do!!!
We returned to the boat to cook dinner and what a fabulous sunset!! Pic attached.
Sure beats the snow Sherry had at her house today!!!
Should make Savannah tomorrow around 2pm or so! Yea!!!
Love to all , Fran

Thursday, January 24, 2013

Day 45 of now "Returning form the Keys" 1/24/13

Well our day started off here in Jekyll Island after a good night sleep, with a good clean job!! With windows open a lot and salty air with all the wind the boat is covered in salt!!! So this morning I started on the inside and Rod started on the outside. We decided on 4 hours and then we were going to play tourist!!! I got at least the front of the boat done ( the front bedroom and the kitchen), I will finish up the rest of the house while traveling up the waterway !! The outside looks great after a nice bath!!
We then took off and went to the old historic district of Jekyll Island which we did not get to see when we were here on our way south. What a rich town back in the late 1800 early 1900's as they built beautiful summer homes here as a retreat for their families a vacation away from work. Mr. JP Morgan, The Vanderbilt's, and The Goodyear family just to mention a few.
Scott, the manager here at the marina, made us reservations at the Crane Cottage House for dinner!! The plantation home was so elegant and what a beautiful place to have dinner!! A great treat!!
I am now back on the boat trying to finish up the last of 5 loads of laundry that was a must to be done today!! ha.
We plan to untie by 8 am tomorrow and head north, we will not make Savannah tomorrow so we will find a place to anchor out tomorrow night and get into Savannah the next afternoon early!, I can't wait to get there!! I have looked forward to going back since we came through there on our way south !!!!
It's been a good day!!! Love to all! Fran
PICS: 1.Look at this sunset last night , 2.The first chapel built here, 3.the first phone in the United States to make a call to California, here on the island, 4. many 3-400 old oak trees here, 5. and me in a "Red Bug" all the homes owned one of these to get around the island in (their version of a golf cart!!)









Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Day 44 of now "Returning from the Keys" 1/22/13

Nothing exciting today, just traveling up the waterway. Had a beautiful day but had to wear sweatshirts and long pants ALL day!! So sad to leave all this beautiful weather in southern Florida!! We docked this evening at a small cove about 20 miles north of Jacksonville called Talbots Creek. A great little Island that was good for Lexie's adventure to land!! I found some of the most beautiful shells as I do not pick up shells often, I did bring these back to the boat. Suppose to be 32 degrees tonight. We are heating up our bed with the electric blanket and will turn off the generator and jump into bed !!! Hope to make Jekyll Island tomorrow and see our friends we made on our trip down and spend the night at the docks there. I need to wash clothes and the generator just does not dry them very well so I will do clothes at the dock while we are on shore power!! Looking for a beautiful sunny, but cold day, tomorrow!!
Love to all, Fran

Monday, January 21, 2013

Day 43 of now "now returning from the Keys" 1/21/13

Well our last day here in St Augustine and we had a wonderful day, touring and weather, was great!!! We left early this morning after taking Lexie to shore for a good morning adventure (pic is attached) She sure enjoys the dinghy ride!!!!
We started our morning riding over to Anastasia Island across the bay from St Augustine. Very quant little island and stopped at a little breakfast place named Ms. Sara's. The entire restaurant held a max of 16 customers, we had the special, homemade sausage and gravy biscuit! YumYum!!! We rode about 2 blocks to the Lighthouse and did the whole tour thing what a wonderful 3 hours! 219 steps to the top of the lighthouse with a view that was Incredible. We could see our boat across the island in the bay at anchor. Pics of the day are attached! We both love a lighthouse so we enjoyed the history and wished so much that the Georgetown lighthouse could be seen like this to all it's visitors.
We then decided to stop at the Alligator Farm and Zoo just down the street and Rodney was in his element!! he does love and Alligator. Ha some beautiful birds of which they had shows having the birds talk and do tricks, and telling about them and how long they have lived here at the zoo. I will attach some of the pictures I took there also. A great ride back to the boat this evening with another quick stroll through the old part of St. Augustine while enjoying a gourmet cup of coffee. We have had a great time here!!! I wish I was able to get a picture of our Hugh tandem bicycle laying across our dinghy getting it back to our boat. People are amazed!, Ha But Rodney does it with such ease!!!
Leaving early in the morning headed north toward home. Hope to make Jacksonville by evening!!
Love to all, Fran













Sunday, January 20, 2013

Days 40-42 of our voyage "Headed to the Keys" ( of course now returning)!!! 1/20/13

Been slack again!!! Its been 3 days since I posted and I must tell all about St Augustine!!! I love his old historic town but our arrival on the 17th was brutal!!! Wind gust 40-45 miles per hour and we are trying to hook up to a mooring ball in the middle of the bay at the marina in St. Augustine!! One hour, and in that hour, I lost, by dropping, our only hook to pick up the rope from the mooring ball with!! I was devastated !!, I cried out to Rodney and said what do we do now!!!! He put me on pilot out in the middle of the bay just doing circles while he made another make shift hook!! I HAD to try again!! After a long prayer asking for guidance and HELP grabbing this rope, I tried again and WA-LA !!! I got the rope hanging on with dear life till Rodney came and helped me secure the line to our boat!! What a fiasco!!! Prayer does work!!!! That evening was not a good time to ask me if I really wanted to travel full time on a boat!!! ha
SInce then the weather as continued to improve and everyday has been a great tourist vacation time!! The museums here are great, history of the town, churches, the Old Fort, restaurants and just riding our bike all over town has been sooo much fun!!! We will spend tomorrow over at the lighthouse, and the alligator zoo. About a mile or so over there but that is nothing for us to ride our bike that far!! Weather looks like it will be great!!! Leaving on Tues morning heading North toward home, next stop??? not sure!!
Including a few pics we took today. Most of the museums will not allow pictures!! Hope you enjoy
Love to all, Fran













Thursday, January 17, 2013

Day 39 of our voyage "Headed to the Keys" 1/17/13

Left Titusville at 8am this morning all the friends we made there, including Jim and Paula, were there to see us off !! We so enjoyed our time with them!!!
We had a great first 30-40 miles and then the wind became fierce!!! 20-30 miles and hour and the radar seemed to not show any signs of diminishing, soooo we decide to anchor in a small cove right at the Daytona International Blvd bridge!! Beautiful place and we had a great park to dinghy over to for Lexie!! Praying for the wind to slow down tonight so we can sleep as Rod can't not sleep when he constantly is checking the anchor!!! It's dark and the lights of Daytona are beautiful and we feel very good about the setting of the anchor!!
Praying for the wind to slow down tomorrow as we really want to get to St Augustine!!,
Love to all, Fran
Pics Paula sent us she took as we were leaving Titusville!!! (Look at Lexie looking back at them out the back window!!)



Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Days 35-38 of our voyage "Headed to the Keys". 1/16/13

Wow I can't believe I have not posted in 4 days!!! Got a call this morning from Wanda Singleton wanting to make sure we were ok as she had not seen anything on the blog!! No excuse just havin fun !!! We spent lots of time in the kayak here in the bay at Titusville a great place to enjoy the water and the Manatee up close! They follow you wherever you go !! Pics will be attached!! They tell you not to feed or water or harass the Manatee but they come up and bug you till you pay them some attention!! Ha
I bet we have rode 100 miles on our bike this week enjoying all the history of the area and the space program history is incredible but with the space program shut down a few years ago they have lost over 6500 jobs and the residue effect from that has been devastating !!! We meet Dave today the owner and operator of Dave's Hotdog for 40 years!! He will be closing Feb the 5th as the economy here has all but put him out of business!! The Hotdog and pineapple strawberry smoothies were GREAT !!!
We have now repaired every water pump on this boat so we should be able to get home without a water pump failure again !!! ha.
Leaving here 8 am tomorrow morning to again make our way north toward St. Augustine. Probably will not make it tomorrow. I will let you know tomorrow evening where we end up spending the night!!, Looking forward to hitting the waterway again. We have really enjoyed our time here with Paula and Jim and the town of Titusville!!
Lots of Love!!! Fran
Pics: famous Dave's Hotdogs!! Watching and enjoying the Manatee!! We have not seen them this plentiful any where else in Fla?.