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

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.

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!!!

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

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!!)

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

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

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

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!!)

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?.

Day 34 of our voyage "Headed to the Keys". 1/12/13

All I know for sure that if something is going to break down on us it seems to be in Titusville,Fla. Not really we have had other mechanical problems along the way but every time we have been in Titusville we have had something breakdown!! We do have some good friends here, Jim and Paula, so if it has to happen,again it is the best place for us to be!! We were planning on hitting the waterway tomorrow morning and travel north to head to our next "bucket list" town of St. Augustine !!! But I guess that will wait a few days as tomorrow is Sunday and we can not order a water pump for the generator till Monday and maybe get it put on Tues. By now Rodney knows this pump well as it has given us issues the last few weeks so another one will be fairly easy for him to replace, but getting one here is the issue!!! We will research that tomorrow. Keep us in your prayers !!! Over all we have had a great restful day, and the weather could not be better at 82 degrees! I love it!
Love to all, Fran
Sorry no Pics today!!!

Day 33 of our voyage "Headed to the Keys" 1/11/13

I woke to the most incredible sunrise this morning!! Pic will be attached!! Alarm woke us up around 7am as I wanted to be at Kennedy Space Center at 9am !! Our friends Jim and Paula was our taxi service dropped us off at the entrance and came to pick us up when the place closed !!, We had an incredible day!!!
I remember the space program growing up but to see it all progress from the early 60's to the present was breathtaking!!! When we rode the simulator to ride into space I thought Rodney would come off looking like a ghost, but to my surprise he did well and actually enjoyed it. The 3 D movies of the space lab and Hubble the telescope were great and the 2 hour bus tour to view the launch pad and the building where the space shuttles a assembled, WOW !!, It is the largest one story bldg in the world!! The NASA letters are 20 ft tall and the stripes on the american flag were wider than a greyhound bus, each star is 6 ft ft tall, and it takes 600 gallons to paint it. The entire flag is 220 ft long and 120ft wide. We had a wonderful day and would loved to had stayed a little longer but time was out!!! Rodney is going to help Jim tomorrow with a few things, Paula and I will shop, so we have decided to spend one more day!!! I guess that is what vacation is all about!, doing as you please !! Ha
What a GREAT day!! Love to all, Fran
Pics: a few I took with my iPhone but have more on my Camera to download later !!!

Day 32 of our voyage "Headed to the Keys" 1/10/13

What a quiet laid back beautiful day!! We did nothing !!! Well maybe a few things!, We did dinghy ride over to the marina where we are anchored and let Lexie run and play for a while and also took a large load of towels to the laundry there and washed them!! We then came back to the boat and enjoyed lots of reading time and we did plot out our schedule for the next few days. Tomorrow is our day at Kennedy Space Center we will be there all day !! Looking forward to that it was on my bucket list to do on our way back home!! We met Paula and Jim our friends from here and had dinner and Margaritas at our favorite Mexican restaurant this evening!! They offered to be our taxi service tomorrow!! What a blessing!! Tired and ready for bed up early tomorrow as we need to be there around 9 am and Lexie needs a good walk before we go !! It has been a good day!!! Love to all. Fran

Day 31 of our voyage "Headed to the Keys" 1/9/13

We officially have now survived 1 month of travel !!!! Seems as though it has passed so quickly yet still feels like we have been gone from home forever!!! Although we did bring our home with us!!! Ha. Today we traveled about 68 miles from Vero Beach! Fla to Titusville, Fla. The boat ran like clock work, no troubles. The wind behind us most of the day so great gas Milage. The Indian River is a hugh, wide and long, so not much to see just beautiful water and dolphins. I read a book most of the day feeling guilty I left Rodney at the wheel most of the day!! 😁 He said he did not mind although he did tease me this afternoon about leaving him all by himself most of the day! I told him I felt guilty and his comment was "sure you do"!! It was a good day to read!!!
We got a mooring ball out in the bay at Titusville Marine for a few days. I want to go to Kennedy Space Center one day probably on Friday as tomorrow we will spend with Paula and Jim our friends that live here. A day going to Walmart and out to a great Mexican Rest we love here!!! The weather is still wonderful about 88 degrees most of the day today. As usual Lexie enjoyed her dinghy ride to the marina this afternoon and a long walk around the area. She has really been a good dog. As soon as we arrived on the dock at the marine, here they were to greet us, The manatee!! They are everywhere here at this marina. We enjoyed some great piggies in a blanket and baked beans for dinner and all I need now is a shower and my bed is calling me soon! I want to get up and get started early tomorrow. Lots to do ! Love to all, Fran
pics : The Manatee!!! looks like a Mom and her Baby

Day 29/30 of our voyage "Headed to the Keys". 1/7-8/13

What a wonderful 2 full days we have had enjoying time with Darlene and Roy Hyman. They live here in Vero Beach but once were our neighbors in Surfside Beach and also part of our church family at Timberlake. We have ate, enjoyed their company, and toured the Vero Beach area!! They took us into their home, let me wash my clothes and fed us fabulous meals!! We were so glad to spend some time with them and be here when Darlene received the evaluation that the treatment for her Alzheimer's has in fact been improving her condition!!! Blessings!!!
We anchored out in the large cove at the Vero Beach City Marina!! A beautiful quiet place and was able to dinghy ride right over to the docks and they picked us up every morning!! Vero Beach is a beautiful, extraordinary clean city!!! We have really had a good time!!!
They have a very spoiled Maltese named Co-Captain!! Because he is the co Captain of Darlene's life!!! ha. He and Lexie became fast friends !!! I will include some pics of us and friends and also of Co-Captain!! Heading out tomorrow and hope to make Titusville as I want to go to Cape Kennedy on Thursday if at all possible. That's my plans anyway! But as I have always said its about the journey and wherever our destination at that time!!!
Love to all, Fran