2/20/2014 Thursday

Well we arrived home today and docked in our home slot at 3:30 pm.  Soo good to be home again!!!  We had a great time and some incredible adventures, but there is no place like home. Thanks Chris Carroll for all your help getting us docked and ready to get back to the real world!! Ha   He is the BEST Dock master ever!!!!!

We left Charleston this morning in some horrendous fog, I have attached some pics!! But the sun came out and we had beautiful weather the rest of the day on our last leg of the trip to Georgetown. 

I attached a few pics I took today, it was great to see the dolphins playing in our wake of the boat! To me, that just never gets old!!! Hope you enjoy the last of my photos!!

Thanks again for sharing our adventures with us this year!! And also the prayers for our safe travel and the health of our boat!! She was good to us and stayed healthy the entire trip!!! The Lord was with us everyday!!! For that, we say Thank You Lord!!!   Blessing to all and see you soon!!! Love, Ms. Fran and Capt Rod 

Foggy coming into Charleston, SC harbor!!,

All that fog the sun was still trying to peek through!!!  

I love the dolphin!!!  

They love playing in the wake of the boat!!!!

Always great to catch an Eagle sitting down close to the water!!!  It's rare!!!  Is he not beautiful?

2/19/2014 Wednesday

Oh wow!!   It's almost over!!! Our 2 months of travel will end tomorrow!!!! We traveled 90 miles today and pushed ourselves so we could get to our anchorage spot in Charleston, SC. We had some beautiful weather today, Rod had on shorts and a T-shirt. Tired this evening, so I will be in bed soon. Got to watch a little of the Olympics. We have good tv reception here this evening!!!! yeah!!!

No pictures to share this evening, nothing beautiful, waters wildlife and sunshine to see!!!! So glad you could give us a great reception home with a very warm sunny day, but I have heard it is to get cold again!!!!! And rain on Friday!!! 

I will end my Blog this year tomorrow evening and let you know how our last travel day was and that we are home safe!!!

Love you all !!!   Ms. Fran and Capt Rod 

2/18/2014 Tuesday

Good evening to all!!!! Well officially as of this afternoon we have decided to not make another extended stop till we reach HOME.!!!!  We left Savannah this afternoon about 2:30 pm as we had some plans before leaving today!!  We got up early and again walked through this beautiful town one more time before we were to meet Ken and Michelle our sailboat friends on Scalleywag. The weather today could not have been better to be out with just a light shirt on. I think is was about 74 degrees. We had not been by the Paula Deen store and restaurant so we stopped in!!!  To my surprise there was not Paula but the oldest son Jamie!!! I shopped and Rodney stood and talked to him for probably an hour. Jamie and his family love the MB area and want to return to spend some time in Georgetown and with us!!!  Yea!!!  Such a great guy ( and of course I do have a pic with him) and he signed his recipe book I purchased for me!!! We wanted to stay and eat but we already had plans with friends. We then discovered just down the street from there a Tervis outlet !!!! WooWhoo!!! I found some neat glasses!!!! I was so excited with my finds!! 

We went back and met Ken and Michelle at Spanky's for lunch, spent some great "friend time" with them. Full and happy we untied the boat and headed  up river.  We traveled till about 5pm and found a great anchor spot just about Hilton Head Island for the night. We have just rested and had dinner and ready for bed soon. Rod wants to leave here by 6:30am in the morning to catch the rising tide through the big sound Port Royal !!!  It's about 12 miles wide. Rising tide means calm waters and I like that!!!!

Really kind of getting excited to get home again. I am also excited about seeing the grandkids soon, it's been too long!!! 

Hope you will have some good weather in Georgetown when we arrive! and NO ice please!!!

Love to all, As always I ask for prayer and safe travels for us these last few days!!!

Ms. Fran and Capt Rod 

Walking through a park this morning found this newly flowering Tulip Tree!!! I'm ready for spring!!

Me and Jamie Deen !!! I was so excited !!! Such a great guy!!! 

First time for me in a Tervis outlet !!!  Soooo many glasses and cups to choose from!!!

Lunch at Spanky's with Ken and Michelle!!!  They have a Beagle named Lucy that Lexie loves to play with when they were in Georgetown last year!! They will be up to visit this summer. Always good to see some BBF's (best boater friends)

My treasures I found at the Paula Deen store!!!! Don't you just love the Tshirt? "Put some South in your Mouth" I could not resist!!! 

2/17/2014 Monday

Good evening to all!!  We had a short day of travel today!!!  We anchored only about 30 miles from Savannah last night so it was short trip into town today. We arrived at the city docks where we had stayed last year and they were under repair!!!  So we came on down a little farther and found another dock that we called and requested dockage for the evening!!  VERY expensive at $2.75 per foot, per night!!! WOW that's about a week stay at any Marina. We paid for one night but don't have to leave until 3 pm tomorrow so we decided to take off tomorrow around 3pm and go find a place to anchor out tomorrow night! 

So today we visited Savannah!!! Such a glorious town!!! If you have never spent any time here it is a must to put on your "Bucket List" !!! We spent 3 days here last year so lots of what we saw today was a repeat. Windy and a little chilly, I needed a sweatshirt most of the day. We walked about 3-4 miles just site seeing. We contacted Ken and Michelle on sailboat "Scallywag" that we ran into in Brunswick, they are coming tomorrow morning to spend some time with us and have lunch before we take off again.  We are looking forward to spending some time with them!! Just enjoying the town and the weather!!! I have attached a few pics I took today, just having fun!!!

Check in with me tomorrow to see what happens as we head home the next few days!!

Please pray for our safe travel!!! Love to all, Ms. Fran and Capt Rod 

Remember that FULL Moon I told you about in the blog last night? I went out and took this photo afterward !! It was amazing!!! Pic just don't show the magnitude!!!!

A new Vietnam memorial that was not here our last visit!!! Awesome!!! Soldiers Hat, gun and boots!

Another view!!   This rock is in the shape of Vietnam!!! It's sitting in a pool. 

These steps go from the water front to the city street!!! They are as steep as a ladder!!!

We saw this piece of furniture in an antique shop today!! You can purchase for you home or office for a mure $65,000!!! Look good on the boat HUH !!!!?? It bigger than my living room!!!!

Good ole Johnny Mercer!!! fabulous composer!!! Life size statue!!! Just had to have my pic with him!!!

A little information about the great Johnny Mercer. 

Sometime just a good hamburger is the best supper!!! LOL Five Guys will provide heaven on a bun!!

2/16/2014 Sunday

Good evening to all our friends and family!!!  Its been a long day!!! We traveled 91 miles today!!! The tide was good to us and pushed us faster than usual, Rod says it's the full moon!! Who am i to prove him wrong!, Ha   It was beautiful all day today!! We untied our boat about 7:45am this morning, which was about  30 minutes behind schedule, as it took that long to finally get our port (left)) motor started!! That small little starter switch just did not want to cooperate with Rod!!! LOL. 

The waters between Brunswick are long but offer incredible scenery. So we just enjoyed the ride, the blue skies, lots of dolphins, and wildlife!!   God really gave us a view hard to beat anywhere. 

We finally dropped anchor at Skidaway island just about 27 miles from Savannah, Ga. Enjoyed a sunset, and even the temp is 57 degrees!!  The day tomorrow is starting out at 40 degrees, but the high will be 60!!!!   Sounds good to me!!! We will be docked in Savannah by mid day tomorrow giving us some good walking time around town. We will probably stay 2 days. So check in with me then to find out what our adventure entails!!! 

Sorry I have no pictures this evening, promise some tomorrow!!

Love to all, I still ask you to pray for our safe travels home!!! We plan on arriving home in a week!!!! It's almost time to go back to work!!!! 

Ms. Fran and Capt Rod 

2/15/2014 Saturday

Good evening to all!!! Well we have enjoyed Brunswick, Ga for the last day and half! and we're done!!! Maybe there is more going on during the week but Friday afternoon at 5pm they roll up the sidewalk!!! We rode our bike all day today even though it was 53 degrees and the wind chill was 47 degrees! As long as we stayed out of the wind it was a great ride!!! We probably rode 15-20 miles looking at old homes and seeing some of the historical places here in town. We did find a small farmers market and purchased some potatoes, tomatoes and of course boiled peanuts!!! We found nothing open for breakfast except a Subway so we had a breakfast sub!!! We did take the advise of some people and went the mile and half to eat dinner at the Marshside Grill and feasted on a prime rib sandwich and a Shrimp PO Boy!! We also shared a bowl of Brunswick stew! but we both agreed it was good but not as good as Sherrys !!!   She does make some good Brunswick stew!!!! We were sitting on the boat back deck this afternoon and a sail boat went by waving to us so we waved back, come to find out it was a couple we met in Georgetown last summer Ken and Michelle on their boat Scallywag!! We went down and visited them a while and we are going to meet them in Savannah  in a couple of days, spend some time together and have dinner!!! This is their home port and they have a house here!! Great to meet up with boater friends we meet!!! 

We have checked all tide charts and we will have the best travel time tomorrow if we leave here by 7am so Rod will have to make me get up early!!! I'm ready to move on!!!

Attached are a few pics I took today, not a lot here photograph!!!

Love to all !!! Hope it is beginning to warm up some for you !!! I want warmer weather to be there in Georgetown when we arrive!!!!   Keep us in your prayers for safe travels!!!!

Oh also Rod is going to patch the starter on our engine till we get home, it is a simple fix!!! I hope the patch work holds out!!!

Ms. Fran and Capt Rod 

Rod thought this was a great replica of a WWII ship!! Pic below.

It was so detailed!!!!

Look at this Prime Rib sandwich!!! That's a 2 day meal!!! I love left overs!!!

And a shrimp po boy !!! Rod ate it allll!!! Yum

2/14/2014. Friday Valentines Day

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!!!! What a georgeous day of travel we had today!!!! Chilly cold about 60 degrees all day but the sun was out and the sky was blue, and thats enough to make anyone feel good!!!! Heading north again this morning about 8am, we pulled up anchor and left Fernandina Beach. 

It took us about 5 hours to get to Brunswick, Ga where we plan to spend a few days. We were told by Paula and Jim that diesel fuel was really cheap at a shrimp boat dock just a mile or so before we got to the Marina in Brunswick. We called ahead and they said there would be someone there to pump diesel for us. We arrived at a little shack of a bldg., docked and walked up to the office. I attached a pic of this place!!! They were super nice and fuel was $3.14 gal. compared to $4.20 at most marinas. So it was worth the stop and waiting the hour for the guy to get there to fill our tanks. If nothing else we walked and walked until Lexie's was even ready to get back on the boat Ha !!, We came on down to Brunswick Landing Marina and tied up for a few days stay!!! I attached a pic of our first greeters ( it helped I was throwing out food for them)!!! I keep cat food on the back deck so no hungry duck or bird goes unfed!!!  A shower, this time makeup, blow dryer and curling iron included, we got all "gussied up" and went to Indigo Shanty restaurant. It was a recommended place to eat and a close ride on our bike. What a treat!!! Seseme Crusted catfish and blackened Mahi !! Yum and I did not have to cook!!! That was the best part!!! Ha 

We have plans to see lots of the town tomorrow along with a farmers market here at the Marina. Dont know how many days we will stay right now we will watch the weather and see!! Hope all got to spend some time with their Valentine today, I sure did!!!

Love to all, stay warm!!!  Ms. Fran and Capt Rod 

Coming out of Fernadino beach we saw this beautiful house right at the point of St Andrers sound!! It is the lighthouse keepers house, see next picture !!!

The picture just can't show the magnitude of this scene!!! 

Lexie says look Mom I see land and it's close!!!!

Coming into Brunswick!!! This bridge was awesome!!! Even longer and larger than the span bridge in Charleston, SC

Believe it!!!! This is a filling station!!! But the price was right!!!!

My first visitors at the Marina!!! They knew I had cat food!!!! Ha 

2/13/2014. Thursday

Well all I can do is watch the weather and feel sorry for all of you! North of me!!!   Although some of the pics I have received, looks like some of you are enjoying all this white stuff!!! I plan on a slow trip back to Georgetown, hoping all this stuff will go away!!!!!

We have been slow going the last few days, as I wrote on Tuesday we were detained coming into Jacksonville due to a bridge that was closed? We started out Wednesday morning and traveled 2 hours and again they still were not able to open the bridge!!!  We had only traveled 2 hours but we anchored just south of the bridge as they told us we would probably be able to get through early Thursday morning. Rod started a window sealing project that really keeps the wind and cold out, did some cleaning and straightening in the engine room, just kept busy!!!!! Boring cold rainy day. Watched some of the Olympics, check in on the kids with their weather conditions, and went to bed!!! 

8am sharp, as we were told, we called and YES we would be able to get through anytime between 8:30-9:30!!!  We were they when it opened!!!! 

We had a full 6 hours of travel today. 64 miles That's not a long day, but we did not want to cross through The Cumberland Sound on a rising tide. So we anchored at Belle River in Fernandina Beach where we anchored on the way down. Still cold, and the wind it horrible!!! Tomorrow is suppose to improve, I think after midnight tonight. So we get to the same anchor place here and guess what? Our anchor will NOT grab the bottom!!! 5 times we tried,No go, it kept pulling lose from the bottom!!! We moved to a place Paula and Jim had anchored, Bingo!!! Anchor held!!! Then our left Motor will not start????? What????  But being the captain and mechanic he is, Rod went down and discovered a starter issue of which we can manually start the motor and get a new switch when we get to Brunswick tomorrow!!! Always something!!! Supper eaten, dishes washed, I'm about ready for bed!!! Ha.   But it's a must to see a little of the Olympics first!!

Going to do our best to be in Brunswick, Ga. Tomorrow afternoon as we will stop for gas and probably stay a day maybe 2 . We have never been here by boat so excited to see a new place!!  Also, it's Valentines Day and I am ready to get off onto some land for a good walk!!!  I know Lexie is too!!!  She has been such a good dog this trip!!! I have attached a few pics I took along the waterway today and this evenings sunset. 

Hope all is warm and dry and staying safe!!! Pray for our safe travels!!!  Ms. Fran and Capt Rod 

Loves her warm cuddly Hide hole!!! She has been such a good dog!!!

Rodney caught her this evening sleeping under my chair, but she sat up before he was able to get the pic!!  She hates a camera!!!! 

Cold and windy but what a beautiful sunset!!,

Look what a beautiful full moon coming up over Fernandina Beach!!!

2/11/2015. Doctors Lake Cove Florida

Hey Guys!!!  Hope all is well and preparing for the HUGH snow and ice storm coming your way!!!

We are watching the weather closely as we will hang out south of the storm and wait till it passes before we move on north!!! Today we started early around 7:15am with a beautiful sunrise to start off our day!! I will attach a pic!!! We had a good day of travel up until about 2pm and the coast guard out of Jacksonville posted a no passage into Jacksonville to all marine boats!!! We had just come upon the cove here at Doctors Lake when they posted the notice. Sooo we came on into the cove and anchored. It's a beautiful place and good safe harbor for the night or maybe a few days if they will not opened the waters for boat travel at the bridge. We found out, a train derailed yesterday evening near the bridge and some ethanol was spilled during the derailment. The news ad said 4-5 gallons. We anchored here on our way down so we know it is a good anchorage spot. Rod did some maintenance, I cooked a salad and baked potato for our supper. We've had some phone calls, surfed the net (Rod is getting pretty good at that) and showered and ready for bed!!! We will see what the status on the bridge closure tomorrow morning before we leave!! 2 days in a row of bridge issues, what's this all about?? God slowing us down for a reason I know!!! Not to anxious to get north till this cold, snow and ice moves on anyway!!! We will be praying for everyone to stay safe and warm!!!

Pray for our safe travels!!!  Love to all, Ms. Fran and Capt Rod 

Look at this sunrise!!! Thank you Lord for a beautiful morning!!!!!

I caught Lexie today sitting up top deck beside the dinghy!!!  She loves to ride in it!!!

If we can't ride in the dinghy, I'll just sun myself beside it!!! Ha 

2/10/2014 Little Lake George Florida

Good evening to all!!! Well we untied our home and left Monroe Harbor Marina about 7:45am this morning. We have had a great time here with Paula and Jim, but it eased the pain of leaving them knowing they will be in Georgetown around the end of April!!!

We had a wonderful and warm travel day temp was 80 degrees most of the day!!! Scenery is just incredible!!, We took some great pics of the many bald eagles we saw today and also of the bridge that put is at a stop due to construction on the bridge for 1 hour and 20 minutes!!! We just hung out, I made some lunch, and we enjoyed watching the manatees!!! It was right at 12 noon when they opened the bridge for us I figured it was lunch time for the workers or we would have waited longer!! They were very nice and apologized for our inconvience. So that did put us down an hour of travel time. We covered 54 miles today, then chose to anchor in a quiet cove on the north end of Little George Lake. It's just west of Flagler Beach. We will be in bed early to get an early start in the morning!! I love the water and anchorage is so quiet and peaceful!!! beautiful evening the moon is almost full. 

Check in tomorrow night!!! Love to all, Ms. Fran and Capt Rod  

With Paula's telephoto lens she captured me walking Lexie on her last venture down the River walk this morning!!!

Paula sent this pic to me, she took as we were pulling out of the harbor!!  Heading home!!!

See the bald eagles!!!

What a view !!!!

White hair bridge!! Construction delayed us 1hour and 20 minutes!!!

Cuddled up this afternoon, sitting in the sun, just enjoying the quiet time!!! How could a husband do this to his wife, if he loves her!!!   

2/9/2014 Sunday

Good evening to all!!  First I must tell you I have had terrible internet service that has prevented me from blogging the last 2 days!!! And of course the Olympics has consumed a good bit of my evening also!!!ha. Friday and Saturday RAIN rain and more rain!!!! YUK!!! So we spent time preparing our boat to leave tomorrow (Monday)!!! We have had a great time here in Sanford and have so enjoyed all the time spent with our friends Paula and Jim!!!  They have truly made our time here incredible!! Saturday we just had to go back to the restaurant The Black Hammock and enjoy more gator meat, I had a salad this trip just covered with gator !!! YUM!!! Paula  and I completed some last minute grocery shopping as I will not have a good opportunity to get groceries for probably a week maybe more. Now I am well stocked for the trip home. We hope to pull out around 7:30am tomorrow and head back up toward Jacksonville,Fla,then get back on the intracoastal waterway. We plan to stop in Brunswick, Beaufort, and Savannah, for a few days each, if the weather permits. If not we we just come on home. All depends on the weather. I will keep you posted on our journey!!! 

Got some great last minute photos attached that was just too fun not to share. 

We went today,( no rain and 78 degrees today) to The Ole Florida festival. It is an exposition of shooting contest, duck dog time trials, and there was lots of hawks, owls and wildlife shows and of course plenty to eat!!, They had a BBQ and Chili cook off .it was a great day and many hours of walking. 

Most fun, especially for the guys, was a show with Jerry Miculek. He is a sharp shooter that we have seen his shows on TV many times. ( he shoots an aspirin thrown up in the air with a 22 bullet). He has traveled around the world with Smith and Wesson for 26 years. Fun and impressive show!! 

This evening we just enjoyed our last evening with Jim and Paula, going to watch a few more minutes of the Olympics and going to bed!!  Up early, shoving off, by 7:30am. And of course Lexie will need one last good walk on land before we leave as she will get any grass for a few days!! Ha 

I will keep you updated on our dockage each night!!!

Please pray for our safe travel and the health of our boat on the return visit home!!!!!

Love to all, Ms. Fran and Capt Rod 

Rod scraping paint off the handrails of the boat along with his supervised!! She always makes sure he does a good job!!!

His hair is getting so long I made him a do rag to hold his hair out of his face!!  Ain't he cute!!?

Lexie laying with me on my snuggie watching the Olympics!! Well I thought she was watching!!!! Ha 

It's 1pm!!!  He never takes a nap in the middle of the day!!  AND he's snoring!!! hard work deserves a nap I guess!!!

I have not played UNO in years!!!  We had such fun!!! I think Jim is losing big time!!! 

The guys were in their element!!! Pics with the famous Jerry Miculek!!!! 

2/6/2014. Thursday

Good Evening family and friends!!! Hope everyone is well and staying warm. Yesterday it was 85 degrees, this morning we woke up to 57 degrees wind blowing and cold rain!!!  Wow what a drastic change. So today I have stayed inside except to go to Petsmart with Paula. I needed heart worm Meds for Lexie and the vet at home said I could get them at the Petsmart here. So off to Petsmart we went!!! But they tell me they are not a dispensing pharmacy and even with me having a script, they still could not sell me Meds!! Go figure!! I'll just have to wait till I get home, her dose will only be a week late. I guess she will live!!!

Relaxed some today completing some house cleaning and kept Rodney fed as he waxed and scraped paint on the boat chrome that really needed to be removed!!! He did all the handrails with a small little scraping knife!!! That's like cleaning an entire room with a toothbrush!!! Ha  It was an all day job!! So I kept him fed and coffee cup full!!! As you probably know by now his hip has improved a lot!!! We are so thankful. Jim went out for a dr visit today and returned with us a new bike tire. As you may have seen yesterday our tandem bike tire was flat when we got up, I went and got one but it would not fit, so Jim picked us up one today!!! Ok the reason for this story is Rodney stopped his cleaning, got down on the dock and put the new tire on our bike!!! Sooo thrilled with his work he went to pick it up and turn it over on its wheels and accidentally hit one of the borrowed folding bikes (we had been trying out considering buying from a couple here at the Marina ) AND it fell into the River!!!   Being the great fisherman he his, he went and got his fishing pole, hooked the bike and pulled that bike right up,out of the bottom of the River!!! I have attached the pics of the retrieval!!!  Thank God!! What a save !!!! 

Took a nice long walk with Lexie, it's a shame to have to go back to coat, hat, and gloves!!! We now cuddled up on the couch, her under the covers curled up asleep, watching the Olympics!!! Winter Olympics are my favorite!!  I just pray they keep all of them safe while they are there!!!

Just a few days left, it is suppose to be a good travel day for us Monday. I just hope spring will come soon and we won't get back to Georgetown to too much cold weather!!!

Love to all!!!  Ms. Fran and Capt Rod 

Bike overboard!!!! Water was only about 5 feet deep!!!!

WooWhoo!!! So glad he was able to retrieve!!! It is not even our bike!!! 

1/5/2014. Wednesday!!

Guess what day it is!!!!!  It's HUMP DAY !!!!!!  Just four more days left and we will be turning our home around and heading for Georgetown !!!!! What a wonderful weather week we have had, i heard a little cooler tomorrow, but back again in the mid 80's over the weekend!!! We have rode our bike 10-12 miles the last few days but got up this morning and the front tire was flat!!! So no riding today!!! Paula shuffled me around town looking for a new tire, bought 2, but neither will work so that will have to be a tomorrow job for Rodney and Jim ( I'm not much at knowing what to look for in a bike tire!!)

Yesterday after a   l-o-n-g bike ride Paula wanted to try out our kayak as she has ever rode in one so off we went around the harbor and rode out into Lake Monroe!!   We had a great time, but wow!! what workout!!!  I'm out of shape!!! Ha.  I will attached a few of the 20 pictures Rodney took of us playing around in the harbor!!!! Today we settled up with the Marina on the charges for our stay here as they have no one at the office to take any money Friday till Monday Morning, and we plan to be gone early around 7:30am!!!! Jim took us this evening to Winter Springs ,a suburb of Orlando, to a restaurant WAY out in the country, called The Black Hammock restaurant. It is famous for their farm raised Aligator meat !!! We had a sampler platter of several ways the chef prepares this wonderful tender meat!! We walked around the area and enjoyed the beautiful view before having dinner!! Pics attached!! 

We have truely enjoyed our time here in Sanford, and the special time with Paula and Jim!!!

Just a few more days before we depart from here so we said we were going to make a list tomorrow of anything we wanted to get done or revisit before we leave!!! They are very special friends!!!

I will keep you updated !!! Love to all, Ms. Fran and Capt Rod 

Fun in the kayak!!!!

Nice long trip out in the lake!!  See us way out there???

Oh what fun!!! It was a great ride!!!!

Lexie wanted to go sooooo bad!!!  She loves the kayak!!!

The Aligator farm!!! Grow this year, dinner next year!!!! Ha

Out by the Aligator farm!! Fun to be a tourist !!!!!

This is the view by the restaurant and the Aligator farm!!! 

This sign was on a Palm tree outside the restaurant!!! I wanted a tee shirt!! They did not have any tee shirts that said that!!! :(.  Good gator meat!!!!!

I made a weight lifting exerciser for his fingers using a can of soup and a strip,of material!!  I works!!

Keeping his hand in shape!!!!!