1/31/16 Sunday Key Largo Fla.

A beautiful day here in Key Largo, and our last day!!!! We thought we would make the best of it so we took off on our tandem bike and got about 200 yards and the back tire went flat!!!!!! Thank God we had not gone to far. Soooo we pushed it back to the boat and Rod replaced the tube in the tire and off we went again and within 60 ft!!! Flat tire again!!!! We then decided to just take the folding bikes!! We were not going far as we were told of a botanical garden state park just over the bridge. We packed us a lunch to eat there. When we arrived we paid the 5.00 to enter and what a disappointment!!! It was a little patch of wood that had more mosquitos than tree leaves!!! Ha  we just left and went down the street and found a roadside picnic table and ate our lunch. Stopped at the family dollar store for a few things and went back to the boat. Rod then decided he would make the 6.5 mile ride (12 miles round trip) on the small bike to the Kmart for new tires for the tamdum bike. He had been gone about 10 mins and he was back as now he had a flat on his small bike!!! Ok!!! How many flat tires can you have in one day!!!!? He then took my folding bike and off he went again!!! 1 hour later he called and he had arrived at the Kmart. Purchased new tires, tubes ( and he also came home with me a valentine candy box) 😍!!! After a rest he had the tamdum bike up and going again in no time!!!! We are ready to ride again!!!

We prepared the boat to take off in the morning loaded the bikes on the boat, checked fluids in the motors, and filled our water tanks, and put all unnecessary stuff away!!! We are ready to ride again!!!! Ate some dinner of leftover chicken noodle soup, dishes done, showers taken, Lexie walked and ready to go to bed!!!

It's has been a hard as one year ago to day we were making the trip to Salisbury, NC for the accidental  death of my son in laws father, Terry Roseman. Praying as I know it has been a very hard day for the family. 

Tomorrow is my Birthday and so excited to spend it traveling down th keys to Islamorada!! 

Pray for safe travels for us please, and the health of our home!!! Love and blessings to all, Fran & Capn Rod 

The first of 3 tire repairs today!!! Ha 

The entrance to the state botanical gardens!!! Mosquito heaven!! 

Stopped for a break and we were eaten alive!!!!! Did not stop for long!!! Ha 

1/30/16 Saturday Key Largo, Fla

Another day in Key Largo!!! What a grand place to be stranded!!! We never received a call from any of the places we called yesterday about welding the water pump to our generator!!! But is was Friday evening!!! 

We chose to take the part with us and ride through town in hopes we could find a place possibly open on Saturady morning. And guess what!!!! WE DID!!!!  

Matt Cottell was in his shop doing some catch up work and was very willing to help us out!!! It took him about 30 minutes and the part was welded!!! Now Rod gets to do the carving on it to make it fit!!

We stopped at Arby's and had a quick bite to eat. Then started back toward the Marina. Mind you this has been a 6 mile ride!!!! So that means a 12 mile total bike ride!  On the way back we decided to stop at the Key Largo Stone Crab and Seafood festival. It looked like 3000 people were in the park. It was probably a couple of acres big. Lots of food of course, few rides for the kids and many many many tents of stuff for sale!!! We only indulged in a large mug of lemonade and walked around the booths and made a purchase of some cup coozies!! 

We were tired so we headed back to the boat, as we still had a couple of miles yet to go to get to the boat. Traffic was horrendous!!! It made us really glad we were on a bike path!!! This whole island has an entire street just for bikes only!! SWEET!!!

We arrived home, rested for a while and Rod went to work on the generator part!! In no time at all it was running like a new one!!!! YEAH!!! 

We had leftover hotdogs and chips for dinner and Rod got to fish a little, then we watched the fireworks out over the water from the festival today!! A great treat to end the day!!

Dishes done, shower taken, jammies on an ready for one last day here in Key Largo!!! We have paid for dockage here till Monday morning. 

It's been a beautiful day high 70s most of the day!!! What a wonderful way to spend the winter!

Love to all, Fran & Capn Rod

This was our mug of lemonade from the festival today, Rod has chosen to make it his colored pencil container!! Everything on a boat has to have a purpose or it has to leave!!! Ha 

The Key Largo Festival entrance!

The traffic traveling home was unbelievable!! But look at the bike path!!! We were bookin!!! The cars were at a dead stop for miles!!!

Rod carved on the welded shaft and made it fit perfect!!! Maybe we can keep this generator just a little longer!!! Lol His saying is "It ain't broke if I can fix it" ha

Fireworks over the waterway!!! A great way to end a very blessed day!!!

1/29/16 Friday Key Largo, Fla.

Woke up this morning to a beautiful day!!! Rain and wind gone!! Sun shining blue skies are incredible!! So,parts still needed for the generator repair!! Off we went on our new tamdum bike!!! What a Cadillac ride!! It is a used bike but in great shape!! We love it!!!

Rode into town and stopped at the bike shop as they did not put a kickstand on it before delivered, and he put us one on. We ask where would be a good place to eat breakfast? He sent us to a small local place off the beaten path just down on the beach! Just a few blocks and we arrived at The Hideout Restaurant. What a quaint little place that was refurbished and then built onto from a 1950's mobile home!! We enjoyed the daily special 2 eggs over easy, hash browns (Rod had grits of course) and the home made breakfast sausage called geurache. Ok so I spelled it like it sounds!! Ha It was like a salami texture but a little spicy, but not hot!! Very different!! It was good, but for me I would order bacon next time!! Ha  We headed on down the road and stopped at a couple of places for the hose Rod needed and everyone told us "your need to go to the Napa store about 3 miles down the island"!! So,we went to Napa!!! Ha  It was a long trip but they did have the part we needed. On the way back to the marine we made a stop at a local farmers market. Purchased homemade guacamole, homemade tortilla chips, beautiful tomatoes. We ate some fresh watermelon while we were there!! Sure wish we could have taken one home with us, but we do have only so much we can carry on a bike!! lol

We rode back to the Winn Dixie for a few groceries and just could not resist the big t-bone steaks on sell and decided it would be supper!!!

The ride there and back home was a total of 18.6 miles!!! Boy are we tired!!!

Sat on the back deck and rested with a cold drink then Rod worked on the generator!!! BUT NO GO!!! There is now an issue with a metal part that has just detereiated beyond repair. For a quick fix Rod thinks we can have a welder repair it for a while, maybe enough to get us through this trip. Looks like a generator purchase may be in our future!! It is old and has served us and previous owners of this boat well!! Just our luck, I really wanted to be in Key West by my birthday, but I just figure God is holding us here for a reason. I look too as what a great place to get stranded IM IN KEY LARGO!! And it's 75 degrees!!! So just chill out and enjoy!!

We have some calls out to few welders that people told us work weekends, so maybe we will here from one of them. If not, I guess it will be Monday before we leave here. 

Dinner enjoyed, dishes done, jammies on, movie watched life is good,!!!

I have a few pics to share!!

Please pray we get repairs completed this weekend and pray for the health of our home!! 🙏🏻🚢     Love and Blessings to all, Fran & Capn Rod

My Chariot!!! It's a Cadillac!!! Lol Nice basket for carrying purchased "stuff" ha 

I love the local places to eat!!! Great place! 

This, among many signs on this restaurant, was just too funny to not take a pic!! Ha This was posted at the front door as you enter the restaurant!! Read it closely!!

The Key Largo Farmers market!! 

This beautiful guy sat on the post at our boat this afternoon and groomed himself for us!! Dock builders spend a fortune putting these plastic pointed cones on the post to keep the bird from sitting on them!! 

Looks to me look he is having no problem sitting there!! Ha 

2.6 pound T-bone steak!!!! This will make a few meals!! Ha

There will be leftovers!!!! Lol    steak, baked potato, and sauted peppers, onions, and mushrooms!! Yummy!!!

1/28/16 Thursday Key Largo, Fla

We went to bed early last night to catch up on our sleep, so needless to say both of us were wide awake at 6am this morning. Cloudy and rain off and on most of the morning. Rod worked on the generator and found its issue which was in the water pump. Some kind of seal needed so we made a trip into town for parts. I washed clothes this morning and made us a big brunch around 10am. 

Sun finally came through the clouds so off we went on our bikes. It was 3.5 miles to west marine which is about 1.5 miles closer than the original hardware store we were going to!!! Thank you Lord as I didn't think I could go much farther!!, ha  The temperture was good, but the wind was rough!! Right beside the west marine store there was a bicycle shop and we stopped in and to our surprise he had a nice used tandem bike!!!! He gave us a great price and even said he would deliver it to us at the Marina for free!!!! So we are the proud owners of a new tamdum bike!!! I LOVE a tandem bike!! The guys brought it to us this evening in the pouring rain!!! Of which we ended up riding back in from town. I had a poncho that kept my backpack dry and at least my upper body, but we were both soaked when we got home. It was a warm rain and even with the wind we were not cold just wet!!! 

The rain poured all afternoon and the wind was 25-30 MPH!! Again very thankful we are tied to a dock. We will stay here until this line of rain passes us by!! Rod changed our bike seats to the real nice ones we have and I fixed dinner. Just rested up and watched it rain most of the evening!!! I'm ready for some sunshine!!!!  Lol

Hope all are doing well and staying warm up north!!! Hehe  Love to all, Fran & Capn Rod

Just had to share this pic!! Rod had to sacrifice his Bible ruler to assist with the generator repair!!

Gods word provides help in more ways than we realize. 

Rod snuck in another tervis cup !! 

1/27/16 Wednesday Key Largo, The Keys

Is I ended the blog yesterday with a night of little to no rest--- well we checked every hour last night to make sure we were still sitting at anchor. All was good till the 6am check and we had drifted from our position to the other side of the waterway!!! About 300 yds!!!! We quickly got the motors started and and got the anchor pulled in and just decided to get on our way south!!!! Ha  it was dark till about 7:10am but we were in the downtown area so vision was really ok. Still raining some and the wind was about 25 MPH. NOT A FUN MORNING INDEED!!! We had decided to get on down to Miami and find a Marina and dock for a few days to let the weather improve before crossing Biscayne Bay into the Keys. By the time we got to Miami the weather was really much improved, wind was down to 10-15 MPH soooo we made the decision to see if we could cross the bay to the keys. Biscayne Bay was fairly calm and we talked to a few boats that had come across and they all said it was a fairly smooth ride, so we continued on!!! A georgeous day!!! It takes about 4 hours to cross over but the view and weather could not have been better!!! 

We arrived in Key Largo at 3:30pm and found a Marina for dockage!!! It's the Anchorage Resort Yacht and Marina. Great little, and I do mean little, as they have 6 docking slips!!! So glad one of them was available for us!!! We were tired, needing a shower, and a hot meal (our generator is still not working) and some sleep!! Because of the generator being nonfunctional, Rod has had no coffee all day and it was sandwiches chips and fruit today!!! So tonight I made homemade chicken noodle soup for supper!!

Rested up jammies on, a little TV watched and to bed soon!!!! Tomorrow Rod will repair our generator and hopefully a little site seeing if it don't rain!! I do have a few pics to share, I sure wish I could post the videos of the dolphins we saw plenty today in this incredibly blue water riding along beside of our boat. I'm Ready to enjoy the Keys for a few weeks!!

Please continue to keep us in your prayers for a safe journey, Love to all, Fran & Capn Rod

When we first entered Biscayne Bay there was probably 300 + sailing boats from all over the world!! Looked like a sailing regatta!! Beautiful site!

About 20 miles out in the bay I saw this one waterway marker filled with birds!! Couldn't help but laugh as there was not another marker for probably another 20 miles!!, I guess they have to take turns to rest on a dry post!!! Haha

Lexie insist she can help dad read the map!!! LOL

Passed this sailing boat today!!! We have never seen a flying pig on sails before!!, LOL 

1/26/16 Tuesday Boca Raton, Fla

We pulled up anchor this morning and very quickly it began to rain. Just enough to to be ugly!! We traveled most of the day in rainy conditions. We had such great plans to be at a perfect anchor spot but that did not happen!!! Wind slowed us down, but most of all every bridge that had to open for us was a 30 min wait!!! Waiting 30 mins for 4 bridges today put us about 2 hours behind schedule. We got caught in downtown Boca Raton and NO PLACE TO ANCHOR at 6:30pm. The entire downtown area is lined with cement walls!!! We finally found what we thought was a decent place but high winds our anchor would not hold us. We move about 300 yds down in fron to a big sky scraper bldg, this we thought would be good!!! By now it's 8:30pm we are exhausted, worried about the wind and no supper eaten yet!! YUCK,!!!

I started the generator and was preparing supper, (hotdogs, that I really wanted on the grill) and then the generator cuts off!!! OK, what else can happen. No time to evaluate that problem tonight so we were thankful before it quit we had hot chili and hotdogs!!! yeah!!

We ate and  watched the boat to make sure it was safe, and stable!!! Sure seem to be so we went to bed. I was just to tired to write the blog, no shower, just went to bed!!! PS the anchor didn't hold soooo

I'll tell you about today's adventures tonight!!!

Please pray for our safe travels, and the health of our boat!! 

Love to all, Fran & Capn Rod

God gave us a beautiful sunrise!!

Then we had rain and clouds the rest of the day!

So glad we had a few mins of sun and blue skies when we came by Jupiter Lighhouse

Saw this speed limit sign today!!! To funny as we are lucky to go 10 MPH!! Ha  I guess we won't be breaking any speed limits!!! ha

1/25/16 Monday Ft. Pierce Fla.

We finally got all the ropes untied from the dock this morning, it looked like a spider web coming off the boat there were so many!!!ha The wind was so bad for a few days Rod really had us tied up tight!! 

We left Titusville Marina around 7:30am and headed on south down the waterway. It was was an incredibly beautiful morning and entire day! We traveled 80 miles today and amchored this evening about 5:30pm on the south side of Ft. Pierce. Rested up, dinner of grilled chicken (Rod cooked on the grill) and I made salads. It's 8:15 now and Rod is snoring!!! He's had a long day! He will be up at 4am cause he went to sleep so early!! Ha I have the alarm set for 6:30am to get up and get ready to pull up anchor and take off again. The travel day was great and the Dolphins were VERY plentiful all day!!! I have a few good pics to share. 

Please continue to pray for safe travels !!! Love to all, Fran & Capn Rod

A sunny beautiful morning on the water!! This is my view from my Admirals chair!! 

Dolphins played in our wake all day!! Lexie had so much fun looking for them all day!! Sure keeps her occupied!!! Ha 

1/24/16 Sunday Titusville, Fla

Last evening we saw the weather forecast for this morning and decided we would not leave this morning. We awoke to 29 degrees and wind still quiet brisk!!! We curled back up in a nice warm bed and just stayed for a awhile!!! Ha ha 

It did warm up quickly this morning so we bundled up and decided to make the 1.5 mile bike ride to a place we had been before, a couple of years ago, The Dixie Crossroad Restaurant.  Cold ride but so worth the trip. I enjoyed something I had never eaten before, Rock Shrimp!!! They look like small lobster tails!!! Yummy!!!!! 

A dozen of these boys, a baked potato, and steamed broccoli & cauliflower!! Wow!! It was great!,

Rod had a shrimp po boy sandwich, with soup of the day Hawiian shrimp stew. It was yummy too!! 

Pedaled back to the boat working off all those calories!!, ha

We then began a project on the bridge to install LED lighting. Rod has been wanting some lighting up there for some time now, just never took on the project. It looks great and very functional. It's really hard to go up there early of the morning and try to get set up to leave in the dark. We always had to have a flashlight!! He installed recessed lights in the walls on each side of the room, and 2 mounted lights on the ceiling. We both were very please with the end results.

Lexie then got In a good walk, cleaned up our work area and we are ready to cruise on south tomorrow  morning. We plane to leave by 7am. 

It's been a good day!! Love and blessings to all, Fran & Capn Rod

Please keep us in prayer for a safe journey!!

World Famous no less!!

Learning to peal Rock Shrimp!!

I some how missed a pic of his sandwich, but here is his bowl of the Hawaiian stew with oyster crackers! 

They bring powered sugared hush puppies !! OMG!!! Who would not love these!!!

1/23/16 Saturday Titusville Fla

Windy cold day here in Florida, but when I talk to some of you i feel I have nothing to complain about!Ha   We hung out on the boat most of the morning and completed some chores, clothes washed, brunch, and got dressed. Jim and Paula came over and we went to Walmart for my needed groceries. Then to our favorite Mexican restaurant for an early supper. Really enjoyed good food with great friends!! Thanks guys for driving the distant on this windy day to help us with needed supplies and hang out with us. 

Rod spent some time this evening installing some needed light fixtures on the upper bridge. Lexie got in a good walk, but even she did not like the windy weather!!!

We were suppose to leave here tomorrow morning, but have decided to stay another day to let the wind die down a little more and hopefully be a little warmer on Monday.

Only one pic to share today. 

Love to all, Fran & Capn Rod

I took this from the back deck of the boat looking at the street!! The poor palm trees took a beating all day!!

1/22/16 Friday Titusville Fla

Woke up this morning to news saying severe thunderstorms, possible tornados, high winds!!! Wow so glad we are tied to a dock!! We showered dressed and prepared to spend the day with Paula and Jim as they were making the 45 mile trip to come visit today and go to lunch. They called about 10:30 and Paula  is sick with possibly a cold!!! So Jim came over and he and Rod took off and had a boys day together. First stop the tattoo shop!! Rod had really wanted to complete his crucifix with his Capt anchor. It really turned out nice. I have a pic to share but really won't look good until it heals. He is happy with the end results. Me I stayed home as I thought with a free day to myself I would complete a needed course online to renew my CPR instructor lic. Got all ready, signed in, pulled up the website and it says sorry website is down for maintenance  as of 11am today until Saturday at 9am!!! Just my luck!!! So I took,off for a nice walk around the Marina and park area. The really bad rain and wind went by just about 40-50 miles north of where we are docked!!! Cloudy this morning, 65 degrees and the wind was a bit breezy. The afternoon was sunny but still windy. No rain to speak of here but north was hit hard!!! Dodged that bullet again!!! Whew!!!!

Rod and Jim had a good boys day I think, and Lexie and I had a good girls day together!! Ha

They do plan to come back over tomorrow and go have lunch and hopefully get in a Walmart run for a few groceries before we head out cruising on south on Sunday. We have discussed staying till Monday morning as the temp on Sunday morning is predicted to be 33degrees!!! Brrrr!! Sounds like some of the temperatures our family and friends are experiencing!!! 

Baked chicken and baked fries for supper, fried apples and ice cream for dessert!!

A little TV and jammies on!!! Rod is looking at our travel plans to see where our next few anchorages will be!! He is trying his best to get me to The Keys by my Birthday!!! 

Everyone please stay in and keep warm!!! Love and Blessings to all,  Fran & Capn Rod 

He had added the cross which is tied to his anchor and Capts wheel.

Not much company to me today!!! She took over her Daddys chair while he was gone!! Ha

Out on the front of the boat!! What a guard dog!! Lol

1/21/16 Thursday Titusville, Fla

Got up early this morning and we had the anchor up and moving south on the waterway by 7:05am. 

It was a beautiful sunrise over Daytona Beach as we cruised on through. We had a great travel day. Sunny and 65 degrees most of the day. Only had to go about 52 miles today. 

We arrived at Titusville City Marina around 1pm, and first pulled in to the fuel dock and filled up with 385.5 gals of diesel fuel!!! This is the first we have bought any fuel since we left Georgetown. But did not want to pay the high prices in the Keys so we went ahead and filled up our tanks which hold 800 gals total. We then docked in a great slip that will protect us from the said bad storms coming tomorrow and Saturday. We secured all our lines and tied our home as good as we could to weather the storm. We will stay here 3 nights leaving here Sunday morning early. 

We then took off on our bikes and headed for downtown for some exercise and Rod wanted some KFC!! I guess he is tired of my cooking!! Ha We enjoyed sharing some popcorn bites and fries and a cold glass of tea!! We then discovered an estate thrift store just down the street and decided to check it out. Mostly junk and nick nacks, but I did find me some gold beads for my charm necklace I needed and we found some movies in a DVD $1.00 bin!! Treasures found!!! Hehe

We got back to the boat and decided to take Lexie for a good long walk over to the dog park area at the Marina and me i was able to get in a few more steps needed on my Fitbit monitor!! Been quiet short of my 10,000 steps the last few days!! We saw a georgeous sunset and some really ugly birds I thought worth the photography!! Ha

Back to the boat, watched some TV, ate some leftovers for dinner, and spent some time earnestly looking for a pocket knive Rod has misplaced. How can you lose stuff in a 50 ft living space I will never know, but we do all the time!!! Ha  I'm sure it's here somewhere!! 

Ready for bed, I do pray all of you in the bad winter weather area are prepared !!! 

I'll keep you updated on our adventures here!!

Love to all, Fran & Capn Rod 

Here are some pics from today!! I took 47 today and a great video of the dolphins!!

Dolphins played by the boat all day!!! Kept Lexie entertained!! I videoed a 1 1/2 min video of them today but can't download on the blog!! There was a group of 6 that swam with us for like 2 mins!!  I so wish I could share!! It is great!!!!!!!

Lexie watching the Dolphins ALL DAY!!!

Walking with the big ugly birds!!! Ha  They are Hugh!!!

What a sunset!!

An Osprey caught him a fish and brought it to the sailing mast of the boat beside us this evening!!

Saw this pretty boy sitting just down from our boat this evening!

Rod making sure the boat was tied secure for the bad weather coming!! 

1/20/16 Wednesday N. Daytona Beach, Fla

After a nice walk with Lexie we untied from the Jacksonvile City Dock around 7:30am. We had a beautiful morning. Sweatpants and sweatshirt with some good socks still felt good but nothing like yesterday!! We had shed these by noon and back in shorts and a tee shirt. Beautiful travel day, sunny and calm water. We traveled 90 miles today!!!! Made it to the north end of Daytona so we decided to go ahead and anchor before it got dark. Some BBQ and a salad for supper, rested up and ready for bed. It's been a long day.  We should be in Titusville tomorrow and will stay there till Sunday as there is predicted storms and high winds Friday and Saturday. 

I continue to ask for prays of a safe journey for us!! Enjoying our vacation!!!

Love and Blessings to all,  Fran & Capn Rod 

Bridge of Lions in St. Augustine I wish a photo could show how pretty this bridge is!!! Lots of gold on the structure!!

Running aground is not fun!!! This was either a bad day or intentional on someone's part!!  Ha 

Lexie was in heaven!!! Dolphin were plentiful today!! Really hard to catch these guys on film!! Ha 

Now here's a fixer upper for ya!!! Ha  anyone want to take that on?

1/19/16 Tuesday Jacksonville, Fla

We pulled up anchor this morning and cruised off at 7:10am. A full day traveling up the St. John's River. It was a cold day and we stayed bundled up most of the day!! We arrived in Jacksonville around 4:30pm and docked at the Jacksonville City Dock. We docked here on our way down a month ago. This meant a good walk for us and Lexie!!! Dinner cooked, showers taken and ready for bed. We did get our reservation tide chart completed so we can begin to book trips this year on the tour boat. I already have bookings for late March and April!!! 

It's been a good day of travel. 

Please continue to pray for our safe travels!!! Love to all!!! Fran & Capn Rod

Coming into Jacksonville!! What a skyline.

Not a great pic but this is the first dolphin we have seen!! Getting back into salt water again.

A Hugh container ship came by us. Made us look like a little tiny boat!! Ha

This was the largest military Stealth ship we have seen yet!! 

We had to wait for this train crossing almost 5 mins.