Happy Christmas

     Happy Christmas and a terrific New Year to all our friends and family!

     We are at our second home, Marathon, FL for a planned two month stay. We arrived after a wonderful weather window from Fort Pierce. Sorry to upset anyone but it's been blue skies and mid-70s for a while now. Hoping it stays that way for our entire stay. Okay, unlikely. We have had less than ideal winters here.

     From Ft. Pierce we went down the ICW to Lake Worth, West Palm Beach. The air temperature AND the water temperature was 74 degrees. I took advantage of these conditions to go for a swim in crystal blue water to check the props and keels for any damage from our time aground at Riverside Marina in Ft Pierce. Just a little bottom paint missing from our port keel. 4 inches high - two feet long. Not bad. We've done that before! We discovered that we broke our new transmission on that side of the boat. The actuator shaft that goes into the transmission itself has a pin or bolt at the end of it to engage the power forward or aft. That pin is gone so the engine only goes forward and cannot be put in neutral or reverse. We're hoping it's an easy repair and covered under the waranty. We'll see. It's always something. From West Palm we went offshore all the way to No Name Harbor on Key Biscayne, Miami, FL. A very long day, 0645 to 1745. The great weather continued as we went to Islamorada area and then had a great sail in the Hawk Channel all the way to Marathon. So here we are as the outstanding weather continues.

     We met people we've known from previous visits and have found that the mooring balls were all filled the day after we arrived. It's getting too popular here. Pass the word... it's boring here, nothing to do, no shopping or restaurants, unfriendly, just stay away!

     I'm taking it a little easy as I recover from my prostate procedure but I've already played some softball with no major side effects. Just the usual early season soreness. Holding off on batting until next week. Yoga starts tomorrow for Carol and we'll be fully into the community here as we get through the holidays.

     Heather arrives in a few days and boyfriend Mike arrives two days after Christmas.

     Once again Happy Holidays to our friends and family! Please try to keep any news of bad weather up there off the internet. It tends to make us gloat and feel smug. That's not good for us.
   

Fort Pierce

     It's a few days away from the end of our stay in Fort Pierce, FL. What an adventure! BTW, we HATE adventures!

     After Wrightsville Beach we went to an anchorage we've used in the past right on the NC/SC border. Then we went to a marina in Myrtle Beach for laundry, fuel, showers and a chance to meet with one of Carol's former co-workers for dinner. Carol inspired her to retire and they upped and moved out of Connecticut to Conway, SC in record time.

     It rained while we were in Myrtle Beach but the weather improved after a gale blew through the next day. It forced us to find a new spot to anchor in the Wacamaw River, but that wasn't bad. Thanks Skipper Bob!

     We stopped in a spot we used early in our ICW cruising just north of Charleston and then went offshore out of Charleston Harbor. Because we were not as close to the ocean as we usually are we got to the ocean and turned south in late morning instead of our usual early morning. We had a decent offshore and overnight passage with following 1-2 ft seas and 10-15 kts directly on the stern. Overnight we had a brief time when the wind shifted west and gave us some beam seas but all in all it wasn't bad.

     We got to St. Augustine in late afternoon and picked up a City mooring. We got showers and fuel and got underway in the morning. Back in the ICW. The next day was an easy leg to New Smyrna and then the whole theme of this years' southern cruise changed dramatically. UGH!

     About 0300 I awoke to extreme abdominal pain. Gas! Constipation! Food poisoning! Something! Something bad.

     After several hours of delay for male stubbornness and denial we had Fire/Rescue and the USCG take us to shore and to the nearby hospital. Minutes from our boat to the ER. There I got pain medications and a CT scan. They were happy to tell me that of all the nasty possibilities I only had a kidney stone. ONLY! 5x6 cm. That's big. And no previous symptoms. This was the start of my 'procedures'.

     A stent to my kidney. Lithotripsy to blow up the stone with sound waves. And then one more time under anesthesia to remove the stent and remaining stone pieces with a basket. A basket up in my kidney! I still shudder thinking of that one. Unfortunately all these body invasions left my plumbing very annoyed and swollen. I had trouble urinating and it was decided I finally had to deal with my long term prostate issues. BPH.

     I spent five days in Bert Fish Medical Center, an OUTSTANDING facility with amazing staff, and left on Thanksgiving Day. 10 am discharge, underway at noon. We had planned to be in Fort Pierce for Thanksgiving with our long time friends, Mike and Carol but we were a few days late.

     We anchored in Faber Cove for about a week while visiting and Carol went off to work. Then we got a slip in a real crappy (but cheap) marina so we could drive back up to New Smyrna for one more procedure, a T U R P. It's a removal of parts of the inside of the prostate from the inside of the prostate. No external incisions.  Figure it out. Just one night in the hospital which was cheating because it's supposed to be day surgery (NO WAY!) and one more night in a hotel in nearby Daytona Beach and we came back home to the boat. After a day we removed my catheter. FINALLY, after two weeks! This was a trade of one discomfort for others but the new discomforts are fading daily.

     This we hope will be the end of our adventures (medical or otherwise) for a while. We get underway Sunday for Marathon unless other sh... I mean stuff happens.

     Christmas in the Keys are still the plan.

                                     this fine looking liquid is my urine between "procedures"

Wrightsville Beach

     We're now at our next stop, Wrightsville Beach, NC. A spot close enough to an airport for Carol to get to work. It's kinda protected but with a strong current but... it's NOT Charleston. What's wrong with Charleston you may ask? Okay, go ahead and ask. I'll wait.

     We love Charleston but the Ashley River anchorage has way more current and it's more exposed so we're going to try some new spots for work breaks.

     Since my last entry we had new engines installed at Pleasure Cove Marina in Pasadena, MD by Bay Shore Marine. Of course it didn't go smoothly and cost way more than planned. We had one bad engine bed which meant a major unplanned repair and delay to even get started on it. The total cost, including normal annual maintenance and future maintenance supplies, approached $50K. Ouch. Oh well, a deduction from Heather's inheritance.  

   
     After leaving Pleasure Cove, we spent a week and a half in Annapolis. This is one of our favorite stops. We went to the boat show and went on zero point zero boats and only spent $5 not counting lunch and Painkillers. What did we do? Spent six hours talking with services and supply people. Accomplished a lot.

     From there we had a great sail to the Solomons, a lumpy trip to Deltaville (5-6ft seas) and a choppy passage out of Chesapeake Bay into the ICW at Norfolk.

     Once on the ICW we decided to go down the Dismal Swamp Canal. The weather was forecast to have gale force winds and we had the time to go slower down the Diz. It's much more protected. We stayed at Elizabeth's Dock at Deep Creek and had a nice visit with Robert Peel, the lock master there. We also stopped at the Dismal Swamp Visitors Center for the first time. Pretty nice. This was followed up by a one night stop at Elizabeth City. We got to know and chat with a number of fellow cruisers at each of these stops.

     One of the incidents we had involved hitting a tree in the canal. If you've cruised you know that occasionally you encounter floating logs and branches that need avoiding. Sometimes there are submerged deadheads, too. We hit a couple of those here but I'm talking about hitting an actual tree, the kind that grow overhead. How, you may ask? Go ahead, ask.

     Anyway, there was a tree that had fallen into the canal and lay across it covering at least half the width. We have a 24 foot beam and when I squeezed over to avoid the floating tree the mast and spreaders got entangled with the branches of a tree, or two. Several came raining down on us. A new experience.

     After the Diz our next NEW stop was Oriental. We got a spot at one of the new free docks and explored the small but cute harbor town.

     I've skipped some of our stops to tell you about the unusual (for us) ones. Our next stops were expensive ones. Because of our new engines we had to do 50 hour oil changes and valve adjustments. We got hauled at Jarrett Bay at a cost of $600 to change our saildrive gear oil. And I did the work myself. 30 minutes out of the water and we moved on. Ouch again.

     Then we stopped at Town Creek Marina, Beaufort (Bo-fert) for two nights for the oil and filter change and the aforementioned valve adjustment. Another $500. This boating thing is expensive. But... they did throw in a new hat.

     Between Beaufort and Wrightsville is Mile Hammock, the anchorage at Camp LeJeune. We stopped there along with two dozen of our closest friends. Okay, not so close as friends but close as well, imagine Block Island on the 4th of July weekend.

     We survived that and a thunderstorm and boat bumping early in our stay in Wrightsville. Let's see what new adventures await us.

Complaints

     Believe it or not, several people complained my last post did not have enough detail. Apologies. We were a little busy as we got ready to depart for our fifth cruise south and the health events in the month of August.

     I'll sum up and add some detail here. We are now ashore getting upgrades, repairs and maintenance. We've been really busy for a week but now have a little break waiting for the next craftsman to start work. We're having engines replaced and, of course, had complications. The bed of one of the engines needs major work before it can accept a new engine. This is costing a lot in extra time and money. Nothing ever goes smoothly on a boat.

     Over the summer we only had six boating events. 1: Memorial Day weekend we met Heather's boyfriend Mike and took a brief cruise to Watch Hill/Napatree. We were surprised as we left Mystic Harbor with unforecast dense fog. Carol's birthday present, a new chartplotter GPS, came in very handy helping find the buoys. 2: We took a daysail (WHAT??? A DAYSAIL???? We haven't done that in a l o n g time) in June. We went out to meet the Morgan that was doing some test/practice sails in advance of its historic cruise. See info and photos on this in a previous post. 3: Carol and I took a cruise to Montauk for one night at the summer solstice. BTW... that's 21 June. 4: At the beginning of July I took a solo cruise around the forks of Long Island with the Waterbury Power Squadron.

     
     5: Later in July Heather joined us to do a similar cruise of the Forks before Carol's scheduled heart surgery.

     As August started Carol was in the hospital for a heart mitral valve repair. This turned out to be a replacement job. The recovery was the same regardless. Complications were only because some of the medications did not agree with her. This slowed her down for a few days but a week after the surgery we were underway on a cruise (6) to the USCG Academy in New London. Of course I wouldn't allow her to do anything. We hadn't been there by boat since the late 1980s. Got a chance to see the cadets doing their formations, exercising and getting their butts chewed out by their upperclassmen leaders.

     And that was it for the summer. A lot of doctor visits, some hospital time and then recovery time. But a month after surgery we were underway for the start of our fifth southbound cruise.

     We went from Mystic to Port Jefferson on our first day which was Labor Day. We believe we saw a large Leatherback turtle about halfway to PJ. Never saw one in the Sound before. We also caught a 2' Bluefish. Made a delish dinner. And a lunch the next day, too. Port Washington was our next stop and from there we went through the big city all the way to Cape May, NJ. We got a bit of sailing in off the coast of NJ until the wind shifted too close to the bow to sail. Seas were only about 1' so the overnight wasn't bad and the morning approaching Cape May was flat calm. We rested a bit and got fuel and then left after about an eight hour stay.

     The overnight passage up Delaware Bay wasn't too bad with some wind behind us. Carol's new GPS helped us negotiate the channel turns. The GPS did NOT help with the commercial traffic. AIS did but some large ship encounters were a bit rough on the nervous system. The Chesapeake and Delaware Canal was closed due to dense fog when we arrived but we did not know this and had no trouble going through it. Couldn't see the bridges overhead but could see the sides of the canal. What else do you need?

     Once we were in Chesapeake Bay we had a lot of time before our haulout appointment. We stayed a night in the Sassafras River, two nights in Worton Creek and two nights in Rock Hall. One night with nearby thunderstorms while we were in a very protected spot was the only minor concern.

     So now, again, we're onshore with the clock ticking off  and deleting our savings. We've been getting a nightly visit that has been disturbing Cleo.

Summer is over. Why is it so hot?

     It's the day after Labor Day and we are at Port Washington, L.I. having started our cruise south yesterday. A fairly cool summer has all of a sudden become very hot and humid.

     Our summer was eventful but only a couple of boating events occurred. We had a short trip to Watch Hill with Heather and her boyfriend around Memorial Day. I did a solo cruise around the Long Island forks with the Waterbury Squadron and a similar trip with Carol and Heather later in the season. Another interesting weekend was at the US Coast Guard Academy with District 1 of the USPS. We hadn't been there by boat since 1989.

     The big event was the replacement of a heart valve for Carol. The medical visits, tests, the surgery and the recovery took a big chunk of the summer. All is pretty good now. Relatively minor complications were reactions to the medications and not the heart itself. Now rebuilding stamina is the target and we're able to start our boating south and just worry about boat parts wearing out.

Fresnel Lens at the Coast Guard Academy Museum

Charles W. Morgan

     In 1941 the Charles W. Morgan, the last of the wooden whaling ships, arrived at the young Mystic Seaport Museum. I have a vague, fragment of a memory of being at the Seaport in the late 1950s. Maybe I was between 5 and 7. I think my sister was in a stroller at the time but I am very uncertain. In my memory the place looks much different than it does today or when we joined the Seaport in 1983.

     We arrived on a 23 foot sailboat with a 3 month old child in what seemed like the coldest August ever. That's a whole 'nother story.

     Anyway, the Morgan has left the Seaport for the first time since its arrival. Sad and happy at the same time. In our membership history we have witnessed 3 major overhauls with  this last one being the most ambitious, preparing her to return to the sea. It is her 38th voyage.

     We weren't there for her arrival but we have witnessed her departure.

     The good news is she'll be back after getting ballast and her sails in New London and a cruise to her birthplace in New Bedford and then up to Boston via the 100 year old Cape Cod Canal. We hope to see her under sail and then be back aboard her again after she returns to Mystic. 

     Fair Winds Morgan! 

Home at Mystic

     As I write this we have been home almost a week. Back in Mystic. Back to working (for one of us) and boat upgrades and repairs and mail hassles and medical visits and family visits and occasionally just relaxing and enjoying our beautiful home mooring.

     We had a pretty decent and relatively easy last leg to home from Annapolis. Our passage to the C&D Canal and Chesapeake City was fast and smooth except for the debris in the upper Bay. Our passage from Chesapeake City went smoothly also except for getting caught in a large branch as we pulled out of the basin in the dark (0445). Luckily it let us go without causing us any major headaches. The upper part of Delaware Bay also had major patches of debris and these were impossible to totally avoid so we had to plow though some of the patches and hope the thumps on the hulls were not going to come inside the hulls for a visit. Ended up with no obvious damage. When the water warms enough for swimming maybe we'll learn differently.

     The second half of this passage turned into a very nice sail and going around Cape May was very nice for the first time in a while. The wind started picking up when we got into Cape May and we were stuck there for an extra day.

     When we left Cape May it was almost calm. Nice, easy seas. We stopped in Atlantic City for a few hours rest and food before continuing on towards the big City. Had a sail for a few hours but then the breeze faded as we got into the night. Not quite calm overnight but close enough. Pleasant... for a change. Going through the City went well as we had timed the currents so they were with us. It was our last nice day.

     We stopped in Port Washington for one night before continuing on with rainy days but light to no winds to and from Port Jefferson and to home. After being behind our normal schedule for more than a month we actually got home a few days early.

     Here are some photos from Annapolis. These are the ducks that would wake us in the morning by tapping on the hulls for the food growing on them and upset the cat by walking around the deck or resting on our back steps.

Dismal Swamp Canal vs the Virginia Passage

     This post is more for our boating friends instead of our usual travelogue about our adventures. I mean to compare using the Virginia Cut near the start of the ICW or using the Dismal Swamp Canal.

      Maybe not of interest to non-boaters. It is also only our opinion. Opinion. Based on our experiences and having a 44' catamaran with a 24'beam. And less than 4' draft.

VIRGINIA CUT.

Positives:

slightly shorter
slightly quicker
Great Bridge has a free dock
and has a grocery store within walking distance
and there's a great Irish bar to watch UConn NCAA Women's Basketball Final Four games
Great Bridge Lock just controls water flow and doesn't raise or lower you much. Easy
On weekends the opening bridges are on request
Coinjock has competing marinas, one with fuel
Broad Creek at the southern end is a very good anchoring spot
at the northern end you can get free dockage if you miss the last bridge opening, you just need
to eat at their restaurant which we hear is good

Negatives:

Steel Bridge. the schedule is not great, it gets very congested in a narrow area
There are more opening bridges to wait for but after the first one southbound you usually
get decent timing for the rest
The fixed bridges can get low if the wind is blowing water up the ICW. We need more than 64'
Pretty shallow in Coinjock Bay and north of there (Currituck Sound), even for us. 2014 particularly low waters.
Commercial traffic... barges.
Fast powerboat traffic... wakes.

DISMAL SWAMP CANAL.

Positives:

Beautiful
Free dock at Elizabeth's Dock at Deep Creek Lock
walking distance to groceries
Very friendly (Robert) lock master at Deep Creek. a lot of knowledge
Dismal Swamp Welcome Center with free dockage
Very protected from any wind
No commercial traffic
Few fast boats with wakes
Free dockage at Elizabeth City for 48 hours
Gus. At Elizabeth City Docks
Cheap, clean showers. Not really interested in the revenue. Just pay once. Shhh, don't
pass this on to other boaters
Very nice free museum at Elizabeth City
Did I mention beautiful?

Negatives:

Narrow (we're a cat)
Snags and deadheads slightly more likely than Virginia Cut
Lock and bridge schedule
Overhead trees
Shallow for many sailboats
ESE exposure at Elizabeth City if windy. Can be rough
Excessive crab pots in the Pasquatank River E of Elizabeth City. No organization
hard to make a path through. May be the biggest reason to avoid this route
No nearby groceries in Elizabeth City
Heavy rain. OK, maybe not on the days you're there

That's it. Make your choice. Have fun.

Mike on Infinite Improbability.

Annapolis

     We're here in Annapolis, MD. West Annapolis to be exact. In Weems Creek on a borrowed USNA mooring. We've been here almost two weeks and we'll be leaving Saturday, 3 May after Carol gets back from her travels. There have been very few transient boats come through here (2) this year while we've been here. Don't know why unless it's because the moorings we use now say No Trespassing on one side. The other side is blank so that's the side we go by.

     Had a couple  of days of flooding rains but were very protected from the winds we had. I attended the Spring Boat Show last week. It wasn't all that great but there were several people I wanted to meet there so it was a success. We had three vendors come out to the boat to give estimates on work we think we'll want done in the area when we come through here in the fall. Can't wait to see the amounts.

     Our passages from Elizabeth City were not too bad. It was very windy when we left to head to the Dismal Swamp Canal but it is so narrow and treed that there are no issues. Getting to Elizabeth City was troublesome due to the high amount of crab pots that are spread everywhere. No organization. No paths through them. We were lucky not to catch one or two. A reason not to choose this route again.

     We met a great lock master, Robert, at Deep Creek Lock. Very friendly and offered morning coffee, etc. before we got underway.

     We stopped in Hampton at a dock because the wind and anchoring space wasn't that good. The passage into Chesapeake Bay started off a little rough but mid-way it settled down and the following days were good until the last hour or so before our Annapolis arrival.

     We are hoping Delaware Bay is reasonable in the next few days. It can be nice. It can be horrid. We've had both. Last spring our trip around Cape May was one of the most miserable 2-3 hours we ever spent. Ah, cruising.

     We'll be home soon. Less than two weeks barring unforeseen weather or breakdowns.

Dismal Swamp

     We are in Elizabeth City, NC for a couple of days. Rain and forecast wind made us chose this stop. It's Route 2 of the ICW, an alternate route that will take us through the Dismal Swamp Canal. We've never taken this route as it is a little longer and has more locks. But with the wind forecast it is more protected and safer to travel. It is shallower and has overhanging trees so we'll see how it turns out.

     Since our stop in Charleston we've had pretty nice passages. Quiet, not a lot of other northbound traffic. We stopped in North Myrtle Beach to watch the Regional Finals for UConn WBB and we were happy with the results. Then it was on to Carolina Beach to get a mooring so we could rent a car to drive to Nashville, TN to watch the Final Four games in person. About 650 miles each way. Our passage up the Cape Fear River to Carolina Beach was the smoothest, fastest passage we ever had here. Usually it's against the current or wind. Or both. With rain, too. Not this time. Got us worried because it was too easy. Karmic payment often comes down the road.

     The trip to Nashville went well once we swapped out the rental car for one that didn't have a wheel about to wobble off. Carol gets cars and hotel rooms for free but the scalped tickets cost us big bucks. Double face value. We met up with some old friends while there but missed connecting with other UConn fans we know. The biggest event was:

WE WON! UConn WBB are National Champions again!

     Ninth time. We've been present for four of those times. This was our fifth Final Four. We don't always win. The men won also and we enjoyed watching their games in a sports bar with many other loud and crazy UConn fans. A local asked us if we have to take all the championships and, of course, we had to say, "Yes, all for us."

      When we got back to Carolina Beach we had the chance to meet up with some Monitto cousins we rarely see and have dinner with them. Nice to catch up.

     Our passages to here in Elizabeth City went pretty smoothly. The Neuse and Pamlico systems were unusually benign although the Albermarle started to kick up a bit as we were ending our crossing. The wind and seas were behind us so it was okay. I also have to say this is a very friendly and helpful town. Free docking and lots of assistance available at little or no cost.

     Tomorrow we cross into Virginia then it's a couple of (probably) windy rough days up the Chesapeake to a two week stop in Annapolis. We'll be investigating several expensive upgrades to our boat while we're there and planning for our fall southbound trip when we'll have that work done. Maybe.

Charleston. Again

     We are in the middle weekend of a two week work stop (for Carol) at Charleston, SC. Again.

     It's cold but there have been a few nice warm (70s) days here and there but mostly it has been cold since we left Florida. Even before we left Florida.

     The winter in Marathon was the warmest of all our stays so far but the rest of the country, including mainland Florida, has been a little on the cool side. Okay, cold side. A bit snowy, too. Pity.

     We left Marathon at the end of February with 80 degree days and that lasted us only three or four days travel north. We did get some last swimming in at Key Largo, Key Biscayne and Boca Raton. Lake Boca Raton is surprisingly beautiful, with crystal clear water in a landlocked anchorage. We actually don't swim much while in Marathon because the Gulf Stream isn't that close so the water isn't toasty warm. Only 70 or so.

     We only stayed a few nights in Fort Pierce near our friends Mike and Carol as we needed to start pushing north. Top off our supplies, visit, watch UConn WBB and head off. Ft Pierce was the start of the downhill weather pattern. Windy, cold, rainy. It was also the start of our outboard engine issues.

     We anchored in a new spot in the northern Indian River area, short of Titusville, on our way to Daytona then Saint Augustine. We were only in St Auggie one night but got the chance to meet up and have dinner with our good friends from Voyageur, Bob and Jane Fulton. Maybe we'll see them up in New England in the summer. The Daytona stop let us go to a bar we know for WBB.

     You can see how great the weather is here. It got worse.

 

 

     A couple of days of cold, unpleasant weather culminated in a stop at St Mary's, Georgia for part of a day at a marina. Cheap at $1/ft but still, a marina. Gale winds convince us to spend money. After that it was a stop in a new place for us, Kilkenny Creek. A recommendation of Bob Fulton. Not bad but shallow water was quite a ways off the ICW. From there we pushed on right by the Savannah area to Hilton Head Harbor Marina. Not a cheap spot but nowhere nearby to anchor. We got there too late for the basketball game but the next day we were in Factory Creek, Beaufort, SC and were able to walk to a very good Mexican restaurant with many TVs. AAC Champions beating Louisville (again). From there it was a two night stop in Tom's Point Creek. It wasn't a new spot for us but we anchored a mile farther up the creek to get tree protection for near gale winds. All worked out fine and from there it was only a half day to where we are now in the Ashley River, Charleston.

 

     In another week will head off towards Carolina Beach to get a mooring to leave the boat on while we head to Nashville by car for the WBB Final Four. Hoping that the UConn team will be there, too. We've never done this before. Final Fours? Yes. Leaving the boat? No.

 

 

Two photos from the last few days in Marathon. Winter 2014. Sigh.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Weather

     It's been more than a month since we arrived in Marathon. The most fun we've had is teasing people a little north of here about the weather. OK, a lot north of here.

     The weather has been mostly great. It stayed pretty much in the 80s until well into January. Then a number of fronts (northers) came through bringing wind (from the north) and cooler temps. We've had a couple of days when it barely reached 60 but when this happened in was in the single digits (or less!) back home. Most of the cool days have been in the mid 60s and the nice days are in the 70s. 80s are probably gone for a couple of months. That's quite okay.

     What do we do besides tease our friends? I play softball three times a week. Carol has yoga a few days a week when she is not off working. There's bike riding, dinghy trips to the beach and cruises looking for the manatees. While Heather was here we went to Key West ($1.50 bus ride, 50 miles) and visited the Dolphin Center a little north of here. All this in weather that required long pants or long sleeves for about 5 days in the last 40. And we complained about those 5 days. Ha!

     We have also had mechanics out to the boat to do repairs beyond my 'fix it 'til it's broken' skills. Generator starter, injector pump and heat exchanger repairs. Yanmar starter and alternator repairs, too. Big $$$$ but way cheaper than home taxes, maintenance or repairs. And easier to take than snow shoveling.

     We had the chance to rent a car to go to Cape Coral to visit my 97 year old aunt for a couple of days. We also went to the T A Edison winter home and workshop in nearby Ft Myers.

 

 

     His buddy Henry Ford had the home next door.

     I had to promise my aunt to come back for her 100th birthday party.

     We've got another month to suffer through before we start north again. Maybe we'll go to the Turtle Hospital again. Or Key West. Or the beach. Or the Hurricane Bar. Or our own Tiki Hut for Saturday evening jam sessions. Or - or - or... just can't decide. Too tough.