Thursday, December 29, 2011

Tis' the Season

Thursday December 29, 2011     Happy Birthday Drew!


Hard to believe Pam & I have a grandson turning 17 today. How does that happen? After all I'm only 19 (although my body keeps telling me differently). Hope you have a great day today Drewski!

On the home front it seems like a month since we've felt the gentle rocking of Tourist beneath our feet. Fortunately the weather here in NW Illinois has been unseasonably mild since we came home. It's been a busy time spent shopping, getting together with friends & family, the holidays, dentist visits and doctor appointments, etc. On the doctor note we had a good report for Pam concerning the small lump they discovered in her breast back in June. She recently had it removed and all was clear! We're both very relieved with the report and want to thank everyone who kept her in their thoughts and prayers.

The patient.

Christmas was the traditional Hillard family Christmas with a family gathering at our house on the 24th with the centerpiece being a dinner of chicken casserole or chicken sh-t as we all call it. On the 25th we reconvene at my parents for gifts and our traditional meal of KFC! And this year we hosted the evening meal for Pam's side of the family and started a new dining tradition, Manny's Pizza! It just doesn't get any better than that!

Nothing says Christmas like Chicken Sh-t and KFC!

We'll be home through the New Year holiday and then head back to Tourist hopefully before winter decides to rear her head!

The motley crew on Christmas after KFC. Some ate so much they couldn't get off the floor!

Monday, December 19, 2011

Loop Reflections


Having crossed our wake at Grafton, Illinois back in September we put the final exclamation point on our loop adventure when we pulled into Legacy Harbour in Ft. Myers, Florida in November. Since arriving back in Florida many have asked what our favorite part of the trip was. Simple answer, All of it. Perhaps a more appropriate question might be what part we liked the least since we liked almost all of the places we visited.

Occupying that low spot would be Carolina Beach, NC. Probably because we were stuck at the marina there for over a week with no loaner car or transportation while we waited on the plotter/transducer debacle to get resolved. Customer service is somewhere below the waterline at Joyner Marina. Now that I've got that out of the way on to more positive things.

Some of our favorite places/things are listed below.

  • Favorite City                                                           New York
  • Favorite Marinas                                                     Green Turtle Bay in Grand Rivers, Ky. & Grand Harbor in Counce, Tn.
  • Favorite Anchorage                                                Behind the Statue of Liberty on Memorial Day
  • Favorite Waterway                                                 All of them
  • Favorite Meal                                                         Curry Original in Kingston, Ont.
  • Favorite Drink                                                        Chubby Mary at Ricks in Leland, MI.
  • Favorite Watering Hole                                          Commodore Yacht Club @ Green Turtle Bay
  • Favorite Laundry Facility                                        Demopolis Yacht Basin (new marina section)
  • Favorite Grocery                                                    Wal-Mart (who would have guessed!)
  • Favorite Buddy Boats                                             Coconuts & Tumbleweed
  • Favorite Unusual Boat                                            S/V Lollygag (homemade)

Places we want to go back to explore further:

Chesapeake Bay
North Channel
Tennessee River

Would we do it again? In a heart beat. As much as anything I love the logistical challenges that you face every day. Weather, tides, bridge openings, finding an anchorage or marina, harbor traffic, etc. If you've done any distance traveling in a boat you know firsthand that it's not like driving your car along the interstate. There aren't facilities at every exit. Planning is the key and having 2 or 3 plans for each day is insurance that should keep you out of trouble. On the flip side planning can get you into trouble if you set deadlines to be somewhere by a certain date. Mother nature will always have a say in what you do.

We're often asked how we manage in such a small area. "Don't you get on each others nerves?" The answer is not often. (Except when we're picking out a movie to watch.) Since we started cruising on a more full-time basis in 2008 we have developed our own habits and spaces that we occupy. Additionally Tourist at 48' and two levels (3counting the engine room) offers us enough area to get away from each other if needed. However, I'm happy to say that I couldn't ask for a better cruising companion/deckhand/chef/friend/lover than Pam. We've heard stories of boats pulling into marinas and the wife saying to the marina operator,"Take me to the airport!" Fortunately neither of us has ever felt that way.

Another question is "Do you ever get homesick?" For me coming from a travel background the answer is rarely. For Pam the answer is yes. We try to get home every 3 months for a brief visit with family and friends. So far that seems to be keeping everyone happy.

Many asked if we "Buddy Boated" while on the Loop. The answer to that is only a couple of times. Once through Canada where we had a great time traveling with Coconuts and made a lasting friendship. And with Tumbleweed on the Tennessee. Pam & I enjoy people but are very content to travel by ourselves. Too many chefs spoil the stew and the same can be said of too many boats traveling together. Maybe it's just because I'm an only child but I don't like the idea of stopping quick and having 3 bow pulpits climbing over my stern. That doesn't mean that we didn't meet some great people along the way because we did. Many however failed to recognize us as "Loopers". Perhaps because we were in a Sea Ray and not a trawler?

Now what? After walking the docks of Legacy for a week checking out every boat that came in and watching with envy those that went past we/I have settled into a more sedentary life. It's now time to take care of all those little things that have been put off while on the move. We'll spend the Holidays at home and get back to Tourist in January and prepare for our next adventure. Bahamas anyone?

Have a great Christmas everyone and a prosperous New Year!

A few pictorial highlights;

Fernandina Sunset

Charleston Carriage Tour

Annapolis.

New York

Hudson River Valley

Erie Canal

St. Lawrence Seaway
Canada, eh!

Trent-Severn Waterway

Peterborough Lift Lock

Big Chute Railway

Campfire along the Trent-Severn Waterway
Topaz Lake

Baie Fine

Canadian Bugs (not a highlight, just a reality)

Leland, Michigan

Crossing Lake Michigan

Chicago

The Inland Rivers
Crossing our wake

Catching up to Floyd & Linda (M/V Tumbleweed)

Tennessee River

Sunsets

Apalachicola Oysters
Tarpon Springs

Legacy Harbour

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Happy Birthday Franklin (a.k.a. Oscar)

12/1/11     Happy Birthday Oscar! One year old today which means he's starting to make his parents work just to keep an eye on him. Although not quite walking, he can still get to anyplace in the house in the blink of an eye!

Day One
Just a few days old.
With GramPam in August.

Halloween

Bongo Boy.

Catch me if you can!

I wonder what's in here?

Recently he has taken to starting each day out by crawling into the room with the bongo drum and pounding on it. Somehow I think GramPam will think it's cute. If I did that I'd be in big trouble!

Hope you have a great birthday and don't get too spoiled by your Gramma.

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Back to Where We Started

11/17/11 Thursday     There's a cold front coming and it's bringing thunderstorms! A look at the weather radar and it looked like we could get out of Dodge before it hit so off we went. Back into Tampa Bay for a short trip to the ICW and a turn toward Sarasota. We ran at trawler speed for the first 10 miles or so until we hit the open water north of Sarasota. By now it looked like the storm was going to catch us. Using the resources available to us (twin 660hp diesels) we got up on plane and tried to out run it. Normally that doesn't work but this time it did. We slowed down at Sarasota with only a sprinkle catching us. Had we stayed at Desoto Point we would have gotten clobbered. The Coast Guard issued a 0 visibility warning for Tampa Bay as we were travelling.

We worked our way through the various bridges that cross the ICW only needing 3 of them to be opened.
Swing Bridge with the operator on the bridge!

One of the amusing things we spotted was a guy in waders standing in the water right beside the channel. Fortunately I was going slow so he didn't get knocked over by our wake.

Looking for Manatee?

Almost from the time we left Desoto Point we had been trying to call Fisherman's Wharf Marina in Venice each time getting a busy signal. We wanted to arrange for dockage for the night so we could visit my uncle Leo and his wife Jean who live in the area. As we neared I tried the vhf radio only to be informed that they didn't answer it either. What to do? What to do?
We drove in and put Tourist in a slip and walked up to the restaurant which doubles as the marina office. Then we found out that the marina is supposedly closed to transients. Apparently there is a group who live next door that have been blocking the permitting because they don't want to look at the boats. Why then are they living next to the water? Knuckleheads!

Marina neighbors.

Empty marina.

We were allowed to stay because we had come in to escape the "storm". Ironically the boat in the slip next to us was a 55' Hampton that Pam & I had looked at to buy a couple years back. It looked much better now than it did when we looked at it.
After we got the travel grunge off Uncle Leo came over to pick us up. He and Jean showed us around the Venice area before taking us to their club for dinner.
Family Visit.

Dinner was great and the company even better. It's always fun to listen to the stories about the Hillard boys early years! Following dinner we talked them into making a quick stop at Publix before returning to Tourist. Thanks Leo & Jean!

Tina, We found bananas foster in Venice, Fl.!

11/18/11 Friday     Windy! East winds 20 to 25 mph with stronger gusts. Fortunately we are on the ICW and most of our route today is sheltered from any big waves. All went well except that we had to wait for the Boca Grande bridge to open. Always fun in the wind. Once through the ICW we enter Charlotte Harbor which is a large expanse of open water. Remember the wind? Now we had 2 to 3' waves on our port beam. Rock and roll! The good news is that we were only going about 5 miles to Cayo Costa State Park anchorage. We made it without incident and dropped the hook in the shelter of Pelican Bay.

Cayo Costa anchorage.

11/19/11 Saturday     The wind is still blowing but not quite as strong so we decided to drop the dinghy in the water and check out a little cove that normally has manatees in it. We weren't disappointed. We entered the cove and shut off the motor and just drifted. All around us the manatees would drift to the surface, gulp some air and submerge again to forage for food. We gave it our best shot at getting a picture but most of them were camera shy!

Cayo Costa Manatee.

Back at the boat I changed the oil on the generator and some other minor maintenance before collapsing from the exhausting day.

11/20/11 Sunday     Wanting to get on the water before the week-end warriors start moving we pulled out around 7:30am. Our plan worked pretty good until we hit Captiva Island. Shortly after passing south Seas Plantation four boats at different times roared past us without so much as a wave. Now I'm not one of those whiners that cries every time we get rocked but I would like a little room to be able to turn into their wake. These clowns felt that they had to be close enough to shake hands!

The remainder of the day went well and we pulled into Ft. Myers Beach and grabbed a mooring ball. After paying our fee we took the dinghy over to Parrot Key Bar and watched the Packer game while eating lunch.
Packers Score!

Of course I had to have a brat for lunch. Good, but not the same as pulling one off the grill in the parking lot at Lambeau Field!

Fine Dining @ Parrot Key Grill.

The Pack went on to beat Tampa Bay and stay undefeated.

Unlike most times we've stayed at the mooring field it was almost empty. Maybe because it's still off season and maybe because they've pulled up 20 moorings and not replaced them. I think a combination of the two.

Empty Mooring Field @ Ft. Myers Beach


Tourist at the mooring field.

11/21/11 Monday     Not needing to be in  hurry we didn't unhook from the mooring ball until a bit after 9am. Our immediate destination was Ballard's Fuel Dock to top off the diesel tanks. Ballard's isn't fancy but they consistently have the lowest prices around and they move a lot of fuel which means it hasn't been sitting in their tanks getting stale and collecting moisture in this humid environment.

Ballard's Fuel Dock.

We completed fueling and pulled out at 10am. Just a short ride to the Caloosahatchie River and the final leg of this journey. We took advantage of the incoming tide and headed towards Legacy Harbour where we started from on April 1st.

You know you're getting close when you can spot the condos next to the marina.

Legacy Harbour. Our home away from home!

We pulled in to what Pam now considers "our slip", under the careful supervision of a small gathering of friends. We barely got the lines tied before the hugs and handshakes began! (Sorry the camera was still on the dash). After everything settled down we hooked up the power cable and trotted over to Joe's Crab Shack for what has become our traditional first day back lunch. While we were sitting there fellow Galenian's Marc & Michelle McCoy walked in. They are also doing the loop and are keeping their boat, Marc's Ark at Legacy. Guess I have to behave now!

Always the slave driver Pam made me get right to work washing the salt and grime off of Tourist as soon as we got back to the dock. No nap today!

If my math is correct since we left on April 1st we have been out 235 days of which we have spent 180 on Tourist and we're still talking to one another. I think we can do this cruising "thing"!