On The Road Again

     It seems like an eternity since our last blog entry.  Since that entry, we have been very busy with more boat work.  Like we don't get enough of that!  One of the major projects was the installation of a watermaker, one of the few jobs that that was actually a pleasure to do - more showers.  When we returned from visiting family and friends in Pennsylvania, we made a trip over to Annapolis, MD before our contract expired for the rental car.  What started as a research trip for watermakers turned into a purchase of a unit.  It has always be said that you do not make water with the brackish water of the Chesapeake Bay because of all the pollutants that can be found in the bay waters.  The manufacturer of our new watermaker closed the deal when they claimed with their system you can make fresh water from the bay.  SOLD!  The unit arrived from California the following Monday and the install was completed that week.  We have yet to start up the unit, we left the marina on Memorial Day with full fresh water tanks.

      We also did work on the Ford Lehman engine and the generator set.  Each unit received new hoses and antifreeze for the cooling systems, and the Ford Lehman engine also received a new heat exchanger ($$$.$$).  We finally moved the Ford Lehman oil filter from its inverted position to a user friendly upright position.  Since 1983, every time someone would change the oil filter it would spill its contents because it was mounted in the wrong orientation!  Our departure from from the marina was put on hold for 2 days because of a severe fuel leak on the generator.  What had a potential for a expensive ($,$$$.$$) new fuel injector pump turned out to be three $.35 o-rings!  Another close one!

     We could go on and on about all the work we did, but that's all part of boating.  Four hard weeks of being on the hard and working everyday made us long for the days of being back on the water.  So now we are ready to resume our adventure - as Willie Nelson would say "On the road again......"

Never Done

     It's good to be home; when I say at home I mean the boat, after all it is our only home.  After returning to Long Cove Marina on April 25th, we had the boat hauled on Wednesday April 27th.  For the next week, Sharon and I worked very hard on repairs, maintenance, cleaning and whatever else we could think of.  Then on May 5th we got a rental car and returned to central Pennsylvania to visit with family and friends.  It was strange to be driving a car again.  It's been 8 months since we sold our truck.  The rental company gave us a free upgrade to a  "full' size car, a 2011 Toyota Camry, because the intermediate sized vehicle we had booked had not been returned  by the time they picked us up.  So off to Pennsylvania we go with a trunk packed full of clothing, including dirty laundry.   We were able to surprise my mother with our return and in time for a pizza party thanks to my sister.  We stayed at mother's apartment for the next week and used her home as a base of operations as we ran many trips and errands.  One of our trips was to Rochester, NY to see our youngest son, Grant, at college.   He is doing very well at college except for the house cleaning of his dorm room.  Boys will be boys.  On Sunday, Mothers's Day, we visited Sharon's sister.  We also went to see our oldest son Jesse and his girlfriend Kelsie at Jesse's home, a firehouse where he is a live-in volunteer firefighter in addition to his day job as an Emergency Medical Technician.  While we were visiting with Jesse, Kelsie's parents dropped by and we were introduced to them for the first time.  We then went to my sister's home for Mother's Day celebrations with my mother, sister and all the nieces and nephews.  On Monday we were back on the road to visit Sharon's brother and on Tuesday to visit with Sharon's mother.  On Thursday we  went to visit our best friends Jeff & Wendy.   By the way, none of these family members or friends live in the same communities except for Sharon's sister and Jesse, so we did a lot of driving.
    Our return to the boat on Friday was uneventful except for the car full we brought back with us.  We have learned as full time cruisers that you do not pass up opportunities.  Among the clean laundry was 7 gallons of engine oil, 4 gallons of anti-freeze, wood trim & luan plywood, rope lighting, 25 lbs of beef-pork-fish, 2 "helm" chairs for the pilothouse and a ton of other "stuff".  And as if the car was not full enough we stopped at the liquor store and the grocery store on the way back.  Thinking about this, I believe the provisioning of a boat is never done.

Grant & Sharon in Grant's dorm room

 Grant with his Computer Science House (CSH) project over his right shoulder.  Grant used laptops as a video conferencing tool for the CSH rooms

Hotplates are not permitted in the dorm but clothes irons are, so one CSH student developed this "toaster oven".  Note - they trip the breaker ever time they plug it in!

 Jesse standing next to engine in his house

Jesse with sign that hangs over his bunk

 Jesse & Kelsie