Happy To Report

that the transmission came back, was re installed and after a test run on the boat we can now safely say the clacking noise has gone! Once that was established we quickly closed up the camper, loaded up the boat and headed out. Not far. Twenty miles down the canal to Stuart where are now on a mooring ball swaying in the breeze. We have officially begun our two and a half week winter vacation! It's been a long haul. Time to relax...

Where were we?

Oh. Yes. Transmission. The next step in what has become an increasingly frustrating puzzle. Yesterday we took it to Fort Lauderdale, an hour and a half from here. We left it with a transmission "expert" who made no promises with respect to solving anything, but agreed to take it apart to see what he could see. We drove away feeling like we had dropped off our child at day care after a full blown temper tantrum - glad to have a break! While we wait to hear anything Darryl seems happy to be puttering around on small projects, and the weather is quite pleasant. Hot actually. And two days ago the fact that my fire ant bites had subsided enough to put my walking shoes on was magically combined with a day with no rain. Yay!! I also got my bicycle out for the first time this season.  Not to much to see out here, but at least you don't run the risk of getting hit by a car.
Today is laundry day. They put brand new washing machines and dryers in the laundry room  so now when you do a wash your clothes actually get clean.  Unless you drop them on the way back to the camper... JUST KIDDING! They all made it back clean and fresh. Now I just have to put them away, so I will sign off for now... Have a great day!

The Last Two Days

Our "Rube Goldberg" Rain Diverter

The Verdict

As you know, Darryl has been working on a problem with the boat that has to do with a clattering  noise that the engine makes. After several failed$$$ attempts by the yard mechanic to solve the problem, Darryl has been working on it himself with the help of a couple of friends. Last week after the new motor mounts had been put in place the shaft couldn't be aligned because of an extra 1/8th of an inch taken up by the exhaust hose. He then discovered the motor mounts were on upside down, so he took them off. But alas, when he put them right side up, nothing fit. He finally figured out the mounts could be ground down to compensate for the extra 1/8th inch. So everything came off again, got ground down and then put back in place. That took 5 days. Then came the triumphant shaft alignment. Recommendation was to align it to at least 8/10,000 of an inch and Darryl got it to 3/10,000 of an inch!! Victory!! Friends came down for dinner on Sunday night and a good time was had by all. Just a few more tweaks to the mounts on Monday (took ALL day) - then came the test drive yesterday... AND??
Nothing. Nothing had changed with the clattering noise. Nothing at all. After I talked him out of sinking the boat right at the dock Darryl went back to talk to the mechanic, who at this point seems genuinely sympathetic to the situation, and got the name of another mechanic in Tampa. As we speak, Darryl is attempting to remove the transmission from the boat so we can drive it over to Tampa and have the guy look at it. The man is a trouper!
On a side note, with all the work going on over the past few weeks the last of the frogs who had taken up residence on our boat have vacated. There were enough of them that I believe they had their own small village complete with zip code. It must have been a very wet summer here.
Today I am heading to the "boat parts"store. Not too exciting, but something to do on a rainy day. Fortunately it is also near a great grocery store, so off I go! Until next time...

There it goes

Our neighbor, sunshade and wind-block...

Nestled In With The Boats

One Step Forward, Two Steps...

...back? We don't really know yet. Today Darryl is undoing everything he worked on last week after muttering something about an exhaust hose and 1/8 of an inch. I try not to ask too many questions. He has two friends helping him, although I am not certain that Ted, who is 6'2" even fits on our boat. The boatyard is bustling this morning, and it is ironically comforting that everyone here seems to be working on a problem. "Buffalo Blue" is installing a new toilet, "Rum Tot" has to replace all of their cushions and headliner, among other things, after serious water damage from a leak over the summer, and "Jaftica" (acronym for "Just Another ____Thing I Can't Afford" - Canadians have a GREAT sense of humour, don't they?) is busy fixing just about everything. Me? I am re-attaching the zipper on the screen room part of our camper after a couple and their small dog walked by and Scooter understandably, but rather enthusiastically, sought to improve on his circle of friends by blasting right through it before it was unzipped. Apologies again, to the couple, for the 70 lb golden bowling ball hurtling at them at warp speed down the grass.
Anther cold front is coming through this afternoon. We have a heater, which is good, but because we only have a 15 amp hookup we can only plug in one thing at a time without tripping the circuit breaker. (The parking lot here is full of motorhomes belonging to habitat for humanity volunteers, so when we got here they put us in the boat storage area with only 15 amp service.) I have developed a nice rotation which includes the heater, the fridge, the water heater and the toaster oven. So far it seems to be working!
Oops... It has started to rain- gotta go close things up! Bye for now...

This Morning

began with honeybells!

Week 2

Here we are after two weeks in the boatyard. It has been unusually chilly here, although I am not complaining. Most mornings it has been pretty close to freezing but as long as our little heater keeps working it is not too bad. The daytime temps are in the 50's or 60's - jeans and a sweatshirt or fleece kind of weather - pretty near perfect for me. It has also been good for Darryl who has been busy replacing the motor mounts on the boat. What?? You say...Now the motor mounts?? Yup. The mechanic came to the boat on Monday to help align the new shaft and "suggested" the motor mounts need replacing first. Quelle surprise! But no way we are putting this guy's second child through school. Not a chance. So Darryl decided to do the job himself (while I settled in for a long winter's nap). He has been working on it all week. Working in a space about the size of a squirrel's nest. Let's just say our fairly large supply of bandaids has come in handy...
On another note, our buddy Moose was in the hospital most of the week with a heart arrhythmia AND pneumonia. Poor guy. Well, poor except for the fact he is quite overweight, drinks, smokes and never gets any exercise. Anyway, because of his absence the Saturday night cookout was cancelled. Just as well. It was a bit too chilly to be sitting outside eating dinner.
It is supposed to continue to be cool for another week so I am happy enough to stay put with a heater. Of course Scooter is in heaven with his doggie friends, cool weather and having 24/7 access to us. Right now we are off for a walk as the temp has risen to a balmy 47.
See you next time!

Luke

This is Scooter's playmate here. We are dog sitting while his owners have gone to Atlanta for a few days. He sleeps on his own boat at night, and gets to walk and play with scooter during the day!

Week 1 in the boatyard

Sorry to have been so lazy as to not keep you all informed but quite frankly the only thing I could have reported up until now is that is has been raining. A lot. In fact they are calling it the 100 year rain event. Some places just east of us got 22 1/2 inches in three hours on Thursday. Streets have caved in and storm sewers are backed up because in florida there is really nowhere for that much water to go.The floor of our screen room attached to the camper was underwater for days.
Today it is sunny and warm. Yay! We had the boat launched on Thursday (yes, in the rain) with a new shaft adorning the underside. The shaft attaches to the propellor, so I am glad it is there. I don't quite know why we needed a new one except the mechanic here suggested to Darryl that it would solve our "clanging" problem from last spring. This is the forth suggestion the mechanic has made regarding the problem. The first three didn't work, and I am quite sure the money we paid him is putting his oldest child through college. At this point all I can do is nod my head in agreement and smile. They are supposed to take the boat out for a test drive on Monday. I will most definitely report back the results...
This morning we were off to the farmers market. Fresh corn -7/$1; sweet navel oranges -7/$1; pink grapefruit - 7/$1; and DRUM ROLL PLEASE!!! ---HONEYBELL ORANGES!! My day could have ended there. But it didn't. Right now I am getting ready for the Saturday night cruiser potluck. Our buddy Moose will be grilling the chicken. He hasn't changed a bit, except for the fact he gave us what many might consider, for him, an enthusiastic greeting when we arrived. He waved. It's a first. I'll take it!
Time to shuck the corn...

We made it...

to the boatyard. Thanks, I believe, to me. I say this because I sat in the passenger seat the whole way and navigated with my Ipad. Never mind that it was pretty much a straight shot down I95 for the entire trip - I found the gas stations, rest areas, lunch spots, hotels and dunkin donuts. I also did puzzles, spent time on Facebook, sent emails, face timed friends and did a bit of online shopping. Darryl DID drive the entire time so he also gets some credit for getting us here, but realistically if not for my navigating (nagging?) who knows where we would have ended up.
When we got here it was raining. We managed to get set up anyway, and then thankfully were invited to dinner on another boat. I was quite pleased with the fact that I had managed to avoid the fire ant mound as we were setting up. Of course that all changed the next day - they must have been alerted to my plan to exterminate their colony. Sigh.
On a humorous note, somewhere around exit 260 (in florida) there was a rather large sign on a fence that said "used cows for sale". What? What the heck is a used cow? I am sure Carl Hiaasen is already aware of this and has incorporated it into one of his novels. Perhaps the guy who walked into a 7-eleven with the baby alligator he was trying to trade for a six pack of beer (yes, he was arrested) would have had better luck with a used cow. Only in florida!
P.s. Snuggle alert tonight! Going down to 35F!

4:32 pm

and the sun is still up. This is what I see out my window... We are 65 miles from Kingsland, Georgia, where will spend the night.

On the road

In North Carolina. Car fixed. COLD! Windy. Sunny. Just stopped for gas, coffee and a mid morning dunkin donut. Yum!

Emporia, Virginia

Well, here we are at the Best Western. Darryl says I am always commenting on the fact we could use more adventure, so we are having one! We got here last night after a long day of driving with all the windows down because of a horrible smell in the car - either the radiator or the exhaust. (It got so bad at one point Scooter wouldn't get back in the car at a rest stop.) We have also been driving with flashlights strapped onto the back of the camper because the lights aren't working. So we stopped here just after dusk and got settled in our room, and Darryl went to get something out of the fridge in the camper. When he opened the door a container of juice JUMPED out at him and spilled all over the floor and rug. We cleaned up the spill, washed the rug in the bathtub in our room and walked over to a FIVE GUYS burgers for dinner. I have to say, we only have a fast food burger once a year and this one was delicious! And best French fries ever! We then spent the evening deciding what to do about the car.
Fortunately this morning the woman on the front desk had a recommendation for a service center, and Darryl unhitched the camper and drove the car over. He got a ride back here with a guy who comes as close to being straight from "Duck Dynasty" as you can get without actually being on the show. Darryl swung back into full "southern accent" mode without missing a beat, which I found amusing until I caught even him eying the camouflage jackets and pants when we walked over to Wal Mart before lunch.
Right now we are in the room enjoying HBO and waiting for the call about car. Will keep you posted!

Tired of the car

We are just past Baltimore, it is a beautiful sunny day and scooter has finally decided he doesn't want to be in the car any more. We are doing all the 95's. I95, 295, 495, 695 and perhaps somewhere coming up, 195. Hope to get to south Virginia early evening. We stop every 2 hrs for gas, which is good for leg stretching but not for making time. I will check in later.