Dog River Marina (eighth day) - 11/26/10

Today Skip and I took Bill Langford (Precious Time) back to Columbus Marina in Columbus, MS, a round trip of over 500 miles, to fetch his SUV and bring it back to Eastern Shore Marina in Fairhope, AL. They need to keep their vehicle close as his wife, Charlotte, is in the middle of retiring from her position and involved in selecting her successor and may have to leave pretty quickly for Nashville or Chicago. They were married last year in Steinhatchie about this time of the year and are also planning on going back over there to celebrate their anniversary and may need the vehicle for that as well. Ricki spent the day doing stuff around the boat and enjoyed her "alone time". She worked on an floral arrangement that we will put on her brother's grave site in Waccissa, FL next week on our way back to WV. Tomorrow we plan to drive toward Gulf Shores, FL and Orange Beach, FL however, we have to pass a Tangiers Outlet so I already know how this will turn out.

The weather here has taken a turn for COLD and it looks like we will have to suffer cool nights and daytime highs in the 60's for a few more days. We are still hoping for a departure from here the first of the week since we have to cover 200 miles by Friday.

Dog River Marina (seventh day) - 11/25/10

Thanksgiving Day in the high 70's ... that just doesn't seem right!

We were going to Bob and Vicki Riggs beautiful home this afternoon around 2 p.m. so we had the morning to do a few things around here. While I threw the sheets in the wash, Ricki straightened things up here and cleaned out the refrigerator in preparation of leaving next week. We were picking our friends Skip and Barb Johnson up at Eastern Shore Marina on the way to the dinner. What a feast! Must have been 30 to 35 folks there with 19 of us actually on the loop right now. Bob and Vicki have completed the loop and have been the Harbor Host for some time and have done these dinners for 9 years. We got reaquainted with some folks we hadn't seen for awhile as well as meeting a lot of new ones. We got some great tips on the trip from here to Port St. Joe so if we can get going by Monday or even Tuesday at the latest, we can get there on Friday so we can get ready to leave with my sister and brother-in-law on Saturday. They have been in central Florida visiting a cousin and will pick us up on the way back to West Virginia. Tomorrow since we have the rental car thru Sunday, I am driving our looper friends Charlotte and Bill Langford (Precious Time) back to Columbus Marina in Mississippi to get their car.

Dog River Marina (sixth day) - 11/24/10

Today I contacted our insurance carrier and advised them of the issues we had encountered and started the claim process. As I was walking around this morning I spotted our old props in the maintenance shop all shiny and looking good with our boat name written on them. Can't wait to get them on and get started again. Now if I can spot the rest of the stuff I will feel better. This afternoon we decided to take a ride towards Orange Beach, FL and Gulf Shores, FL again with the idea of looking at it now in order to get on by in the boat. Well ... we passed some places that looked interesting to the first mate including finding a Tangiers Outlet that, thank God, had just closed early for the holiday. Never did make it to the beach. So ... she declared we would return Saturday and on the way to the beach, you guessed it, stop at the outlet. I have only seen one other person in this world that can go thru a store and touch everything in it before leaving and her name shall remain confidential. Your secret is safe with me Dianne H. The towns we have driven thru the past couple days are so neat. They just seem to reach out and grab you with the clean look to the point that it makes you say "I could live here" except that it is so far from family and friends.

Tomorrow (Thanksgiving) will be celebrated in Fairhope, AL at the AGLCA Harbor Hosts' home along with 35 to 40 other loopers for dinner. It is supposed to be very warm here in the upper 70's which seems a little strange to us northern folks for Thanksgiving time.

We received some fantastic news from our oldest son on the way back to the boat. Thanks Jason and Jody. Now the pressure is on for your brother.

Dog River Marina (fifth day) - 11/23/10

Another day of waiting for repairs to the boat. The owner of the marina and repair yard, Sonny Middleton stopped by early this morning to give me an update on the progress. We expect the replacement shaft to come back from the machine shop on Wednesday and the coupler to get here Friday. The only problem is that the repair facility will be closed from Thanksgiving day thru Sunday, so it looks like Monday will be the earliest to install the stuff. As I have indicated before, the folks have been great and are always appologizing for the time it is taking which is really outside their control. Shortly after Sonny left the boat, Debbie & Rob who we met at Columbus Marina, stopped by on their way to the West Marine Store which is less than a 100 yards up the road where we are parked. As they were leaving, John and Carol Segal (Seas 2 Day) that we sat with almost every day at the rendezvous, stopped on their way to West Marine. They went to Cancun after Joe Wheeler and we had not seen them since. Since we had a rental car and it did not seem fiscally responsible to let it sit and do boat chores, we talked to Skip and Barb (Moor $tuff) who left Monday for Eastern Shore Marina across the bay, and made plans to meet for lunch and do Fairhope. Eastern Shore is a marina we had planned to visit for a couple days so by going over today we can skip going there and cover a few days we are sitting still. The marina is very nice and surrounded by beautiful homes. The harbor host over there has invited those loopers in the area to their home for Thanksgiving dinner and the four of us made plans to attend. We went into downtown Fairhope which is a lovely town and had lunch in the "French Quarter" which is very much like it should be part of New Orleans and ate in an open garden area. Of course shopping was next on the agenda so Skip and I accompanied them just long enough to find a pub where we landed until they were done and rescued us. After coming back to the marina, we stopped by a docktail party on Debbie & Rob's boat where we met one couple from France who shipped their boat here to do the loop and Cuba and are planning on going around South America next. The other couple was from Quebec. We enjoyed meeting them very much. Norm and Sue (Run Around Sue) were docked right behind Rob's boat and we stopped there and had a docktail with them and John and Carol (Seas 2 Day) before returning to our boat to watch the finals of Dancing with the Stars.

Dog River Marina (fourth day) - 11/22/10

Shortly after 8 a.m. this morning I moved Quest to the haul out area and out she came. First glance as it was being raised, the bottom didn't look bad with only a couple scratches that I could repaint pretty quickly after it was power washed. However things got worse when I was able to see the stern area and could see the props. Both were damaged and the starboard prop actually had one blade turned the wrong way. The port prop just had a few small knicks so both were sent out for repair and we were prepared to install the spare ones as soon as we checked the shafts. Another bummer ... the port shaft was out 30 thousands. Getting it out turned out to be a problem. The shaft coupler had apparently vibrated from the bend in it and the set bolts (screws) had mushroomed their seat and the shaft ended up beyond repair. This is a holiday week and since the marina shop is closed from Thursday until Monday, it remains to be seen just when we can get across the gulf to Fairhope. At least we are in the best place for repair and the folks here are great. They are a sponsor of the looper association and really treat us right.

This afternoon we decided there wasn't anything else we could do since I had spent the morning with the guys working on the boat and Ricki had caught up all the laundry, so we took the rental car and went to the mall. Tomorrow unless things happen quickly with the repair job, we plan to drive over to Fairhope and join our friends Skip and Barb and probably get some more shopping done.

Dog River (third day) - 11/21/10

Today was sort of bitter sweet seeing our friends Stan and Colleen Anderson pull out of the marina in Endeavour bound for the Texas coast. We have traveled with them since leaving Joe Wheeler and have had some great times. They will be missed.

Our other traveling buddies, Skip and Barb Johnson (Moor $tuff) joined us for the day touring the battleship Alabama. Skip was a former Navy guy and was able to identify many things that were not covered on the walking tour of the ship.

It took all afternoon to explore most of the 12 floors of the boat. When we left the park, the next order of business was dinner and after such a great meal the night before at the Mariner Restaurant across Dog River from our marina, we did it again. We had rented a car for a few days and decided to do a little shopping after dinner but Skip and Barb decided to call it a day. Tomorrow morning our boat is scheduled to be hauled in order to check for a vibration which is probably a prop issue.

Dog River Marina (second day) - 11/20/10

Second day at Dog River Marina was mostly a work day. We slept in a little late and the chef (captain) made breakfast for the first mate, again. Shortly after breakfast we were informed that Stan (Next Endeavour) had dropped his cell

phone overboard so off I went to see if I could help. After several attemps with a fishing net strapped to 2 expanding poles to reach bottom, we were unsuccessful. Another boater on the dock offered a high powered magnet so we tied 2 lines to it so we could work it between the dock and boat bow. Long story short, we latched on to the leather enclosed belt clip and hauled it in carefully. After clean up and flushed out ... it didn't work but since it was practically new and supposed to withstand this type of treatment, the company is going to replace it. The afternoon was spent installing the new blinds in the boat that Ricki ordered from Lowes in Rogersville, AL and had them sent here. Later that night we enjoyed adult beverages on our boat to celebrate our friendship and traveling together for the past couple weeks. Stan and Colleen are leaving us and heading for Texas tomorrow and we will certainly miss them. We then went across the river to the Mariner Restaurant where we had a wonderful meal.