Last year I wrote a post about living in the pandemic. I ended it saying “things were starting to get back to normal“—I was premature in saying that. Since I posted that, we had a booster shot and experienced the Delta and Omicron variants. After a short period of not wearing masks, we are back to wearing them indoors, in public again.
Less Terrified
We are still in a pandemic, but we have learned a lot since it started—people have adjusted. We have had to adust some holiday get-togethers, but it was not as bad as year ago. We lost one family member to COVID, but other family members recovered and are doing fine.
Most of our family and friends are vaccinated and boosted to the max. Symptoms have been mild for those that got it.
The Good News
I’m not going to jinx things and say that the pandemic is almost over, but I will say that we were not influenced by it as much in 2021 as we were in 2020. We changed some plans, like the Big Barn Dance, but mostly we have been spending time with our grandchildren.
We do our grocery shopping in person, always wearing a mask. We occasionally go to restaurants, but usually sit outside. Some events were cancelled, but a lot of them were not. We had a good year socializing with family and good friends, all of them taking precautions against getting COVID. We even went to an outdoor concert at Wilmington’s new Live Oak Bank Pavilion.
2021 Recap
2021 was not the best year, but it wasn’t the worst year. We mostly did what we wanted—spend time with our grandchildren. Being CLODs (Cruisers Living On Dirt) in Wilmington, NC, we got to see friends. Some were traveling near Wilmington in boats or RVs, others traveled just to see us.
We did some traveling in 2021, but mostly by car. In February, we went to Gambrills, Maryland to babysit Jameson and Grady.
In a previous post, I talked about going to Marathon, Florida, in March, to check on our boat.
In June and July we are in Gambrills, MD and Wilton, CT. Greg, Tiffany and the twins have moved from a one bedroom apartment in New York City to a five bedroom house in Wilton, CT. We go there to help them and play with our grandchildren. Adam, Katie and the boys are in Gambrills, MD, which is on the way. So we stop and play with some of our other grandchildren.
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The first week of August is our annual Lake Week. Last year’s Lake Week was not fully attended because of COVID. This year was better—all the grandchildren, except for the twins, were there. Everyone had a great time. Almost everyone was there for most of the week, even though one person had COVID and had to miss the first two days.
In September, we go to Gambrills and Wilton again. Our babysitting services are in great demand, so we create a shared calendar.
In October we go to Tega Cay, South Carolina to see our grandsons Jackson and Oliver—we don’t want them to feel left out. Then we go to Gambrills and Wilton again.
We get together with all the family for the holidays, but not all together. It would have been nice to all be together on Christmas day, but it we spread it out over several weeks—that’s fun too.
Looking Forward
We start 2022 by babysitting. In January we are in Gambrills and Wilton. After Wilton, we’ll meet Adam, Katie and the boys in Rhode Island for an early celebrations of Ava’s 12th birthday. We haven’t seen her since Lake Week.
After that, we’ll go down to the boat in the Florida Keys for a bit. But, we we’ll return to Wilton for the twins’ first birthday. We’ll most likely stop in Gambrills on the ways up and back.
We have no specific plans after that, until our annual Lake Week in August.
Big Barn Dance
The Big Barn Dance, in Taos NM, was a yearly tradition for us before COVID. In 2020 it was completely cancelled, but we watched it on YouTube. They held one in 2021, but it was very restrictive. You couldn’t buy tickets, you bought a “pod”—a place for your lawn chairs. There was no covered seating. We like to come and go during the day, and decided this would not work for us. Hopefully, it will be back to normal in 2022 and we will go in the RV.
Summary
We spent a lot of time with grandchildren in 2021, and we plan to continue that in 2022. We didn’t spend much time on the boat or RV in 2021 and, as of today, we haven’t planned any trips for 2022—we’ll wait and see what COVID brings, and we’ll make the best of the situation.
I started writing this post in early 2020, during the pandemic. I originally intended to make it a quick post about quarantining, but instead of publishing it, I just kept adding to it. Then I forgot about it until now, so it’s a gigantic post covering over fourteen months of living in a pandemic.
Like most people in this world, we practiced social distancing during the Covid-19 pandemic. It was easier for us because we’re retired and don’t have to worry about going to work to get a paycheck.
There were many changes for us over the last fourteen months. Some were good and some were bad, but most were good.
We were on Questeria, in Marathon, FL, when the pandemic started. We stopped going out. We ordered everything online and had it delivered to us at the marina. We passed the time catching up on boat projects, walking and taking dinghy rides.
Florida to North Carolina
Keeping six feet from people was challenging in that environment. We are close to our neighbors in boats and townhomes. There are people in the marina who we have to walk past when we leave the boat. We also have to interact with someone to pump out our holding tank twice a week.
We tried to get some exercise by walking. There is a nice path across the street. Most people we passed kept their distance, but not everyone. So we stopped walking. One of the reasons people were not taking it serious in Marathon was that the cases of Covid-19 were much lower than in Miami-Dade and Broward counties, to the north.
We decided to leave the Keys and drive the RV to Ernul, NC. We prepared the boat; We filled the water tank so the watermaker can flush every five days. We added extra lines. We setup the dehumidifier to drain into the sink. We packed all of our stuff in the car, including clothes, food, paper towels, toilet paper and our portable water softener.
We drove the car to Southern Comfort RV, in Florida City, where the RV was stored. When we passed the checkpoint on the other side of the road, at the 18 mile stretch, they were stopping visitors from entering the Keys.
We got to the RV, and transferred all the stuff from the car to the RV. We attached the car to the towbar and headed out on the turnpike.
We stopped for gas in Fort Pierce. The gas station was empty. We drove on until 8:00PM and stopped in a rest area for the night. We stopped again for gas in St. George, SC and drove to Ernul, NC and parked the RV in its usual location.
On the way up there, we noticed much less traffic than normal—it was mostly semis. We also noticed that gas prices were way down. There were signs in SC saying all visitors must quarantine themselves by law. In NC the signs said stay home. We did—we just took our home with us.
Waiting
One of our reasons for coming to NC, was to help Katie and Adam when their new baby comes in May. We can babysit Jameson, while mom and dad are in the hospital with the newborn. We decided that we would isolate ourselves for two weeks before visiting anybody.
We can watch local TV in Ernul. We start watching news instead of taking dinghy rides—we prefer dinghy rides. We have a few RV projects, but most of the time I spend working on the website and reading.
Road Trip
After two weeks of isolation, we were ready to visit Adam, Katie and Jameson in Wilmington, NC. We had not come in close contact with anyone. Katie and Adam were considered high-risk for Covid-19 because she was pregnant. So they have both been working from home and taking precautions.
On Sunday morning we drove our car to Wilmington. It’s was a two hour trip. On Monday, we watched Jameson while Katie went to a doctor appointment and Adam worked from home. On Tuesday, we ordered pickup from Agostino’s pizza. We got two large pizzas; Eggplant Parmesan (our favorite) and Buffalo Chicken. We also got an order of Garlic Knots. After lunch, we left some pizza for Katie, Adam and Jameson, and drove back to the RV. We had enough pizza for supper, and shared some with James.
Road Trip 2
After another week in the RV, we went back to Wilmington to babysit for Katie’s doctor appointment. She does better, when she is getting more rest, so we decided to stay and help until the baby is born.
More Waiting
We continued helping Katie and she does well and takes advantage of being able to rest.
On Mother’s day we walked on the beach. All public beach parking was closed, but we parked in a Coast Guard lot, because she is active Coast Guard. Restaurants were closed, so for Mother’s Day we bought some fresh flounder, and fried it, along with shrimp, for dinner.
Mothers’ Day at the Beach
A few days later, our 10 year-old granddaughter, Ava, joined us. She was on vacation in Virginia and her mom drove her to Raleigh, so Adam could bring her back to Wilmington. Her school in Rhode Island was on remote learning, so she could attend classes from North Carolina.
New Baby
On May 16 we have a new grandson. His name is Grady Knox. They come home two days later.
Grady and Grandma
Back to the RV
Katie’s mom flies in from Florida for the weekend. The house is already pretty crowded, so we decided to drive back to the RV—about two hours away.
A few days later, we decided to drive the RV to Wilmington. It’s more expensive than our free spot in Ernul, but it’s closer to our grandkids.
There are two places in Wilmington where we keep the RV; the KOA and the Elks Lodge. The KOA is nicer and has full hook-up sites, but it is expensive and less convenient. We are members of the Elks and can get a water and electric site for $25 a night. They also have a dump station. Amenities in both places are limited due to the pandemic.
We stay at a premium site at the KOA so we have room to cook out for visitors. Our granddaughter, Ava stays with us a few nights. Unfortunately, the pool and other facilities are closed due to Covid.
Later on, we move to a cheaper site, and then to the Elks Lodge.
On the way, we stop at one of our favorite campgrounds, Ortona South. This Army Corps. of Engineers campground is taking all precautions possible to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
Camping World finally has the front-end cap. Our insurance company, SafeCo, refused to pay for a new piece, even though Camping World said it could not be repaired and must be replaced. They even sent pictures to the insurance company showing that the damage was too great to repair. The insurance company didn’t care, so we had to pay out of pocket to get the RV fixed. SafeCo also refused to go after the woman that rolled into us, so we ended up paying the deductible as well.
No more SafeCo for us.
We leave the RV at Camping World and drive our car to Questeria in Marathon.
Marathon, FL
The boat has been closed up for twelve weeks. The water tank is empty and there is no water hose. The A/C filter plugged up weeks ago and was shut off by one of our friends in the marina. At least we had a dehumidifier running.
We get things back to normal, and do some boat projects.
Four and a half weeks later we close up the boat and drive to Fort Myers to get the RV. This time we pickled the watermaker so we didn’t have to worry about running out of water. We also left a dehumidifier running.
The RV looks great. We have mixed feelings about Camping World. They didn’t fix things they said they would, and things weren’t ready when they said they would be. But, the body shop did a great job. They never got the right awning, so we ordered one from somewhere else and will fix it ourselves
Next we take the RV to Springfield Campground, in Townville, SC. This is an Army Corps. of Engineers campground on Lake Hartwell. We spend four nights, leave the RV and drive the car to the lake house that we rented for Lake Week.
Lake Week
Every year we have a one week family vacation. It includes our six children (three from each of us), their six spouses and our eight grandchildren, ranging from 15 years to 3 months. That’s 22 people, including us. This trip used to be “Beach Week”, but last year we started going to a lake house instead.
This year we are in Martin, Georgia, on Lake Hartwell.
We thought about canceling Lake Week because of Covid, but we decided we would go even if it was just the two of us. As it turned out, we had 14 out of 22 people show up.
Lake Week
Everybody had a great time. We rented a pontoon boat for the week and went swimming and fishing. Of course there was eating drinking involved as well.
After Lake Week, we went back to the RV, in Springfield campground, for three nights. Then, it’s time to move on.
Fort Mill, SC
Our next stop was the KOA in Fort Mill, SC. This is close to our grandchildren, Jackson and Oliver. We have just seen them at Lake Week, but this gives us a chance to spend some one-on-one time with both of them.
Gambrills, MD
Katie and Adam move to Gambrills, MD. They bought a house sight-unseen. They had to pay above the asking price to get this home.
Before Moving Day
We drive the car up there to help them move in. We get there the day before the movers. There is no furniture. We sit on camping chairs. The adults sleep on blow-up beds and the babies sleep in pack-n-plays.
More RVing
Next, we go back to Ernul, NC. We gave up on Camping World installing a new awning. They kept ordering the wrong part, so we ordered one online and had it delivered to Ernul. The first one was damaged, but the second one was okay. We watched a YouTube video and installed it ourselves, with help from James.
It turns out great. It looks better than when we first bought the RV five years ago.
Next, we go to Holden Beach RV Campground in Holden Beach, NC. This is a very nice campground. It isn’t right on the beach, but it’s only a short drive away.
Erika and Johnny joins us for a night and we go to the beach.
Grandpa and Johnny at Holden Beach
We wanted to go to the beach, but we also wanted to look at houses in the area.
Then, we go to Paynes Creek campground in Hartwell Georgia. This time we want to look at some lakefront property. We don’t see anything that we like, so we just hang out at the lake.
Then, we go back to the Fort Mill KOA to visit Jackson and Oliver again.
Next, we go back to Wilmington, NC and stay at the Elks Lodge for three nights.
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Then we drive the RV 22 miles to Winner’s RV Park, in Carolina Beach. It’s our anniversary, and we thought in would be nice to be close to the beach. This RV park is about a ten minute walk to the beach. This is perfect for us.
On our anniversary we drive to Good Hops Brewery, about a three minute drive in the car, and have some craft beer. This is the first time we have gone to a brewery or bar in a long time. Masks are required unless seated at a table. We get a table outside.
After that we order flounder stuffed with crabmeat to go from Cape Fear Seafood Company and bring it back to the RV.
We find a house in Wilmington, NC that we like. We make an offer and it’s accepted. We take the RV back to Ernul, and park it for a while.
Back to Marathon (for a bit)
We leave the RV and drive down to Marathon to check on the boat. We pack food so that we don’t have to stop except for gas and restrooms. We leave early, so we can get through Miami before the traffic is too bad.
We don’t plan to spend much time here. We are just here to check the boat and get some stuff for the house. We get a free dining room table and chairs from our friends. So we install a trailer hitch and rent a small covered U-Haul trailer.
Tropical Storm Eta is expected to pass through the area. We ask friends to keep an eye on Questeria and leave in a hurry, a couple of days before we planned, so we don’t want to drive a car, towing a trailer through a tropical storm.There is one important thing that we forgot which will come back to bite us later.
We make it to Ernul with the U-Haul trailer. The storm passes through the Keys, turns and becomes a hurricane, but thankfully, doesn’t do much damage to Marathon.
CLODs
After 15 years of living on a boat and RV, we move into a house. I read somewhere that “once a cruiser, always a cruiser”, so now we are officially Cruisers Living On Dirt, or CLODs. We have not given up the boat or the RV. We just added another option, which happens to be closer to all the grandchildren.
Our Home on Dirt
Speaking of grandchildren, we find out that my son and his wife are expecting twin girls in May.
Our main reason for wanting a house was to have a place where family could visit. But the pandemic is not letting this happen as much as we want.
They are asking people not to gather in large groups for Thanksgiving. We drive the car to Maryland and stay with Katie, Adam, Ava, Jameson and Grady.
The weather in Wilmington is nice on Christmas Eve. Erika, Steve and Johnny come over and we sit on our screened-in porch wearing masks. Erika is extra cautious because she is working with elderly Covid patients. We exchange gifts and they leave. We spend Christmas day by ourselves.
A couple of days later we drive towards North Myrtle Beach and meet Audrey and Ryan at a park. Again, we wear masks and exchange gifts. They are not working directly with Covid-19 patients, but Audrey works at a bar, serving people who may have Covid-19.
We have our final Christmas celebration on New Year’s Day. Adam, Katie and the kids drive down and stay with us. Alicia and the boys drive up and stay with Shannon. We have all been careful to not get exposed to Covid-19 and everything turns out great.
Vaccines
Our next goal is to get vaccinated. We are both over 65, so we are in the second category, after healthcare and frontline workers. We want to make sure we are fully vaccinated before the twins are born.
Appointments are filled quickly, but we both get appointments on January 27. We get our second dose on February 17.
Marathon (Again)
We want to check on Questeria, in Marathon before the twins are born. We leave Wilmington on the morning of March 17. We have packed food and drink for breakfast and lunch. We don’t have to stop, except for gas and restrooms. We plan to stop on the way for dinner.
We are over halfway there and we get a message from Greg that the twins were born. Tiffany had preeclampsia and was admitted to the hospital. She had to have a C section at 33 weeks. Arie Grace was 3 lbs. 12 oz. and Zoe Arabella was 3 lbs. 13 oz. They were both put in the NICU, but were doing well. Tiffany was also doing well.
We look for a place to stop for dinner where we can eat outside. It is spring break and St. Patrick’s day and every place is crowded. We end up driving all the way to Marathon and waiting for an outdoor table at Sparky’s Landing. We have corned beef and cabbage, and Irish beer.
After that, we go to the boat. The topside is filthy so we have to cover it before we can bring stuff from the car.
Once we go below, we find the one important thing that we forgot the last time we left. We left food in the freezer, and the circuit breaker tripped. There wasn’t anything really important in there, but now it smells really, really bad.
Fortunately, the weather is good and we can open up the boat and air it out. We get most of the odor out by rinsing with bleach water. The bleach water soaks through and ends up in the bilge, where we vacuum it up. We also use baking soda and Non Scents Refrigerator deodorizer.
We stay for a couple of weeks. We visit with some friends, who are not vaccinated, but have been careful. We also do a little work on the boat.
We drive back to Wilmington on April 1.
New York, New York
Greg and Tiffany bring Zoe home on March 31. Arie comes home on April 2. They have purchased a house in Connecticut, but won’t close until May 7. They are in a one bedroom apartment in New York City. We decide to take the RV up there so we can see them. We make reservations at Liberty Harbor RV park for five nights starting April 16. We also make reservations at the KOA near Adam and Katie, so we can stop and visit on our way back.
We get the RV ready. We get the oil changed and the propane tank filled. We start the refrigerator and freezer and pack up our stuff.
We are ready to leave the next day, when we hear from Erika. She says that Johnny’s preschool teacher was exposed to Covid and that Johnny has to quarantine. We are vaccinated, but we are concerned about holding premature babies that soon. We change the Liberty Harbor reservation until after Maryland.
On April 20 we drive the RV from Ernul to the KOA in Doswell, VA. We leave the next morning and get to the KOA near Katie and Adams around noon. Perfect timing for meeting Jameson after preschool.
We have a good time visiting. Ava is on spring break and we go to the aquarium one day and walk around Washington, DC another day.
On Saturday, April 24 we drive the RV, with car in tow, to Jersey City, NJ. It is quite stressful. The streets are crowded with traffic, but it’s even worse with the makeshift outdoor dining areas on both sides of the street.
Arie, Zoe, Grandma and Grandpa
We get to the RV park around noon and it’s pretty vacant. There are only about three other RVs there. The last time we were here was July 2017, and it was packed. At that time we did not tow a car, but that was fine, because we used public transportation.
We don’t want to use the subway this time because of Covid. We drive our car into Manhattan, where they live. It is $16 toll through the Lincoln or Holland tunnels. On the weekend we find parking on the street. Fortunately our Honda CRV just barely fits in the spaces we find. On the weekdays there is no free parking to be found. We pay $23 to park for ten hours, or less.
Driving in NYC is pretty stressful at first. But by the fifth day we know our way around pretty well.
We spend most of our time holding and feeding babies.
Adjusting to Pandemic
Everyone has had to make adjustments for Covid-19. Our anxiety decreased as the pandemic went on and more information was known about the virus.
Grocery Shopping
Many grocery stores were already set up to provide delivery and curbside pickup before the pandemic started. We never used these services because we prefer to pick out our own stuff. When the pandemic started we were terrified of going into a store so we started taking advantage of these things.
At first, in Marathon, we ordered our groceries online from Publix, and had them delivered to the marina. We would wipe down tables in the common area with sanitizing wipes. Take everything out of the bags, wipe them down and put them in our own bags.
In Ernul, we were 13 miles from the closest grocery store. Even farther from one with online ordering. We were too far for delivery, so we ordered our groceries online and picked them up curbside. Our choices were Harris Teeter and Walmart. We chose Harris Teeter the first time.
At first, Harris Teeter’s online system had a lot of problems.
With the increased demand in online orders, time slots could be several days later. This means the apps should be flexible—let you, add delete and make changes to your order. The Harris Teeter app did not allow for that at first.
Most of the time the stores don’t have everything on your list. The Harris Teeter app did not allow for substitutions. Sometimes the shopper would call you to ask about substitutions, but other times they would just leave things out.
Our next online order was from Walmart. It’s no surprise that Walmart is better equipped to do online shopping. We didn’t have to wait as long for our time-slot, and we were able to make changes until the morning of the time slot. They notify you through the app if they are out of an item and have to substitute it.
Walmart sends an email and text message when the order is ready. You respond through the app and tell them you are leaving. The app uses the GPS on your phone to notify them where you are and estimate an ETA.
In Florida, we even bought our liquor online and had it delivered. North Carolina law does not allow for that, so we had to go inside the store.
Eventually, we became comfortable shopping in the stores again and gave up on online ordering.
Shortages
Like most people, we experienced shortages. We don’t watch the news, so it came as a surprise to us. We first noticed it when we looked for sanitizing wipes. The shelves were empty, but we found a package hidden in another part of the store.
We use special quick dissolve toilet paper on the boat and RV. We had already ordered some in bulk, so we were okay. We had paper towels stored on the boat from our Bahama trip, so we were okay there too.
We had a small supply of hand sanitizer, rubber gloves and sanitizing wipes on the RV. We were careful not to waste them. We even had some N95 masks that we had purchased for sanding and painting.
Ordering Take Out Food
At first, many restaurants shut down completely. Some of them opened up with some kind of take-out service. Some allowed for ordering online, others required you to order by phone. Some, but not all, provided curbside pick-up options. At first, we were very nervous about going inside to pick up our food. We eventually adjusted.
Getting a Haircut
I generally wait too long between haircuts. I was thinking it was about time to get a haircut in March, when they asked everyone to stay home to flatten the curve. By August, my hair was really long and I was ready to cut it all off. But instead, I ordered a hair cutting kit on Amazon, and had Fran cut it. She did it once more, then hair cutting places started opening again.
Covid-19 haircut
Now, I don’t have a good excuse to let my hair grow too long.
Getting Back to Normal
The other day the president and most governors lifted face mask requirements for fully vaccinated people. We have been fully vaccinated since mid-February, and most adults we know are now fully vaccinated.
I feel odd walking into a crowded store without a face mask—just the opposite of how I felt a year and a half ago.
The pandemic has been stressful for everyone, and I’m glad we are starting to get back to normal. We feel like we missed a year out of our grandchildren’s lives. We missed holidays and birthdays and even the ones we didn’t miss, were not a hundred percent of what they would been.
It has not all been bad. We have three new grandchildren and almost all of our friends and family have survived, and are healthy.
The summer has come and gone and I haven’t touched the blog. After our Bahamas trip it took us a while to get used to being in our marina again. We made boat repairs, went to some of our favorite restaurants and visited the sandbar. On Memorial Day weekend we held our first annual Bonefish Marina Paddle Board Race. We had one entry in the kayak division, one entry in the dinghy division and several entries in the paddle board division. That was lots of fun.
We started to get back to normal and then Fran’s brother, James came down to visit. We had a great time fishing, even if we didn’t catch anything. One day we went to Key West to visit Jim, his army buddy who he hadn’t seen in years. Jim has his own micro brewery in Key West called Bone Island Brewery. We sampled some of his beers, went to lunch and toured the Mel Fisher museum.
Bone Island Brewery
We had more visitors in June. Alicia, Jackson and Oliver came down for a week. We went fishing, to the sandbar, to the beach, to Aquarium Encounters and to some of our favorite restaurants.
Jackson, Alicia & Oliver
On July 4th we had a great cook out with ribs, brisket and other things on the smoker. We cooked breakfast (red, white and blue pancakes and four pounds of bacon), lunch, snacks and dinner. We had tons of leftovers.
July 4th Cook Out
Following that I took the van and left Fran in Marathon. I drove to Chicago for the 107th Chicago to Mackinac Island race. Robert flew up there and we met up with the crew of Twisted. This was the second time I crewed for this race. We did better this year, We didn’t come in first, but we didn’t come in last. We had a great crew and I learned a lot. We started the race on Saturday and got to Mackinac Island on Monday. Tuesday was a day of celebration.
Before Race
After Race
On Wednesday Robert and I rented a car and drove to Chicago. I spent the next week and a half with my family. We went to Lincoln Park Zoo, a movie, bowling and of course eating. Fran flew in on Thursday and we got ready for Simoen and Jerry’s wedding.
Lincoln Park Zoo
The wedding was fantastic. The bride and groom looked great. It was at a beautiful country club and we had a great time dancing with the family.
Jerry & Simoen
The day after the wedding we left Chicago and drove to Lexington Kentucky. We stopped at Town Branch distillery. We didn’t make it in time for a full tour, but we did get the tail end of the tour and the tasting. We are not big bourbon drinkers but we really loved the Bluegrass Sundown. This is the Kentucky version of Irish coffee. All you need to do is add hot water and float heavy cream on top. We bought a bottle, but it didn’t last very long. Fran was right. We should have bought more than one bottle.
Town Branch Distillery
The next day we went to the Four Roses distillery in Lawrenceburg KY. This time we took the full tour. After the tasting we bought two bottles, the Yellow and Small Batch.
After that we went to the Wild Turkey distillery. This was a larger tour that included the distillery, barrel storage and bottling. We bought a bottle of American Honey Spice and Rare Breed.
Wild Turkey Distillery
Next we went to Woodford Reserve. We were too late for the tour, but we did a porch chat. We learned that bourbon is really good after a bite of dark chocolate. We bought a bottle of Woodford Reserve and a box of bourbon chocolates.
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Then we drove to Bardstown. We tried to get into a bed and breakfast. One was Bourbon Manor Inn and the other was Jailer’s Inn, an old jail house. Neither had vacancy so we stayed in a hotel and walked around the town. We had dinner at the Bourbon Manor. We definitely need to come back to the bourbon trail and see more of the sights.
The next day we drove to Nashville, TN. We went to the Johnny Cash Museum, the Ryman Auditorium, the Country Music Hall of Fame and several honky tonks. We met up with Erika and Steve and went boot shopping and to dinner at the Urban Grub. We had a great time. The only problem is that we didn’t have enough time to see everything we wanted to see.
Johnny Cash Museum
Ryman Auditorium
Nashville Honky Tonk
Next we dove to Athens, TN to visit Jerry and Debbie. They were very gracious hosts and we had a wonderful time. They also gave us wine and preserves.
After that we drove to Catawba, NC (outside of Charlotte) to visit Alicia, Jackson, Oliver and Jeff. We had a great time, as always.
Then we drove to Durham, NC and ate dinner at our friends restaurant, Thai Cafe. The food was excellent I wish we knew about this place when we lived there.
Next we went to Ernul, NC to visit James and work on Olson Manor, our storage unit (refer to Tips or Becoming a Liveaboard for more explanation). We managed to pack a bunch of stuff in the van, including a band saw, teak, lexan and a bunch of tools. Keep in mind that we already have stuff from the sailboat race (mine and Robert’s), clothes for Chicago, Kentucky, Tennessee and North Carolina, wine and preserves from Jerry and Debbie and beach stuff for the next week.
Then it’s time for our annual family beach week in Ocean Isle, NC. Fran and I started this tradition four years ago. Since we don’t have a house, and our boat is not big enough for everybody we decided to rent a beach house for a week when all our children and grandchildren were available. This year we had Shannon, Daniel, Gracie, Lawton, Alicia, Jeff, Jackson, Oliver, Ryan, Audrey, Erika, Steve, Adam, Ava, Greg, Emmy, Fran and Ron. We had a wonderful time playing at the beach, as usual.
Grandma and Oliver
Jackson and Oliver
Ava, Lawton and Jackson
After a fantastic week at the beach it was time to go home. But first we had to drive Adam and Ava to the Raleigh airport. Remember all the stuff we packed into the van? Now we had to find room for two more people and their luggage. We managed to get them to the airport Saturday afternoon and then made it back to Marathon, FL on Sunday. We stopped Lorelei, one of our favorite restaurants on the way back. It’s nice to back in the keys. Fran was gone five and a half weeks and Ron was gone eight weeks. Are we done traveling for a while? Definitely NOT!
It took us a while to unpack the van. We reassembled the band saw and put it in our marina workshop. George and Nancy are off for a while so we go diving and lobstering on Just One More. We only get four lobsters in two days, but they sure were tasty.
On the Sunday of Labor Day weekend we go to Key West with George, Nancy, David and Brenda. The first Sunday of every month is local appreciation day and many of the attractions are free. Our fist stop is Peppers of Key West. We buy some hot sauce and marinade. Then we go to the Spice and Tea Exchange and buy some seasoning. Then we visit the Custom House, Art and History museum. What an interesting place. We eat lunch at Caroline’s and then tour the Harry S. Truman Little White House. Then we take the Trolley tour and finish off the day with mojitos in Mallory Square. What a fun day!
It seems like we just got back to Marathon, and now we need to leave again. Our van is still in Fernandina Beach and we have plans to be in Chicago and Mackinac Island in July. We also want to see Greg in Jacksonville and Alicia, Jeff, Jackson and Oliver in Charlotte.
We rent a car in Marathon and I pack it up while Fran gets her hair done. We get underway about noon time. Traffic is a heavy and there are scattered storms on the way up to Jacksonville. We get to the hotel in Jacksonville around 6:30pm.
Greg meets us at the hotel. He is on a four-month internship in Jacksonville and lives 10 minutes away.
We have to move all of our luggage and our dog, Sandy, to the hotel room. It is on the fourth floor and it takes us two trips, with a dolly.
Next we have to drop our rental car off at the airport. It is about 30 minutes away and we need to fill up the gas tank on the way.
Justin Sitron, “erection only cialis prescriptions occurs when the person has decreased blood flow internally which causes him to have low erection which never engages in a last long period. These issues can all be helped pfizer viagra tablets with expert chiropody care. However the benefits of ginseng consumption are enormous, but it’s advisable to consult uk viagra online the doctor before taking it. Ones that contain Minoxidil are considered the best because of the low cost plus best quality. cialis prescriptionsGreg picks us up after we turn the car in. We go to the Salty Pelican, in Fernandina Beach for dinner. This a very cool restaurant, on the water-front in historic downtown Fernandina Beach.
After dinner Greg drops us off at the marina. Our van starts right up. We drive back to the hotel (about 45 minutes).
It has been a long day. But we got everything accomplished that we wanted. It was good to see Greg and we had a great meal. Tomorrow we will get up in time for the free breakfast, pack the van and drive to Alicia’s house. Then on to Chicago on the 17th. I am crewing on my friend, Dick’s boat for the Chicago to Mackinac Island race on the 19th. My friends Joel and Robert are crewing as well. The race should take about three days.
Fran will ride up to Mackinac Island with Angela and Brandy. Then on the 23rd there will be a big party for Dick’s 75th birthday. After the party we will rent a car and drive back to Chicago. There we will spend time visiting with my parents, sisters and their families.
I drove from Charlotte to Clemson for graduation weekend. I arrive at 4:30, just as Greg is finishing cleaning out his college apartment. Fran is in Charlotte, helping Alicia. I am staying on campus, in an actual student dorm room.
Greg, Emmy and I meet Erika, Steve, Karen and Dwight for dinner at Sullivan’s Grill, in Anderson.
The next day I pick up Greg and Emmy and we go to breakfast at the Harcombe dinning hall, on campus. Then we go back to Greg’s place and play Yahtzee.
Dating back to 1973, when the canadian viagra professional U.S. The medicine is preferred to consume with water to make it cialis pills online able penetrating during the act. This will produce life enhancing vitamin D and cleansing order cialis circulatory help. 4. The purchase cialis has no burden of such marketing as it has come to the market by the hands of branded cialis. At 2:00 we go to The Smokin’ Pig for lunch. Everybody from the night before is there, plus Mike, Emmy’s dad, and Jack, Greg’s friend from Myrtle Beach. The wait is long but the food and fellowship are worth it.
The graduation starts at 6;30. It is the last of three. It’s not as long as we thought it would be.
After the graduation we go to Greg’s for a pizza party with some of his friends.
I have a great time visiting with Greg, family and friends.
I’m in North Carolina, but Questeria is in North Florida. On Monday we got a call from Alicia, and Fran got a flight to Charlotte. On Tuesday I got a rental car. If the test fails, a man is advised to consume only one dose of Kamagra Oral viagra samples cheap Jelly in a day’s period. It viagra prescription online https://www.unica-web.com/archive/2003/jury2003.html stops the medicine from working properly and may also cause some serious side effects. Common side effects include nausea, a blue tinge to vision and blurred http://unica-web.com/watch/2016/winter-day-in-banksa-stiavnica.html buy cheap cialis vision. The most common type of childhood anxiety is separation levitra without prescription anxiety. On Wednesday I drove to Marathon, FL. On Thursday I drove back to the boat in North FL, and today I drove to Alicia’s.
Everybody is fine and we will wait here until the baby is born.
