07-Dec-2015
Howdie Pardners!
We are on the road headed south. We spent Thanksgiving in Chicago with Kristin and John's family. We left on Black Friday heading for Amelia Island, FL. Along the way we have been spending time at the Flying J ranch. Now this is not your typical ranch. It has locations scattered around the country all next to a freeway. They have lots of creatures of the 18 wheel variety and a Denny's. Some even have special parking for us Rvers though that has been a mixed bag.
The first night was near Evansville, IN and required ear plugs as we were invaded by a fleet of bobtails (18 wheelers missing the trailer). They ran their APUs (annoying power units) all night in the RV area.
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| Bobtail |
The second night in northern GA was much better as we were surrounded by RVs who were quiet. A nice breakfast at the Denny's got us off to a great start.
The third night was spent at a Pilot in southern GA amid the big trucks but we found a nice quiet corner in the huge parking lot that gave us a restful night. No Denny's here.
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| Hanging at the Pilot |
We arrived in FL on Monday, November 30 settling into a Sanford and Sons-esque campground near Amelia Island. Anxious to inspect Heart's Desire (it had been 13 months) we made a beeline for Tiger Point Marina where we found her in generally good shape except for the mildew and La Cucaracha. After several days of hard work (and a lot of “de-bugging”) it is starting to look normal. We are scheduled to launch tomorrow (12/8) and will be moving to a Sanford and Sons-esque marina in Jacksonville in a few days. (Notice a pattern!)
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| In the yard |
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| Ready to launch |
We have been staying at the beautiful Ft Clinch State Park on Amelia Island. By some stroke of luck we were able to get five days there on short notice which is almost impossible as the next similar opening is in like April.
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| Ft Clinch under the live oaks |
Dos Gatos have adapted to traveling by sleeping and eating most of the day. They are comfortable riding in the backseat during the day and sleeping on the dinette at night.
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| In the water again |
29-Dec-2015
Hi All,
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| Downtown Jax |
Been busy with prepping the boat and guests! We moved to a small marina in Jacksonville on December 10 where we are closer to all the amenities that the bigger city has to offer such as West Marine, Sam's Club, Walmart, etc. We put the trailer in storage in Yulee and will put the truck there when we head south. Our daughter Kristin and her husband John arrived at midnight on Christmas Eve so we have been enjoying exploring the area and eating our way across JAX. (taco trucks, Pie Heaven, seafood, steakhouse, etc.) The weather has been one glorious day after another with daytime highs in the 80s. Normal highs this time of the year are high 50s or low 60s. This December is the warmest on record so they really lucked out, missing the winter storm that clobbered Chicago yesterday. They are heading home tomorrow so it is back to work for us. We are planning on heading south next week if the weather permits. The forecast is for cooler temperatures and more rainy days so we may have to hang out here for awhile. We have a lot of provisioning to do along with some much needed maintenance. (oil changes, cleaning, etc.) so we won't be bored if we have to wait for weather.
