Like Father Like Son

What a wonderful visit with Ben.  Will blog later.  Just wanted to share some quick sweet moments.

Less Melancholy Today!

Anchored near the Pensacola Naval Air Force Station.  We were here once before when the kids were little, but on a sailboat.  Cool planes flying overhead.  I can REALLY smell the salt air now and we had a beautiful sunset walk on the Gulf.  All is good. Some pictures to tell the story. My soul is full.

HE THINKS HE IS HIDING

Jimmy Buffet kind of place with awesome cheeseburgers!

 

 

SIZE OF THE HERON'S FOOT!

DOLPHINS IN THE WATER AND SANDPIPERS ON THE BEACH

Winding Down

Oh my......we have been at this for 43 weeks.  Our boat is on the market. You know how you fix everything in a house before you sell it?  Well, we now have a new kitchen faucet, three windshield wipers (we traveled with ZERO), surround sound, and beautifully cleaned and varnished Osprey nameplates. We completed our last lock.  We are thinking about the big "What's next".  I am looking at jobs.  Planning for Christmas. We are back in salt water.  The dolphins have returned.  Ups and downs, happy and sad. The trip is winding down.  Trying to figure out how to be in the moment and enjoy where we are while planning for the inevitable......the end.  I hear it said, not to be sad about endings but relish in the joy of what has been.  Okay, working on it!

I am joyful that I got to see my cousins Bobby and Lynn and my Uncle Robert in Columbus, Mississippi.  Walked on the campus at Mississippi University for Women where my mother graduated in1944. So proud of that mother of mine.

I am joyful that I have stayed in some beautiful anchorages and listened to great horned and screech owls during the night. I got to see some feral pigs. We are trying our best to learn some constellations. We have returned to the tidal waters and are learning to use both the bow and stern anchors. We have seen some Fall colors. And are learning to do crosswords!!

Mmmmmm. Eating southern BBQ and sausage biscuits...not healthy but yummy! Haven't had fried chicken yet.  That is next on my list.

Our next excitement is that Ben is meeting us in Pensacola and spending some time on the boat with us.  He and Geoff will fish and philosophize! I will just do the mom thing and drink in the opportunity to be with him.

So anyway, if you hear of any good jobs for Geoff or me (especially if they let you nap whenever you want) or you decide that you want to buy the boat and do your own adventure, please let us know!!  Or maybe you have a "friend" who needs a boat?

Traveling the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway...it has been sunny without rain, so unusual for us!

Check out the boat at Yachtworld.com/ Hershine Newburyport! Don't worry, it's not usually THAT neat!

THE CUTEST ARMADILLO

The Mighty Mississippi

The Morning we head down the Mississippi

The Mississippi river is over 1700 miles long from Minneapolis to New Orleans.  We only did 218 of those miles but they were exciting. Exciting because there are so few places to pull over and stop due levees and wingdams and current.

This is a working river with a current of 3-4 knots on an average day so that you can make more miles per hour AND per gallon, which is always nice! The water is turbulent from wingdams and tows.  Wingdams are basically stone walls that run almost perpendicular to the river to prevent erosion of the banks and to push the water toward the center of the working channel. Watching your depth sounder, chart plotter, and the action of the water is imperative so that you are sure you are in the channel and not hitting one of these things that could be just under the surface!

 






One night we spent at the infamous HOPPIES Marine Service.  It is basically a barge anchored to the bank.  It has been there since 1934 and is a family business.  The day we arrived two anchors holding the barge had released!! I was glad that they were on top of it and that it had happened during the day! You go to Hoppies to get your Mississippi River advice from Fern. It is a must for tradition's sake.

Hoppies Marine Service

See red truck with cable holding barge!

The barge anchor excitement. Her shirt says "Real girls play in the dirt".

One night we actually anchored behind a wingdam (Fern's advice).  It was interesting bucking the current to get in there.  I let Geoff take the helm for that experience! You also have to be careful not to hit a shoal(and I would rather that Geoff hit it than me!), so local knowledge is very important. Caught on a shoal with your boat at an angle could fill her up quickly with that Mississippi river water with a terrible outcome!

Anchored behind the wingdam. Lots of logs and sludge swept into here from the current.

There are only two locks on this section of the Mississippi but we added a third.  The Kaskaskia.  A beautiful river off the Might One where we could tie off and take our bikes on an excursion through cornfields and soybean fields. It was nice to have a little relief from the excitement of the great Mississippi.

Kaskaskia Lock and Dam

 It is interesting to see the huge tows and their barges hauling limestone, benzene, liquid fertilizer, coal, sand and who knows what else. I love seeing the shapes and sizes of the different bridges, being swept by the turbulence of the Mighty Mississippi tows and wingdams, and meeting such nice and interesting people fulfilling their dreams.

Very Busy St. Louis.  Many barges to navigate around.

River of Bridges!

The Arch is so close to the water!

Ellie and Jim (70's) take their home-built 32foot plywood sailboat back to their home in Belize from their home-port of Bemidji, Minnesota

Sue and Bud start the Loop "When I'm 64..." from the Twin Cities, Minnesota

A Dutch couple moseying down the Mississippi in a home-built version of Joshua Slocum's "Spray"

So here I end this blog...................................................................................................

The Windy City

We spent almost two weeks in Chicago and it was a whirlwind visit.  Our first night and only night anchored out was a wild and crazy night, the only place to safely anchor overnight is right off Lake Shore Drive at Ohio St, so there we were for one of the most prolonged and spectacular lightning storms of the year. It was beautiful.

The next day we moved to the new marina, the 31st Street Marina, where we could enjoy half-priced dockage (two nights for the price of one), which is a wonderful deal in a city that isn't an inexpensive place to dock a boat.  Winnie and Jack joined us the second night there (they took the city elevated train from O'Hare, and walked the last 14 blocks pulling their wheeled luggage- from 35th Street to the Marina- after dark, arriving at the marina about 10 pm.  Brave, those two!)

All four of us stayed on the boat Friday and Saturday nights, joined on Saturday by Sister Ellen and her husband Jeff (they live in Big Rock, IL) .  Sunday Patty and I met four boating friends (who we first met on Lake Champlain in June) for lunch at an elegant little pub on Michigan Ave, I had a wonderful micro-brew at the pub that was brewed in Warrenville, not 6 blocks from where I grew up!  Then we boarded the train and sped NW to visit with Vince and Suzanne (friends from Geoff's sojourn attending the Universtiy of Illinois at Champaign)  in Barrington Sunday and Monday  (with a mid-day side-trip to McHenry on Monday to visit Tom and Cindy Gruebnau and their son John-  Geoff worked for Tom before he married Patty. This visit was ONE of the highlights of our trip.  We hope to see those two again some time soon).

Then We spent two nights with Dave and Carol in Brookfield, where we relaxed and walked around the suburb of LaGrange and enjoyed the switch from boat to dry land.

On Wednesday, our friend Shannon Deckwar flew into O'Hare, where we met her, and then the three of us went to meet friends at Irish Eyes, the very bar where Patty and Geoff met some 32 years ago on a wild St Patrick's Day.

Friday we had a bunch of folks visit us on Osprey:

Tim Cosgrove (crew-member from Granfalloon trip in 1978) and Carol Spencer 

Shannon and Patty on our evening cruise of the city

Bernie Spencer and Jack Vitacco having a Sicilian "face-off".

Winnie and Uncle Bob Dawson enjoying a day "on the Lake"

Geoff receiving some much needed coaching from Captain "Uncle Bob"

 And then we headed over to DUE's Pizza for some spectacular pan pizza......

Geoff, Bob, and Winnie

                                                                 

We had a great time having Shannon with us in Chicago, she spent a total of 5 days and nights aboard, she and Patty had some nice outings in the City:

They went to the Billy Goat without Geoff, and tried to order French Fries !!!

Can you find Waldo's sidekicks, Patty and Shannon?

Biking along the Lake Shore

 But of course the fun had to end sometime, so early Monday morning found the OSPREY and intrepid crew heading down the Chicago River, waving to all the early morning commuters who are hurrying to work, and watching the city slowly slide by:

All of us were curious about the "carp barrier"

Winnie and Jack leaving OSPREY in Joliet after a full day on the "River"