Moving day (repositioning part 2)

11.05.2009
I am led to think that one of the things that I believed my whole life might not be so true. For me and almost everyone I know, setting down roots and getting established has meant a certain set of events and conditions. The primary change to this thinking has been to let go of the house/dwelling concept as we have adapted to the mobile and arguably less secure environment wherein "home is where we park it". It's been a fun adventure after all, and it seems as though we can 'come home' wherever we are. It's not that we don't still talk about 'settling down' and it's not that we don't miss what we left behind ... but we've had some pretty cool opportunities to see some pretty cool places and set ourselves up as 'visitors' while we're in our home. What I really like is the capacity to explore from new center points. This was a fairly frustrating aspect of the big move last year, mostly because we were constantly lost; having to search out and discover everything from Starbucks to groceries, doctors to gas stations and places to eat and shop. How bad is it when you don't know where the nearest Home Depot or (gulp) Best Buy is???  In a year, we've found only one quarter car wash :). All in all, the ordeal has been adventure. This is due to the spirit which we came here in and even though it's been tried a few times it has prevailed. We have so much to be thankful for.

So last week we hooked up from our nearly 6 month stay at Topeekeegee Yugnee County Park in Hollywood (just south of Fort Lauderdale) and pulled back down to the south side of Miami (Cutler Bay).  The trip was uneventful (except for nearly missing an exit and doing a tiny section of cross-country travel at 55 mph with the trailer in tow ... but we won't expound on that particular adrenaline event except to note that Fordzilla doesn't seem to care if there's a 14,000 pound trailer attached or not ... four-wheeling is fun!) with Robin driving the car and me driving the truck/fifth-wheel combo.

         *One of our ~favorite~ interchanges*

It was about an hour's worth of travel and we arrived at the Larry and Penny Thompson Park around noon.

Now this is something of a 'homecoming' for us, as this park was our very first parking spot when we arrived in Miami just over a year ago. It was actually very cool to come driving in to RV area and be in familiar territory. We had a lot of memories attached to this park, and this area of Miami; mostly surrounding relocation trauma mind you, but now that we have grown more comfortable with the lay of the land and now that we have had a year's experience living in the RV there was a different attitude prevailing as we pulled in, greeted the office staff (who remembered us!) and proceeded to set up the coach in our assigned space. 

We've done the 'prep for travel' and 'set up housekeeping' drills a few times now, and Robin is an excellent partner when it comes to helping her 'backing-a-fourty-foot-trailer-with-a-long-bed-truck' challenged husband to spot us in our parking slot. No trees or electrical posts were  harmed in the parking of the Fifth-Wheel (not this time, anyway). We got set up and were relaxing with lunch in an hour or so.

*Just for the record the procedure is to:
-Establish alignment in the parking spot.
-Establish left-to-right level in the parking spot. This involves placing a couple, or several, leveling blocks under the wheels and pulling/pushing the coach onto them and determining 'level'. Rinse and repeat if necessary.
-Chock the wheels and lower the front struts (landing gear).
-Using the landing gear, remove the weight from the hitch pin (about 2,400 pounds of it), release the hitch, uncouple the electrical and emergency brake connectors and drive the truck away.
-Check the chocks.
-Level the coach fore-to-aft.
-Check the chocks.
-Lower the rear stabilizers (usually onto cement blocks if they are over grass)
-Tighten the chocks .. they will loosen after stabilizers take some weight off the axles.
-Verify clearances around the coach to extend the sliders (no trees, no posts, etc.)
-Robin will extend the rooms while Gary connects up to shorepower, water, sewer and satellite receiver.
-Unhook the bikes from the rack on the car, drag out the lawn chairs unstrap the furniture, re connect the surround sound (the cables to the subwoofer have to bestowed before sliding the room closed) and voila! we have the afternoon to relax. Oh wait, maybe I'll check those chocks onemore time...

Larry and Penny Thompson park is a particularly popular destination for snowbirds. I think there is a measurable decease in the population of Canada from November to April, but am only judginfrom the number of license plates from Quebec. When we checked in, we were assigned a "pod" and "Spot" number. The park is laid out with a series of eyelet-style circular cul-de-sacs extended on both sides of the main drive. In each of these cul-de-sacs, RVs can park inside and outside of the circular drive like spokes on a wheel. There are 12 pods each accommodating around 18-24 RVs. That's a lot of Canadians :)

Moving in on November 1st, we were just hitting the first days if 'High Season" for tourism and there was a lot of activity already. During the next month or so the park will fill to capacity and each week will bring a turnover of tourists coming to visit for weeks or months at a time. There are preferences given to those campers who come back every year and since we were pretty sure we'd be back, we placed a deposit on a site when we left last spring. We had been promised availability, but since we were 'newcomers' to the system, we were only guaranteed a place during November and December. In January, it was up for grabs depending on whether or not a previously reserved spot might be cancelled. So we set up thinking that we'd be here for at least two months, and hopefully six, the maximum length allowable.  It was only two days later that we moved again...
We were notified that indeed there had been a cancellation, and that if we wanted to we could make the ove to a new spot and stay there for the whole six months. Yay! So ... follow the checklist backwards, then move 200 feet, then follow the checklist forward :)


We are "settled"! So ... what shall we do next?  

Anniversaries

10/27/2009

Our anniversaries are many. Sometimes dates stick in our heads as indelible reminders of events that define our lives. Pretty powerful sentiment, but true nonetheless.

Robin and I share several imporant dates each year; reminders of the significant changes that we've been through both individually and as a couple. We remind ourselves of our early times together and remember our first kiss, the engagement and, of course, our wedding day. We also keep track of things like the passing of a parent because to recall them is to keep their memory alive with us. Robin and I remember this date (10/27) because it represents one of the biggest life changes we've ever made (and one of the bigger ones we've even heard of).

A year ago on this date we arrived at the Miami ARTCC for our first day of work at our new facility. It represented so much planning and hard work, a lot of sacrifice and a whole lot of insecurity. Most people don't just decide to pick up stakes after 25 years in one place, get rid of nearly every material possession that surrounded them, and move across the country in a 5th-wheel. True, there are much stranger stories but this was an absolutely huge step for us.

We planned this out, thought it through, talked endlessly about it, prayed about it and tried to reconcile the logic with the dream. It was a hard, hard time and things seemed to bounce back and forth between 'everything is working out fine' and 'nothing is going right'.

We fought hard to put houses on the market, sell big ticket items, donate most of our little stuff away and foist a lot of stuff, good and bad, onto the kids for their use. In the end it came together well enough for us to pull away on schedule and arrive in Miami on time and ready to go to work.

The year has been amazing; in every sense of the word. From the moment we set foot on the new job site it became apparent that it was a reality that was far separated from our visions. That we were 'not in Kansas anymore' is about as close as I can come to explaining how if felt to be on what could reasonanbly be considered foreign soil. The list of things that were different, challenging, nonsensical and hard to grasp was every bit as long as our list of what we expected, hoped for and understood about the world.
It was a complete change of culture, a total immersion into an eight-million person habitat replete with 20 distinct and different civilizations inhabiting the same sardine packed landscape. Languages, traffic jams, foods on the shelves of stores, traffic, bureaucracy and lines for literally everything slammed us with the insistent message of "what have we done?".
We've counted our expenses (although they still mount) and we've accounted for our gains. In summary we can not truthfully say whether this was exactly the right decision at the right time, but we cannot deny that we struck out in faith toward a dream that so many profess but so few actually pursue. We did what we said we were going to do and now we are a grand step closer to fulfilling our dream.
In the year since we pulled away in "Fordzilla" we have:
- Both been successful in training and certifying as Front Line Managers at a new and difficult facility.
- Lived in 5 different locations while sleeping in the same bed and learned more about our locale in one year than most of the residents have in 20 years.
- Purchased a sailboat.
- Made a noticeable difference to some other people, both inside and ouotside of the workplace.

So, we're here a year. Not so bad after all? .. well, there's the traffic....

The next year promises to be filled to the brim with more changes and challenges and opportunities. We will try to hold on while we race toward slowing down.  Here's to another one, not like the other one!

Repositioning

10/20/2009

We have been blessed to be able to pursue our goal of sailing for a few years in our retirement. While we are still a ways out, it seems as though things might just be working out, if ever so slowly. I know of so many people who have dreams, big or small, that get stuck because of either external or self-imposed restraints. After all, selling everything and buying a sailboat sounds like a pipe dream to the ultimate escape, but in reality pursuing that dream carries a whole lot of opportunity to spend money, solve problems and make plans that inevitably have to be changed. Someone once said that chasing a dream is hard work (oh yeah, that might have been me) and while we've had our fair share of challenges, we are also able to take a top-down look at it and say "well, we're on the coast, and we own a sailboat". That's what we set out to do and here we are. Now it becomes a matter of prayer and planning to see if the fulfilment of the dream can be had in the next three or four or five years.

When we decided on the little sailboat as a training platform, we really didn't know how much we would indeed learn. I look back now, 6 months after we sailed the SV Robin (S/V is 'Sailing Vessel') to her first slip and I can point at so many things that we've learned; from painting with epoxy-polymer to mechanical and electrical and woodworking to sailing in a current, to talking to drawbridges to arranging payments for dockage to tying up extra dock lines in case of a hurricane. It's all been good and we have enjoyed our little boat from every aspect.

Our initial 'sail' was about 20 some nautical miles up the Intracoastal waterways. Actually we motored up the whole distance and including the wait times for scheduled drawbridges it took over 5 hours. We figured we would stay in Fort Lauderdale at Cooley's Landing during the summer because a) it was touted as a good spot to be in case we did get severe weather and 2) it was significantly less expensive than a few other locations we'd investigated. But all good things need to take a break and so did our stay in Fort Lauderdale.

A lot of money is made aroound here during the winter months as the 'snowbirds' arrive from parts north. The RV parks fill up with license plates from Quebec and Montreal and Massachussettes and owners and vendors raise prices accordingly. Robin and I planned to return to the south of Miami for the winter, and prices don't skyrocket as badly as they do in the Fort Lauderdale area. The prices at our RV park were going to go up about 30% and the price at the marina was going to go up by nearly 50% so it was time to move out in search of cheaper pastures. The rate hikes were happening in November so we planned to move our RV and the boat to new locations before the 1st if we could squeeze it in with our schedules at work.

Then the cold front came through.

Now a cold front in Florida isn't quite the same as one in say ... Wyoming, where the temperature can drop 50 degrees in an hour but still, it had some people excited about the propsects of cooling off from the mid 90's. There was talk at work about the associated thunderstorms and cooling air and the forecast surface winds were going to be fairly stiff at upwards of 25 knots. At first it didn't settle in with me, but finally a light dawned and I asked some questions of our local weather expert about the details of these forecasted winds.

Originally Robin and I had put our thinking caps on and tried to come up with a couple of days we could coordinate our efforts to move S/V Robin down to the new marina. It would be a 56 nautical mile trip and at 4 or 5 knots best it would mean a long, long day of it. We really didn't have convenient scheduling to get together for a sail (opposite days off) so we felt relinquished to staying at the higher-priced marina until we could get a weekend together (even in the middle of the week). But the cold front changed that...

Winds would be right out of the north, meaning that if we could make arrangements to go right after frontal passage we would have brisk weather and a strong tailwind to push us along the coastline toward our destination. We needed to move rather quickly, as suddenly we had a narrow window (2 days) to plan and move instead of the three or four weeks we'd initially conceived. Well, it all came together, we got the time off and packed up to go. We checked out and said a very fond goodbye to the staff at Cooley's Landing marina a the day before we left, went home and planned our trip. Initially I had given consideration to departing after Robin got off work that evening (Sunday). It was my day off, and it would mean that I would pack and prepare the boat and Robin would join me after getting off work at 9:00 P.M. We would sail all night until approaching the entrance to the new harbor and throw out the anchor for a couple of hours waiting for the high tide. The entrance to the harbor is not only narrow but very shallow and since it is a whole new place for us, I did not want to risk running through 4 feet of water when we need four feet eight inches :). An overnight sail is not my favorite idea, as you have to rely a whole lot on GPS and can't see the sights and after being awake all day it makes you very tired, but we were indeed slaves to the tide and we needed to be at the entrance by around 10:30 A.M. in order to have the deepest water. The next high-tide was about 11 hours later, deep into the night again and I did not want to try to negotiate a new channel, new harbor and cement dock late at night. So, that was the plan anyway.

Surprisingly Robin got Sunday off from work so we quickly made new plans (as referenced in paragraph 1 above) packed up and sailed away about 12 hours ahead of schedule. Now we would be able to travel most of the way in daylight then spend the whole of the night at anchor and make the entrance from nearby in the morning. Much easier idea and it worked out very well for us, but not without a bit of excitement (would you have it any other way???)

We'd been thinking about moving the boat for several days and were, well, sort of ready to sail. The last minute provisions consisted of food, some blankets and pillows and, as a last minute thought, extra fuel. While I was pretyy confident that we'd have plenty of diesel, the gague hasn't worked since we bought her and I was only estimating what we had in the tank. An extra 5 gallons couldn't hurt. The little two-cylinder engine purrs along nicely and is pretty stingy with fuel. I am sure it isn't as eco-friendly as a model that's 30 years newer, but it sure is nice to have a motor unburdened with oxygen sensors and computer controlled exhaust recirculating to make life a little more difficult if it unexpectedly quits running.

We cast off at around 11:30 - ish (after being so busy with preparations, it was not really noticed what the time was) and motored along the New River. We crossed under the familiar 7th Avenue, Andrews Avenue and 3rd St drawbridges and joined the Intracoastal waterway southbound. Along the we felt a few 'puffs' of wind; reminders that we needed to pay close attention to our drift while we were within the narrow confines of the river's dredged passageway. After crossing under the 17th Street causeway (which has plenty of clearance for us to pass beneath without requiring an opening) we entered the shipping channel at Port Everglades and turned due east toward open water. I have read about the feeling one gets when you point toward open water and yes, it is exciting and intimidating simultaneously. Even though we really wouldn't travel all that far offshore, it was still a pretty cool feeling to know that we were doing what we set out to do; take a sailboat out on the open ocean. We were planning to be on the water for about 24 hours and it was exciting to think about what lie along the way.

We motored out along the channel and began to feel the predicted north winds pushing on us as we cleared the buildings and rock jetties. Even though we were some 6 nautical miles from the forecast wall of the northbound Gulf Stream, we coould see clearly the very tall waves and rough conditions brought up by the northerly-flowing Gulf Stream current fighting against the south-bound winds which were now approaching 30 knots out there. I was thankful that would not be where we would want to be heading this day...but it might be fune to try it for a while on our own terms)

We turned southbound about a mile and a half off shore after opening up some of the front sail (jib) and getting a feel for how hard the wind would be pushing us. After only a few winutes we decidied that the jib alone would be sufficient power for us and we ran downwind at over 6 knots for a while, with speeds as high a 7.8 kts recorded on the GPS. The wind was pushing well indeed!

We don't have the equipment to tell exactly how much relative wind we have, but a check on the radio brought us reported winds of 20 to 32 knots from nearby reporing stations.

The wind was out of the north, and so were the waves ... 3 to 4 feet of them for the most part, a few bigger ones that offered a little more lift as we rode up the swell and then dipped into the trough that followed.

Now, waves from behind are called 'following seas' and they can be a bane depending on how the boat handles and if the waves manage break in the wrong spot and spill over the back end of the boat thereby soaking the sailors. We happily report that the SV Robin is a very stable and very dry boat in follwing seas. She handled extremely well, and the waves provided a smooth and gentle ride without smacking the back of the boat and splashing over.

We traveled along the coastline southbound watching Fort Lauderdale, Dania Beach, Hollywood Beach, North Miami Beach and South Miami Beach slip along our starboard side. We took turns at the helm (the autopilot is inoperative, and enjoyed the view, the ride, the temperature and the breeze. The little boat slipped right along the coastline and we passed the big Miami Port and the inbound channel called "Government Cut" pretty much on schedule and under a beautiful sky.

We kept our ears on the VHF, our eyes on the GPS and enjoyed our snacks along the way. We played with different sail setting and eventually traded the Jib for the Mainsail which gave us nearly as much speed and a little less noise. div>

After we passed Miami we slipped past Virginia Key island and Biscayne Island, observing the lighthouse we had visited while bike-riding the Biscayne State Park a few months earlier. The persective of looking 'in' from offshore toward places you've visited is pretty cool.

We were directly east of the south part of Biscayne Island during sunset. The sky was gorgeous and the sun splashed acroos the clouds and burned between the builldings on the island. There was one point where we could see the billiant orange light poking through the hallways of a building; apparently with windows on both ends. Very unique and impossible to capture on film (or in this case CCD digital). After the sunset show it gradually darkened and cooled off a little. We had just a couple of miles to travel southbound before finding our passage through the shallow water of Biscayne Bay and re-connecting with the Intracoastal (ICW). The winds were still quite strong and sailing at night through a narrow channel going cross-wind did not appeal to my skill level so we swung into the wind to drop the sail. As we headed into the wind we got a taste for exactly how hard it was blowing.

Robin had the helm as I tried to drop the sail. Being the 'more mature' boat that it is, the sail didn't just race down its track and fall precisely into position so it took what seemed like several minutes to pull it down one 'hank' at a time and try to control the loose sailcloth in the wind.

Robin was having difficulty maintaining a heading as the wind was pushing us around so she got the engine going and got us underway into the the wind again. This was a brilliant move that helped in all aspects. I was holding tightly to the mast dragging the sail down and tying it off while Robin kept us steady on. In retrospect it went well, but we learned a couple of lessons about preparation there and about dealing with 'Small Craft Advisory' winds. "Small Craft Advisories" are just plain fun :)

Once we started westbound the winds was coming directly over our starboard rail and we were crossing the waves at about 45 degrees nose in. The waves would occasionally splash us pretty good so we ended up donning our rain jackets to stay a little drier. We were thankful that the GPS was waterproof. The strength of the wind and the 'windage' of the boat required us (mostly Robin) to steer about 40 degrees into it to keep our course. I suppose there's mathematics we could plug into some formula to predict that, but it was just a matter of saying 'further to starboard, ... more ... more ... until we started making good our desired course through the water.

Our course took us past some old derelict houses, formerly elite mansions on pilings, that were built out in the open water. Locally known as "StiltsVille", the houses are now vacant and as we passed the structures in near-total darkness it was bordering on downright spooky.

Crossing the channel (Biscayne Channel, south of Key Biscayne Island if you want to look it up) took around an hour and then we cleared the end markers and turned southwest bound to connect to the Intracoastal Waterway for the rest of the leg. It was completely dark now and we were very dependent on the GPS as the ICW channel markers are fairly widely spaced. We saw lots of stars, a couple of flashing beacons, and airplane or two and one brighltly lit fishing boat (bigger than us) heading the opposite direction obviously in a hurry. It was pounding hard into the waves, creating big splashes of spray and a 'thump' we could hear from a half-mile away. They must have been miserable aboard, fighting the wind, getting both pounded and soaked. We at least had the wind on our stern and following waves again. We plugged along southbound, Robin competently steering us nearly perfectly centered in the ICW channel. Which helped as we entered a very narrow section called "The Featherbeds".

I had debated making this crossing at night, but as we were doing so well keeping our course, and as the tide was higher than it would be early in the morning, we made the crossing without incident. There were markers on both ends of the channel, and the run was perhaps a mile and a half long, but there is till trepidation in a very narrow channel with very shallow water on both sides. Later on I'll explain why we should've waited but our plan was unfolding well as it was.

After clearing the Featherbeds we were in position to enter the long channel to Black Point marina. This was one we had decided to not try at night so we consulted the charts for a reasonable depth with some "swing" room should the winds change and I wne out front and tossed the anchor out. It took a bit before it sunk in and caught, but we were held tight against the wind and waves all night long. I set the GPS to alarm if the anchor dragged and Robin and I tried to catch a few winks between looking outside and checking that our position had not changed. We had a couple of nice landmarks, the most notable of which was a nuclear power plant. Not surprisingly, it was well-lit :)

Neither of us slept much as the winds did not subside and the waves gave us a pretty good ride all night long. This will be an art we will have to develop after more experience. A after daybreak we prepared for the last 7-mile leg into the marina and with Robin at the helm I weighed anchor and we set out northwest-bound toward the channel entrance.

As I mentioned a little earlier I was going to explain why crossing the Featherbeds the previous night had not been such a good idea.

What seems so painfully obvious in retrospect did not occur to me at all during the planning phase. By crossing through the Featherbeds and anchoring a couple of miles past that crossing point, we put ourselves SOUTH of the marina's channel entrance. That didn't seem like a problem until we figured out that south of the entrance also meant downwind of the entrance. With a 20-25 knot headwind we could only manage around 2 knots forward speed toward the goal, and if we ended up being too late, we would miss high tide and risk running aground n the shallow water. As it worked out, the problem of the headwind became less of a concern only a few minutes after we got underway ... because the engine quit.

Now we were adrift in the bay with a strong wind pushing us southward. Thankfully our direction of drift was right back toward our anchorage so we knew we were in deep enough waters to not get stuck. I clambered up front, tossed the anchor over and played out what I though was about the right amont of line (called 'scope'). I felt it tug and went back and below to see if I could puzzle out what might've happened. There were a couple of possibilities that were running through my mind, the worst of which was an overheat somehow because we'd not paid attention to the water coming out of the exhaust or maybe the headwind had something to do with it. I considered that the fuel filter may have gotten clogged up (I had seen this before on the S/V Contour) and I prepared to get really messy trying to fix that. I rummaged through and found the new filter cartridge, and then I thought about it for a few more seconds and decided to start with the less obvious, but simpler-to-prove hypothesis that we may have run out of fuel.

We did bring the 5-gallon extra-just-in-case-we-needed-it container and I poured it into the tank. The engine cranked and failed, cranked and failed, then cranked and sputtered, then cranked and ran a couple of seconds then cranked and ran a few more seconds and I almost gave up. Finally it caught and stayed running and we could get underway.

It was then that Robin told me that the anchor hadn't really set and we'd been dragging the whole time. When I looked at the GPS we had drifted to nearly the exact spot that we'd anchored so off we went :).

Anchor aweigh and into the wind, we made the channel entrance about 90 minutes after we'd planned. There was still enough depth to let us through (with some to spare actually) and we motored into the channel waving to the occasional fisherman and passing a man with his two young children that was pointing toward us. We could hear him saying "Look! ... Pirates!!" to his kids. I did my best "Avast me hardies!" back to them and they all waved. What fun :)

We found our slip, tied up and walked over to the marina's grill. We met a great bartender and had a great lunch. The drive home was easy enough considering the lack of sleep and we arived back home satisfied that we'd done something we really, really wanted to do over our weekend.

It's good to go sailing.

WDW: Part Deux

10/10/2009

Well, it had been nearly a week since we spent the day at Disney World so we figured 'what the heck' and planned for another day up there. You know, some times there is indeed too much of a good thing, but we've not reached that point at Disney World yet.

There was a good incentive for making the trip again (about 4 hours each way) and the story goes thusly:
A week prior we had cruised with Mom on the Carnival Glory and spent a day at Disney World (WDW) after we returned from the ship. On the very day that we left Orlando to drive back home, our relatives from Spokane arrived for a week long stay at the park but our schedules were so out of whack that we didn't get to see them at all, just like (grin) ships passing in the night. Robin and I weren't sure if we could arrange another trip up, but we sure wanted to spend some time with the rest of the family (you know, aunts and cousins and nephews, oh my) so we spent most of the work week whining that we'd like to get just ever-so-slightly more time off and were ultimately successful in arranging an overnighter back at WDW with some short notice.

Now, as luck would have it (and I won't go into the long story part of it) we eventually ended up getting to stay at the same on-property hotel with the rest of the family. A very cool turn of a phone conversation worked in our favor and we booked at a pretty nice room in one of the Disney economy lodges (The All Star Movies Resort to be exact).

Since we'd only be allowed one day in the park, we chose a single-park admission (a bit less expensive than a "park Hopper" pass) and whined that we'd like to go to Epcot for our choice. We met up with the family and what a great evening of reunion it turned out to be! The next day we spent time in Epcot and rode rides around a test track at 65 mph and all the way to Mars, actually. There was fun and laughter and hot sunshine and snacks. We then hopped a boat and went to the Swan and Dolphin hotel for one of the finest meals I could've imagined inside a theme park. The restaurant was called "Il Mulino" and was modeled after a classy Trattorio in New York City.

The food was first rate, the service outstanding and when the asked for our wine selection I half-jokingly asked for a 5 year old vintage of our favorite chardonnay (having not seen it available since it became a 1 year old vintage) and amazingly they had it! We ordered it before we had a second thought that we should've maybe inquired about the price, but at the end we discovered that it was very reasonable after all (well, I guess that's a matter of perspective).

Were I a critic of note (a la Ratatouille) I would happily give the establishment 4 1/2 stars out of 5, the only downside being that the overall ambiance was a bit too cool to be called 'intimate'. The place was pretty sparcely populated, but I can imagine that it is a noisy place when it is hopping.

Our visit with our family afforded some much needed catching-up time coupled with a good dose of silly fun.

I am so glad we managed to pull it off, and as we drove home we talked about the treasures that are our families and the gold that our memory of those we now miss.

We also decided that going to Disney every weekend could work for us :)

Captain Jack Sparrow tells it like it is.

Glory Be and Disney Too!

9/29/2009

Few things are as simple as going on a cruise ship. I love the concept of a ‘floating hotel’ and it sure is a great way to be introduced to places and cultures that you might otherwise pass by as, at best uninteresting and at worst, too risky. The down side of taking a cruise is, of course, it costs money.
These last few months have indeed been tough; on our family and friends, on the country in general and on us. Many of you know we are still waiting for under-valued properties (ok, maybe they were previously over-valued) to sell and free us from the mortgages. So, we are sitting tight on our big plans to buy the dream boat and we are reigning in expenses as best we can. Then along comes George Leppla and his “Recession-Buster” cruise idea.
George is a first class Travel Agent in a world where the whole Travel Agency concept has changed. So many people book online now that TAs have had to adapt and find their own kind of specialties to be successful. George has found a great specialty in putting together group cruises and he continues to offer some pretty cool ideas for the cruisers in his circle. Robin and I have been on a few, and while we were actually not planning another one this deal jumped up and we decided to grab it.
Now this is an(other) unsolicited plug for George because I like the way he does business; simple, up front and honest.


(George and Becca, with Robin)

Go visit his website at http://www.cruisemaster.com/ and take a look at the next couple of trips. We aren’t planning on any in the future as we want to focus mainly on or sailing plans, but then … you never know.

We climbed aboard the Carnival Glory after a quick-turn from a swing shift and a 4 hour drive to Orlando.

(Carnival Glory, Deck 12)

The plan was elegant and worked like a charm: The ship was leaving from Port Canaveral, which is very close to Kennedy Space Center, at 4:00 P.M. We backed it up to 1:00 P.M. target arrival in order to allow for any unexpected delays and backed it up further to drive into Orlando proper to pick up our Mom who was flying in to make the cruise too. After a quick grab and dash at her hotel (OK, it was a great reunion time too) we scooted the 40-something miles to Port Canaveral and actually made it there around noon-ish. The crowd was already gathering and the lines were forming. Now Mom has a VIP pass of sorts as she travels by electric scooter a lot and they have specially accessible entrances available. I dropped Robin, Mom, the scooter and the luggage off and went to park the truck. This was my first disappointment. The Port authority, I realized, was something I should've given more consideration to as 1: they have a captive audience if you drive up there and 2) the parking is exorbitantly expensive. There’s simply no other game in town and 3: after I paid over a hundred dollars for a week’s parking I drove up the ramp and met an attendant who then told me that the parking garage was full. Hmmmm … There was no room to turn the truck (FordZilla) around on the ramp so I backed ever so carefully back down and did find a nice spot nested under a palm tree to call a parking spot for the week. In hindsight, I never checked for coconuts and that could’ve been a problem if a big storm had come through while we were gone (things you don’t think about living in Colorado).
When I got back to the line, Mom had gone ahead and Robin (as is here style) had a nice conversation going with some new-found friends in the line. We thought it would be OK to stay in the line that mom had gone in and see if we could catch up with here, but alas she is an expert at this process and while we were delayed in the line she motored on through and was done checking in and on her way to her room before we ever got through the first metal detector. We were definitely playing in her territory now :)
Checking in was actually an easy affair and we found ourselves aboard and in our stateroom (all 315 square feet of it) a little before 2 P.M. All went very well and we wandered around a little until it was time for the requisite Life Boat muster and drill. I don’t mind the drill, it is at least a reminder that should something happen, you have something to do. This particular drill was a bit out of the ordinary though and the safety announcement soon gave way to several other ships’ announcements that began to wear on our patience as we stood there dressed in our life jackets. Ah well, the whole thing took all of 25 minutes, no biggie.
We set sail and motored out the channel and past Milliken’s restaurant where Robin and I have enjoyed a couple of good meals, once while waiting about 4 hours for an eventually aborted Shuttle launch, and then past Jetty Park and into open water. The ride was nearly perfectly smooth the whole trip and the weather was as good as it gets considering it was smack in the middle of hurricane season. We were blessed with clear skies and warm-to-hot days for the whole week. The trip went to Belize, Cozumel, Costa Maya and Nassau.









(Costa Maya: Yard-long Daquiris, a swimming pool in the shopping area and a view of the pier pointing toward old-town.)

(Belize)



Our determination was to make this trip one of minimal expense so we passed on taking any formal ‘excursions’ provided by the ship and instead got off on foot and explored a little bit of each destination. Surrounding any cruise ship port there is always a bustling shopping district (well, except for Port Canaveral) and Robin and I spent some time ashore at each port wandering the shops, which all seem to meld into one big tourist trap after a while, and doing a little bit of exploring to see if we could round up a Geocache or two.


(Geocache found in Nassau)

We had good success coming up with a few finds and we dropped of a “Travel Bug” while we were out and about in Nassau.
Nassau was our biggest outing as we hiked around and did some sightseeing on our own. Geocaching often gets you going to some out of the way places and in Nassau we found a nice little commemorative park that is off the tourist beat but very interesting indeed.
We hiked up the hill to find the old Water Tower and toured an old Fort,
(Old Fort in Nassau)


then came back down into town and walked past the Governor’s Mansion

(Bahamas' Governor's Mansion ... it's pink :)

and back into the shopping district. Of course we had to stop at Dunkin’ Donuts when we passed by to get a cold drink and take in some air conditioning for a while.






(Nassau: Water Tower and the Memorial Park)



We were both appropriately hot and sweaty when we arrived back aboard and what little shopping we did yielded a couple of ‘treasures’ from the islands.



(Atlantis complex at Nassau)

We enjoyed our time aboard, relaxing with a couple of good novels and taking in some of the ‘features’ of all-you-can-eat dining. We spent time sitting and looking out to sea, lounging over a glass of wine before the dinner seating and walking hand-in-hand for no apparent reason and to no particular destination. A very big reason we decided on this trip was to get together with Mom and to get away from the work and city stressors that have pervaded our time here in Miami. It was worth it, it was great, we stuck to our budget, we almost stuck to a diet (giggle…who am I kidding) and we had a great getaway. I’d encourage anyone looking for an escape to try it. It’s easy and not too expensive these days. Plus there are ice cream machines at both ends of the ship :)
--------------------------------
Well, what do you do after a cruise?? Go to Disney World of course.
Mom had built in an extra day to her itinerary before flying back to Washington and we decided to spend it Walt Disney World (WDW). We booked a rom at a hotel on-property. Not the cheapest way to go by far, but the immediate access to the Disney transportation system was well worth it.
We spent a wonderful day touring the Magic Kingdom which was decked out in Halloween regalia every where you turned. We rode the compulsory rides and hiked around the park for the better part of the day. A heavy downpour played havoc on us once and we decided to head back toward the hotel as the skies darkened up for a second act. We no sooner made it to the shelter of the monorail entrance than it began pouring down and we were thankful for our good call to head back.
During the visit we did some serious Pin-trading, which is a great way to meet some of the cast of Disney, see some places (such as other hotel lobbies).
We had a pretty good dinner at a restaurant that overlooked part of the Savannah from Disney's Animal Kingdom and watched giraffes, antelope and other animals graze across the area just outside out window. Pretty cool.
Well, here's to a great time had by all. Can't wait till we do it again. ... ... ... in about a week,

Moving on up.

Progress reports: Dateline September, 2009.

WORK: After nearly 11 months of varying levels and aspects of training I am once again certified to perform the functions for which I was hired. Although I have a little over 12 years of experience as a front-line manager it took a relatively complete retraining before I could be turned loose to watch over the area(s) and begin to get my feet wet and learn how things work, where things go and who is who here in the workplace. I am tremendously relieved that this process is over, and thankful for the 'education' gained along the way but it has been a longer than expected experience. Robin is not far behind and we hope to report the news of her certification in the next couple of weeks (after a short break for some R&R which will be discussed later). Now the dance begins in earnest as I begin to focus totally on supporting the mission and doing the best I can to provide problem-solving and support for the controllers under my watch.

I can't wait :) ... I do like this job.

PLAY: We are in furious preparation to abandon Florida for a week and take off on a cruise ship for a short jaunt around the Caribbean. It appears at first glance that the Atlantic Ocean has decided that we don't need any thrills along the way and has closed down it's hurricane production line for the time being. We're hoping for a nice ride and fair skies.

The cruise is incredibly inexpensive by normal standards and we will be spending our last smattering of vacation time for the trip. Mom will meet us and we will all board together to reunite with several cruising regulars who are all part of this group.

Plug for George; http://www.cruisemaster.com/ ... He has done us all well on organizing these group cruises and we look forward to seeing him again.

WORK: Part of the aforementioned "furious preparations to relax" (or FPTR as we know things around here) involve making things ready for what could happen while we're away and what's going to happen when we return. Since we're living a rather nomadic lifestyle right now, and since we have mobility in both our home and with the boat, we have to prepare both the 5th-wheel and the boat for the eventualities of a storm while we're gone (remember that part about a quiet Atlantic?). Hopefully we will go on vacation and come back to a nice, quiet and unchanged scene but the possibility, however slim, that there could be a big wind requires a bit if planning to make sure we won't worry ourselves over this. We figure it's like buying insurance; probably won't need it but if we do, it's invaluable.

So we are going to reduce 'windage' on the sailboat and tie it up as securely as we can. We'll use pretty much every piece of dock line that we have and will do our best to center it precisely between the slips and pilings and allow for enough motion to cope with a storm surge should one come. Reducing windage entails removing pretty much everything that's removable from the top of the boat. We will pull down covers and the bimini, remove extra lines we will remove the front (jib) sail altogether, as it is the one that would most likely self-deploy in a major wind and that would mean a disasterous high powered trip onto land, another boat, or who knows where. We will lash down, macrame style, the main sail so that it cannot get free and then we'll start adding dock lines galore.

The dockmaster informs us that they monitor everyone's dock-line jobs and fix stuff if they see it needs help so we're thankful for that support. Then again, the Atlantic's real quiet right now :)

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/

Next up will be closing up and clearing the site around the 5th-wheel. The unit can stand a much higher wind if the rooms are closed in so we will leave it that way for the time we're gone.

PLAY: So we're leaving bright and early, heading to Orlando and picking up mom then making a b-line to Port Canaveral to catch the ship. Hopefully we'll be aboard and installed in the cabin before 3P.M. and can catch the first Happy Hour before we set sail. Isn't it great to have goals?

We will be bringing our handheld GPS and hope to do a little Geocaching at each of the stops along the way. Maybe we can find a few to add to our list as it's always fun and it's an inexpensive (free) excursion off the ship. We may have an opportunity to go see some Mayan ruins, but haven't decided on that one yet.

I will have the laptop and may be able to post some webcam pictures if conditions and internet availability allow. Other than that, I may get up enough energy to read a book, or I may choose to relax instead. Oh.. the choices.

MOVING: When we arrive back home, we will be hopping right back into action as our work schedule will change and kick in with new days off. Then we will be getting ready to move both the boat and the RV to new locations because very shortly the summer rates change to winter rates (high season) and things up in this neck of the woods (boat slip and RV park) get more expensive. We will be heading back to the first RV park we stayed in last year and will be moving the boat to a marina on the south side of Miami which is not far from where we'll be staying.

The new location of the boat will put us within easy reach of Biscayne Bay and even the Florida Keys. This could be fun as the winter season comes along and we pick up favorable winds for exploring the waterways around the souther tip of the state. We do know that we will be a 'slave to the tides' as the waters are very shallow around there and we will have to vigilant so that we don't end up having to use a tow service to pull us off a sandbar (no, really???? run aground???) The inlet/channel is right at our minimum depth so we will have to plan our jaunts out to open water around the tides.

The RV park is Larry and Penny Thompson, right next to the Miami Metrozoo. It's run by the Miami-Dade County and is very well maintained. We enjoyed it last year and are looking forward to returning. They have a very nice area to walk or ride bikes around, there is ample shade and several shelter areas to set up picnics if you're so inclined and, oh yes, there's a swimming pool complete with on-duty lifeguard. There's a 'community house' where they often put together pot-lucks and other activities to allow the campers to get together and socialize.

Last year we were unable to get "plugged in" because we were doing a lot of exploring and working to get our 'plan' together. Hopefully we'll be able to take advantage of some of the benefits they offer this time. If all goes well, we should be there throughout the 'winter' months (I realize that's a relative term coming from a former Colorado resident:)

Alright, we gotta pack...

Hot Times in Miami

We kind of knew what we were getting into. We'd talked about it and conjectured what it would be like and thought about life running from air conditioner to air conditioner but the reality is you just have to experience it to know what it means. It's been in the mid 90's for the past couple of weeks. The humidity has been in the mid 80%'s and as high as 95% (well, higher when it rains) and it does indeed 'hit' you when you step out of the house, workplace, or car and realize that the heat index is pushing 110 degrees.
The first thing you notice is that your glasses, having been cooled to the ambient temperature of the room or vehicle, will fog up nearly instantly and within a few seconds you are totally IFR. The next phase is that the heat seems to 'surround' you. It's hard to explain, but coming from Denver, you could know that the sun was hot and could identify where the heat was coming from. It seems that it's not so when the air is pretty close to a wet sauna state. It slowly but inexorably drains your strength and any ambition you had toward outdoor projects. The sweat begins slowy enough, but the wet air does not allow evaporative cooling to happen so suddenly you're dripping and blotting at your forehead so you can keep seeing. Physical labor generates more sweat compounding the overall problem.
All of this happens between the time you open the car door and the time you reach the cool safety of Starbucks. Ahhh... I'll have a Frappuccino please, then I can revel in the brain freeze :)

And now, the update:
Robin and I have been diligently pursuing the elusive Certification as supervisors here in Miami and I am happy to say that it is now very near. Within a few more days both of us will become actively engaged in the the day to day activities that we were hired to do and we will be able to constructively contribute to the safe operation of the Center. It has been quite a ride and we are thankful to be nearing the end of this long and extensive training program. We've attended some very good classes both here in Miami and in Robin's case out of town and out of state. All of this leading toward being able to positively influence the folks that are working with and for us.
It has been very cool to be sharing the same time off and same shifts at work. The commuting situation has been relatively easy to manage when we can both come to work together and we hope that we can soon be assigned to days off and crews that will allow some of the same conveniences. We will know that soon; likely before the first of October and definintely before the end of October. The bidding for crews and vacation time will soon commence and that will set our schedules for the upcoming year.

The S/V Robin has been receiving some attention, although the amount of time we have been able to devote to projects and sailing has been limited by a pretty long run of severe weather. I am told that it is unusual to have as many thunderstorms as we have been happening, but that the same 'big picture' weather influence that is causing these seemingly perpetual thunderstorms may well serve to ward off tropical storms of hurricanse that may form up and be pointed our way. So far so good.
We've been keeping a very close watch on tropical weather because this is the first time we have ever had to consider it as a true threat. Both of us receive Tropical weather updated on our cell phones and we rely on the National Hurricane Center ( http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/ ) to keep us up to date on what is where.
The projects on the boat have included replacing the bimini (the shade) and it is almost finished. What we find is that everything is pretty custom, and to try to run to the store and buy something that'll just drop in and fit is almost never going to work...but we did anyway. We are pretty close to having the installation complete and all that is remaining is to drill a few holes in the deck (gasp) and relocate the mounting hardware. This will ultimately involve epoxy, and sandpaper so we will again add to our list of things that will take a full day instead of an hour to complete. We want it strong and watertight so it is well worth any additional effort to make it good the first time.
The other project is the paint job. This has been a doozy of an attempt, starting with the concept that boat paint is probably on par with airplane paint as far as expense goes and it requires a lot of surface preparation and about 16 hours between coats for the epoxy-based paint to cure. A very different project from painting a house of touching up a barbeque. I am probably about 25% done with the topside and it looks pretty good for a pure amateur. I'll post a couple of pictures next time.
On the inside we've been doing jobs like sanding and polishing the stainless steel sinks and removing long lines of adhesive which had previously been strips of velcro for mosquito netting attachment. We'll deal with that particular problem when faced with it after we set out on more than day sails.

So far all is well. And we intend to keep it that way :)