February 28 - March 12
What we like about this year's trip - the repairs! Not!
The long-awaited inverter finally arrived. Wayne installed it in no time and it's doing a wonderful job. The inverter takes battery power and turns it to 110 Volt alternating current power, allowing us to power our appliances without running the generator.
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| The replacement inverter arrived after two weeks of negotiating a replacement and shipping from California |
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| Inverter being installed in its berth |
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| Inverter control panel |
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| Some of the things that the inverter and generator power up. |
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| And....the sewing machine! |
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| Of course, the TV when we can get reception. We frequently are reduced to watching what we call "mystery news," news broadcasts interrupted by intermittent blank screen moments. What's happening in the world? We don't know! |
Well, another repair! What would our lives be without them on this trip? This time we needed a new toilet valve which required shipment from New Jersey. It took seven days via US Mail/FedEx . Not a complicated repair but it did require Wayne to scramble around in the aft head in a two-foot square space, hugging the toilet. Such a talented man!
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| Another worn out and malfunctioning toilet part - the anti-siphon valve |
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| Oh...the broken part is never on the front. |
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| I know the valve is there - I can feel it and it is leaking! How to hug a toilet without really being sick! |
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| The beach at St Augustine. A short hop north of our marina at Palm Coast |
Repairs finally complete. Time for fun with friends and family
Once we settled back in at Palm Coast and realized we were going to be there awhile awaiting replacements, we decided to focus on visits with friends and family members. We enjoyed spending some time with Larry and Margaret, a delightful couple who live in a beautiful house facing the marina. As we mentioned in the last blog, we also saw Jim and Joan, friends from Charlotte. Joan provided us with a tasty hamburger/vegetable soup recipe. More friends dropped by one day, Wayne's former bosses from Husqvarna, Dave and Barbara, and a friend of theirs, Shirley. from Mount Dora, FL.
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| The trio, Barbara, Dave, and Shirley |
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| Barbara at the helm |
We managed another quilt shop visit on our way to see an old college friend of Wayne's and his wife via car. Danny and Janice live in Perry, FL, all the way over on the opposite side of the state, 13 miles from the Gulf. Wayne had lots of fun catching up with Danny after 47 years since Georgia Tech days. Thank you both for your hospitality!! We thoroughly enjoyed our visit.
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| God knows how much I enjoy visiting quilt shops! |
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| Danny and Janice at their beautiful home in Perry, Florida |
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| Danny and Wayne were pals 47 years ago at Georgia Tech |
Another car trip, this time to Astor, FL where cousins Victor and Barbi live. We spent the day with them, touring St. John's River marinas in their area, filling in some blanks in our family tree data, and enjoying their new house. We sure enjoyed seeing you two.
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| Wayne's cousin Victor and wife Barbi were gracious hosts. We visited them by car in Astor, on the St. John's River. Hopefully, we'll eventually make it to see them by boat |
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| Wayne's maternal grandparents' grave site in Deland, FL. Wayne had never visited it before and Victor chauffeured us to the cemetery. |
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| Vic and Barbi took us to all the sites around Astor, FL. Colleen in front of one of the local establishments |
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| A very odd spot by the side of the road. It looked like a factory for making cast aluminum "stuff," mostly all sorts of animals. Wayne wouldn't let me buy the five-foot chicken yard art to take home. |
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| We first saw our boat in a photo at an online site. It was parked in front of this spot, the Blackwater Inn at Astor. |
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| Drumming up business, Southern style |
Colleen had hoped to get together with two of her cousins in Deland, where her grandparents lived in the late eighteen- and early nineteen-hundreds. Only Midge, daughter of her mother's youngest sister, was able to meet her there but they had lots of fun together. Cousin Tony is expected for lunch on the boat on Wednesday this week.
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| Colleen's cousin, Midge. She and Colleen met for lunch and window shopping in Deland, where their grandparents have roots. |
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| The Quilt Shop of Deland is full of notions, project samples, quilts and these cute, fabric dolls. Wouldn't they be fun to make? |
Colleen's cousin Tony came up from Sanford FL for a brief visit this, our last day in FL.
. We enjoyed a lunch aboard and Tony and Colleen engaged in family research of their maternal grandfathers side with Family Tree Maker software. They had great fun.
Tony, we hope to see you again soon.
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| Colleen & Tony hard at work on their family tree. |
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| 100 blocks have been put together in the biggest project Colleen has yet tackled on the boat. When finished it will be for her friend, Marla. |
Goodbye, Palm Coast
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| Goodbye Palm Coast Marina Resort |
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| A very unique boat house in Crescent Beach |
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| White pelicans are making a rebound after years of near extinction |
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| The St Augustine Municipal Marina is being greatly enlarged. Finally. |
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| St Augustine inlet after our pass. We were too busy concentrating on finding the next set of markers to get a good photo. |
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| It was not a good day for the owner of this boat when a hurricane passed by offshore! |
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| Our first anchorage fifteen miles north of St. Augustine The beautiful morning view out the back of our boat March 10th |
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| Back into civilization as we head north toward Jacksonville |
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| We are seeing quite a few boats with three engines and some with four |
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| There were mansions |
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| There were cottages |
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| And there were the radical |
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| This eagle flew alongside our boat with a 12 inch mullet hanging in his claws and then perched in this tree. Look carefully - the fish is hanging on the left side of the tree top. |
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| The I-295 East bridge entering Jacksonville |
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| Jax is a heavy commercial port city |
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| Downtown Jacksonville, FL The St. John's River runs right through the middle of downtown. |
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| Jax has many beautiful bridges |
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| US Navy patrol boats. These are brand new and must have been very expensive. The guns have yet to be installed on the mounts forward and aft. It is powered by twin diesel jet drives. |
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| One of the unique and beautiful Jax buildings |
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| The Riverwalk Shops and Restaurant district on the Jax waterfront. We tied up here overnight - FREE |
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| Jacksonville at night from our spot on the riverfront FREE dock |
Settling into our new home
We had hoped to traverse the length of the St. John's this winter but it's time to get back to our lives in North Carolina. We've settled into our new marina, about 20 miles south and west of Jacksonville and are packing up to head home. Thanks, Joan, for the soup recipe. We've renamed it Joan's End of the Trip Soup and made it with many of the vegetable leftovers in the refrigerator to get them eaten up before we have to pack them. The rest of the trip up the river can wait for another day. We've had a relaxing and fun winter. Thanks to all of you for keeping up with us and our travels. A special thank you to all of you who visited Cool Change or allowed us to visit them. This truly was our People Cruise and exceeded all of our expectations.
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| Our new marina for the next eight months |
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| Cool Change in her berth. Wow, a roof to boot! |
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