Provisioning "Summertime"

Each documented boat must have her hailing port clearly posted on her stern. We had chosen to hail from LAKEVILLE, MAINE and the local graphic design shop printed the adhesive-backed letters in King Blue. Once we get those letters smoothed in place, we’ll be official!. Trying to outfit “Summertime” with all the gear and provisions we would need in the following months was rather overwhelming. The PT Cruiser was about to be tucked away at Wally’s mothers condo in Largo,FL. We would be depending on “shoe leather express”, our Dahon folding bikes, public transportation or the generosity of local friends to get to Wal-Mart or grocery stores. Having loaded everything that we could possible imagine we were ready to go.....then comes “Murphy”. I have always had a love hate relationship with Heart Inverter/chargers and it continues on. We were on the boat ready to depart and the charger stopped working....On the internet we found a repair station in Bradenton, an hour away, so we gave him a call. He knew the problem well and could fix us up if we could get the unit to him. It would be two days before he could get to it so we delayed our departure. No parts were available so he had to repair the existing circuit boards. In 4 hours he had it repaired and we were on our way back to the boat. We reinstalled the unit and voila we were back in business.....except for the weather. Another delay of a couple of days before good weather was predicted. On Saturday, February 1 we drove the PT to Largo and our friends Billy and Marion drove us back to the boat. We were now truly boatpeople....no land transportation. Sunday morning was “thick of fog” but by 9:00 it was beginning to break up so off we pushed.....our new life has begun!