Kindred Spirits----staying connected with people along the way

We are heading into a part of The Great Loop that we have never traveled. While we are about to greet a great number of new friends at the Rendezvous for Loopers in Norfolk, Virginia, we are also parting company for a while with friends who are not doing The Loop. It’s tough to say “So long.” We have just bid adieu to a cruising couple from Maine. We first met Rob and Tricia just two months ago in Ft. Myers, but we feel like we’ve known them for years. Luckily for us, texting with the smart phone will keep us connected. It’s already the way we keep in touch with Jim and Lori that we first met in the Franklin Lock Marina on the Okeechobee Waterway in January. Even though they are back directing their workforce in Virginia, we feel like they are right here with us. Wilma and John put their boat up on “the hard” near La Belle, FL and drove back to PA for the spring, summer and fall. Wilma phones us every Monday. We delight in hearing each other’s stories and she marks our progression of locations on her Rand McNally road map. Darcy's sister Val and her husband Rick live in a Myrtle Beach,SC community with a marina. We've connected with them on the water and at their home... good times all around. We also have kindred spirits who do not have boats. What they do have is an interest in becoming involved in our trip with us. Our long-time friend Carole back in Maine tells us that she is already keeping a map of our progress. “I’m having so much fun doing this. It’s showing me places I have never heard of before.” Darcy’s classmate Bobby out in MIchigan is hoping to learn about the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway (ICW). When he was doing his early studies in Houston, he used to watch the cargo ships ply the waters of the Gulf ICW. We certainly have alot of stories and photos to share on that subject. Alan and Pat, friends from back home, winter over in the Ft. Pierce area. We love the chance to be with them. Sometimes SUMMERTIME just brings attention to herself. Being a Kadey-Krogen Manatee trawler, she can connect us with others of the 99 owners. She flies a burgee proclaiming our America’s Great Loop Cruisers Association (AGLCA) membership and another for MTOA, the Marine Trawler Owners Association. Birds of a feather flock together and it’s no different amongst our family of cruisers. Her hailing port of Lakeville, Maine proclaimed on her stern is another sure way she can start a lively conversation. Many is the time that we have answered the question, “Where is Lakeville, Maine?”

Staying connected to our daughter and family is another big consideration. As Nan and Pop, we look forward to hearing the stories of their daily lives. Sometimes its in a Facetime event, but mostly its through the excited voices of our six and nine year old granddaughters and the updates from Mommy and Daddy.

This Easter was especially memorable. Joined by cruising Mainer’s Tricia and Rob, we attended church with my sister and her husband in Mrytle Beach. Then we got to spend time with their extended family as we shared all our contributions to Easter Dinner. Close to fifty of us mingled, with a dozen or so being under the age of 13! with rain pelting down outside, we were able to spread out in the spacious family home. Our new Maine friends were welcomed in as family and we all enjoyed the moment. This was an Easter celebration that we won’t soon forget.

Great Loop Map

Alan and Pat

Baby Cakes----Jim and Lori

Jan and Bob

Jan and Bob's---"Swanee"

Rob and Tricia

Summertime and Linda Jean

Rick,Val,Darcy and Wally

Otter---Keith and Jane

John and Wilma

Kennedy Space Center

In the time we have owned SUMMERTIME, we have passed by NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex four times. Hanging on a mooring ball in Titusville, we could see the buildings across the Intracoastal Waterway on Merritt Island. We could only imagine what it must be like. With time for side trips built in to our Great Loop Tour, this fifth visit to the Space Coast was perfect for a visit. Thanks to our beloved Enterprise rental car, we were able to get the 18 miles from the city marina to the space center and back. You no doubt remember that our car is tucked away in Largo until next November. Since we are travelers, not tourists, this leap into a Disney-like atmosphere was monumental... starting with the price of the ticket. Adults $50.00 each! The Senior Discount offered $4.00 off per ticket, so our admission fee was reduced to $92.00 dollars. Whew. We began in the Rocket Garden with the actual rockets from the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs towering above us. A docent led us through the stories of early spaceflight. Next we boarded a bus that whisked us off to the Apollo/SaturnV Center with a drive-by of an operational launch pad and the Vehicle Assembly Building. This building is the largest one-story building in the world for height and volume, tall enough and wide enough to hold the Empire State Building. When the doors opened to reveal the mighty Saturn V rocket, she cleared with 13 1/2 inches to spare... the largest rocket ever flown! Our favorite dramatic moment was when the IMAX-like movie of the shuttle/orbiter Atlantis paused... a hazy impression of Atlantis appeared... and as the gauzy curtain lifted, there was the legendary treasure floating gracefully in midair with every scar and scratch from her 126 million miles of space travel exposed. This moment alone was worth the price of the ticket!

City of Ft Myers Yacht Basin ---Feb 2016

Our 35 year old nephew Kyle back in Maine messeged us today asking, “How many miles do you go in a day?” After reading our reply of “50 miles”, he promptly wrote back, “Where will you be in June?” Today is March 4 and we are Lake Okeechobee’s South Bay. Our intention is to be cruising into New York Harbor by early June. After having that conversation, it occurred to us that timing is everything. In our younger years we expected to cover hundreds of miles in a day as we crisscrossed the U.S., Mexico and Canada in our various RV’s. Now we are more than contented to report the gain of 50 miles in the same 7 hour travel day. After all, that’s moving along at our top speed of 7 mph! It may be providential that our 50’s and early 60’s were spent traveling in RV’s and our later 60’s (and beyond, we hope) have been spent in a trawler. As our cruising friend Dottie likes to say, “ The 60’s are your GO years, The 70’s are your SLOW years and the 80’s are your NO years.” At 68 and 69 years old, we have nearly reached the half-way point. We’ll have to see how that all plays out.

We spent this past month as residents of The City Of Fort Myers Yacht Basin located in the beautiful historic downtown. It was delightful! Along with re-uniting with cruising friends from last year’s stay, we also treasure the new friendships created up and down the docks and the mooring fields. It sure did feel strange to be in Oric O’Brien’s winter stomping grounds without him. Dad never failed to steer us down some great out-of-the-way places that he had discovered over the 30 years that he lived in Old Bridge Village in N. Ft. Myers. We visited with his neighbors and closest friends. They sure do miss him as much as we do. February has been Parade Month. The Parade of Dogs was followed by the Parade of Children building up to the much touted Edison Festival of Lights Parade. Our trawler was on C Dock backed up to the parade route so we were front and center for each event.

Larger-than-life iron scuptures, visiting from January- March, meet you face to face up and down the streets near the waterfront. Created by Edgardo Carmona of Cartagena, Columbia, each piece shows delightful details of personality. Most of February was spent preparing SUMMERTIME for our upcoming continuous 7,000 mile Great Circle Tour... upgrading, repairing, replacing and stockpiling of crucial parts. When the reverse gear failed in Ortona Lock on DAY 1 of our expedition, it was heartening to discover that the previous owners Ray and Linda had sent us off with the replacement part that we needed...a spare vibration dampener...genuine Volvo...still in the package. TowBoat US delivered us to the nearby River Forest Yachting Center, recommended by our new Maine friends Tricia and Rob, where the capable staff put us back shipshape. God is so good! It’s been very convenient to have our car with us in Brunswick, GA , Ft. Pierce and Ft. Myers, FL. After about a week of cruising, it takes about 7 hrs to return to where we last stayed (in a rental car) and bring both cars back to the new location. Now our car is tucked away at Wally’s mother’s condo in Largo, FL, awaiting out return next November when we cross our wake in St. Petersburg Harbor and complete the Great Loop. Long-time friends Marian and Billy MacIntosh from Nova Scotia brought us back to Ft. Myers this time. They loved their first look at our fair city.