Thanksgiving in SE Atlanta

With New Year’s Eve one day away, our stories of Thanksgiving, trek off to Belize, and then Christmas are long overdue. Our Mazda 5 is tucked away in a Wilmington, NC storage unit, so when we need to join family and friends off the waterway, we roll our traveling bags off the boat and into a rental car and away we go! Preparing for Thanksgiving and Christmas prompts a flurry of activities in the Ellis family household. Erin has a flair for assembling just the right pieces to catch the spirit of the holidays. Decorating, baking, knitting and then hiking and/or roller skating the Atlanta Belt Line with its many arts venues along the trail.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Last February we exchanged road maps for waterway charts and guides as we moved onto our 36 ft. Kadey-Krogen Manatee “Summertime”. We entered a lifestyle driven by weather windows, tide charts, local knowledge, recommended secluded anchorages and bustling marinas, dredged channel depths and bridge heights and opening schedules. Yes, the rigorous course we took last November on navigation and powerboat maintenance and operation really did pay off. 

While sailboats and larger power boats with deep drafts (4’-7’) “go to the outside” to find deeper water, we take advantage of our trawler’s shallow draft (3’ 2”)and “keep to the inside”. We navigate the canal-like waters between the coastal mainland and the narrow barrier islands, the marshy rivers and their tributaries and the man-made cuts that make up the ICW, the protected Intracoastal Waterway. We steer the boat between red and green markers that keep us in the deeper water that has been dredged to 12 feet. We have already logged nearly 2000 miles. Starting from Punta Gorda Isles, we cruised up Florida’s Gulf Coast to St. Petersburg. Turning south we made our way down to the Cape Coral/ Ft. Myers area. At that point the Caloosahatchee River lock system connected us to Lake Okeechobee, and following the St. Lucie Canal we arrived at Stuart on the Atlantic Ocean. A nice short cut. We turned north and trekked our way up the East Coast: FL, GA, SC, and NC.

We put our trawler “on the hard” in a boatyard up the Cape Rear River near Wilmington so we could welcome Erin and the girls back to our cabin in Maine where we picked berries, played around in smaller boats and went swimming everyday. Great Gramps and Great Grandmother sure did enjoy our visits. Returning to “Summertime” in October, we made our way up the NC coast as far as Swansboro. The chilly mornings began to remind us that it was time to head south. We made our way back to Brunswick, GA and tucked “Summertime” in one of our favorite marinas. We have just driven a rental car to Atlanta to be with Erin, Brett, Emily, Bailey and puppy Cupcake. Thanksgiving has been a great time. Early in December we are looking forward to spending a week in Belize with friends from Maine. Christmas will be spent with Dad, almost 97, at his N. Ft. Myers home. We hope to explore the Florida Keys this winter, maybe even scooting out to the Bahamas. We’ll see how far we get at 7 mph!   Join us as our adventures unfold at our online blog: wallyanddarcy.blogspot.com Follow our travels daily on Facebook: wallydarcy campbell and like us at M/V Summertime Our phone number remains 828 231 5025; also our email: wallyanddarcy@gmail.com New mail forwarding: 3916 N. Potsdam Ave. #353, Sioux Falls, SD 57104-7048 A Merry Christmas to you all and fair winds for the new year.... Darcy and Wally

Georgetown,SC to Brunswick,GA

In the past 18 days we have revisited the historic South...Georgetown, Beaufort and Charleston,SC, then Savannah and Brunswick, GA. Along the way, we’ve also had the rare opportunity to connect with dear friends from our days on the Maine coast who left Brooklin, ME in a re-conditioned wooden sailboat in mid-October...Br-r-r! Phillip, Mamie and Neil La France are in for quite an adventure this winter as they are bound for Cuba. We’ve heard great reports from other sailors who have made that region a port of call. The weather has allowed us to dress in shorts and t-shirts, pretty much, until the recent cold fronts hammering the rest of the country finally pushed the Jet Stream down into the southland. Today here in Brunswick, GA the sun rose on a 37 degree day, with howling winds it feels like 27 degrees, and Thanksgiving is still a week away! Georgetown,SC Charleston,SC Our Reunion with the LaFrances on Aquilla in the Edisto River Anchorage Savannah,GA Wally had a special request for his 67th birthday celebration. He wanted to eat southern fried chicken. Now that doesn’t seem too crazy a request, but their were several hitches in the plan. He would have to break his vegetarian lifestyle, oh,yes, and he insisted on eating only the best fried chicken available. Where else to go than to Mrs. Wilkes Lunch House on W. Jones St. in beautiful historic downtown Savannah! Located in the street level of a gorgeous three-story brick duplex home, the dining room accommodates 64 diners at a seating and serves the best of southern dishes, but only from 11am to 2pm. Arriving at 10:30 am, we found to our dismay that 68 eager eaters were already lined up on the sidewalk in front of The Wilkes House. Yes, we would be among the first for the second seating. When we saw the bowls and plates of food offered family-style around tables set for 8 people, we couldn’t believe our eyes... at least 25 different choices of veggies and meats. The southern fried chicken was delectable! We enjoyed the conversations of our table mates and suffered no repercussions from our meaty moment. Amen and please pass the okra, tomatoes and black-eyed peas. M-m-m good! Brunswick Landing Marina will be the home port for “Summertime” for the next month while we drive a rental car to Atlanta to be with Erin, Brett, Emily, Bailey and puppy Cupcake for Thanksgiving. Brett’s folks will drive down from the Chattanooga area for the day, so we grands will be back together for the 12th year. The girls are 7 1/2 and 5 now, so there’s no telling what kind of foolishness we might be lured into. We love our time with the Ellis family! For a change of pace, we will join friends Paula and Dale Fugel on a week-long get-away to Belize in early December. They have a time-share situation that is roomy enough for two couples, and we were delighted to be asked along.