Day 126, Year 11: Little River, SC to Ashburn, VA (in a car)
Date: Thursday, February 25, 2016
Weather: Mostly Cloudy, Windy Day
Location: At Home with Kevin and Claire, Janelia Farm, Ashburn, VA
Today we had a wonderfully uneventful road trip from Little River to Janelia Farm in Ashburn, Virginia. And boy was it windy. Mark sat in the back seat while Kevin and I drove and Mark says it was so rough in the back that he could understand how people get car sick. I guess our little Honda Fit is too lightweight for the gusty winds we had today. But other than a sore back from the rough ride, Mark is fine. I drove to Richmond, Virginia while Kevin worked as he had a couple of long conference calls. Mark slept and played solitaire on his phone. We arrived at Janelia Farm in the late afternoon and then went out to dinner and had great Taiwanese food. It was wonderful to see Claire again and we talked the evening away.
A big hug across the miles to all of you who have written emails of support to us over the past few days. We know the weather forecasts for Wednesday were scary. We cut it closer than we had planned due to our slow start the first day out. If we had been able to go outside from Palm Beach, we would have arrived in Little River on Monday. But the seas were rougher outside than we wanted to endure, thus we stayed in the waterway and didn’t go outside until noon on Saturday. We always had the fallback of coming into Charleston, but if we had done that I think we would just be leaving there this morning. Yesterday was too rough even for the inland waterway. So we felt blessed that we were able to make into Little River when we did. Apologies for any worry we caused.
Yesterday we contacted a diesel engine repair guy about our overheating issue and he actually came to the boat to look at the engine on that short notice. He won’t be able to really check things out for a couple of weeks, but at least we met him and went over the problem. Before we called anyone I had said to Kevin and Mark that I really didn’t want anyone working on the engine except Dave Laux. He is the engine genius that installed our Yanmar engine in November of 2005. In the ten and half years since then, the engine has run perfectly until recently. I have heard so many horror stories of people getting engines worked on by well meaning, but incompetent repairmen, that I was really hesitant to call anyone but Dave. But Mark pointed out that Dave is long way away and just might not be interested in our Yanmar anymore. But who do you think we got an email from this morning? You got it. It was Dave Laux with some suggestions about the overheating. He must still be reading our logs after all these years and it appears he is still interested in our Yanmar! If we can get the engine running good enough for me to start north in May, I’m tempted to find a way to stop in the Chesapeake Bay and have Dave take a look. That is, if he is willing to do it. The story of how we met Dave Laux is quite interesting. When our transmission out the day we left Quissett Harbor in 2005, we were forced into the Delaware Bay and found our way up a tiny canal to the town of Lewes. We tied up to the city dock on a weekend and found it to be quite a busy little place. Here’s the story as written in my log:
“People started coming down the dock to check out the new boat in town. People also fish from the dock and a couple of guys who had been fishing stopped to say hello. I told them our sad v-drive transmission story and one of the guys told me his favorite transmission story. He is a commercial fisherman and has a 43-foot aluminum boat built by a local guy. Not long after it was built, he was hauling in traps and got the line wrapped around the prop. But he didn’t know that. After pulling up the traps, he put the boat in gear and revved the engine. The strain on the transmission caused the gears to actually blow out the side of the gear box. He called the guy who had built the boat and before the end of the day, he had repaired the gear box and was back in business. He suggested we call this guy to see if he could help us. So we did. An hour and a half later, David Laux and his wife arrived. He came with a stethoscope and asked me to start the engine and put it in gear while he listened.” The rest is history. With Dave’s encouragement we decided to repair the old engine/transmission and eventually sell it. We bought a new Yanmar and Dave installed it with Mark and I working side by side with him at his insistence. He wanted us to experience the entire process. When we received his email this morning, I felt it was another serendipitous experience, just like us finding him in the first place by talking to the fisherman on the Lewes dock. Dave, it is so reassuring to know that you are still with us.
It was hard leaving Windbird this morning. As I walked down the dock, I noticed Mark wasn’t with me. I looked back and he was just staring at the boat. When he finally caught up with me, I asked what he was doing. He said he was just saying goodbye to Windbird. I couldn’t help but shed a few tears, but hopefully we will be back together with our beloved Windbird by late spring. Until then, we know she is in good hands at Lightkeepers.
