Day 43, Year 10: More Boat Work
Date: Saturday, November 22, 2014
Weather: Still Cool, Daytime High in the 50’s F
Location: R Dock, Lightkeepers Marina, Little River, SC
Today Mark painted the inside of the aft deck locker and we filled the cockpit with all of the things that are normally stored in that locker to keep them dry. It looks like we are going to get rain tomorrow and maybe for the next four days. We are just hoping the rain holds off until late tomorrow morning giving the aft locker enough time to dry. We have a small electric heater that we hung down in the locker earlier today to add a little heat. But before we go to bed, we’ll remove the heater and cover the area with a tarp. Mark still needs to paint the flip side of the dividing board, but otherwise, we are finished with that job.
Early this morning we went to Patsy and Joe’s to put up their Christmas tree. Since both of their daughters will be here for Thanksgiving, but not for Christmas, they thought it would be nice to have the tree up early. While we were there, the pre-game Saturday football programs were on and they were highlighting the Harvard-Yale game. Heather, Jed, and boys were there somewhere. Jed is a Yale alum and every year they go to this game. In the pre-game show, Yale was favored to win, but as with most years, they lost again. But despite the loss, we hope the Goldstones had a great time in Boston.
Tonight Mark and I worked on plans for the trip from here to Florida. If the weather permits, we will go outside from here to Cumberland Island in Georgia and then outside again from there to Ft. Lauderdale. But if the weather is not cooperative, we will have to go inside—one day at a time. And that is what we were plotting tonight. There are anchorages from here to the Florida border, but once in Florida, anchorages are few and far between. We have a plan that will only require one night in a marina, so we’ll go with that. Of course, it is only a plan. Once we get started we will probably travel more or less miles than planned for any one day based on real life circumstances. Waiting for bridges and counter current can really slow you down, whereas favorable current and perfect timing between bridges can speed things up. Then there’s the weather. So we have back-up plans for ‘the plan’ and back-up plans for the back-up plan.
Tomorrow we are putting boat work aside and going to Patsy and Joe’s to do a little cooking to get ready to feed the family and friends that are coming for Thanksgiving. And while we’re at it, we’re going to cook a little extra to be frozen for the passage south to Florida. Then tomorrow night we have been invited to dinner aboard another boat here on R dock. We know the couple but have never really had an opportunity to talk to them other than cordial hellos, so tomorrow night should be fun . . . even if it is raining.
