Let's rewind a few days...and they have been marathon days at that...only to finally end up in Marathon, Florida- hooray!
The night before the night before Christmas, I caught Willis staring longingly at our Christmas tree. He was waiting on the presents to be opened so we could start packing to head south.
Like clockwork, Santa Claus came and lucky for Willis, he was a pretty good cat. He got treats, a new collar with a bell (so Mom and Dad can hear him when he comes crawling in the boat after a night out with One Eyed Jack and Peg Leg at the Kit Kat Go Go Lounge), kitty treats, and medicine to keep the sand fleas away.
It was a wonderful Christmas, complete with traditions. Each person gets a new 'charm' for their stocking, and a new ornament for the tree. As the kids get married and leave home, they are given their box of ornaments to hang on their own tree. We also had the grandkids over Christmas Eve for hot chocolate, Christmas cookies and presents, and we finished the night with National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation-before Santa arrives :) We baked our usual hundreds of cookies (molasses, homemade oreos, peanut butter kisses, sugar cookies, red velvet cookies, cut outs, and m&m cookies, and two batches of rock candy), and trayed them up to give away to friends and family. We've been quoting lines from Christmas Vacation for days! I heart Christmas.
By Christmas afternoon, the log cabin was empty of children and grandchildren, so I set to work tearing down the tree and stowing all of the decorations. Donnie finished up winterizing the Love Shack and the hot tub. And then, the snow started to fall overnight. We were in a blizzard warning, which seemed more serious than a winter storm warning, so it looked like we weren't going anywhere on December 26th. In the end, it worked out well, as we spent that day packing all of our needed belongings for the next four months. Willis was helping, of course. By evening we had the fridge unplugged and cleaned out, a warming light set up in the crawlspace, the fire in the woodstove and burned out and by 2am I finally cleaned the entire house top to bottom, and fell into bed for a few hours. AIS was set for 6:30am on December 27th.
Though we had snow all day the 26th, it certainly was not a blizzard. We only got about 5-6 inches, but it was blowing and drifting. We had no trouble leaving the next morning; just put the Jeep in 4WD and away we went...with a howling Willis. There's two times the furry beast howls- when he gets put in his cat carrier, and when he is seasick in the moment just before he throws up! Otherwise, Willy T doesn't even meow. But at 6:30am, stuffed in his carrier, he howled and cried all the way to Pendleton. We stopped for coffee, and by the time we got on the interstate, he got out of kitty hell. He quickly found his perch, and contentedly rode all the way to Georgia.
We always stop in Valdosta, GA, for our first night. We made some sailing friends at Banana Bay last year, George and Desiree Lesko, and this fall, they bought their first home in Valdosta. They offered for us to spend the night with them. We were eager to see their beautiful home, as we've been following their Fix It projects and renovations on FB. We were served wine (much appreciated after a long day in the car), and had chocolates on our pillow. Very nice :) I left them some mango jam (a Keys specialty, made by yours truly) and we left the following morning.
Well, we met some other sailing friends when we were in the Bahamas last spring. We got stuck in Nassau for five days waiting on a weather window to make the crossing back to Florida. While in Nassau, we met Carl Dirkes, who was playing some jazz guitar in the cockpit of his sailboat. That was all it took for Donnie and he to forge a friendship. They ended up entertaining the other boaters holed up at the marina in Nassau with a poolside concert. Carl suggested we make a stop in Orlando at his home on our way south...so we did! Carl plays in several bands, and is an unbelievable talent- on the sax, keyboards, guitar, and who knows what all else the guy plays. He's crazy good...and so the boys talked shop in his studio, and Donnie had a serious case of guitar envy :) Two hours later, we were back on the road...bound for Marathon.
We finally had some blue sky and sunshine, so Momma K busted out her polarized bifocal sunglasses...a Christmas gift from me to me. It sucks getting old. Bifocals. Really???
We hit Hwy 1 in Homestead just as the sun was beginning to set. Not gonna lie, after eight months of hard work and two days in the car, with a Willis AND his litter box, it was a beautiful sight...
The last hundred miles always seems the longest. Even Willis came up front asking Dad, "Are we there yet?" We arrived in Marathon just in time to celebrate Christmas with Donnie's family. They had gotten back from the airport with his nephew only an hour ahead of us. So we had Mamaw and Paps (Donnie's parents who winter in Marathon), Donnie's sister, Diane and her husband Dave (who live here in Marathon), Diane's son, Derek and his wife Courtney, and her daughter Meagan with her husband Jay and their two kids, Jackson and Reece. Throw in Dave and Diane's two dogs, Meg and Jays two dogs, a Willis T Mac and two little ones, and it was a houseful!!! It was fun to have everyone together for Christmas. Have I said I love Christmas?!
We got an early start the next morning, which brings us to yesterday, Saturday Dec. 29th. We had lots to accomplish to make it to "splash time" (launching) in just two days. Doesn't she look beautiful??? It took us some time to find Marquesa at Driftwood Marina, as she was in the back forty in the weeds up on jack stands. Thankfully, they had whacked them down pretty good so we could get aboard. First on the to do list was to locate a power source and water. We found power by running several extension cords together, but water was foraging for buckets and lugging buckets of water back...did I mention they had us in the back forty already? The front gate was locked, and there wasn't a dock cart to be found anywhere. Paps and I finally located a POS wheelbarrow, with a cracked front end and a half flat tire, and we made do. True to traditional pink and blue, I tackled the inside of the boat, and Donnie went to work on the outside. Donnie did some grinding and sanding on the hull, to prep for another coat of bottom paint. He decided we needed to raise the water line an inch, as we sit mighty low in the water all weighted down and provisioned for cruising!
I tackled our stateroom first, thinking we might be able to sleep on the boat that night. I was pleasantly surprised to find very little mildew down below. Still, top to bottom, the interior needed washed down with bleach water- every compartment, every surface, and every nook and cranny. After that, I had to oil all the teak inside. It was an OCD's dream day.
When the teak is oiled, I love how it casts a warm glow down below. It's very cozy and reminds me of being in our log cabin back home (which I hear is now snowed under and the driveway is drifted shut- sorry I'm missing out on all THAT fun.)
The wall hanging in our stateroom reads, "God gives us Hope, like an anchor He holds us firm, and brings us to safe harbors." Perfect.
Once all of our clothes were unpacked and stowed, I tackled my least favorite job on the boat- the head. (insert scary music here). Nearly three hours later, it was all clean, smelling fresh, and its cabinets were filled with all of our essentials. There's ALOT of teak to oil in there. And if you are a guest on Marquesa, there is NO PEEING STANDING UP- just so you know. Quite honestly, I prefer you pee off the stern if you feel the need to dangle, otherwise, jump in that great big ocean out there- even better. Good talk.
We got the mainsail hanked on and set up, and intended to tackle the jibsail next. But, by this time of day, it was nearly 6pm, and the no-see-ums were out in full force, just eating us up. It was all we could do to beat them off and get the boat locked up. You had about five minutes bite-free, but the minute the scent of the bug spray wore off, there were in full assault combat mode and we were clearly out numbered and ill equipped. We waved the white flag, locked up the boat and called it a day.
This morning we started our day off at the Home Depot and West Marine, in search of some much needed supplies for today's to do list. Donnie needed another gallon of bottom paint (only $150- ouch.) at West Marine. While he pondered the virtues of copper ablation, I fell in love with the most awesome clown bike ever. It weighs next to nothing, has even smaller wheels than mine (seriously, the size of dinner plates) the frame is in the shape of a triangle, it has a rack on back to mount my milk crate for hauling groceries, and best of all, instead of a bike chain it looks like a fan belt. That's genius, as the salty air is hell on bicycle chains. I want one. But it's $600 dollars. A new clown bike for me was not budgeted in this year's boat fund...we shall see (insert sweet smile, beautiful green eyes and batting eye lashes here).
We got back to the boatyard mid-morning, armed with a load of crap in the POS wheelbarrow. Donnie taped off a new waterline on the hull, while I moved my bleach and oiling frenzy into the salon. By day's end today, the interior is nearly complete, the hull is painted, the kitchen sink valve was fixed, and the bimini and solar panel was installed. We were still unable to hank on the brand new jibsail as it blew a steady 20 knots out the N/NE all day long, with gusts even higher. In fact, I don't think it got above 72 today. Tomorrow is 'splash day', which means we will be launching. I will definitely have pictures, maybe some video, as it's a pretty cool process, actually. In the morning, I am getting up early to build shrimp kebobs for the family to marinate for dinner tomorrow night. Hopefully, Donnie will get a coat of wax on the outside hull, and I plan to scour the deck clean of all pelican and seagull poop before we launch. I am guessing we won't get the travel lift until noon, unless we are first in line. Once we are in the water, depending on the time, it is then about a 3-4 hour sail down the Atlantic side to Sombrero beach, we go under the Seven Mile Bridge, and up the Gulf of Mexico side to Banana Bay Resort and Marina- our winter home :) It's a big day tomorrow, and I can't wait! It still feels like Christmas to me :)
If you're wondering about the furry beast, he has camped out in the comforts of Mamaw and Pap's bedroom in their condo. It's been a little too cluttered and chaotic to have him on board. I didn't want to lose him in the boatyard with the seriously homeless and feral riff raff running around there. Besides, he's not packin' yet, as Mom has yet to make it to the bank for laundry money for me and tuckin' quarters for him. We'll turn him loose on New Year's Day, so he can celebrate the new year too. G'nite all!
