Miami bound

Joel and another technician arrived at Marquesa promptly at eight this morning to reconnect Bessie.  The first ssnafu...a fuel line got damaged somehow when we put her back on the boat yesterday.  Donnie ran to the auto parts store to buy another 3/16th's hose to replace it.

While the boys worked on Bessie, Willis was deep in slumber and not about to be disturbed.  The Dern Cat came down through the screen in the hatch over our Vberth at about 2am when he realized he was locked out of the boat.  Naturally, he was sleeping good at 8:00am.

Once it was all connected, and it didn't take them long, she fired right up...but she wasn't peeing out the exhaust like she should.  Uh-oh.  The seacock was still closed.  Easy fix.  Opened it up- still not peeing.  Houston, we have a problem.  The one thing that was not replaced on the engine, the water pump, was not working.  That stopped us dead in our tracks.

The minute Bessie fired up, Willis sprang to life and hid his head under Cap'n's pillow.  Such a brave puss.  Actually, it's the first time he's heard the engine since May of last year, so I can understand him being a little shook up.

 I left Donnie and the boys to their own devices, as Biddi and I had to be on the road by 10am if we were going to get our power Walmart and Dollar Tree run in on our way to the Miami airport.  We weren't 30 miles down the road and Cap'n called- we needed to pick up a new water pump while we were in Miami, and the industrial park where it was located was only about 10 miles from the airport.  They closed at 4pm, so we decided to go to Dollar Tree first, then find the place with the water pump, and hope that there was a Walmart close by so we could still get to the airport on time.  Better to be safe than sorry, and the priority was to get the water pump, for sure.  Biddi and I stopped at Applebee's in Homestead for a soup and salad lunch, then we killed it at Dollar Tree :)  I sure am missing Daffy Doug's that closed down here in Marathon.  Luckily, the Walmart was not a mile away from the marine place in the industrial park, which was in the middle of Miami-Medley-Havana.  It was like being at a Walmart back home at 2am on a Friday night- only different.  I saw more spandex, more cheetah print, more skin, back fat, and too big of bodies poured into too little of clothes than I ever care to see again.  Wowzer. 

This was tame compared to most of what I saw.  Look up people of Walmart in Florida, you'll get the picture.  I will say one thing, they have no body image issues in their culture, they flaunt it like they've got it!  Too much of it, really.

With our $400 water pump, and $500 of groceries and merchandise between the two of us, we got to airport with thirty minutes to spare.  My momma and Emily never looked so good!

After dinner at Cracker Barrel, we made it back to the boat at about 10 pm.  Momma needs some warm sunshine!

This was the cold, snowy mess they left behind in Indiana.  Emily said she drove in almost white-out conditions on I465 on her way to the airport earlier today.  This huge pile up happened about two hours after they got there.  The interstate is expected to remain closed until tomorrow before they can clean it all up.  There was no getting to the airport after this wreck.  My friend Stephanie flew in to Indy from Albuquerque about an hour after mom and Emily took off.  She drove Em's car back to Mom's house as she is dog/cat/house sitting while mom is down here. Stephanie was telling me about all of the police cars, ambulances and fire trucks she passed on her way home.  She, too, just missed this wreck- thank goodness.

Willis was happy to see Sissy; she's a cat whisperer!  He turns to jello when she holds him upside down.

Cap'n worked on Danny's boat all day, removing the water pump from his genset, cleaning it, and replacing the impeller.  Though his engine compartment is much bigger, he still had himself folded over his engine most of the afternoon and evening.  Then, when I got home, he decided to go ahead and install the water pump on Bessie that I just brought home to him from Miami.  The man is a working fool.  Willis, of course, was right there, supervising it all.  The old water pump is on the left, the new one is on the right.  Willis is looking at dad with his head in the engine!

Tomorrow morning, Joel will return (bright and early, I'm sure) to give her a final once over.  Then we will do a quick sea trial before they hand us the bill.  TOMORROW we should officially be back in commission!

I am pooped after so many hours of driving, and shopping always wears me out.  I am going to bed to join Willis.  He beat me to it tonight.  G'nite, y'all!