26 Travel Days in 108 Days – Sad

Leaving Fairhope in the fog

We should have been there already. Our original plan had us arriving in Ft. Piece in mid-November. It should have work. But it didn’t. We gave up our dock in Ft. Pierce FL already. We spent thousands of unplanned dollars on repairs that took weeks. This journey has been very frustrating but we hope we are almost there.

Pelicans!

For those of you keeping track, here are the actual stops we made since leaving Sturgeon Bay WI on September 13, 2018 spending the night in the following places:

1. Port Washington WI
2. Milwaukee WI 
3. Hammond IN
4. Joliet IL
5. Ottawa IL
6. Henry IL
7. Peoria IL (IVY)
8. Anchor Bar Island
9. Anchor
10. Alton IL
11. Hoppies on Mississippi
12. Anchor on Mississippi
13. Anchor – Little Diversion on Mississippi
14. Paducah KY on Ohio River
15. Green Turtle Bay KY 
16. Pebble Isle on Tennessee River
17. Clifton TN 
18. Aqua Yacht Harbor TN  
19. Midway MS
20. Anchor
21. Anchor
22. Demopolis AL 
23. Bobby’s Fish Camp 
24. Anchor
25. Fairhope AL on Mobile Bay
26. Orange Beach AL on ICW on December 30, 2018

In a period of 108 days we traveled for 26 days. We traveled 24% of the possible days in the overall available travel time. That seems like an overly long time for such a small number of travel days. Don't you think? 

We stayed two nights in a few places on purpose due to weather or to get supplies. We expected that. We traveled home for 2 weeks – one while Kermit’s brother Kevin went on vacation to attend to family business and the other so Katherine could conduct business back home. We planned on that too.

That leaves 68 days when we were laid up with boat repairs in Milwaukee then in Clifton TN and Aqua Yacht Harbor in Iuka MS. TWO MONTHS OF REPAIR DELAYS! And it was cold too!

Seems like a very disappointing start to this boat. However sometimes it takes time to train a boat, especially a boat that has had so little prior use. You know, like “How to train your dragon”.

My horoscope says I am entering a new period now – a period of new prosperity. We can whisper occasionally that she-who-won’t-be-named is doing fine right now but we don’t want to jinx anything!

Let me bring you up to speed on what happened since we talked last.

River is flooded from the
constant storms

A bald eagle along the way

On December 28 we left a lovely anchorage on the Tensas River off the Mobile River where we spent a lovely night rafted with Loopers Brenda and Bill on Vesignet over cocktails, fajitas and salad scrabbled together from leftovers. Those are the best evenings! It was nice to show them how to raft and especially nice that they enjoyed the experience so much!

This bridge is known as the
"Dolly Parton" Bridge, I wonder why?

The fog that enveloped the boat as we ate and drank that night stayed around the next day. It was clear enough to leave but fog will be our constant companion the next few days. The water temperature is in the 50s and the air temperature is about 70. Mix in a bit of humidity and you have fog, a cloud that hangs around the land. 

Passing by downtown  Mobile

But still she perseveres. Next stop Fairhope AL in Mobile Bay, a 40 mile trip with no more locks. The tows we passed on the way still dressed for Christmas. The water was fine enough. Good Karma worked well.

Port of Mobile

They are removing the water from
this "dry dock" for large boat repair

Fairhope Yacht Club across the
creek from our boat at the municipal
marina

We pulled into Fairhope Municipal Marina fuel dock around 2pm. The dock master, Sean, is a really nice guy. This marina had been privately owned and very run down until the city of Fairhope purchased it a few years ago. I am sure the fact that the lovely Fairhope Yacht Club is across the shared creek had a bit to do with it. The fine yacht club members probably were sick of seeing the eyesore and got the city to make the purchase.

I am not sure of the reason but I do know that Sean works very hard to keep the marina clean and functional. They installed a new super sucker pump out that sucked the life (and poop) out of this boat. We are definitely clean now. 

We needed fuel. The site gauge indicated we had 3/8 of our 700 gallon capacity. We shined up that credit card planning to put on about 600 gallons. Both tanks were topped off at 350 gallons. Not sure what happened there but the site gauges indicate both tanks are full. Perhaps the boat has less than the 700 gallon capacity advertised? Someday Kermit will crawl around and figure out how the diesel tanks are linked but not right now.

Continuing our chicken theme

We stopped in Fairport to see Charlie and Mary, Looper friends from our Loop in 2012. We love these guys!! They live in Daphne AL, down the road, so this marina is very convenient for them. 

Charlie arranged a covered slip right off the gas dock. Sean said to stern in. But that is a problem for this boat. Our power comes off the side (either side actually) but if we stern in we have to run the cord through the sunroom and out the back window. Awkward. Plus we have a dinghy on the back that blocks the rear exit. We’d have to climb around it. I’m not keen on doing that in the daytime much less at night. 

So instead we pulled up to a t-head near the entrance. We gathered up our bags and hiked one mile over to the nearest Publix to load up on food, with Kermit grumbling the whole way. He really hates exercise like that. This marina is in a lovely neighborhood with beautiful waterfront houses. Strangely lots of home were for sale. A taxi brought us home with our groceries.

The marina was lit up with Christmas lights on some of the sailboats. Plus there were cats and dogs everywhere. Just an overall pleasant place to stay!

In front of Biscuit King

We had enough time to put groceries away and grab a quick shower before Charlie and Mary pulled up to take us to dinner. We had fried shrimp from Mobile Bay at a cool joint the other side of Fairhope. It was great to catch up!

The next morning, Sunday December 30, 2018, Mary picked us up for breakfast. Dock master Sean suggested a place called The Biscuit King so off we went. 

Cotton 

The owner Willie Foster greeted us at the door of this big pole building stuck out in a cotton field. It is adorable and he was charming, a real tale spinner! He even brought out mimosas for Mary and me!

Mary and Katherine at Biscuit King

They serve this biscuit concoction called the Ultimate Biscuit. Take a big chunk of biscuit dough the size of a big man’s fist. Stuff it with your ingredients, cover it over with the biscuit and bake it. I had bacon, egg and cheese. Kermit had one with sausage, bacon, egg and cheese covered with sausage gravy. Unbelievably delicious!! I don’t think we ate the rest of the day!!

Now THAT is advertising!

On the way back to the marina we stopped to visit Charlie at work. He is the dock master at the Marriott Grand Hotel Marina in Fairhope. Not a lot goes on there so Charlie has a lot of time on his hands. 

I circled the baby heron,
they are pretty big, aren't they?

He already brought the marina up to standard. A big accomplishment was to move around cars that park under this big tree that is home to a mama and three baby herons. We saw the babies sleeping in the tree. I guess they leave a pretty big mess which is why cars shouldn't park under the tree!

You are probably wondering why we didn’t stay at that marina. We wondered that too. Charlie says the pricing is not competitive. It costs $3 per foot plus the cost of a hotel room! Wow, that is VERY high. We paid $1.75 at Fairhope Municipal Marina and we slept on the boat instead of requiring a hotel room. 

Charlie and Kermit

Fog at the end of Fairhope
Marina

Charlie’s next goal is to get the hotel to understand the pricing so he can get more transients in the marina. But he is ok either way.

Fog rolled in that morning while we traveled to the Biscuit King. Fog, our constant companion these days. We’ve become confident in our abilities to travel in fog as long as we have the gps and the iPad with Active Captain and Waterway Guide on it so we stay in the designated travel lanes. Kermit even discovered a fog horn!

They said hug the reds upon
leaving Fairhope. We hugged
the reds!

Mary let us out at our marina around 11am. We puttered around waiting for the fog to lift. Finally around noon e decided to leave even though the fog was still around. We inched out way out of the very narrow channel, hugging the reds in a state of half sunshine half fog. We turned south across the bay. Fog ahead of us. Sunshine along the coast to our port (left) side.

Along the way we played with pelicans and Kermit saw dolphins.

Mary got us an angel to
protect our boat!!

See the fog? It was beautiful. We ran by instruments. 

I have a thing about dolphins. Some of our friends, like Deana Shephard on Sareana, can see these great creatures. She can take pictures, even videos. I can’t even see them! But Kermit says he saw them and I believe him. (WINK!)

See the dolphins? I don't...

We turned the corner onto the main channel, the Intercostal Waterway! We feel almost in Florida when we are on the ICW. Plus the weather is a little warmer. I ran downstairs to shave my legs and put on shorts!!

Lulu's at Gulf Shores

Evidently RVs are a big thing at Lulus

I just like this photo!

The big attraction on this part of the ICW is Lulu’s. Lulu is Jimmy Buffett’s sister. She owns this big restaurant resort complex on the north bank of the ICW in Gulf Shores. We visited last time but this time we want to ease on down the road. Lots of RVs and boats docked. We didn’t see many people but it was middle afternoon. They were probably taking naps in anticipation of a big night of entertainment! 

Passing a tow in the channel

This channel is quite narrow. Passing tows is complicated. The rocks along the channel side look awfully close as we skooch over close to the shore.

Everyone should have a boat on
the rocks, right? 

The Wharf at Orange Beach

We arrived at The Wharf at Orange Beach AL late in the afternoon. It was just a 3 hour cruise!!  HAHAHAHA. We tied up for the New Year’s holiday.

We invited Charlie and Mary to join us for New Year’s Eve. I made risotto for dinner and banana bread for breakfast. And we settled down for a nice couple of days.

We looked for Bill and Brenda at The Wharf but they stopped at Lulu’s instead. We might catch them later down the road.

Appetizers

They drop a marlin at Orange Beach!

We had drinks with Curtis and Michelean, the fine folks who bought the old Good Karma. They finished their loop a few weeks ago and are trying to sell their boat. They will move back to Amarillo for the next phase of life, the post-loop phase. 

We laughed over the crazy Looping experiences and the wonderful people we met!

New Year’s Eve was rainy and foggy, of course. In fact the skies opened about 10 minutes before midnight. We didn’t feel like getting wet so we watched the fireworks from the boat. It was great to have good friends with us as one year ended and another began. We miss our other friends very much so please stay in touch.

Fireworks over our boat

On New Year’s Day we had a wonderful breakfast of deviled eggs and banana bread then loaded into the car to go to Florabama for the Polar Bear Splash. Kermit and I had no idea what to expect. Mary and Charlie’s words did not do the place justice!

Mary and I with some lady having
a great time

Coolest art made with cut up license plates to spell out that
Kenny Chesney number, No Shirt, No Shoes, No Problem

The locked bottle room - tempting

They throw bras here

Muff Man... no words

See the Tyrannesorus Rex?

Katherine with the Elvis's and a nice lady having a good time

Floribama, sitting squarely on the Florida Alabama border, is a bar. Actually a series of bars added on to other bars. It is a crappy wooden structure with lots of levels, bars everywhere and live music. It is wonderful!! Sort of like Put-in-Bay if all the bars were in one complex instead of on one street. We drank, listened to music and played pool.

Charlie and Mary

Around noon everyone moseyed over to the beach. Several hundred folks dressed in crazy costumes counted down then ran in the water and ran out again! It was a blast!!

Our favorite costumes included: Muff Man (nuff said about his muff), two folks dressed in giraffe costumes, a bunch of Elvis impersonators. The best though was the two folks dressed in blow up Tyrannosaurus Rex costumes!!

They Church here too!

Charlie and Mary went home and we took a nap. It was a wonderful weekend. We are glad to be in the panhandle where it is warmer already.

NEXT UP: Kermit is watching for a weather window to cross the Gulf of Mexico. We need to be in Tampa area by 1/10 to get ourselves to Ft Lauderdale for a flight to the Dominican Republic on 1/13 for our son Dan’s wedding to Julia. The weather prognosticators show an opportunity to cross the 175 mile stretch on Sunday or Monday. We are traveling east today towards a place called Niceville FL, almost halfway to Carrabelle FL where we will begin the crossing. More later about that.