Back in the water and ready to cruise!

Wild Blue is in the water and ready to go cruising again. We are spending a couple nights in the marina at Seneca Lake State Park and will head out on Wednesday. We have a season cruising pass for the Erie Canal (all of the New York Canal System), plenty of time, and no schedule.


It takes a while to go from trailering mode to water cruising mode, thus our time in a slip. In the meantime, we have explored the area a bit, gotten some work done (I-86 in western New York is miserable - the road is so bad we found 2 busted brackets on our trailer... got those welded today), re-supplied, boat loaded.

Izzy even got to play in the grass...


We visited a couple nearby towns and checked out the locks.

A long day; we covered about 450 miles. We picked up the water pump from a West Marine along the way. OK, about 6 blocks out of the way. It was early evening by the time we got into the RV park we're in tonight... the new pump is installed and functioning. Nice to have hot and cold running water again.

Getting closer.

Rolling, Rolling

We're now about 1225 miles from home, the boat is our RV while on land. After 3 days of HOT, today has been pretty pleasant, temp-wise. We are just outside of Louisville, KY. Last night we stayed at a marina on Kentucky Lake (in Tennessee)... well, in an RV site at the marina:


We visited with some nice folks from New Jersey in a Winnebago next to us; he commented, "I never thought of using a boat for an RV - that's a great idea!"

Well, it has its moments. Certainly, it is more functional on the water than on land. Especially when the fresh water pump decides to crap out... again... this is pump #3. We made a few calls around and located a pump along our route. We'll pick it up tomorrow. In the meantime, we have made do with the wash down pump in the cockpit. It's not the most elegant solution, but it does give us water when necessary. And, of course, the pump crapped out while I was washing my hair.

Right now, we are just trying to make miles, but yesterday we did get in early enough to take little Izzy for a walk in the grass, something she hasn't had a chance to do for a while...



Only another 775 miles to go before we will launch Wild Blue again.

Out and About Again...

We left home today, heading for the northeast with Wild Blue in tow. We're at a nice RV park in Victoria, TX... the lady here remembered us when I called to get a site..."You're the only folks who've ever stayed here in a boat."

Yep, that's us.


Little Izzy has been doing great... she settled in immediately in the truck... not so sure about the boat, yet. Lots of new noises and stuff to check out. Here, she's zonked out on the floor...

Lots of boats...

Another beautiful morning in the Tropical Tip. It was dark as I headed out to the ship channel; must be a fishing tournament - about a dozen small fishing boats zoomed by me. Once into the channel, I came across this freighter...


He was followed by this ocean tug...


Heading into the jetties, I caught this shrimp boat with the sunrise...


Out into the Gulf and the sun a bit higher, this workboat made a good silhouette...


The haze turned into a wispy fog as I came back in; here's South Padre Island...


There were sportfishers and excursion boats coming out as I came back in. I followed this small ship into the ship channel...


Back home, a trip into the Valley to pick up a small air conditioner for the boat, and the afternoon getting it set up. Not a bad way to pass the day.

Morning Routine...

It was a hazy morning, but still pretty...



We had a wonderful time while the kids were here (kids? Do you still call 'em that in their 30s?). Definitely the highlight of our time back here this summer. We took them to the airport yesterday and said our good-byes... and started making plans for the next time we'll get together.

Looks like we'll be heading out in a week or so. This morning, I got back into my water routine - out before sunrise. (Didn't do that while we had company.)

Then back home and back to work... let the loading begin!

Out and About

Dolphins, swimming, anchored out, and more dolphins... we had a great time with our daughter and son-in-law on the boat today.