YOUNG AMERICA at Bannerman's Island

YOUNG AMERICA at Bannerman's Island

Thursday, November 29, 2012

Paducah, KY to Mobile, AL


November 28, 2012

And away we go, down the Tenn-Tom to Mobile.  We have been here before, in 2009 when we were Loopers, but it’s just not the same.

First thing we heard as we entered the Cumberland River was a recreational boater on the VHF radio, asking a tow driver   “Is this the Cumberland River? Do I turn here to get to Fort Lauderdale, I mean Ft. Myers?”  Somehow that didn’t inspire our confidence.  5 minutes later that boat roared past us at a rate of about 1 gallon of fuel per---minute??? YIKES.

On Monday afternoon the Tennessee was reflecting the tail of Hurricane Sandy.  We rolled and wallowed along in wind and waves, and happily entered the KenLake State Park Marina at Aurora, KY at 4 pm. 

Tuesday was a repeat on the water--- We stopped at Pebble Isle Marina at 3---early for us, but it wasn’t fun out there.   Thankfully everyone we know and love was safe from the storm.  Received emails about the impact of the storm in Brooklyn, and also a tall ship captain’s take on the tragic loss of MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY. Here is what John, Captain of the MYSTIC WHALER had to say:

We are all following the tragic news of the loss of the BOUNTY off Cape Hatteras with her captain and one crew member.  Our prayers are with them and the surviving crew.  When we heard the news yesterday morning our second reaction was shared by many if not most of us in this trade: What the heck was Bounty doing THERE??  A week ago Bounty was in New London.  She was next due in Florida.  As I was rushing east up Long Island Sound, I expected to pass Bounty headed the other way.  I guessed that she might follow John BeebeCenter’s plan for LYNX and head far up the Hudson River.  I did not know then that when Bounty left New London she went around Montauk Point and headed east, far offshore to try to dodge the storm.  Days later they turned southwest to try to get on the navigable side of the storm, which is how they wound up so close to Hatteras.  I understand the thinking, but the plan overestimated Bounty’s capabilities.
Robin Wallbridge has been captain on the Bounty for as long as I can remember.  He has seen the vessel through some very dark days when she was in horrible condition.  I was chatting with Robin in July when we were docked next to each other in Newport, and he remarked “This ship’s already sank under me twice”.  And it had, although in benign conditions.  No one knows the condition of Bounty better than Robin.  In recent years and under new ownership Bounty has undergone a substantial structural refurbishment and is probably nearly as fine a vessel as when she was new.  But that does not make her new.
In a recent post Robin quoted a sailors’ maxim:” A ship is safer at sea than near land”.  With that in mind, I can think of many vessels that could hold their own in a hurricane—Eagle, Westward, Tabor Boy, to name just a few, all vessels that were designed and built for hard offshore service.  But Bounty was built for a movie and is not on my list of vessels that warrant dueling wits with a hurricane.
We are diminished by the loss of the vessel and the crew who perished.  The lessons of Bounty will be instructive to us all.  If only we could stop relearning them.
Well said, Cap!
On Wednesday morning, marina owners Linda and John treated Fred to fresh baked cinnamon rolls  Doesn’t happen often and he really enjoyed it! We’re cruising along in the Tennessee National Wildlife Refuge, and the birds seem to know it.   A huge flock of ducks was at rest along the side of the river, and in a starkly bare tree above them sat 2 --- birds.  Eagles? Vultures? Turkey vultures?  I dunno but they sat long enough for a photo, before joining the pelicans who were skimming the water and heading north.  North?  Who knows what pelicans think?

We were able to run until 5 p.m. with the furnace working in the chilly day---55 degrees was the high for the day! The furnace quit.

Our Thursday objective was Aqua Harbor, but at the Pickwick Lock we got caught in our first lock delay of any consequence.  Not bad since we’ve gone up and down the Ohio, Monongahela, Beaver and Kanawha Rivers and 1-1/4 of the Tenn-Tom.  Had to wait for two tows to lock through, and when we finally rode down it was too dark to do the 10 mile run to Aqua Harbor. So with me as a lookout on the bow and all the spotlight wattage we could muster, we slowly crawled into Pickwick Landing Marina.

Turned out to be a nice spot. Friday morning Fred fought with the shower sump for an hour or so (he won) and it was 11:45 am when we tossed off the lines for the hop to Aqua Harbor.  By 1:15 we were once again docked, and LAZY DOLPHIN is here as well.  It was fun to have dinner aboard YA with Barb and Randy.

Saturday we had a tad of excitement we’d not experienced before.  The river locks all have floating bollards to which we affix a single midship line, and as the water rises, or falls, the bollard takes us up—or now, down.  In Rankin lock, the 3rd of the day, the water began to go down, but the bollard didn’t move.  The line to the boat was stretching up as the water fell!  Fred was starting the engines and I was untying the line when suddenly the bollard came unstuck and dropped 3+ feet with a huge clunk!   Apparently this bollard (closest to the gate) is not used often, as we were so far forward in the lock that we had to loosen the line and fall back about 6 feet or sacrifice Knute to the lock door when it opened and aligned with the wall.   It all worked just fine.  A little adrenaline from time to time is not such a bad thing….

On Sunday we were through the first lock of the day by 8:54 a.m.; out of Wilkins Lock by 10:50, on to Amory lock---out at 11:52, and finally Aberdeen lock-- exited at 2 p.m.  By sunset (5 p.m.) we were tied up at Columbus Marina, where we’d left the boat for the month of June.  A very good, four lock day!  And the best part---Fred’s new computer was waiting for us in the marina office!  Hallelujah!

Spent a week in Columbus doing mostly mundane things.  We did
need a side trip to Memphis to pick up the packages we’d had shipped there.  Found the Mud Island Marina with no trouble, and it was indeed Mud.  Water remains low, and reinforced the validity of our decision to go to Memphis by car, not by boat.  Spent a few hours at Graceland, visiting with Elvis, before returning to Columbus.

Next major stop was Demopolis, AL where once again, we got mail!  Our original navigation computer has been in the hospital for months, and finally returned to us.  Fred went to bed early rather than throw it overboard, as it did NOT want to work.   Did I mention that the furnace kicks out on a regular basis?  Or that the autopilot is doing very strange things like sudden spins to left or right?  Technology frustration week.

Happily Fred was up early in the morning, and while outdoors was cloaked in fog, indoors there was great clarity and Fred won the battle of the computer!  Score!  We’ve been very happy with the backup that Joe Pica provided when we left Morgantown, WVA,  AND we’re even happier to have our very own navigation system back and running.

In 2009 we tied up to the wall at Old Lock #1, and walked between the four boats that we were travelling with.  This year that wall is about 15’ above the water---or, conversely, the water is way, way down.  The anchorage was ours alone, and beautiful.  It was a gorgeous starry night---the kind you read about in ads for boating!

Good thing we had a nice rest as the see-sawing Tombigbee River was filled with towboats.  Twice we simply ‘pulled over’ (stopped on the wrong side of a buoy) to give the barges room to come around the tight curves.   At 3 pm we turned into the Tensas River mouth, and spent about an hour making circles and zig-zags to re-program the autopilot.  Somehow it lost its connection to North, and now will guide us much more effortlessly!  Wish the furnace would be as accommodating.  Mornings are in the 40’s and it is for this weather that the furnace was added.  Brrrr and Grrr.

Sunday was an easy day, with lots of time to sightsee as we motored through Mobile. And here in Mobile we will remain until we return from our holiday trip to New York.

On Wednesday the Turner family hosted their annual Thanksgiving potluck dinner for about 50 folks.  The deep fried turkey was moist and juicy and all the fixin’s provided by the guests were dee-lish.   We rented a car over the weekend (the famous Enterprise $9.95 and 100 miles/day bargain) and did some sightseeing. 

Mobile is somehow sort of a bypassed city.  It has stayed small even though Mobile Bay and the Gulf of Mexico provide great seaports and shipping area.  Come January that may change, as AirBus will begin construction of a facility that plans to turn out four airplanes a month by 2016.  Also under construction is a huge Maritime Museum, and plans are afoot for a causeway to cross Mobile Bay and make traffic safer than the existing tunnel.  Whoosh!  A lot going on here!

The original bottler of Coca Cola has a home and gardens nearby, and on Friday night we went to the opening of the Bellingrath Holiday light display. We, and at least 10,000 others (no exaggeration there) filed along the path for over 2 hours (including a ½ hour house tour).The Bellingrath gardens by day must be spectacular with trailing mums, rose gardens, and mirror lakes.  By night with the lights, it was beautiful.

Tonight we’re packing for a quick trip to Pheonix to attend a memorial service for Fred’s brother in law, Bob Gallo. From there, we’re NY bound, and will have an early family Holiday before returning to YOUNG AMERICA late in December.

‘till then, have a wonderful holiday season, and do remember to breathe!

PS.  Fred’s diagnostics found the problem with the furnace.  The fuel filter was faulty, and the company has replaced it under warranty.  Nice.





Saturday, October 27, 2012

NY, MA, ME, Louisville, KY, NY, Evansville, IN



Hi again,

The Travels of YOUNG AMERICA are looking a lot like the Travels of Linda and Fred.  Lately, YA appears to be doing a fair amount of staying in port.  As we’ve said, we fit cruising into our life, wherever that may take us, and the blog is our journal, as well as a way to keep in touch. 

After arriving in NY, we had a fun evening with Betsy Blair and her husband Mike.  Betsy is currently VP of the Hudson River Maritime Museum (Fred is a former trustee) and gave us a tour of the new pole structure that was miraculously constructed by volunteers at the Museum in one weekend.  CLEARWATER, the Pete Seeger sponsored ‘Clean Up The Hudson’ Sloop, will now winter at this great location on Rondout Creek, Kingston, NY.  That is just down from Certified Marine where YOUNG AMERICA 2, the houseboat, lived for 17 years.  Mike and Betsy cooked a fine meal. A very nice evening.

On Friday we drove to Boston where we attended the inauguration of the new President of MIT, former Provost, L. Rafael Reif.  We had great seats in the Alumni section (Fred earned his MA in Business Administration there in 1960).  Fred was able to congratulate outgoing President, Susan Hochfield on the fabulous job she has done of fostering the MIT Energy Initiative, among many other things.  As she is much less frequently asked to pose for photos these days, she was happy to smile with him for my camera!

From Boston we drove to Portland, Maine. The USS Cutlass Submarine (Fred’s Navy ship) reunion held there was well attended, and highly charged emotionally. Fred discovered through many conversations that he is far from alone in the long delayed dealing with the grief and guilt associated with the death of his friend and shipmate, Lt. William Thompson.  Happily, the organization voted to donate a commemorative bench for the ship at the Charleston Cold War Submarine Memorial, and also to present a memorial bench to the city of Sharon, PA to honor Bill Thompson, who was lost at sea in 1958.  Fred is now creating documents to enlist financial support for these important remembrances from the 300+ men who served on the Cutlass while she was in the service of the US Navy.

We toured Portland with the Cutlass group on a bus ride, and I marveled at the Maine Coast.  It is very Stephen King in some places, and inspiringly peaceful in others!  We found time to visit the Maine Maritime Museum in Bath, ME.  The museum is situated on the property formerly occupied by 3 shipyards, and boasts a steel skeleton of the bow and stern of WYOMING, the largest wood ship ever built by anyone except Noah,  Apparently, 450 feet equals 300 cubits..  

Can’t go to Maine without stopping at LLBean, and we did, and had lunch at Linda L. Bean’s restaurant across the street from the now gargantuan home store.  Also discovered a great UU Congregation in Yarmouth, ME.

We stopped again in Boston on the way home, as Fred had asked for, and received, appointments at MIT with Bob Alexander and Yuriy Roman.
Bob is deeply involved with MITEI, the above-mentioned energy initiative, and it was great for the Texaco oil guy (Fred) to spend an hour finding out what is new and cutting edge on that horizon.  Yuriy is the current holder of the Texaco-Mangelsdorf Career Development Professorship at MIT.  His work is being funded by the endowment created upon the death of Fred’s dad, who, like many Mangelsdorfs, was an MIT grad. The funds are awarded to a new researcher in Chemical Engineering to assist him with, well, career development. Yuriy was delighted to show off his lab and introduce the 3 researchers working there.  Two of these grad students were excited about their work—the third was ecstatic!  He and Yuriy had just returned from Japan where the student presented a paper outlining his accidental discovery—newly patented by MIT---that could hugely impact (downward) the cost of the production of a simple pharmaceutical sugar used in many, many medications.  Who knows what is possible?

Before we left Boston, we rode the DuckBoat around the beautiful old city, whose streets were most definitely laid out by the meandering oxen.  Also (because it is a Duck) we had a ride up the Charles River.  Later, we walked to the home offices of the Unitarian Universalist Association for a visit.

Back in Newburgh, we made the rounds of doctors and dentists, and visited with family.  We caught the dress rehearsal of the Arlington High School Marching Band Invitational where grandson Paul proudly played his Saxophone in an incredibly complicated presentation.  We also found a new tenant for my old condo (daughter Kris) when the current guy unexpectedly moved out. 

On Sunday, Oct. 7 we flew back to Louisville, where YA was patiently awaiting our return.  First thing Monday morning, Clayton, the hvac guy, spent hours making the #&^(@% furnace work.  For a day.  Really. Tuesday the furnace stopped working.  We provisioned and puttered and planned to get underway, and on Wednesday, Clayton returned for yet another rebirth.  It was running when he left.  We left too, and Power Squadron Harbor Host Gary Harrison and his wife Janet gave us a hand with rental car return, and a delicious Havana Rumba lunch, to boot!  Thursday, the 11th, we tossed off the lines and departed Louisville, with the intention of hurrying along to Memphis, TN to catch up with CAROLYN ANN.   It was not to be.   On Monday the 15th, we flew back to Newburgh, this time from Evansville, IN.

On Saturday, we had received notification of the death of good friend, Jim Silver.  For the past several years, Jim has done battle with an extremely rare degenerative brain disease. The Church in Kent, CT that Jim was instrumental in rebuilding was packed with family and friends and the priest beautifully eulogized a life well lived.  We were grateful to attend and to hug our friend, Jan, Jim’s wife of 47 years.

There followed a couple of days in Newburgh, awaiting the best return flight.  One upside of that was time spent with grandchildren, when daughter Jen took Katie Rae, Casey and Rebecca and me to the Museum of the Hudson Highlands.  The critters there (mostly turtles, snakes and birds) are all local. A new crow says “Hello” (but not as vigorously as the original who cawed there when Jen was Casey’s age!  We played Pooh Sticks at the stream and a good, healthy, outdoor time was had by all! 

Another bonus was the opportunity to attend the Mid Hudson Power Squadron meeting and tour DUTCHESS, the 44’ sailboat that John Kwak has been lovingly restoring for the past 6 years. The boat is in the water and will be North Carolina bound very soon!

Turns out that Memphis was not all it had been expected to be for CAROLYN ANN.  We all knew the water of the Mississippi was low, and recognized that several areas have been closed to tow traffic.  Tows need 9-12 feet of water---our GH N-37’s only need 3-1/2 feet.  No problem, right?  Wrong.  Joe and Punk had the choice of moving on from Memphis or facing a solid mud pack for the bottom of the boat for---who knows how long?  Couple that with unexpectedly spotty cell and internet service along the Mississippi, few transient dockages, and add in the undated antibiotic prescriptions Fred and I each received from our dentists ‘just in case that annoying tooth flares up’ (how come we each have one???), and on the return flight to Evansville, IN, we decided to once again alter our course, and take the Tenn-Tom waterway back to Mobile.  We’ll save the Mississippi for another day.  Joe and Punk are already in Nachez, MS, so there is no way we could travel together, regardless of how fast the current pushed us.

Back in Evansville, we loved the Nu Plaza Marina.  Jim, the owner, is laid back and knowledgeable and generously provided us with a courtesy van.  Bruce, the right-hand guy kindly shuttled us to and from the airport, and on Wednesday we hosted a Happy Hour.  What a neat group of people stopped by! 

Again, we hated to leave, but the brightly colored leaves are falling, and this morning the temp was---and stayed--below 50 degrees.  Time to head south!  Haven’t beat the cold weather yet, it is Saturday the 27th and still in the 50’s.  We have, however, completed the Ohio River portion of Fred’s long held wish to go to West Virginia by boat.   As I write this, we are anchored in the Cumberland River.  

The sunset is beautiful, Fred has fixed the furnace,  and tomorrow is another day.

Be well, and remember to breathe!


Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Wheeling, WVA to Louisville, KY


Monday message, huh?  Looks as if a few Mondays have slipped by, but here we are!  Onward and upward…..

Wow, we last met in Wheeling, WVA, where we ate dinner in a little pub—the only waterfront eatery we could find.  We’d seen a sign from the river advertising a Hotel Restaurant, so headed there.  Turns out the Hotel owners closed their restaurant years ago, and today the hotel staff person said the hotel itself is only hanging on because of the Marcellus Shale workers who rent by the week.  In the time it took us to eat a hamburger at the pub no less than a dozen trucks rounded the corner carrying ‘fresh water’ to the mining fields. Quote from a local: “the mining isn’t a problem, it is the chemicals that are put into the earth”….Needed: a safe way to extract the natural gas…

We had a new experience at the Hannibal Lock when a towboat in the large chamber, the BILL STILES, changed its crew. We sat inside the small lock chamber while half an hour’s worth of people, provisions and suitcases moved back and forth across the lock gates.  When all was transferred, we all rode down.  Wouldn’t want to drive a tow, but it does have a certain fascination!

About locking down.  At Morgantown, WVA, we were 814 ft. above sea level.  (CAROLYNN ANN and LAZY DOLPHIN continued on to an 857foot elevation---the highest point reachable by boat in North America).  When the Ohio enters the Mississippi, just under 1000 miles downstream from Pittsburgh, the riverbed will be only 275 feet above sea level.  So as we head south, we now go down 10-30 feet each time we enter a lock. Locks are frequent in the upper Ohio. Further along, the distance between locks, the ‘pool’, will lengthen.  For now, the nation’s drought has brought restrictions to locking for recreational vessels---only the even hours of the day. Low water levels have actually closed parts of the Mississippi River to commercial traffic as barges need 10-12 feet of water under them.  We need only 3 feet. We’re told that the Army Corps of Engineers, who manage the lock and dam systems, are pouring water out of the Ohio, as well as doing a lot of dredging, in an effort to deepen the Mississippi. It is fascinating, and complicated.

After Hannibal Lock, Fred spotted an ice cream stand, the Jug, with a dock, so in we went.   The ice cream was great, the dock, not so much.  Decided it wasn’t sturdy enough to hold us for the night so we anchored behind an island a bit further down the river.  As the picture of our chart plotter shows, two tows passed us by in the dark of night. I stayed up to watch just in case one decided to come on our side of the island. (What, pray tell, would I have done had that happened???) As it was, MARY HARTER passed only about 75 yd. away from us--her lights looked really close in the dark!  The spooky part is that all that can really be seen is the tug.  The barges have one blue light on the very front and then about 3 football fields of black sliding silently through the water.  Uffda.

When the fog burned off in the a.m. we slid thru Willow Island lock and made a short run to the Muskagee River and tied up at Marietta, OH. Arrived early enough in the day to walk the River Walk/Bike Path and visit the Charles P Snyder, the last coal fired steam engine stern wheeled tug.  The model of the boat in the museum was as interesting as the boat itself.  The model was large enough that the builder actually put it in the water and drove it down the river a ways.  How fun is that?

That evening, on the trolley tour we learned that Revolutionary War Officers were given land grants in Marietta in lieu of pay for services. Wealth came to many in Marietta, primarily through the discovery of oil and the making and selling of bricks. The city has a delicious collection of old and older homes, each more ornate than the last.   Today Marietta leads the nation in the production of Refrigerator Magnets.  Go figure.

Next stop (after an overnight on the restaurant dock at the Wild Horse Café) was Charleston, WVA.  We’d hung a left at Point Pleasant and headed up the Kanawha River.  The first half of this Ohio tributary was pristine and beautiful.  I felt as if we should be paddling a canoe, rather than rumbling along with engines.  Nearer Charleston, the coal barges re-appeared and the busy-ness of the area became apparent.

Charleston offered a free dock with electrical connections, only the dock was filled because there was a ‘Live at the Levee’ Concert going on when we arrived, so we rafted to CAROLYN ANN.  LAZY DOLPHIN was there also, and we all had dinner together at Pies ‘n’ Pints.  Did some sightseeing at the Capitol, (most notable: beautiful crystal chandelier and a statue of Abe Lincoln suffering under the weight of the Civil War), rode the trolley to a wonderful market, and walked to a baseball game with Barb and Randy.  The Power (Pittsburgh farm club) defeated the Texas Rangers Farm club 4-3.

Next day we had fun with some of the many, many sternwheelers on the Kanawha.  Maureen and Frank Burdette (introduced to us by the Brandensteins of Pittsburgh) turned out to be the former owners of the SPIRIT OF WEST VIRGINIA, a beautiful sternwheeler whose crew visited us before they took a party of 25 out on the River.

On Monday, we headed a bit further up the Kanahwa for a photo op with CAROLN ANN at the W VA Capitol.  Joe and Punk continued on to the headwaters of the Kanawha; we did a 180 and returned to Point Pleasant. On this visit I stopped in the very old, very beautiful Lowe Hotel for morning coffee, and chatted again with Charles Humphries, who once again put s music on the 8 track flood wall sound system so I could enjoy a delicious break.

Tuesday night we were tied up in Huntington, (W VA) at the Riverfront dock with LAZY DOLPHIN, and enjoyed a (gluten free) dinner at Uno’s.  Next morning we marveled at the maze of tows and barges at the W VA-KY border---coal, coal everywhere.  At the Greenup Lock, the large chamber was closed, so it was necessary for large tows to send the barges through, and have the tugboat come along separately.  A second towboat organizes the barges at the exit of the lock, and we rode down with the tug, who then gathered up her load and continued on.
I’ve read that recreational craft like us can be tossed about in the lock by tug boats that keep their engines running in the lock, creating a wake that adds to the normal turbulence caused by the water exchange in the lock chamber.  We were fine---no problem whatsoever.

After an overnite at Maysville, we stopped at the Four Seasons Marina in Cincinnati.  We asked for a slip that would accommodate a 16foot width, and got a slip that was 16’2”.  Fred was able to shoe horn us in without damage, and we spent an uneventful evening.  Had planned to spend some time in Cincinnati, but as we are fitting cruising into our regular life, we have plans, and miles to go…

Saturday we stopped in Rising Sun to pick up Fred’s harp, only to discover that it’s Labor Day Weekend, and no-one is working.  We did have a fun talk with 2 gentlemen on a tiny steam lorry, who offered us a ride, and when we declined, blew the steam whistle for a photo and scurried away.  We scurried off, as well, and went on to Turtle Creek Harboor in Florence, IN.  Paul and Marty (of the anchorages on the Ohio book) were awaiting our arrival and we had a great evening visit.

Car rental was not available in Florence, so we went on to Madison, IN, where on Tuesday morning we drove to Detroit for a 4 day USPS Governing Board meeting. Stopped again at the harp store, and Fred’s bright red flatsicle  (a mini-harp with tuning levers to add sharps and flats to11 of its 25—3-1/2 octaves---strings) is now being tuned and practiced daily!  Happy Birthday to him!  On the return trip we stopped at the Neal Armstrong Air and Space Museum just off I-75.  

We left Madison around 11 a.m., and found that the River was closed to barge traffic as a section of the new second span of a bridge between Indiana and Kentucky was being hoisted into place.  We anchored in the middle of the river for a few hours to watch, and when the section was about ½ way up, decided to move on. 

We’re going to our vacation condo in NY next week, and so needed to arrange transportation and find a place to leave the boat.  Nowhere in the area seemed to have both.  Plan A was to head for Green Turtle Bay near Paducah, KY, a great, safe marina where we’ve left YA before.  No flights.  So Louisville seemed the next best choice.  No marinas.  As luck would have it, we stopped to top off the fuel tanks at the RiversEdge Marina where we’d bought fuel---and pizza---on the way north.  Bob, the marina owner, was out of diesel fuel until morning.  He agreed to let us stay on his dock and wait for the delivery, and in the course of conversation, offered to rent us a slip he owns at Captain’s Quarters Marina in Louisville.  Did we say yes??? YOU BET!  So here we have been since Wednesday, and here YA will wait while we fly home.

Louisville Slugger Bats are manufactured here, and we toured the downtown factory. From there we had a very informative time at the Mohammed Ali Center.  A brave and interesting man, he is.  On Saturday, a Jug Band Festival was held at the waterfront, celebrating the KY origins of the genre.  LAZY DOLPHIN arrived on Sunday, and after church at the Thomas Jefferson UU, we joined Barb and Randy for dinner.  

Through Doug, Louisville Port Captain for the Power Squadron, we met Bob, Margy, Steph and Tony---a foursome who leave Oct. 1 to do the Great Loop together on a 42’ Mainship.  We know they will have a blast!

By Tuesday, CAROLYNN ANN had also arrived in Louisville, so once again the six of us gathered for dinner.

Wednesday morning we flew away to NY.  We’ll be off the boat until Oct. 9.  Trips to Boston for an event at MIT, and a few days in Portland, ME for the reunion of the Cutlass Submarine crew, plus the necessary visits to doctors and dentists.

I guess I should change the name of this little epistle from the Monday Message, to the Monthly Message.   Seems to be more reflective of the reality.  In any case, we look forward to meeting up with you again in October, when the leaves are falling and it is time to head south!

Be well, and remember to breathe!