We did get to Saint Charles Missouri as planned on March 20 after a wonderful visit over the weekend in Gainesville Georgia with Kathy. She always finds some interesting little town or event to explore while we are visiting her; this time it was Gibb’s Gardens for an amazing season of Daffodils in bloom all along the hillside and garden paths. The cherry trees were also starting to blossom as well. We then headed to Big Canoe for a visit with Mary. While in Big Canoe we attended a St. Patrick’s Day neighborhood celebration that reminded me of our A Group gatherings in California. We even met a couple who are in the process of finding a boat and starting on their own Great Loop adventure this year. We hope to keep up with them along the way.
The starboard prop has been re-tuned and re-installed and the boat test drive was a great success. No more shimmy on the starboard side. She is back in the water at her temporary slip and we moved onboard on Friday March 22. The guys at the marina did a spectacular job cleaning up the burst soda mess! and thanks to them for that.
So far we have not found any issues (fingers crossed) on ‘THIS is what’ resulting from being out in the freezing weather this winter; however, Lottie (the dinghy) did have some damage. She lost air over the cold winter which caused her to sag and pull on the tabs and clips that keep her attached to the the swim step resulting in the tabs tearing away from the side of Lottie. Without those tabs on Lottie being able to attached to the clips on the swim step there is no way to keep Lottie attached to ‘THIS is what’. Michael has attempted to reattach the tabs, but it is still pretty cold so whether or not they will adhere is in question. Once again, fingers crossed.
We have updated information on the Demopolis Alabama lock. It seems as though the demo and repairs of the damaged lock are taking longer than planned…oh! like that’s never happened! Their completion is now expected to be maybe June. That is likely not a problem for us as we are not planning on getting to that area before November anyway.
It is still cold, sometimes into the 20’s at night but it looks like it is trending warmer as time goes on. It was in the 50’s last night but expected to drop back to the 20’s and 30’s overnight starting tonight for another week or so. We had planned on leaving Port Charles Harbor on Friday the 29th and moving just a few hours south for a while, but Windy – you may remember her as Michael’s favorite girl – says that may not happen as there looks to be another severe weather front headed our way.
Our main goal right now is to be in Cape Girardeau along the upper portion of the Mississippi, which is on the way to the Ohio River, to watch the eclipse on April 8th. That is only a couple days away from where we are now, so we will be taking it sloooowwww getting there.
That’s about it for now. Check back in a week or so to see where we are and what we are up to. Remember those river destinations and think about joining us somewhere along the way. Love to all, Gina and Mike
