Locking Through Great Bridge

Susan had the opportunity to man the ropes while we went through the first lock on this journey.

You will notice that it's the all girl crew on duty today! Next on the list is a quick stop at Great Bridge for Terry to get off.

Visitors at Breakfast Time

More excitement in Norfolk! Dolphins came to check out the harbor.

Morning in Norfolk

It looks to be another gorgeous day on the water. We're here in Norfolk, but not for long. We'll be on our way south later this morning. In the meantime, Peggy has completed her Tai Chi forms, Susan has tried Yoga on the back deck, and Terry is up on the front deck doing push ups. Hopefully, he'll add finishing the head to that set of exercise before the morning's done.

It's chilly outside, but we're staying comfy cozy in our new enclosure.

For breakfast, the crew must forage on their own today. Terry and Peggy will be having yogurt. The rest of us will be having oatmeal.

One of the most interesting aspects of this anchorage is that you continually hear trains. It's so weird to hear trains while you are on the water. And, it is just plain noisy. Norfolk is one very busy port!

One of the 'shows' yesterday was the tug show. One tug actually went past us flying. Why was that entertaining? Well, the tug was really moving backwards! It's amazing how they can maneuver so powerfully in either direction.

We also had lots of company yesterday. The enclosure keeps us warm, but it does not seem to keep the flies out. So, we had lots of exercise yesterday hunting down and killing all the flies. But, then again, chasing flies beats being way too cold any day!

Good food!

Oops. I forgot to mention that we had Jambalaya for dinner. Our trip to Federalsburg to the Gourmet Pantry really paid off. We purchased bags of Emeril's Jambalaya for only $ .50! Supposedly, each bag was only 2 servings. But it was a lot of food. 

Susan made a lovely spinach salad to accompany it. For dessert, we had ginger snaps and pretzels with Philadelphia's chocolate cream cheese as a dip. Today's drink was hot apple cider with rum. Yummy!

Nighttime in Norfolk

Well, we've been on the water for 12 hours, and we did make it to Norfolk. It was a long day for sure. We are anchored out, and it is beautiful out tonight. The new boat enclosure really increases our living space. So, the boat people are busy planning out the next couple of days. Terry will be leaving us tomorrow for some business. Yes, once again, the sailor will not be on the boat. How does that happen?

Tomorrow, we will start south from Mile Marker 0. Hopefully, the day will not be as long.

Sunday Morning- Up at C O D

Yes, dear reader, we are once again off as dawn begins to lightly tint the sky. We're off to Virginia.

    

Our last day in Solomon's was filled with great friends, delicious food, and good times with USPS District 5. Terry, Carol, Mike, and Susan had a great day on the water racing. The USPS meeting only had three boats entered this year - 2 catamarans and a monohull. Since it was a small group, they all agreed to race each other. As they left the dock, we said, "Win big or go south." We'll be doing both.

Yes, LUX raced past the monohull and the Gemini catamaran to take first place. Not only that, the sailing crew had a fantastic day on the water. It was not too hot. it was not too cold. The sun kept breaking through the clouds. And they mostly had enough wind to play at sailing.

Meanwhile, Peggy and Gee went shopping- courtesy of Gretchen and Denise- the ones with a car. We went off on the search for stove knobs. Yes, dear reader, it appears that the last charterers were really mean to our stove. They broke both knobs for the burners. And we now know that stores no longer sell generic stove knobs. They all tell you to order them. We told each store that it would be a little hard  since we were on a boat headed south. We will probably try to order them- using pliers to turn on the stove does wear thin. Currently, we have redeployed the oven knob, so it's workable. But, we'll need to fix that soon.

Now for the daily head update. We have one head that works like a charm. The other head hopes to capture Terry's attention soon. It already got him to buy lots of jewelry - also known as parts with nice price tags. Hopefully, the offerings of bright, shiny and new parts will entice the head to join the crew. The day's young, and the adventures are just beginning.

It's Fall!

We're here in Solomon's with the Power Squadron enjoying a fantastic breakfast. Patuxent River Power Squadron did an amazing job.

Later this morning, sailboats will race and fisher folk will fish. It's gray and breezy, but no rain. Hopefully, everyone will have fun.

We're Off Again

Today started like any of our adventures- filled with excitement.

As you can see, once again the heads are the focus. Terry is busy trying to install both holding tanks as well as rebuilding the head itself.