A Month Away From the Boat

It has been over a month since I have written in this blog. I am writing this entry from our boat in Florida. We are about to start our time cruising on our boat. It all became very real yesterday when we turned in our rent car. We now have no transportation other than our boat and our dingy. Before I write more about that, this entry is about how we spent our last month.

 We left Palmetto, Florida on September 13 and made the 16 hour drive back to Missouri over two days. We had a very busy month. We decided to not move our trailer from the storage location by the shop. It worked out ok, but we probably won't do that again.

Our campsite by the shop.

This site does have the advantage of a nice view of sunsets.

We spent some quality time with the grandkids, but in the end it did not feel like enough. It never does. We went to soccer games and tried to make it to as many activities as we could. We also enjoyed having Will and Amelia out at the ranch for a couple of nights. 

Amelia is just so cute!

One of the main reasons we went to the ranch was to help out with two motorcycle events that are held each fall. As is turned out, I did not do much on the first event until the day of the race. My son Scott and I, worked a checkpoint. We had an enjoyable day together. 

One big piece of news is that our youngest son, Mark moved back to Ozark, Missouri. That is the town that our daughter, Shannon lives in and the town that all of our kids went to most of their years of school. That is why we have Ozark as our hailing port on the back of the boat. It is about as close to a home town as we have. 

Mark accepted a job at O'Reilly's Auto Parts home office in the IT department. It was great to spend some time with him while he got situated in Missouri. He had to buy a car because he did not need a car in Boston. He decided to buy a very nice Mazda S3. 

Scott also was getting a new car that was a gift from Kim's Mom and Dad. We had to make a trip to Oklahoma to pick it up. That trip turned into an awesome road trip. Mark was available to go with us because he had not started his job and when we talked to our son Michael to ask if we could stop by his place in Arkansas on the way south, he decided to also go to see his grandparents. 

Our three sons, Mark on the left, Michael in the middle and Scott on the right.

From the left, Mark, Kim's Dad Richie, Kim, Scott, Michael, and me.

I have to include one picture that includes Kim's mom Phyllis. Maw Maw is awesome!

We got some bad news while we were in Missouri. My mother was in the hospital in Denver and not doing well. Kim and I decided that we would let Scott drive the three boys home and we would make the trip to Colorado to see Mom and Dad. Mom is doing a bit better, but as I write this she still has a way to go to get her health back. 

I sadly did not take any pictures with family in Denver. We had a great time staying with my brother Bob, and his awesome family. We spent some quality time with Mom and Dad. We love the mountains and just had to take a quick trip up to Echo lake. The Aspens were at peak and it was beautiful. 

The high range in the distance. I love the contrast of the green pines and the golden aspen.

We ended up driving 2400 miles on our big loop. It was certainly worth it. 

We made it back in time to help out with the second event. I spent a few days in the woods, stapling arrows to trees. It is exhausting work, but I really do enjoy it. The day before the event, I had a strange problem with my shoulder. I think it was a pinched nerve. I ended up running the event from the pavilion rather than my normal job of riding my motorcycle marshaling the course. I think it all worked out well. My shoulder is fine now.

After the event, we had 4 days to be ready to return to Florida. This time we flew and rented a car. We have spent he last three days spending over $700 on groceries, picking up our sails and getting ready to go. We had dinner last night with the former owners of our boat, Don and Kim. What an awesome couple. We really hope to spend more time with them when our paths cross in the future. Tonight, we enjoyed having our former slip neighbor, Janice over for dinner. 

So that brings us to the start of our great adventure. In my next entry, I will begin to tell the story of living on a boat, (not in a marina) and traveling down the west coast of Florida to the Keys. If we make it that far. Come back to see how we do.