It is a rainy, chilly, Sunday afternoon on Nancy Lu in Brunswick, GA. Claire and I are enjoying the warmth of our cozy cabin while Mark is up at the marina lounge watching RGIII. We've settled back into our sailing lifestyle pretty seamlessly. As we were climbing aboard Nancy Lu on New Year's Day, Claire said, "It feels like I never left!" Habits for living aboard that we developed on our first expedition kicked back in, naturally.

For a few days, as I did tasks, I didn't have the mindset of "living" on the boat. I rather had the mindset of "visiting". For example, when I took some clothes out of the dryer up at our marina's lounge and they were a bit damp on the waistline, my initial thought was that I better put them back in so that they would dry fully so as not to mildew on an abandoned boat. Then I remembered we're "living" here now--Nancy Lu will not be abandoned any time soon! I've gotten more of a permanent mind set now.

I think that part of what was keeping me in the "visiting" mode was the knowledge that Claire really is just visiting. She will be going back for her second semester at Baylor University at the end of her Christmas break. Lately, I think I've slipped into denial about that fact. She's such a big part of our "Nancy Lu lifestyle"; it's hard to imagine what it will be like without her here. We'll be forced to find out one aspect of sailing without her sooner than expected. Our plan was to sail down to West Palm Beach, Florida with her help. It's about a 48-hour passage. We had a return flight to Dallas booked for her on the 10th from WPB. The wind and weather is not cooperating with us to leave in time to get down there for her flight, though. So we've changed it to a return flight to Dallas from Jacksonville, Florida, which is only an hour away. We'll put off our sail down to WPB until after she's gone and the weather is favorable for sailing south.

Since the day we arrived here in our trusty Suburban, the Nancy Lu experiences have begun. As we were bringing our belongings onto the boat,
our Scottish boat neighbors, Geoff and Linda, greeted us and called our attention to the 3 dolphins that regularly swim up the river where our marina is located
They seem so big up that close. What a great way to be welcomed back on Nancy Lu and welcome in the new year!

It was sunny and warm on New Year's Day when we arrived, but since then it's been chilly and we've had two rainy days and two not rainy. Rainy is NOT the best condition for living on a boat.

The first rainy day, I mostly worked on menus, a provisioning shopping list, and inventorying for the first leg of our expedition this year (now through May in The Bahamas). My legs were actually creaky when I finely walked off of Nancy Lu that afternoon! I'm hopeful that I planned well, and won't have to do a lot of grocery shopping, and still eat well in The Bahamas.

The next rainy day, was the first of two times (so far) we've eaten at Willie's Wee Nee Wagon where their slogan is "We Relish Your Bun"!

They make a TRULY DELICIOUS pork chop sandwich, and great hot dogs, of course! I bought a t-shirt so that I can get a picture of myself wearing it in The Bahamas, and then I'll give it to Claire so she can take a picture of herself wearing it at Baylor, and then they'll put it up with all the other pictures of people wearing their t-shirts around the world--FUN!


On the first not rainy day, we had the wonderful experience of meeting up with George and Marianne, our Canadian friends that we buddy boated with for a while last year! Mark has kept in touch with them through email. So we knew that they were headed in their car down to their catamaran, Wet Wings, for their winter holiday in The Bahamas. We had pizza and a good long visit with them!! We look forward to buddy boating some more with them in the Abacos before heading down to the Exumas. Before we saw them Claire said, "This will be the first time we've ever seen them in warm clothes!" I said, "Of course, George will probably say, 'You call this cold, aye?' " Claire replied, "Yeah, he'll probably be wearing that same old Hawaiian looking shirt with surf boards all over it!" ☺ After we left them that night, Claire told me that times like that with new friends that seem like old friends is what she loves the most about living aboard Nancy Lu.

On the second not rainy day, I went shopping for all the canned and packaged foods on my provisioning list. I got a lot of it done, but not all. I'm glad we have our suburban here and we have some time to spread this shopping and stowing out!

True to our last cruising expedition, Mark consults with our friend Peter about weather and gets his valuable advice for our sailing plans. Claire met Peter and Beth's friends, John and Missy, who have their boat here in Brunswick in the laundry room the other day. Mark and I had met them the last time we came to check on Nancy Lu. Mark told Peter the news that Claire had met them later that day on the phone, and Peter said that he'd already heard all about it from Beth. Of course, Beth had heard about the meeting just minutes after it took place from Missy's phone call to Beth! We hope to see Peter and Beth and John and Missy in Maine this summer!

Today, we're back to rain! We attended College Place United Methodist Church. It is the church that our Scottish neighbors, Jeff, Linda attend with their 13-year-old daughter, Nellie. It was a good Epiphany Sunday service. We celebrated the Lord's Supper with a congregation of our brothers and sisters in Christ here in Brunswick and were encouraged to seek Christ alone as the Wise Men of the Gospel did long ago. Visiting churches along the way continues to be one of my favorite parts of traveling on Nancy Lu! I always think of my home church fondly and with thanksgiving, but have even greater thanksgiving for our gracious God through whom we all have life!

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