July 26th... Deltaville,VA

Kathy spent most of the day cleaning inside while I cleaned the hull top side of the hull with toilet bowl cleaner to take off all wax and the brown stain along the water line. Then I scraped junk off the bottom of the keel that had built up with barnacles since we failed to do a very good job of painting down there before we left. I also inspected and cleaned the gouge that was caused by running into a rock last summer.

Before noon we borrowed Bill and Val's car for a quick trip to West Marine and the grocery.

It is very nice to be able to work in shade. The vast majority of the people here are not so lucky.

The "Fawkes" folks were going to attend a concert this evening so we put off our dinner date until Monday.

July 27th... Deltaville, VA

I was up early as usual and for some reason decided to go for a run. I walked through a gap in the woods and found a driveway that led out to a paved road. I ran about a half mile at a good clip before running our out of wind. I walked about 100 yards and then did the same thing again. After four of these rotations and at least a couple miles, I called it quits.

I got busy right away washing the boat again to remove any left over wax. After noon I began the process of putting a finish back on...by late afternoon I was done with the starboard side and quit for a shower. Bill and Val drove us to a restaurant that they liked for shrimp and crab/lobster bisque.

July 28th... Deltaville, VA

I went for another run this morning but the ladder work, on top of yesterday's run, had made my legs feel like lead weights. I only got about a mile and a half before walking back to the boat. I finished the port side and then sanded the bottom of the keel before quitting.

We walked over to the "Fawkes" to make dinner arrangements to find that Angel, (the daughter) had scheduled a concert for 5pm. We packed up our dinner and headed over to the main office before five and got front row seats for the concert. It was very nice. She has a portable piano on board and played one jazz tune, 4 classical pieces and a one of her own creation.

The boy scouts invaded the grilling area so we adjourned to "Fawkes" for dinner. Although we met Dave, Nancy and Kids in Georgetown, Bahamas and traveled north with them from time to time, we never really got to know them very well. Our meal was very good and we talked for a while before heading back to pack.

July 29th... Deltaville, VA to Crystal, MI

I went for a walk before coffee. (there was no way my legs were going to run) and began to close the boat) Tony, our driver, arrived about 30 minutes early and we scrambled with last minute jobs while he waited. The trip to Richmond was uneventful and we arrived at the airport with plenty of time for our flight.

Since the main purpose of this blog is to keep our family informed of our day to day activities...and we'll be spending the next month with them... we're taking a break from our daily journal until our return to the boat.