Things are not going quite as planned.

Robert returned home from Chicago and Richmond very late Thursday night.
It seems he picked up some respiratory "bug", so he feels pretty crappy.

At lunchtime on Friday, we did some last minute things to ready SeaQuell for our trip. We filled the water tank, removed our beautiful new hatch covers and stowed them safely, aired the dinghy, and moved our poor old car to the long term parking lot here at the marina.

Friday evening, we started the engines ( always good to do a trial ). Everything seems ready to leave at 5 am on Saturday. 

We went to bed early/alarm clock set for 4 am. After what seemed like just minutes of sleep, we're up and at 'em, ready to head out.  
We donned all our foul weather gear( of course it's chilly and drizzly), and started untying lines, unhooking from shore power, unhooking the water, and the cable. I carried Maggie for one last potty break and left Robert to heat up the engines.

Maggie and I return to SeaQuell, ready to untie those last couple of lines and shove off. However, it seems we have a problem. The port engine will not start.

Robert actually got it to start once, but it promptly quit. Robert worked for over an hour, and found a broken relay switch. Off we go to WalMart. (keep in mind the car is now in long term parking). We're getting our work out early today. 

No relay switch to be found at WalMart, and it's only 6:50 am. The auto parts stores aren't open till 7:30. We pull into the O'Reilly parking lot, recline our seats and take a nap. At 7:10, the store clerk comes to the window and waves us inside. Things are looking promising. We buy the relay switch and a spare one, just for good measure. Rush back to the boat, and get to work.

Robert works for about another hour, finally getting the damned engine to start. Now, however, it won't idle. After troubleshooting for another bit, wedecide to call a repairman.

To make a long story short, the repairman is here for several hours (ouch--$$$$$$$). He removes the fuel injector pump , unsure if it's the problem, but it has to be ruled out. He seems to think it's the governor, but we have to check this pump first.

Of course, the diesel  repair shop in New Bern is not open on Saturday, so here we sit.

Deciding to make the best of this situation, we head down to Beach Bumz for some pizza and beer. After lunch, we take off all our foul weather gear, and settle in to watch a little TV.  Robert is feeling worse. Having chills, and coughing like a madman.  We stay hunkered down inside, trying to avoid the cold winds.

On Monday,  I  drive to New Bern to drop off the pump for evaluation, thinking we'll have an answer in a few hours. I packed my backpack with my kindle, my iPad, and my coffee. I'm prepared to hang out at the repair shop while they check out this pump.   Oh, no, no --- the guy looks at me like I have 2 heads. He says it will be Wednesday before he can look at it!!!!  Somewhat bummed, but resigned once again to make the best of things, I head back to the boat, making a pit stop at CVS  for more cold medicines. It seems Robert shared his germs with me,; now I'm stuffy and have a sore throat.

Upon return to the marina, another technician is at the boat. He is going to check the governor. He finds a broken spring on the governor. He seems to think this is the entire problem, so off he goes to order parts to fix this.

It's Tuesday. We're still unsure what the engine problem is --- waiting for follow up calls. Robert feels better. I feel worse. Maggie could care less about the whole issue. She's just content to eat and sleep.

We are still optimistic-- hoping that all will be repaired by tomorrow afternoon. We hope to spend Thanksgiving day underway , with the turkey in the oven. If that doesn't work out, guess we'll spend another few days at the dock. The weather forecast seems to be improving, so we sure would like to head out, but time will tell. 

We both believe that everything happens for a reason. Therefore, We've learned to just accept things like this, make the best of it, and keep on doing what we do!!!!!