Learning American History
24 October 2018 | Deltaville, VA, USA
Hi Peeps. Sorry for the gap between blogs – we’re still trying to get back in the groove. Life is a little complicated just now as we are living on the boat whilst it is propped up in the boat yard for final preparations before re-launch. We antifouled the boat today and the last of the under-the-hull jobs has been done, so we are hoping we get back in the water tomorrow. When the boat is in the yard we don’t have the normal comforts like running water and water drainage, and of course we’re living at the top of a ladder. Electricity and heating are also a bit limited – slightly complicated by being in a 110v world, so it’s hard to recharge the batteries or run appliances. And it’s really cold here at night – although the days are lovely and sunny. So enough said: we are looking forward to getting back into the water, where life is a lot easier in many ways.
Whilst work has been progressing on the boat we have been taking advantage of the opportunity to get to know the local area a bit better. There’s loads of history here to go and learn. Today we took our hire car down to Yorktown - important for its role in the tail end of the War of Independence. We have also visited Gloucester, a lovely historic town, and gone back to Mathews which we enjoyed so much last time. We’ve now bought a children’s history of the USA to try to help us get all our dates in order, and to not confuse the Civil War with the War of Independence.
Lots of last minute items are arriving at the boatyard via Amazon, in readiness for the off. The yard have decided they should be charging us by the parcel. And what of the water-maker? Well, there is good news there, as the makers have agreed to replace the entire kit and caboodle and that should happen once we get to Florida.
One challenge that we have is refilling our empty (cooking) gas bottles, which are all European fittings: we have not been able to find anyone who can do this for us. The solution is to convert over to US bottles and then where do we store the UK ones for our eventual return… and so it goes on. In the meantime, we’re looking forward to tomorrow’s splash.
Today’s blog photo - Slap Ya Mama hot sauce by Walker & Sons - how could we resist.