Two, Two, Two Days in One!
11 November 2018 | New Smyrna, FL
80, partly sunny, breezy
Saturday, November 10
Bill and Tracy "raced" down the ICW today and made it for the 3:30 opening of the Bridge of Lions in St. Augustine. I guess everything was in their favor, except that it was very windy and cold. The storm enclosure was up and they wore many layers. A hot lunch helped get them through the day. They took a slip in the St. Augustine Marina and Bill checked engine fluids, etc. Oh no! He found water under the motor, which meant that something was leaking. He located it and decided to replace the impeller (again! It is only a month old!) to see if that helps. I guess tomorrow will tell. Usually when the impeller fails the temperature of the engine goes up higher than normal, but that didn't happen, hence the confusion. Hopefully, all is well. After showers they are headed to dinner, and then will call it an early night again. Here in Philadelphia the weather was blustery - cold and windy! Wind chills in the 30s and partly cloudy so it wasn't very tempting to go outside. I sanded, primed, and later painted the exterior door inside the storm door I was working on. It looks good but lets cold air in when it is open which it has to be for awhile to dry. Kim and Darren took a truckful of stuff to the dump while I babysat- turns out that the dump won't accept old fence rails, even though Darren cut them all into smaller pieces! I hope they don't wonder why people dump trash in the city - there is no way to get rid of some of this stuff! Fortunately, on this property there are spots where this can be piled and decompose. I re-covered a foot stool that was looking ragged, Darren kegged the two beers he had made, Kim and I sorted some linens and then cleaned a bit. I watched the baby so they could go to dinner. Mary was very sleepy all day today for some reason - maybe she is growing. Photo shows Captain Tracy on a warmer day...
Sunday, November 11
I got up early and headed for a swim meet in Voorhees, NJ to watch Colby. It was really cold - mittens and winter coat! These meets are two days long, so he swam yesterday too, and John said that he improved his time in every event he swam. Today he swam four events, but he didn't cut his times as much as yesterday. I bet he is tired out! When I got home I did a few things but mostly played with Mary while Kim and Darren worked outside on leaves and sticks. Bill and Tracy got up even earlier than I did and started south. They covered 71 miles today and are anchored in New Smyrna after trying two marinas, a nice anchorage we used before that is now filled with dredging equipment, and one other anchorage before dropping the hook near the bridge. Once set, other boats started arriving and Bill is a little worried about how close they are. Hopefully everyone stays where they belong! The water drip from the engine seems to have stopped, but they will continue to check it every day to be sure.