Monthly Archives: October 2012

Indian summer days

I got the beautiful Indian summer I was hoping for. What we didn’t quite factor in are the cold nights. But the days are glorious and we only wish we were underway instead of waiting for the mail.

Now that the sun is out we’ve been able to spend the days doing errands to the laundromat, chandleries and grocery store.

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On days at home I’ve caught up on some boat record-keeping, parts ordering, general accounting and such. In between we meet Alan for coffee or happy hour.

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This morning I was up early and as soon as we finished breakfast we defrosted the freezer and had it done by 10 o’clock.

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Ever since we redesigned the interior with bins from the container store and reorganized the contents it doesn’t seem to frost up quite so fast and is easier to defrost when it does.

Now I’m staying out of the way while Jack and Alan troubleshoot the battery charger. We are fine for power when the sun is shining but when we have rainy days we sometimes need to use the generator but the charger doesn’t seem to be working. We hope we won’t have to replace it.

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Feedback

Our post yesterday uncovered a previously unknown issue. If you are “subscribed” to the blog, that is you get an email whenever there’s a new blog post, that email is sent out automatically by WordPress from a “no-reply” address so if you reply to that email it disappears into the ether and doesn’t come to us. I don’t know how many people that has affected but we apologize if you’ve been responding to blog posts through the auto-emails and wondering why we haven’t written back.

There are two ways to respond to the blog. You can post a comment, and that’s public. The advantage to that is you might spark a discussion among other readers and us but you have to remember to check back for responses. Or you can email us privately either through the blog link or whatever email address you have. We try to answer every email we get.

Sorry for the confusion. We love hearing from you!

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There’s just one thing…

After nearly six months aboard Escape Velocity we can say without hesitation that we love our new life. EV is plenty big enough; we’re gradually figuring out what we need on board and where to keep it; we’re happy we can have our bikes with us and so far they’ve weathered the elements; we enjoy exploring new places, both long and short term. Sometimes I stand on the bow and look at the houses ashore and the busy life of the waterway and I feel so lucky to be on my own front porch with an ever-changing view.

There’s just one thing we both agree is not what we expected. It feels like to many of our friends and family we have ceased to exist. We don’t think it’s intentional, but people we were in frequent social contact with no longer email or call just to chat. When we reach out they tell us they’re avidly following the blog — and we appreciate that — but it’s a one-way street. We miss hearing the day-to-day details of their lives, how the kids and grand kids are, the health concerns, the ups and downs of work, plans for the future. We miss the lively political discussions.

We love getting feedback on the blog, but what we really miss is the conversational back-and-forth that keeps relationships fresh and changing.

Most of our peeps are on Facebook, and thank goodness for that! Facebook is the asynchronous equivalent of a casual dinner party and we can say we know pretty much what’s going on in the lives of those friends and family. We get to see photos of them, the places they go and the things they do, the issues they care about. We interact, even if it’s a quick “like” on something they post or we post, meaning “I see you. I’m thinking about you.” We feel connected. But many of our family and friends choose not to participate in the social network, and we miss them.

The funny thing is, we have more communication with some blog readers we’ve never even met than with some of our old friends and family members. We think back to before we transitioned to this life. We were avid readers of several blogs and email lists. At first we only lurked, but as time went on I wrote to various people expressing our appreciation or asking for opinions or advice. We were always surprised to hear back — and we almost always did — and many of those early interactions have developed into long-distance friendships. We can’t wait to someday find ourselves in the same place so we can finally hug it out.

One of the joys of this life is meeting new people. We have an instant connection with others who are living aboard and cruising, and while they vary in background and socio-economic status, they are all motivated by a similar desire to leave the beaten path and explore the world from the deck of their own boat. Sometimes I have to pinch myself that we’re part of that community now. But as fulfilling as these new friendships are we’re so sad to see some treasured relationships drift away over the horizon.

We’re grappling with this phenomenon and wonder if other cruisers have the same experience. It’s a pretty big downside to what is otherwise a wonderful life.

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Izzy’s big adventure

We got a postcard awhile back from Izzy’s vet in Pittsburgh reminding us that she is due for a couple of booster shots. As you can imagine, it’s tough to find a vet and make an appointment when you’re on the move all the time. Our extended stay in Annapolis gave us the opportunity to get it done. Turns out there’s a cat hospital not far from West Marine at a bikable distance from the park where we have our bikes locked up. Jack called and they said they could fit us in after lunch.

Izzy was fine in the carrier in the dinghy but a ride bungied to the back of a bike was a new thing for her.

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After some initial howling she settled down for the mile and a half ride to the office, where she cautiously checked out the new surroundings.

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Izzy was weighed, checked for pests and got her boosters, and we got a long talk with a wonderful vet who gave us some advice on what to watch for as we travel, as well as some depressing news about the difficulty of taking a pet to certain countries.

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We knew all this but we’ve been living in denial because we love having Izzy aboard so much. We really need to come to grips and make some decisions to explore her foster options.

Izzy was so well-behaved with the tech and the vet that we rewarded her with a walk in the park when we got back to the dinghy dock. We hadn’t realized the extent of the park but Izzy was keen to explore and walked on the leash like a normal pet, not in the drama queen this-leash-is-too-heavy-and-I’m-choking-to-death crouch she used to do. I think her experience with the patient Boyer kids from Anything Goes got her used to the leash.

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She walked and walked, staying on the path and choosing this way or that whenever there was a fork in the road. After one such turn a young couple rounded the bend up ahead walking toward us. Izzy froze for a moment, then turned tail and ran back down the path, dragging me behind her. That cat can run and I didn’t want to let go of the leash for fear she’d leave the path and run into the woods or up a tree, something she used to do as a kitten. Eventually I caught up to her and scooped her up and walked back to the dinghy where Jack was waiting with all our stuff.

We decided to let Izzy sit on my lap in the dinghy rather than put her back in the carrier. That was a huge breakthrough because she didn’t bury her head in my arm but rather looked around as we putted back to the boat. We think Adventure Kitty is starting to live up to her nickname.

We ended the day with Alan for dinner and movie night, watching a BBC production about WWII’s Operation Mincemeat.

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Why are we still here?

Most cruising boats have sailed for warmer waters and here we sit, still in Back Creek sleeping under a pile of blankets. What’s up with that, you ask? Well, it’s another challenge of our stateless roving existence. Jack’s driver’s license expires next month. We plan to change our official residence to Florida once we get there, but Jack will need a valid license in order to get a Florida license. Pennsylvania’s renewal process is three steps. First you pay the money; then you wait for the department of transportation to process the renewal and snail-mail a “camera card” which you then take to a PennDoT photo center to get your picture taken and receive the new license. As always, it’s the processing and waiting for the snail-mail that’s holding us up because the mail will go to our temporary Pennsylvania address then be forwarded either to where we are — if we can find an address to use — or to my sister. We have no idea how long this will take.

Once we have the camera card we’ll rent a car and drive to the nearest photo center which is only an hour and a half from Annapolis. If we move south the drive gets longer and towns large enough to have rental cars are less frequent. If the camera card is forwarded to my sister she and Dave offered to meet us in Pennsylvania and we’ll get to spend the day together.

As always, whenever we’re stuck somewhere I get antsy and anxious to move on so the challenge for me is to enjoy the time we have here despite the chill. We’re also tryng to motivate ourselves to do some boat work. One of the things we started on is refinishing the teak trim which is in various stages of wear throughout the boat. The worst is in our bathroom so that’s where we started. It’s a messy job involving scraping and sanding, and since we’re at anchor, not at a dock, we don’t have unlimited water and power so cleanup is a little more difficult. This project will be ongoing and will probably take years, but it’s nice to at least make a dent.

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The autumn weather awakened the soup making gene and we’ve had some warming meals aboard Escape Velocity. Yesterday we picked up some kale at the grocery store and I made Portuguese Potato Kale Soup with (soy) chorizo, accompanied by homemade bread. Baking warms up the cabin nicely!

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I think even Izzy is longing for warmer weather.

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View from the back porch

We had a cold night here in back creek but the day turned sunny so we showed our friend Alan the transportation ropes in Annapolis. You can see his boat “Snow White” (dark blue with a white stripe) peeking out from behind a new French boat.

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The oblique angle of the sun is undeniable and is a constant reminder for us to be on the move.
Alan’s windlass relay stuck on and melted down into a puddle, not good for a singlehander.
I talked to the guy who bought the “Green Monster” and gave him a few left over Honda parts that we had.

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It looks a little lonesome in the retired corral, don’t you think?
Tomorrow we show Izzy adventure kitty Katzenbaum the joys of bicycle transportation. The cat needs her shots!
That’s life on the water.

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Around and about

We never tire of walking the historic district of Annapolis. We love that this is a city where people live and work, not a reconstructed open-air museum, although you do see the occasional tour guide dressed in period costume.

We know most of the streets by heart but still, we like to wander up and down between the waterfront and the Capitol building admiring the various architectural periods.

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I briefly lived at 22 Cornhill Street and loved living in the historic district. The house looks like it needs a little love.

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Inbetween our walking tours we’ve been doing errands on the bikes, which we have locked up ashore in a little park nearby.

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Jack did some refining work on the bike rig.

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And there’s been quite a bit of napping onboard.

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Fall on the Chesapeake

It’s the kind of crystalline clear fall day that is such a treasure when you live ashore. After all, how many of these do you get in one lifetime? When you live on a boat, you’re only too aware of what is coming in a few hours. As soon as the sun sets it’s like somebody pulled the plug. Instantly cold and damp, but for now this’ll do.

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Maybe it’s just me but the Power Boat Show seems a bit of a fizzle after the Sail Boat Show. Apparently nobody works on anything until the shows are over so what was so promising earlier has been nothing but unreturned emails and phone calls. Still, we managed to fix the cockpit table, repower the dinghy, rework Escape Velocity’s bicycle restraints, and maybe learned a few things about the chart plotter and autopilot.

The bicycles, as always, are lots of fun and give us great range and carrying capacity for our many trips to chandleries and town. It couldn’t be more convenient. We have the bikes locked up in a beautiful little park with its own dinghy dock and come to think of it, every street in Annapolis that dead ends at a creek or river has a public dinghy dock. This is really a boat friendly town.

Nevertheless all we can think of is heading south. Most of our fellow Mantas are making good headway south and we have that “left behind” feeling again.

So here we wait, still in Back Creek without a cloud in the sky and dreading the unplugging of the sun this evening.

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That’s life on the water.

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Sun changes everything

Today is cold but sunny. We forced ourselves out from under every blanket we have onboard, started the generator and a space heater to take the chill off the morning while I made coffee and eggs in a hole. When we’d warmed up sufficiently we dinghied ashore and biked to the vendor who said he had a replacement GPS antenna to fix our chartplotter. Not home. It’s so frustrating when someone says they can help you then disappears from the face of the earth. Yo! Engineered Marine Systems, answer the phone!

Jack ran up to see another guy about our intermittent battery charger while I stopped in a couple of marine canvas places and tried without success to shake loose a color sample card. We’re still trying to agree on a color scheme that will give Escape Velocity a unique personality. It’s my garish wacky against Jack’s classic conservative taste. In our 22 years together, I think we’ve had more arguments about colors than any other issue.

We rode up to West Marine to pick up the replacement bilge pump and then down the street to the grocery store for a few necessities before heading back home to tackle the chores. By that time the sun was high, the batteries were on full charge from the solar panels and I turned on the water maker while Jack installed the new bilge pump. Which didn’t work. Again. He was about to tear his remaining hair out but called Jim instead. What can you say about a friend who drops everything to come troubleshoot a bilge pump for the second time and gets it working? We say we’re pretty lucky. That darn thing has dogged us for months and now we can leave the boat without fear of it sinking while we’re ashore. Whew!

No sooner did Jim leave but Jack’s sister Deb called and said she was minutes away. Deb used to visit us in Pittsburgh about once a month when she called on a business client. When we sold our house we suddenly realized Deb was going to be an infrequent visitor. As luck would have it, her job changed from just covering the Mid-Atlantic region to covering the whole country which is good for us because we can hope for visits nearly anywhere we go, at least until we leave the country.

While I finished up the watermarking duties, Jack dinghied over to pick her up and we hung out on EV for a while then went to our favorite hangout, the Chart House bar. Then we took the water taxi into town and walked up and down Main Street and finished the early evening with coffee and dessert at the Dock Street cafe. Deb had a long drive back to her hotel in Virginia so we hugged it out at her car and came back home. It’s always a shot in the arm to see friends and family.

The weatherman predicts sunshine for the rest of the week. It’s the main ingredient in a Good Mood Day.

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No rest for the weary

I thought things would wind down once the show was over and we started getting some chores done, but no. It’s been very cold, and that affects our sleep; it’s also been very cloudy and that affects our batteries. Normally we run on solar power but with the weather we’re having there aren’t enough sunny hours to keep our battery bank charged. No worries, we have a generator, right? Wrong. We started noticing a few weeks ago that the AC battery charger that runs off the generator isn’t doing its job. We’re so clueless about electricity that it took us this long and a string of sunless days to realize we have a serious problem. We’ll have to use an engine to charge batteries until we can figure out the AC charger but in the meantime we’re doing a daily sun dance for enough rays to keep the fridge and freezer going. I think this is an omen that it’s time to head south.

Yesterday our friend Jim took us to West Marine for a lock for the new outboard, then to Trader Joe’s for a complete restock. Later Jim came over to troubleshoot our non-working starboard bilge pump float switch, then joined us for the patented EV port dinner of quesadillas, guacamole, homemade salsa, and dark and stormies. It’s been so nice to have Jim as a neighbor for a while. He’s a great friend and good company.

Today, with the rain behind us, we finally took our bikes ashore, then rode to West Marine to return the offending bilge pumps. From there we rode another 4-1/2 miles to Bacon’s, a marine consignment shop, where we dug up some reasonably priced cam-cleats to add to our ever-more-sophisticated bike rig. After that we rode back to downtown Annapolis and had a quick lunch before taking advantage of the $1 hot showers at the harbor master’s office. Ah, hot water and lots of it! Finally, we pedaled our freshly scrubbed selves another couple of miles back home again. By the time we got to the dinghy we were rubber-legged from not riding for so long, and who knew Annapolis was so hilly?

Meanwhile, the guy we talked to at the boat show who said he could fix our chart plotter with a new antenna won’t return my calls; West Marine had to order a replacement bilge pump for the two that won’t work requiring a trip back there again tomorrow; and the customer service person Jack called about the battery charger didn’t seem interested in helping trace the problem.

I spent the last few minutes looking at our friends’ Spot tracks and I’m envious that they’re all on the move and frustrated that we’re not. On the other hand, we have some friends and family coming to visit and that should lift our spirits.

I sure wish some of them were skilled in boat electronics and mechanics. Or that we were.

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