Life in Boatland

Sunset tonight.                                                                       The really big barge clearing the ice.  The ice still has us pinned in here at the boatyard.  There are now 5 boats being held hostage from the Nor'Easter  and we're all waiting for the stars to line up so we can move on downstream.  We had a really big tugboat pushing a really big barge, maybe 30' wide by 150' long.  It was large enough to break up virtually all the sheets of ice on the river.  Unfortunately, the tugboat came by us at 2pm, too late for us to follow his ice free path.  There are no places to anchor out or docks to tie up to between here and our next stop, 4 hours down the way.  The latest we could safely leave and still arrive in the daylig...

 Let me say this in the beginning, we were in no danger. Thank goodness these kinds of days are few and far between! We can now add IceBreaker to our resume. The dock was still frozen with thick ice this morning when we left Norfolk at 7am. The going was slow, we went under 5 bridges before we ever got out of the big harbor.  When we arrived at the I-65 Bridge, we started getting some ice on the water. At first it was a new adventure and then really fast, it became an issue. We called ahead to the lock we needed to get through, to make sure we would make it in time for the 8:30 passage through.  The lock operator informed us that there was some pretty thick ice and did we want to go through anyway?  We didn’t think it would be a problem so we we continued on.  The lock dropped us down about 30”, it was a super easy lock to maneuver.  As we slowly motored out of the lock, the ice became much thicker. David backed the engine speed down to idle.  Our norm...

 The Nor’easter continued to bear down on us today. The wind wasn’t bad…until I took Ellie out for a potty walk. Oh my, it was blowing about 28 knots and the temp was about 26 degrees.  I don’t know what the “feels like” temp that would translate into, I think just plain ol’ freezing ass cold. I felt sorry for the seagulls, they were all huddled together trying not to be blown off the dock and into the water. David spent a few hours chipping the ice off the decks and rails, he had 3 coats on but was working so hard that by the time he finished working, he was pretty sweaty.  I went downstairs for a nap while David fixed chili for dinner.  There were a few more chores David wanted to get done.  One of them was to fix the thruster controls.  The boatyard guys were in the pilot house fixing something while we were in Phoenix  and in the process they had to remove the wires from the thrusters.  When they put it all back together, they wired the thrust...

 What a wonderful day to be out on the water! The skies were gray and beautiful and we were so happy to be going again on the boat.  There was no wind, no waves and no weather.  I took a lot of pictures of the sunrise, it’s been awhile since I’ve seen any so I really enjoyed the scenery.  It was a pretty normal day, right up until our radio went off.  We were being hailed by an ENORMOUS ship that was catching up to us, a US Naval Destroyer! The officer on the bridge was so official and just asking what our intentions were.  David replied we were heading to the marina, we were told to maintain our speed and the Destroyer was going to pass on our starboard side.  David replied that we would maintain our speed and stay out of his way, the Destroyer Captain says “thanks Captain, have a good day”.  It was sooo cool to talk to an official ship of that size, woohoo, another first for us.  And just a quick Nor’easter update, it’s 9:30 pm and the fall...

 Well, it’s 6:15am and we are almost ready to throw the lines off and head south.  This is the calm before the store .  This Nor’easter will be hitting Norfolk shortly after we arrive this afternoon.  We have a 6 hour  run of very calm seas and very little wind.  We plan to lay low in Norfolk till the weather moves past us.  Cross your fingers🤞🤞

 One day left before we leave Deltaville.  We have so much of what we brought from Phoenix put away.  Our favorite Tech Guy, Eric, came down to the boat this morning to check on our freezer that is in the commissary. It was getting down to 32.5 degrees but not any lower.  Eric feels comfortable that the freezer is not working at it’s highest capacity due to the cold, cold water (36 degrees) and cold air (34 degrees). David turned it off and when we get into warmer weather, we’ll try it again.  The great news is both stabilizers are working, the big rumbler sounded strong, the generator ran smoothly.  Food Lion will get one more shopping trip, I’ll make a stop at ABC for some scotch, West Marine to exchange a fender that has gone flat, we’ll fill the water tanks and empty the black water. The good weather window is still holding and we hope to get to Norfolk for dinner Friday night.  In a week or so we should be down to South Carolina where the temps wi...

The roads are totally salted from all the ice. Roll Tide🤪 Cheapest gas in town, at Rudy’s BBQ.  It was $3.27gal.  David had just filled up for $3.99/gal.  😬 Ice on the side decks on the boat. Snow at the hotel in So. Carolina. We made!  5days of driving.  Notice our new font for the Painkiller name. Can’t get enough of these beautiful sunsets. Heavily Salted roads Snow on the bow. More snow.  Our Thanksgiving trip back to Phoenix ended up being a little longer than we anticipated.  It’s January 23rd and we’re finally back on the boat. The drive back to Deltaville was long but, gratefully, uneventful except a few idiot bad drivers here and there.  We went to El Paso TX the first night. We pushed on to Dallas for the second night.  Boy, Texas is a big place! Then next was Tuscaloosa, Alabammy. Our last night was in Florence, SC. We had a short drive to Deltaville VA today.  The sun was out, no wind and most of the ice and snow had m...

 We are in Phoenix for the holidays.  Time to head back to the boat, it’s in Deltaville, Virginia. We’ve had a few more improvements done.  We are leaving Phoenix in 3 days, it should take us 3-4 days to drive across the country, depending on the weather we encounter along the way.  Key West is our next destination, and we are meeting our good friend,  Kirk, aboard “Rodeo”, a Viking 54 and plan to spend the month of March with him messing around the local gunkholes.  The current dilemma is the weather in Virginia.  The weather prediction is not good, high 20’s during the day, down to 13 degrees at night, yikes.   The weather reports will be watched carefully before we start our trek Eastward.