We arrived back at the boat in Bradenton, Florida after being home for about 2 months. It truly is a coincidence that we left on September 11th 2019 and our 1st full day back on the boat was September 11th 2020. Covid has definitely dealt us a blow on this trip as we are sure it has affected everyone. We are planning to stay on the boat here in Bradenton for the next 2 months, planning to go home in November for the holidays.
Leaving on 9/11/19
We think of our loop trip in 3 segments so far.
- River systems to Chattanooga, Looper Rendezvous, Tom Bigbee to Mobile, Gulf crossing to Punta Gorda. (Sept.-Nov. 2019)
- Punta Gorda to Key West, The Keys, The Bahamas, Bahamas back to North Palm Beach. (Feb-March 2020)
- North Palm through Lake Okeechobee, Ft. Myers up to Bradenton. (June-July 2020)
We are still planning to continue our trip up the East Coast and Great Lakes beginning in April 2021. We have missed our weather window until next year due to Covid. Hoping things get back to normal soon so we can continue. Oh, not the "new" normal.
So we drove back down to the boat on Wednesday and Thursday, the 9th and 10th, stopping in Valdosta for the night. We got to the boat around lunch time and unloaded the car. Amazing how much stuff we cart back and forth. After unloading, we decided to do a Walmart grocery run. Timed it perfectly so that we got to the store in the height of the massive thunderstorm. Walmart is actually cold when you are soaking wet. Back at the boat we spent the rest of the day putting things away. Friday was spent cleaning and continuing to put everything away. Nothing too exciting, but we were happy that everything on the boat seemed to be OK.
On Saturday we went to an open house to look at an area that we were interested in. Short story is we both like the house but the water access would not work due to an 8 foot bridge. We were bummed. Lisa and Steve Bell came over for happy hour on the boat and we went to dinner at Pier 22, here at the Marina. After dinner and back on the boat Steve and I had a bourbon and Marcia made Moscow Mules for her and Lisa. Oh yeah, I might of had my 1st cigar since being back down. I know, I am amazed at my self control as well.
It has been raining here all day (Sunday). Mark and Debbie are driving up from Punta Gorda and we are going to go to dinner, most likely at Oak and Stone. Not much happening yet but will try to post about once a week to keep everyone up to date.
On a sad note, just before we came back down, our dog Port crossed the rainbow bridge. He was 14 1/2, had a great life and will be missed.
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