Author: bearcruzer

Oct 15-19th

Hello All,  For the past couple of weeks, Mike and I have been busy handling the details of the Purchase, Documentation, and Insuring of our 35 ft Catamaran, Dancing Dolphin. We had hoped we would be able to close the sale and move her back to Mike’s Folks Dock before we left to see our youngest son Sage Graduate from Military Basic Training for the Air Force this last weekend  but as is so often the case, it was not meant to be.   We closed on the boat on October 14^th, the day before we were to fly out to San Antonio, TX.   Upon arrival in San Antonio and procuring our rental car we made contact with My Parents and Sage’s Dad.   We drove straight from the Airport bypassing checking into the hotel and directly to Lackland Air Force Base to meet up with Sage, his Grandparents Pat & Martin Sperry, and his Dad Don Coughlin.  They had arrived the day before from Prescott, AZ and Pagosa Springs, CO and had been spending the first part of Thursday watching the Airman’s Run and the Airman’s Coin Presentation.   We met up with Sage and the rest of the family at the café in the Bowling Alley on the Base.   Sage looked great in his uniform and was walking tall and proud after the challenges he faced over the past 8 weeks.    The maturity and confidence he has gained is evident in his demeanor and mannerism.   I said goodbye to a boy 8 weeks ago and hello to a man this weekend.    It was a happy tearful (at least on my part) reunion and we enjoyed hearing in greater detail many of the stories of the adventures (funny and not so funny) of the last few weeks.   Sage has kept that great smile and wonderful sense of humor.    Sage only had Base liberty the first day together so after lunch, since it was Payday, Sage stopped at the bank and then we all went over to the BX – base department store – where Sage purchased a Play Station Portable.   It was nice to see that some things still haven’t changed.   Friday morning we were met with cold winds as we were bused out to the Parade grounds surrounded by Military Aircraft and waited to watch Sage and the other 789 young men and women Graduate from Basic Military Training.   The ceremonies were very impressive complete with a Marching Band High Ranking Military Guests.  The individual Flights and entire Squadron were all presenting us with their best efforts.    Sage’s Flight was sporting 2 additional ribbons on their Flag for Top Honors in Academics and Beast Week.   The entire Squadron had won top honors for the Quarter.   We enjoyed the rest of the day together off base.  We took Sage over to the RV Park where his Grandparents and Father were staying along with Sage’s Dog Dusty and Cat Archie.  It was a great reunion and the animals were delighted to see him again.   We all had a great dinner at the Red Lobster and then Sage, Mike, Don & I took in a Spurs vs. Cavaliers basketball game.    Saturday we all spent the day with the pets in the morning and exploring downtown San Antonio and the Alamo where Sage’s ancestor Davey Crockett met his demise.   We took a boat ride around the Riverwalk area and Sage enjoyed the eye candy provided by all the pretty civilian girls.   Mike and I said our goodbyes to Sage Saturday night as we had to fly out Sunday morning.    It was a tearful goodbye for all of us (Sage Included)  but he is excited to begin his training in Air Traffic Control at Keesler AFB outside of Buloxi, Miss.  He ships out at 00:01 on Monday morning,  He has a bright future ahead of him and we are very proud of his accomplishments.   We are now back in Florida. We will be traveling to Ft Lauderdale tomorrow to Pick Up Dancing Dolphin and bring her around to Punta Gorda, FL. where we will spruce her up and provision her for our winter in the Bahamas.   Stay Tuned for more adventures to come.

Oct 1, 2009

A new month and a new chapter has begun.   How’s that go, today is the first day of the rest of your life.   Make it a good one.   Over the last couple of weeks we have bid a fond farewell to our beloved Motor home Creampuff.   Her new owners Bob and Lisa Ahlstrom will take her from Florida on a Trip up to Ohio.   We really enjoyed meeting them and they were very appreciative of all the work we put into her to make her sparkle.    We know they will enjoy her as much as we have and we hope she provides them with as many great memories as she has given us.   We have been very busy over the last couple of weeks shopping for items we know we will need on our extended cruise.   We purchased a used/nearly new 2006 AB Dingy with a 25 HP Tohatsu Motor.    We took her out for a spin on Charlotte Harbor and then over to Vince and Lore’s Dock.  She really gets up and scoots.   She will be great for getting to fishing holes, snorkeling spots, and traveling to and from Shore.   She’s our new car.   Craigslist has not only provided us with many of the items we need to outfit the boat but has allowed us to meet some terrific people who have also spent time on the water in a variety of boats and adventures.    We made a wonderful new friend in Jenny who not only sold us our SSB Radio and Pactor Modem but invited us to see her pictures and shared some of her stories of her trip across the Atlantic to Africa and back in 2001 in a Steel Hulled Boat.   She is quite the adventurer and an inspiration for getting out there and living the dream to the fullest.   We purchase 1950’s Pfaff 130 Sewing machine(these have been highly rated by sailors around the world) from Lynn & Preston who sailed a 52 ft Vagabond all around the Caribbean and a couple of folding bikes from their neighbor Ted who sails a Catalina 40.   Yesterday we met with Noel, the current owner of Dancing Dolphin, along with Bill the Broker, to take her out for our final Sea Trial.   We had her bottom cleaned yesterday and the diver said her bottom was in great condition.   We took her out of the ICW in Ft. Lauderdale to the Atlantic and even though the winds were light she handled well and true to her name she danced across the water at 6.5 kts in only 11 kts of wind.   She moves well through her tacks and we got some great tips from Noel and Bill on how to tweek her sails for optimum performance.    I took notes on some of her systems and the advice given by these knowledgeable individuals as well as notes on how to navigate the canals and bridges to the open ocean.   Noel had fired up all the systems and everything seemed to work great.  Noel has taken wonderful care of her and we feel we are getting a well maintained and reliable not to mention beautiful boat.  Noel is also wonderfully personable and gave us his telephone number to call him with any questions.     We signed the final paperwork for them to proceed with the transfer of ownership and hopefully we will be able to take possession in 5-14 days.  We will then sail her down through the keys and up the gulf coast to Mike’s folks Dock to upgrade her and outfit her for her trip to the Bahamas.    Thing are finally coming together and it is hard to be patient in these final days before she becomes ours.   I have posted more Pictures of Dancing Dolphin to see her in more detail click on MORE PHOTOS  and then go to the Dancing Dolphin Set.

Sept 18^th

Hello from Muggy, Buggy, Florida.  I can understand why the snowbirds fly North in the Summer and come back in the fall.  Where’s the Calomine Lotion?  I haven’t updated for a while because frankly, there was not much happening.  We start our day by getting up early and try to get a walk or bike ride in before it gets too hot.  The middle of the day is spent on-line looking for things we will need to outfit a boat for extended cruising or taking a drive to do the same.   We had a great visit with our friends Don & Julie Nyman at their beautiful home in Cape Coral.  Don is recovering nicely after blowing out his knee at Wolfcreek this winter and after 3 reconstructive surgeries, is working hard with his PT to regain mobility.  His goal is to be back on the slopes by the 2010-2011 ski season.    We have been looking around for a dingy and motor as both of the boats we have been looking at do not come with one, as Mike put it, “It will be our new car”.   Since arriving back in FL, we have been negotiating with brokers on a couple of boats we were interested in but we really weren’t sure if anything would come of it.  We had made an offer a couple of weeks ago on one of the Victory 35 Catamarans that we looked at while we were in St. Augustine, FL but the owners , a nice as they were, came back with such a high counter offer that we didn’t think we could afford what they were hoping to get for their boat and we didn’t want to insult them by trying to get them down to what we could afford.   We backed out of that deal and made an offer on the other Victory 35 Catamaran that we had looked at in Ft. Lauderdale, FL.  It needs a little more updating on the interior but was more in our price range.  The owner of that boat made a more reasonable counter offer.  In the last couple of days, things have really started happening.  We made a counter offer of our own and met the owner in the middle between the two offers.  We got confirmation yesterday morning that our counter-offer had been accepted.  So in essence, barring any unforeseen circumstances, WE OWN A BOAT!  We paid a little more than we were hoping to but the boat is in really good shape on the exterior and well set up for extended sailing.   Mike and I have made a wish list of what needs to be done to the interior to bring her up to our standards.    You know what happens when Mike sets his mind on a project.  She will sparkle when we get done with her. We hope to complete the transaction and transfer of ownership in the next week or so and then drive over to Ft. Lauderdale to pick up the boat and sail her around from the east coast to Punta Gorda on the gulf coast where we will put her at Mike’s folks Dock while we work on getting her ready to go.   It should take us about 3 days to sail her back from Ft. Lauderdale.  The other news that has happened in the last couple of days is I had been looking at RV’s on Craigslist (a free advertising site on-line) to get an idea of how much to sell the Creampuff for.   I put our RV with Pics on the site and we had a response requesting more pics by that same night and then another couple came the very next day and left us a down payment while they get a place set up to keep it.  They will return with the remainder of the purchase price in cash and pick up the Creampuff this weekend.   We were able to sell her for what we were hoping for, and I think she sold so quickly because of how great her interior looked after we remodeled her.  We will do the same to the boat.   Her name is currently Dancing Dolphin……nice but does not easily roll off the tongue when calling on the SSB……so as before we are looking for suggestions for a boat name.   

Sept 8th,

Sage called last night, but we missed his call…..Mom is devastated.     The message he left let us know he was doing well and that boot camp was tough but he was having some fun.     I hope we get to hear from him again soon.   We are currently settled into Mike’s parent’s spare room in Punta Gorda, FL and will be making this our home base while we hopefully finalize a deal on a boat.   It is nice to be in one place again for a while.  We put over 12,000 miles on the Creampuff in the 2 months we were on the road.   To bring everyone up to speed we left Corey in Greenville and traveled up to Raleigh, NC and had a wonderful visit with Mike’s Sister Barb, her husband Michael, and daughter Lauren.  We got to attend a High School Football game.  GO HAWKS!  Lauren is on the Varsity Cheerleading Squad and Our team Won!   It was a great evening even though it rained for much of the game (blessed yet again!).  We spent the next day with Barb, Mike, & Lauren and a couple of their friends waterskiing and Tubing.  Their friends had just gotten a new boat and were kind enough to take us out for a fantastic time on the lake.   We got to see Barb play a wicked game of tennis.  She is amazing!   Thanks to all of the Longabardo’s for a great visit we will not soon forget!  The Granola and Honey is wonderful!   We would have loved to stay longer but again we press onward with our mission to find our boat.  We made arrangements to see another boat in Brunwick, GA.   It was a Seawind 1000 and although it is a faster sailing Cat then some of the others we are looking at…..The livability was not as nice.    Sept 2^nd. My Birthday found us on Jekyll Island GA. , where we had planned to spend a little time riding bicycles and exploring the Island.  Unfortunately, it was pouring rain and so our plans were again altered.  I will forever refer to this year as the wettest on record for all my important days.  We drove back down to St. Augustine, FL to look a 2^nd time at one of the Victory Catamarans we had seen previously.   Around Noon, I finally reminded Mike that it was my birthday.   Oops! He had forgotten.  I think it was a test to see if married life had changed my sense of humor or my level of patience.  He apologized and took me out for a nice dinner.   The next day we traveled to Ft. Lauderdale and looked a 2^nd time at the other Victory Catamaran and then drove to the west Coast of FL to Mike’s Folk’s Home in Punta Gorda.   So here we are.  We have unloaded everything out of the Creampuff and cleaned her up.  She has served us well and we appreciate here bringing us safely to our next adventure.  We will put her on the Market for someone else to enjoy and hopefully have a boat to call our home in the very near future.   Keep your fingers crossed for us

We traveled back up along the FL coast and into GA and SC.   I must say that there is not much to say about GA or the SC countryside.   If you travel the interstate like Mike and I did, you are traveling through a corridor of trees and woods on both sides of the road.   This continues throughout both states until you reach the coast.  No offense intended toward either state, just an observation.  I’m sure there is a lot to see if you have a destination and get off of the interstate.   We took turns driving and arrived at Corey’s place around 10:30pm and spent a couple of hours visiting with him before heading out to the motor home to sleep.   The next morning Corey packed a bag and as he was leaving his elderly neighbor lady came out and said “You’re not leaving us are you?” He assured her he would be back in a couple of days and we headed out through the corridor of trees to the Beach.   We made it to Myrtle Beach and stopped at a couple of the beach shops.  We all needed some new swimsuits.   There were some great deals to be had and so Mike and I stocked up on suits for the boat and Corey got a new suit as well.   We checked into our campground at Huntington Beach and headed down to cool off in the surf.  It was terrific.   The SC coast goes on for miles and has great silky sand that packs hard enough to ride a bike on during low tide.  We spent the next couple of days swimming & walking the beach.  We saw a huge spider with an abdomen the size of my thumb that had caught a cicada.  It made walking through the trees to get to the beach an interesting experience knowing who made the webs you were walking through. Corey spent some time teaching  Mom some  guitar chords.   Corey rented a bike and we took a late afternoon ride down the beach and back.  We rode maybe 10 miles total.  Poor Corey who is not used to riding was a bit sore by the end or should I say, on the end.   In the evenings we all enjoyed the show put on by the lighten bugs.  We ate well too.  Mike used one of the cans of green chili that Corey’s dad Don had sent to him to make a batch of green chili which we all enjoyed and consumed over those 3 days.    Mike and I enjoyed watching the sunrise while walking the beach for the last time before returning Corey home to Greenville.  He took us to downtown Greenville where a river and waterfall run through a park in the middle and a suspension bridge allows you to traverse the falls.   We then headed over to the Blue Ridge Brewing Co. for some local microbrews.   We walked up the street and shared a pizza before heading back to Corey’s place.   We visited for a couple more hours and then said our goodbyes to Corey with a hope that our paths will cross again very soon.  

We really liked the feel of St. Augustine, FL.  It is the oldest permanent European settlement on the North American continent.  We stayed at Anastasia State Park.  The campground was great and we rode our bikes down to the beach and enjoyed watching the Surfers.   Hurricane Bill that traveled north through the Atlantic had kicked up the waves to 6-8ft and everyone was having a great time even though many of them looked a little worse for the wear.   Mike and I walked out onto the pier to watch them closer. As we were admiring their skills we spotted a porpoise surfing the waves along with the surfers.   He was having as much fun as they were and as one wave broke that he was riding he jumped completely out of the water and did a spin in mid air.  What an incredible sight.   We felt really blessed to get to see that.  We traveled south to Ft. Lauderdale and made arrangements to see the Lagoon and the other Victory.   We stayed the weekend at a couple of the Broward County Parks.  They are really well set up and offer lots of different activities for the Public to take advantage of.  Everything from Frisbee Golf , Batting Cages, Driving Range, Water Park, & wakeboarding lessons , just to name a few.    The Lagoon was less than impressive and needed just slightly less work than the Kennex in Mobile AL.  We toured the other Victory and found her to be better equipped as far as rigging, less engine hours, and the outside of the vessel in better condition than the Victory in St. Augustine.   This Victory would need a little TLC on the inside but is also definitely in the running to become our next home.   We will weigh the pros and cons of both boats while we travel up to see our Oldest son Corey in Greenville, SC.  We will pick him up and take him out to the Myrtle Beach Area.   He has lived in SC for 4 years and has yet to see the SC Coast.   We have made reservations at Huntington Beach State Park for our visit. 

Well we have been on the road a bit since I last wrote to you all.  We traveled into LA and stopped at a KOA campground in New Orleans.   We spent the afternoon riding our bikes on the levee and then swimming in the pool there.   We drove through downtown New Orleans but didn’t stop as the streets are very narrow and there really isn’t parking for Motor Homes.    There are still many areas around the city with uninhabitable buildings left by Hurricanes Rita and Katrina.   We will have to come back and enjoy the ambiance of the city when we have more time.   Right now the goal is to find a boat and hopefully be in the Bahamas by November.    We traveled to Mobile AL to see our first Catamaran, a Kennex.   We got the address from the broker and drove to a small Marina.   The poor Kennex had been sorely neglected and needed more work & money than we were willing to commit to.   We continued our journey along the gulf coast.   We traveled through Mississippi and stopped for the evening somewhere in Northern FL, another Wally World Camping endeavor.   (Note to self:  Never park near Loading Docks or Garbage cans of 24hr Walmarts when camping.  They don’t appreciate you being there and let you know by making as much noise as possible, all night long.)  We traveled on to St Augustine where the 2^nd boat on our list was located.  A 35 ft Victory Catamaran.   We arranged a tour of the vessel and were impressed by the amount of living space available.   They current owners are liveaboards and even had a cat that looked like a fat Archie.   They have meticulously kept the boat so she is in good condition.  We would have to add Solar, Dingy, 2^nd Anchor, and a few other etc’s to make her into what we would use her for but that’s all part of what might be negotiated with price.  We will travel south to Ft. Lauderdale to see another Victory 35 and a Lagoon TPI to have something to compare this one to. 

August 18, 2009

We saw our youngest son Sage embark on his own sojourn today, the one that will take him from boy to man in the next few weeks.  He was sworn in today as an Airman in the United States Air Force.  He will be spending the next 8 ½ weeks in boot camp at Lackland AFB in San Antonio TX.    He will then transfer to Keesler AFB in Mississippi to begin his instruction as an Air Traffic Controller, his first choice of Jobs.  He was initially told that this job was difficult to get into as there are not many openings.  However, an opening presented itself when another recruit who had requested that same job and had priority had gotten into some trouble in the last few days and was dropped from recruiters list.   Needless to say poor Sage got an earful of lectures the night before he was to leave when he went out with his friends for the last time in a long while.   Sage had chosen the quick ship option, which meant he could be called up in the event an opening presented itself…..which it did.  There have been many tears, hugs and words of encouragement and advice given to him in the last couple of days.  Mike and I went to the MEPS  (Military Enlistment Processing Service to watch him be sworn In)  Security was tight and we had to present ID to get in.  The Officer who was behind the desk offered me the box of Kleenex….I think he has seen this before.   We were able to visit with Sage for a little while and watch as he took his oath of service to our country.   We hugged him goodbye and left him to pursue his dreams while we pursue our own.   We will return to San Antonio in October to watch him graduate from Boot Camp and to see him off to Tech School.  Needless to say we are extremely proud albeit tearful upon seeing him go.   I tried to remain strong but spent most of that day with tears quietly running down my face and Michael giving me hugs telling me he will do just fine.   I know, I know….. but that doesn’t make it any easier.  Here it is day two and I am still crying as share this with you all.   We have decided to look for boats along the Gulf Coast and southern states and so we traveled from Alb. NM and made it to somewhere in the middle of TX before stopping around 11:00pm in a Walmart parking lot to crash for the night.  We will try to get to Mobile AL by Friday to see a Kennex Catamaran for sale there.   

We returned home to big Sage hugs.  It is wonderful to see so many familiar faces.  It is a strange but terrific feeling to have an open schedule that allows us to visit with so many of our friends.  Thanks to Karen and Laura for taking me hiking up to Alberta Peak where I left a smooth stone  that I picked up along my travels to the coast of Oregon, on the cairn at the summit.   Thanks to Laurie for allowing us to use her home as a central base of operations while we are here.   Thanks to Laurie, Stan, Don, Jim & Jackie who have been feeding us and wishing us well.       There have been big changes in the few days we have been back.  Sage was contacted by his recruiter and has been called up on the quick ship option.  He leaves for Air Force Boot Camp at Lackland AFB in San Antonio, TX this Tuesday.    He had just gotten hired by Eddie’s Uptown Grill and was supposed to start work Thursday Night.  He got the call from his recruiter Thursday morning and so had to call Ed back to let him know he would not be able to take the job after all.  We had planned on leaving Pagosa by Saturday but will stay through the weekend and deliver him to the Hyatt near the airport on Monday where he will become Air Force Property and will complete his processing as an Airman.    Mike, Don, & I put together a last minute farewell party for Sage on Sunday night and were extremely pleased and grateful to all those who turned out.   Many of Sage’s friends old and new as well as many of our friends who have watched him grow up were there to see him off.   You are all exceptional and will be missed greatly.  We enjoyed a last soak at the Overlook Spa with Sage after the party.   It will be some time before we can share time with each other as a family.  Mike and I will drive Sage to Abq. NM and stay to watch him sworn in as an Airman in the U.S. Air Force on Tuesday and then we will continue on our journey east to find our sailboat. 

John joined us for Breakfast and we spent a last morning together.  We have enjoyed so many adventures with our wonderful new friend over the last couple of days but we need to get back to Pagosa to wrap up those last minute details before we head out to find OUR boat.   Michael and I feel blessed to have met John and look forward to keeping in touch with him as we continue our travels.  As we were driving away I realized I had left my wallet sitting on the sink in the restroom of the Marina a few hours earlier.  Michael remained very composed and turned the Motor home around and drove the 16 miles back to the Marina.   I checked with the Rangers there and some kind soul had turned it in.   Whew!  Greatly relieved, we drove south through the Tetons, admiring their majestic beauty.  We continued through Jackson and didn’t see one parking spot anywhere.  That town was hopping.   On our drive we got to see a herd of pronghorn antelope.   We put quite a few miles on the motor home, skirting another large thunderstorm, before stopping just north of the Colorado Boarder where we spent the night in a church parking lot, not knowing the denomination until morning but hoping that they did not have early morning Saturday services that we might disrupt.   We awoke early and continued toward home, stopping along the way at one of our favorite places ORVIS HOT SPRINGS.   We had a wonderful soak and then drove the Creampuff  to the campground outside of Ouray.   I must say…..the mountains of Southwest CO ranks in the top of the many beautiful places we have encountered thus far on our journeys.  We continued on over Red Mountain Pass and on to Durango where we splurged and got a full hookup camp spot complete with WIFI. We will stop by the SS Office and DMV on Monday so I can change to my last  name to Gillich and then home to Pagosa Springs for a few days.