The trip so far...

The Trip so Far...

We left Owen Sound on the 1st of August and managed to cross the order without incident. The border guard passed on his condolences as we explained out trip agenda. We stopped in Danville NY for the night.

Down here each State has a Welcome park and there are dozens of brochures with coupons for reduced rate hotels. I was going to say "cheap" and some of them are but so far we have had extremely good luck and they have been Days Inn's or Comfort Inns and almost all have had pools. They have all been around $45-55 / night; of course that translates into several hundred $Canadian.

On Day 2 we ambled through Pennsylvania down all the back roads "Dora " GPS could find to get us across the state and on our way to the Chesapeake, to met up with Gail and Mark. the countryside is beautiful but boring for children so of course they were either asleep or buried in their electronics. I had said there would be limited access but on a 5-6 hour drive sometimes you have to let the Wookie win. Lancaster PA was our stop for the night.

Day 3 saw us skipping through Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, back to Maryland and into Long Point Marina where we watched C-Soul being launched. We went for lunch with them, and knowing how much work is involved in getting back into the water, we left them to it, and headed down into Virginia. We only got to Salisbury for dinner and decided to stay there for the night since it was so late.

Day 4  We went from Virginia , down the peninsula and across the Chesapeake bridge and tunnel system. That was quite exciting being under and over the ocean. We avoided the "amusement park" of Virginia Beach and went instead to the Chesapeake Bay Beach and spent the day swimming in tidewaters of the Atlantic...a bit cloudy and greenish but it was soothing on a hot day.  Boy was it a hot day!! We went for dinner and looked for another Days Inn for the night in  Emporia VA. They had a chance to swim in the pool again

Day 5 was a long one ...from just inside the border of Virginia, through North and South Carolina, and all of Georgia to get to Jekyll Island. That was a prime goal for the kids...to see the turtle hospital and the "petting zoo" ...snakes, fish, clams etc. we found out that "Our turtle, Test" the one we watched being treated when we were there in 2012, had died so we were all very sad...at least I was. Can't believe I could shed tears over a turtle!!! But I think its because it speaks to the conditions to which our planet is deteriorating.

As an aside, we brought lots of dishes, and travel food with us thinking we could find kitchenette units along the road... not much luck with that, but we have NOT been eating at McD's or the like.

Jekyll Island was a bit of a shock. From  $59.00 in January the summer rate jumps to $120.00!! Needless to say we stayed there for one night! They swam in the pool until 10:00 pm

Day 6: We left the next afternoon after making the rounds of all the island attractions, and made it to Ft. Pierce by 9:30 pm. We skipped NASA and St. Augustine Ghost tour but we will do that on the way back. We can do all that stuff in a matter of 2-3 days from one hotel room. We stopped at a hotel knowing that the boat was not ready for us!

Day7: We didn't do much around the boat except empty suitcases It's just too hot!!!  The first thing Natasha said to me after being pout in the sun for a little while was, "Will you cut my hair please?" NOT A PROBLEM!!  SO while Todd and Rick went looking for the dinghy and the marina owner, I cut her hair! Will tidy it up when we have the few minutes when we're not doing anything else!!

We found the beach, right next to the Navy Seal Museum, but it was closing too soon for us to stop there so we planned for the next day. The kids are having a hard time adjusting the salt water, but the beach here is clean and the water is crystal clear!! When we got back to the boat, they had moved it again!

Getting moving before noon is difficult! Breakfast...do the dishes...attempt to gather the clothes...get lunch /snacks ready...And it's 30 C  by 9 am. inside the boat with the fans blowing so it's about 35 outside.

Day 8 was a stormy day and we went to the Navy Seal Museum first. Two and a half hours later, after they tried on all the equipment, sat in all the vehicles, watched all the videos, did the scavenger hunt for kids, and the obstacle course, we went to head for the beach and it was storming, so we went to Wal-Mart. Todd needed lighter shorts; Tasha needed a bathing suit cover up and we needed beach gear!! 

Day 9: Sunscreen, swimming , swimming, swimming...sunscreen more swimming. We went to the neighbouring marina to meet up with PEARL ( Bruce and Gayleen- met them in Virginia last year and hung out in the Exumas) We talked and the kids swam in the marina pool for an hour. I'm surprised they didn't ask if we could move there! Then we went to the beach for 4 hours. We went to Wal-mart again to get the rest of beach necessities...an umbrella!!

Day 10 we are going to spend all day and evening at the beach. Suppers and snacks are going to be cold and light and constant. It's too hot to eat heavy food, so as long as we are drinking lots of water and juice and eating fruit and veggies, no-one will starve. Todd does not believe that but even he's curbing his food intake because of the heat!! The only relief is to go to a store but the A/C is so cold you die coming out! 

Oh...we had a shark scare yesterday. Someone came down the beach to tell us that there was a shark swimming shallow way down the beach, so we stayed out of the water for awhile and when everyone else when back in, we waited to see if they would get eaten. None of the fat people were attacked so we figured we were good! The lifeguards patrolled the beach and never said anything...lol

All pics are on the I-Pad so I haven't transferred them yet. Asa I do, I will post them! have a great day!