July 16, 2014

                A NEW ADVENTURE BEGINS

Of course no journey can begin without a proper send off!!  Our great friends, the Erikssons arrived from California on Saturday July 11 to help celebrate.  On Sunday, the Bellino's, Laura and the boys joined the party.  We missed Aaron and Mike, who both were working that day.  No party would be complete without a "Cakes by Stephanie" cake........

It was a wonderful day filled with grandkids, dinghy rides, pool play and lots of hugs.  Skype and FaceTime will be getting a workout!

Bon Voyage!

After a long winter and several months of preparation, we are "live aboards".  The house is rented, the truck is gone and we are off on our dream adventure.

We left Toledo Beach for the last time at 8 am under clear blue skies and favorable winds.



Paul and Joan, also houseless for the first time, were kind enough to help us out with the photo.

The first leg of our journey will be up the Detroit River into Lake Huron and on up to Mackinac where we'll meet our sister ship, Day Dreams.  Together we'll head east with a goal of NY City by mid September and then head south.  Our ultimate destination will be Florida by early December.

Had to break out the champagne and Waterford crystal (the real thing) to celebrate this event!


This first day we traveled 44 miles to Kean's Marina, located just at the mouth of Lake St. Clair.  Clouds caught up with us, but no rain.  We were secure in our slip by 4:30.  This is an older facility on the north end of Detroit with a spectacular view of the city skyline and Detroit Yacht Club across the way.  We enjoyed walking the docks before cocktails and dinner aboard.  Now that we're both retired, we've vowed to take our time --- no more 70 - 100 mile, 12 hour days!!

Day 2    July 17, 2014

Another beautiful day!  We departed Kean's at 7:45 to cross a very calm Lake St. Clair, then into the St. Clair river.  Just a few ferries and freighters to dodge before arriving at St. Clair for the 3 pm bridge.  This is familiar territory, a marina we always enjoy.  Once secure, we set off on a 3 mile walk  to a hardware store (gotta hit every one!), grocery and liquor store (already?).   Back at the dock, it was cocktail time, of course.  While we were sipping, Charlie White, one of a group of 3 yachts from Sarnia Yacht Club, "couldn't take it any longer".  He just had to check out Waterford. Before we knew it, we were having our second cocktail aboard Terry and Sue's Grand Banks trawler with the whole gang!  After cocktails, we made our way to Murphy's for pizza and music, but  promised a tour of Waterford in the morning before departure.

The Sarnia Yacht Club crew - from left, Charlie, Jan, Sue, Tim, Jacque, Kathy, Terry and Garry.
Charlie and Garry REALLY like orange!

Day 3    July 18, 2014

9 am -  The Sarnia gang joined us for a tour and then invited us to join them for breakfast.  What a lovely way to spend a morning!  We were treated to a wonderful ham and eggs breakfast (Charlie cooks a mean egg!) and still made the 11 am bridge opening.  We look forward to connecting with this group again, perhaps in Florida.

What a beautiful day!  We took advantage of the sun and spent the majority of the 29 mile trip up on the bridge.

The "bridge" from the bridge!  29 miles later, we arrived in Lexington safe n sound by 4 pm.  We hadn't been here in many years due to low water and a tricky entrance.  Now that dredging has been completed, no problem!  We did a brief walking tour of the "downtown", followed by cocktails and dinner on the back deck.  Though there were clouds, the sunset was beautiful...............