05-28-09 We get by with some help from our friends

Today’s Blog entry has a title:

WE GET BY WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM OUR FRIENDS!

Thanks to neighbor Tom Hayden for taking care of our mail and keeping an eye on our home while we're away.

Thanks to friends Toad and Dauna Gable for lending us their Dinghy, which we haven’t used yet but plan to soon!

Thanks to friends Bill and Sara Epperson for selling us the fold up bikes at a great price! We used them first at Coinjock, then in Chesapeake several times and are really enjoying them.

SPECIAL thanks to St. Andrews friends Duncan and Camie Mills for picking up our replacement air conditioner, then driving 2 hours to and from Richmond to deliver it to us boatside. We enjoyed having lunch with them and catching up. We look forward to seeing them again in November.

Thanks to our Wilmington friends, Jimmy and Gay Thomas, for calling us when they realized that they would be in Chesapeake dropping off an engine at the same time we were. We had dinner with them and a great visit.

To bring you up to date, the air conditioner, hand delivered from Richmond by our friends that live near there (see above) is now fixed and working perfectly (replaced with a factory refurbished unit).

The throttles have been worked on and seem to be working better…they did not need to be replaced, just needed a little massage.

We had an uneventful 4 hour trip from Chesapeake/Great Bridge (finally, after 4 wonderful nights there) to Yorktown this morning. As we passed by Ocean Marine in Portsmouth, we saw the boat that nearly sank sitting in a lift at the marina. Yesterday morning, a tug boat came to push it on the hip to Portsmouth. The name on the boat was "Her Way", but I think if the woman on board while it was sinking has her way she'll never go on a boat again!

We are sitting in Yorktown, in a thunderstorm but perfectly dry and comfortable. We are very thankful for our “den” addition, which stays remarkably dry. We met the same three looper boats we saw in Dowry Creek. They had come via the Dismal Swamp route.

Tomorrow we will head for Deltaville, about 50 miles up the Bay…we have not been there before.

Thanks to all who read this for keeping in touch and for following along with us on this great adventure. We love hearing from each of you and appreciate all your encouragement!
Betsy