Honey, Who Shrank the Boat

Eric here reporting on our adventurers.  They finally left the safety of their Texas surrondings and headed to Florida.  They left on Monday, June 15th about 1400.  Something about loading the Jed Clampet mobile, dropping some more stuff off at storage, and running several errands to wrap up business before leaving.  Also a goodbye lunch at Claudia’s favorite Tex Mex in Alvarado.  Probably be awhile before they get some more good Tex Mex.

They had an uneventful drive to Vicksburg and called it a day.  That night they decided to head to Atlanta on Tuesday to sale Claudia’s car.  She accused the ‘would be skipper’ of diverting to Atlanta so he could partake of a 5 Guys Burger at his favorite spot.

They arrived in Atlanta in the late afternoon, just in time for going home traffic.  What a mess that was.  So yes, they did go to 5 Guys and have a burger over in Smyrna.  While there, they conducted business and made an appointment with Progressive Remarketing to sell the car on Wednesday.  Tuesday evening saw repacking as they moved stuff from Claudia’s car into the truck. Bit of a tight fit, but there was a place for all the stuff.

Wednesday morning they met Brian Carswell (interesting last name for a guy in the car buy/sell business) in Roswell and negotiated a good deal to sell both the car and the truck.  They left the car on the spot, and they will drop off the truck in Ft Myers just before casting off on their adventure.

It was lunch time, so a trip to Fudruckers on the way out of town for an elk burger was the next order of business.  He made some comment that between restraunts not selling elk burgers back home and his son, he had not had an elk burger in almost 2 years, and that must be too long.  Seems he took his son out to eat in the spring.  The son asked his dad what to get.  The dad said elk burger, so the son ordered The elk burger.  Yes, THE elk burger.  When the dad ordered an elk burger he was informed the boy had just taken the last one.  The joys of parenthood.

The Fudruckers stop with the 1/2 pound burger must of hit the spot, because the couple drove ten hours and got to Ft Myers just before mid nite.  Thursday morning found our couple trying to figure out how to move the boat from Owl Creek Boat Works to a marina so the couple could move aboard.

Once again, when a need arises, someone steps in and fills the need.  This time it started back in May while our couple was attending a seminar in Norfolk.  There was a couple (Jim and Carol Fidler) who had completed the loop aboard Fiddlesticks and hailed from Arlington, Texas.  The couples crossed paths the last day of the seminar.  Jim and Carol introduced our couple to Cathy and Glen Mayer.  In the course of conversation our couple learned that Cathy and Glen have a son ( Brandon) who just happens to own a marina in Ft Myers.  They scribbled his phone number down and tucked it away for future use.

Well the future is now.  A call to Brandon was the answer.  He agreed to drive the boat from Owl Creek to Sweetwater Landing (basically across the river) since our ‘would be skipper’ has no business driving this boat yet.

Unfortunately, the little motor across the river had more excitement than was anticipated. Only a few hundred yards from Owl Creek the port engine started coughing then died.  Brandon tried to restart the engine but it would not start.  Wow.  This is not a good way to start!  They limped into the marina and tied up out on the transient dock.

Brandon mentioned that there was a guy who lived in the marina who just happened to work on Cat diesels and just happened to be down on his boat.  In a few minutes Mike showed up, asked a few questions and started troubleshooting the port engine.  He found the fuel suction line closed which explained the coughing before death of engine.  He opened the valve and the engine came back to life.

Brandon showed back up and piloted the boat into berth 18 at Sweetwater Landing.  Sweet indeed!

Claudia had driven the truck around to the berth to make it easier to move aboard the boat.  After tying the boat up, Claudia walked around the boat for the first time since sea trials back in February.  She stepped out on the sundeck, looked at all the stuff in the truck, and muttered the phrase, “honey, who shrank the boat?”

Claudia is working quickly to unpack and nest on the boat.  Company is coming on Tuesday to teach our newbies how to operate the beast.  After three days of training, the hope is to have enough confidence and skill to actually maneuver the boat without incident.

Our ‘would be skipper’ tells some pretty funny stories about people launching boats.  Seems in his younger days his dad always camped near the boat ramps during summer vacations.  His dad believed watching rookies launch their new boats was the best show in town.  Our ‘would be skipper’ does not want to be THE SHOW at any marinas.