Dreaming

Oh, how I wish I was there.

Well, it has been awhile since I blogged. As some of you know we still have a mobile home in a park in southern Indiana. We are here working right now to build up the cruising kitty. There are several things going on right now. We have finally been deployed to do insurance adjusting. We have been on the list for two years now. We leave on Tuesday for Cincinati Ohio. I don't know how long the work will hold out. Part of me wants about three months worth, the other part of me wants to hurry up and get back to Morgan. I guess whatever happens then I shouldn't be too disappointed.

I was sitting on the patio tonight grilling fish, I closed my eyes, smelled the fish and was instantly transported back to Morgan. It was easy to imagine I was in the cockpit grilling and enjoying life. After awhile I opened my eyes, but instead of seeing a beautiful sunset and aquatic scene I saw the trailer (sorry Linda, I know it's a "mobile home" not a trailer) next door. I know "no pain no gain" We have to do this for a little while, but we will soon be back to our real home. I guess this time off Morgan will make our return to her even sweeter.

Mike

Back in Indiana.

Leaving New Orleans.

Good old Mississippi river traffic.

It was a little windy.

River traffic.

The mighty Mississippi River.

Atop a Mayan ruin.

Carnival cruise ships.

McDonalds in Mexico.

Mayan ruins in Mexico

Mayan temple.

We are back in Indiana now for a couple of weeks. We will be taking a couple of friends down to Morgan in a couple of weeks and then on to San Antonio. We will then return to Indiana to work for a little while before returning to Morgan to continue the voyage. We had a great time on our cruise. We went to Progreso and Cozumel Mexico. I got to tour the Mayan ruins in Progreso, and had an absolute blast in Cozumel. I laid on the beach, swam, watched sailboats sail by, and got some good r and r.

Cozumel

Cozumel

You got  to love it.

Cozumel

Cozumel

Leaving

We are leaving at 5 am in the morning for New Orleans for a cruise, so you won't be hearing from me for about a week. I am sure we will have lots of pics them too.

We had a great day today. Walked forever on the beach, took Rosie for a couple of long rides, and then grilled supper. Tomorrow we will go back to the marina to get Morgan ready for our trip.

A beautiful evening at anchor

Shell island from the top of Morgan's mast

Shell island from the top of Morgan's mast

Shell island from the top of Morgan's mast

Morgan at anchor by Shell island

This is why they call it shell island, the whole beach is this way.

Yeah, yeah, I know.

Yes I know I already made a post today, but it's my blog so I make the rules. My heart is too full not to make another one. Sharon is in the V berth reading, I am setting here at the computer, I just finished watching a beautiful sunset, the XM radio is playing softly, I am about half way through a great cup of coffee, we are gently swinging at anchor. It is another one of those perfect moments in life. One of those moments that you wish could last forever. They don't though, but on a boat they are much more frequent. At supper I told Sharon it is still four days away until we leave Morgan for New Orleans and I already miss her. She confirmed that i am silly, but I already knew that. As wonderful as tonight is, I can't wait until tomorrow to go ashore and explore the island. If there were words that could convey true joy I wish I could find them.

Mike

Shell Island

St. Andrews Bay on the way to Shell Island

Shell Island

Anchored at Shell Island

As I write this we are anchored out by Shell Island. Eric Clapton is singing Beautiful Tonight (one of my favorite songs) and life is good. Our new friends Dave, Nancy, and their two sons Chris and Josh left this morning for St Joe. We all went to an osyster bar last night. It was a lot of fun. I am not a seafood fan at all. I know as time goes on this will have to change, but it will be a slow change. They tried to get me to eat raw oysters, but I wouldn't do it. I tried a fried one, but it just tasted like slimy fish fat to me. The baked ones were tollerable. Nancy and I decided if you absolutely had to eat an oyster (no choice in the matter), that that would be the way to do it. Fortunately I have a choice. Sharon didn't eat the raw ones either, but she liked the baked ones and said she would order them in the future. Oh well, what can you expect from someone who grew up eating in remote Mexican villages.

I wanted so bad to follow them out of the cove this morning, I am so tired of being in Panama City, but we can't right now. We leave in 4 days to go to New Orleans to go on a cruise, and then back up to Indiana to work a little to fatten the cruising kitty up again. She is pretty anorexic right now. She is skinnier than Lindsey Lohan.

I know it is time to move on when Morgan starts to feel small and crowded. When we are on the move she feels like the perfect little ship. It's when we are stopped for a while that she starts to feel small. We had a beautiful sail today out to Shell Island. We will dinghie ashore tomarrow to have a look around. We will go back to the marina on Satuarday to get Morgan ready for our absence and leave about 5 am on Monday for New Orleans.

Well I try to keep my posts short so no one gets bored, so I better shut up. Oh before I go I did get some good news the other day. I sold another article to a magazine, "Good Ole Boat" this time. I have sent a couple of different articles recently to a couple of others as well but haven't heard from them yet.

We went to Mexico

Mexico beach Florida that is. Sunday after church we drove 18 miles south to Mexico Beach Florida. I went for a swim, and tried to snorkel some without much success. I have to do something about the mustache, it let's water into the mask. When I was in St. Thomas, an instructor told me to use Vaseline on the mustache and it would seal better. It does, but what a mess. I have considered shaving it off and leaving the beard, I might look a little too Amish though. I don't think I can loose the beard entirely. I have had it since I was 21. Plus I'm too lazy to shave everyday.

We met some cruisers here from Houston on their way to the Bahamas. Nice people, hope we get to meet up with them again when we get there in January. That is one of the nice things about cruising, meeting new friends.

We leave on Monday to meet Sharon's family in New Orleans for a 5 day cruise to Mexico. We will return to Indiana after that for a short while to work before returning to Morgan.

My mom called

My mom called today and told me my last post was too violent, so just to clarify, I'M KIDDING!

Finally back on!

I had a computer virus that took three days to get off. I am not normally a violent person, but if I could find the guy that created this thing I would tie him to a chair with his hands extended and secured to a table. I would then come in every hour on the hour with a ball-pin hammer and break all the bones in one finger. At the end of the ten hours, I would then attach his feet to the table and start on his toes, just in case he tried to learn to type with his feet. I would then pull his tongue out of his head as far as I could before cutting it off so he couldn't tell someone else how to make another one of these wretched things.

I will post more later, just happy to be back running again.