Having a Ball

We are finally out of the boatyard and back in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. The trip from Key West to Marathon went very smoothly. I was a little worried about it as the boat had not been in the water for at least two years if not three. The trip only took three hours. 520 HP will get you there in a hurry (of course at a price). The harbor is full. We were on a waiting list for five days to get a ball, but we finally got one and how sweet it is. It is nice to feel the boat swinging on a cool evening breeze. We are sleeping in a Vee berth again with a hatch right above our heads and the cool breeze at night feels better than air conditioning. Even though it is almost Christmas it is still in the mid 80s every day with a low in the mid 70s at night.

We started out living on a boat in 2010. That was a 25' sailboat named Morgan. It was tight, very tight. We then bought Island Queen which we later renamed Walkabout. She was a 36' trawler. We thought we were in a mansion. Now we are on a 29' power boat. Although she is much bigger than Morgan, she is no Walkabout. It is taking some getting used to living in such a small space again. But we are enjoying life, that's the main thing.

Amazing Grace at the fuel dock on Stock Island.

Walkabout could not do that.

Underway to Boot Key.

Docked in Marathon waiting for a mooring ball.

So nice to be on a mooring ball again.

Another beautiful evening in the harbor.

Home

Well, it has been a long time since I made a post. Actually way too long. This was a hard post to name since it has been so long and so much has happened. I will try to catch you up on the happenings of the disorganized unpredictable adventurous life that we live. I named the post "Home" as I finally feel we are home (well almost). We are in the Florida Keys, Key West to be exact. We love the Keys. Boot Key harbor in Marathon to Key Largo. If you have been following along you know that we sold our big (big to us) boat a 36' trawler and bought a 30' motorhome and a 29' power boat with the plan to spend about six months a year on each one. We spent nine months and 11,000 miles in the motorhome. We traveled out west and had a great time. We visited all five national parks in Utah and had a great time catching up with friends and made some new ones along the way, but in the immortal words of Dorthy there is no place like home and the Keys are truly home to us.

We are at 3D boatyard working on "Amazing Grace" out 29' Wellcraft Express Cruiser. Hopefully we will only be here for a week (I planed on five days and hoped for three). Things are progressing well and I think weather will determine our departure day more than how much I get done. We bought this boat with the idea of it being a seasonal boat but I can not imagine leaving the keys again. With that said we plan on selling the motorhome and buying a bigger boat then selling this one. So plenty of changes coming up.

I will try to do a better job of updating the blog. Since July I worked about seven weeks in Calgary and a month in Jacksonville with hurricane Matthew but I think my work is over for awhile so it will be easier to keep the blog up to date.

We are able to park the motorhome next to the boat while we work on it (sweet).

We were in West Marine and I saw these boat fenders. I asked Sharon if I could get some ( you can't have too many fenders). She said no. Women just have no sense of humor.

Five National Parks

We are currently in Sacramento California visiting family. We have had a good time on this trip out west but it has been really hot. While in Utah we visited five national parks, Arches, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, Bryce Canyon, and Zion. Amazingly all were unique, no two looked the same. I would have to say that if one only had time to visit two it would have to be Zion and Bryce Canyon.

Bryce Canyon was beautiful and we hiked down Navajo loop trail. It is one of the most beautiful hikes I have done. Zion was a beautiful drive and included a 1.1 mile tunnel through a mountain. We camped on BLM land near both parks for free.

From there we went to Las Vegas and the Hoover Dam. It was my first time to see ether. Hoover Dam was pretty interesting. Vegas was one of those "seen it once, don't ever need to go back" things. I guess I was quite naive. I thought well I will get 1 roll of pennies, one of nickels, and one of dines. Go into a casino and play the slots until my $7.50 was gone, keeping the wins separate. Then see what I was left with. Little did I know the slot machines no longer accept or give coins. Now it is all paper tickets. No fun, so I think I spent $2 before we left.

We did go to "The Fremont Street Experience" which had a great light show but it did not take long to figure out this was the "Key West" part of Vegas.

Navajo loop trail. Bryce Canyon

Navajo loop trail. Bryce Canyon

Navajo loop trail. Bryce Canyon

Navajo loop trail. Bryce Canyon

Navajo loop trail. Bryce Canyon

Zion NP

Zion

Short tunnel at Zion NP

Entrance of 1.1 mile tunnel.

Virgin River in Zion NP

Fremont Street Experience. Las Vegas

Las Vegas strip at night.

Moab, Utah

We left the Grand Canyon and went down to Phoenix for a week to visit Steve and Debbie (in-laws). We left last Friday as it was forecast to be 115 degrees. We went north to Goosenecks state park near Mexican Hat Utah, and yes there is a rock formation that looks like a Mexican hat. The park was beautiful and we stayed there two nights. We took one day and rode the motorcycle through the Monument Valley area. It was great scenery as well. We are staying at a friend's campground just outside of Moab right now. We rode through Arches national park yesterday and plan on Canyonlands national park tomorrow. Today I am recuperating from yesterdays sunburn. I think we will leave at first light to see Canyonlands to avoid the hottest part of the day. It has been around 100 every day but in the 60s at night. Next week will be Capitol Reef national park and Zion national park.

Goosenecks State Park

Goosenecks State Park

Goosenecks State Park

Mexican Hat

Mexican Hat

Near Monument Valley

Grand Canyon

We just left the Grand Canyon. We spent one week there at Ten X campground. We got to see a lot of the south rim from Desert View to Hermit's Rest. We hiked the Bright Angel trail down to the first rest stop which is 1.6 miles down the canyon. That is about 1000' decent. It is about 9.5 miles to the bottom. I did not feel up to that challenge. Maybe next time. It took us a little over 3 hours for the 3.2 mile hike. We did that two days ago and our calves still hurt. It was a lot of fun hiking and riding the motorcycle around the canyon area.

We were tired one day after hiking and decided to stop at Mcdonalds on the way back to camp. I got a quarter pounder meal and Sharon got a Mcnugget meal. It came to $22.16. I about fell over. I was stunned and swiped my card. After I sat down I kicked my self for not thinking fast enough to just tell them to keep it. Can you say tourist area (and I thought the Keys were bad).

We stayed on some BLM land near Camp Verde Arizona last night. You can stay up to 14 days free. It is about 3500' lower than where we were at the Grand Canyon and much warmer. It was getting down in the low 30's at night and I was freezing. I guess 5 years in the Keys will do that to you. I got up yesterday morning and it was 30. I put a coat on and went outside to get the motor-home ready to go and the guy across the street was walking around in shorts and no shirt. I went over to ask where he was from. He said Wisconsin why?

Headed for Phoenix today.

Right next to our camp.

No fear of humans here.

Bright Angel Trail.

Bright Angel Trail

Bright Angel Trail

Bright Angel Trail

Bright Angel Trail

Bright Angel Trail sign. We did not see any mules but there was plenty of evidence that they had been on the trail.

New Name

You will notice the new name of our blog. I named the RV "Walkabout", the same as what we had named the trawler. The reason is the spirit really hasn't changed. What we are doing is really the same, going walkabout, just the mode of transportation has changed some. Now some on the boat and some in the RV. Yes I know that when the Aboriginals go walkabout they actually walk, but I am much to lazy for that so I need something with an internal combustion engine (or maybe two).

I finally decided on a name for our new boat. It was previously named Ivanova. That did not do anything for me so a change was in order. I thought about names for several months and finally decided that she would be named after a song rather than a person. Then the decision of which song. I narrowed it down to three. Rolling in the Deep, Free Bird, and Amazing Grace. Well Amazing Grace is my all time favorite song followed closely by Free Bird (yes I know that I am strange), but I also like the song Rolling in the Deep witch kinda fit. But after some thought I decided on Amazing Grace. So when the painting is finished the new lettering will go on.

A few pics of the before and after.

I could not stand the shag carpet and blue laminate cabinets.

First to get rid of the carpet.

Next the blue cabinets.

Got rid of the dinette and made a couch/berth.

Still have to make the cushions.

On the Road.

Well, it has been awhile since I posted. It is way past due. As you know we sold Walkabout (our 36' Marine Trader trawler) and bought a smaller boat and a motorhome. February was spent working on Walkabout to be ready for the new owners. March was spent working on refurbishing the new to us motorhome. April was spent working on the new boat and finishing up the motorhome. The first boat that we planned on buying was a 28' Marinette. When we got there to look at the boat (a friend's boat that I had been on many times and loved) it had a lot of water in the bilge and covered part of the transmission, so we opted out of that one. We ended up buying a Wellcraft 2900 Express from my brother. We spent a lot of April redoing the inside. We were determined to fix this boat up before moving onto it. The last two boats looked better when we sold them than when we lived on them. When she goes in the water this fall she should be close to finished (I hope).

We left last Friday from Indiana and are on our way to California in the motorhome. It has been a great trip so far. The first night we spent at Loretta Lynn's Ranch in Tennessee, the second night at Camper's World in Little Rock Arkansas, the third and fourth night at Haw Creek Falls campground in the Ozarks, the fifth night K & K park in Shamrock Texas, sixth night at the city park in San Jon New Mexico, and tonight at Mchood campground near Winslow Arizona. Tomorrow we should be at Ten X campground near the Grand Canyon.

We plan on spending some time in Arizona, Utah, and California before heading east again to be ready for hurricane season and work.

Camped at Loretta Lynn's Ranch.

Camped at Haw Creek Falls in the Ozarks.

Mulberry River near Haw Creek Falls campground.

I must have sat and stared at the camp fire for at least two days.

McHood campground near Winslow Arizona (free for up to 14 days).

View from the campsite.

Big Change

We are in the middle of a big lifestyle change right now. We have sold Walkabout. We bought a smaller boat and a motorhome. We plan on splitting our time between the two. Winters on the boat in the Keys, summers in the RV somewhere cool (North), spring and fall wherever. Looking forward to new adventures. Both of us love the West and look forward to spending time in Utah, Nevada, and California this year, but can't wait to get back to the keys with our new to us boat for the fall/winter.

We are still in Houston area right now but will be traveling to Indiana where the boat is in the next two weeks to start getting Amarula (the boat) ready to go in the water this fall. We will spend about a month in Indiana before heading out west. We plan on spending May in Arizona, June in Moab Utah, and July in the Sacramento area and then head toward the gulf coast to be ready for work (hurricane season) then in the fall down to the keys on Amarula.

The boat.

1971 28' Marinette Express.

The motorhome.
2001 Shasta Cheyenne 304 SB with only 24,000 miles.