Gathering of friends

Here it is December already and I need to tell you the time has gone faster than you can realize. Just last week We had friends,come visit, followed by more friends. Now they have all gone and its time for us to get packed for MI. (Burrr) cold weather.

We had a very good time back in KY. with our friends and what made that trip special, FRANK HAD A CLEAN CHECK- UP!!!he and I were so happy along with his Doc. What next was to celabrate with friends. So thats what we did. We really had to thank our friend s Alan & Doris for letting us stay at their condo, bless their hearts. Really we thought about having a big bash and invite Alan & Doris but they were in Fl. Sorry maybe next time (haha). As it turned out we ended up at the club and really had a good time as always. How can you not!!
Back to Gulf Shores to the boat. Marty & Bubba are here for thanksgiving we will go have drinks with them after dinner, The famous Cigar Bar!! its a quaint little bar for us to gather, smoke and shoot the breeze. That night we decided when Becky & Ron get here we would all go out for a night and see how much fun (mischief) we can get into. The weather is getting colder, rain in the forcast but the sun does shine daily thank god for that.. may not be long but, its there! Next day Marty,Bubba,Frank & I go up to Daphne to meet another formerly pier 6 Mike Sagaler. What a guy!! He made us feel welcome in his home ( love the decor), then took us to the Marti Grasi museum, which was closed dam it! so the tour went on to sights and lunch at the original Oyster Bar downtown Mobile.
Okay the gangs all here!!! Lets go party, start with dinner, then on to tacky jacks (cigar bar) are we having fun yet? from there we went on to the Warft cigar bar, heres the good part as you go in the door areally nice rug on the floor with a logo on it JIM BEAM you can imagine where that ended up at?? Still having fun with everyone but can we keep going day after day?? Well finally the day come Marty & Bubba had to leave us we will miss y'all. Lets say we have a day to go with Becky & Ron. We did the vacation stuff with them, Like go to Ft. Morgan the mosqitos where so bad, the women sayed they hatched there eggs due to the hurricane IDA the egss were dormit till that. So we ended up hurrying through the fort. It was interresting, and huge. We then went to Pink Pony for drinks & on to a bar called THE KEG sounds like a good one and it was. The rest of the day wasspent there lunch, pool games, dice games, I made a few dollars on the dice game. The rain came down hard and heavy we were in for floods, high winds of 25-30mi. and it did. This storm was stronger than IDA!! All in all we had a great time with everyone and are so glad they'r gone!!!!!! " WE LOVE YOU MAN"
Now its time for us to regain our kidneys back, get back to reality, on the boat (home sweet home). Its been cold,cold,colder,since all is gone. Last 2 nights been calling for SNOW!! oh my we are getting ready for the north.. Mi. here we come.. Our friends that have the sence to keep going south are enjoying theirselves in the Keys, Ft. Myers, even St. Petersburg, we envie all of you. Wish we were with you!!
Before you know it Christmas will soon be here, maybe my wish will come true! Jan. we will return to the boat and then start moving south. As for now I will try and stay warm, keep you all in my thoughts, and hope you have a safe winter.
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL WE LOVE YOU!!!!!!!
have no pics. at this time sorry..

cruisin south to gulf shores

hello, we had a 25 day trip down the waterways of the tombigbee,that included flood waters and debris. Not a problem for the peacekeeper until we wanted to anchor. At times we had currents up to 4 mi. hour, even at anchor, some of the locks didn't even have to lock us the full depth for instance; Demopolis lock is a 30ft. they only locked us down 17ft. do the math!! On the other hand we were in and out of the lock in no time. Our anchorage in Ocatuppa creek the water was so high ther were little Islands of lilly pads floating at us. What a mess, caught up in our briddles and chain think of the boat 19 wide and this island is at least 25wide wow!!. After all that the water dropped 5ft over night, we were back to normal pool. Then we enter Coffeevile lock a 40ft and lock down 7.5ft again do the math. So never think boating is easy all the time.

We were half way I had a bad ear infection so in a marina and to the clinic I go they gave me 2 shots in the ass 3 prescribtions and on my way. Did get relief the next day. There are mostly rain days and few sunny days as we neared Mobile bay we decided to stay in the wall in the harbor ( its a Free wall ). Walked to town wich is 4blks in. Really a cool town the store fronts with balconys up top, the parks filled with people. We just happened to be there at the time of woofstock so many dogs in costumes made us miss our Diamond so much. So many cool dogs!

After all the fun in town we got back to the boat and enjoyed the view. Next thing 3am logs were hitting the boat a pile of logs between us and the wall another mess, fighting the current and debrs again. Finally after a few hrs. lets say 7am awoke again by the logs beating the boat we decided its time to leave this FREE wall. So off we went headed to the bay and gulf shores. Nice crossing the bay, as some of you may know it can get rough out there if the weather kicks up. So here we are at gulf shores and it rained thank you for the nice crossing.

One thing I forgot to mention Frank failed to fill our propane tank guess what we ran out and no cookin for me its can ravioli and soups, that gets old after while. tonight we will celabrate halloween at LuLus costume party, hope you have a safe halloween too!!

hello this is cindy back, its been sooo long, bet your glad to see me back too!! For the most part I have been busy with grandkids,working,having a lot of fun with friends. Now that summer is winding down the people are too. Since we been here at grand rivers (G.T.B) days go faster than the years.

Happy we got to take our side trips this time around, up to Barkley lodge to see our friends from Michigan, and to Nashville with Pat & Patty friends from pier 6. Still had family here and friends they always have fun here. Soon as we got here this summer Frank earned the flag and I think he had it one more after that "OH" I think that was me. got that out of our systems and haven't seen it again. yeah!!

I took on work at the C.Y.C. and I have to say it was more fun than work I truly miss my bartender job. Maybe when I get back they will let me behind the bar again. We had some good times there too!! Every Friday night was croquet, now we are starting to feel old. Matching shirts for couples, drinks,and food was all part of the game plus the winners board that Terri Krammer was in charge of as a winner my game name became " MORTAL CIN" others like WICKET WITCH, GEORGIE GIRL, what a creative mind. We played rain or shine and I know the game will go on in the snow. If you are able to get to town on a friday night park at I.G.A. you can watch from there.

Today we will go to the seafood boil and try that for a first time the name of the event sounds good enough to me.. Hope to see friends there as well. Still getting things together to get going south the count is getting close we have a week and half to go. Even after we are gone I think we will stay in alot of peoples hearts for a long time as they will be in ours.

We will return in Nov. for a short time so lets not get all choked up yet will see y'all soon

G.T.B. DERBY DAY ( H1N1 FRANK )

We are back at the marina and on time for Derby Day!!!

As we arrived so did the swine flu and everyone was concerned. We had a good time at the c.y.c derby day betting, visiting with everyone and the food was great. Back with our friends on pier 6 some of them new and some the same we are glad to be back. What did change was some of the surroundings in grand rivers as the ice storm took out trees. Like everyone said "looks like a war zone" and it does. The community has done a great job on clean up.

Just some of the debris that was along the banks and as you can see the water is flowing fast. The current was running about a 5mi. Sure glad to get up to the Tenn. so we are cruising with the current.

GREAT TIMES & GREAT FRIENDS

here we are on a boat trip to pick up some boat parts ( oil filters ) with us are friends Judy, Jo,and their friends, oh and theres Wilbur in the back. A very nice day in the caloosahatchee river, Pine Island sound, and Fort Myers. This is just one of the things we do for past time in the winter. We were fortunate enough to have friends like Judy & Jo that let us hang out with them at their dock in cape coral. They have been alot of fun to be with since we met them in G.T.B.
On the other half of our winter we spent time in Anna Marie Island, and cruising the gulf from gulf shores to Ft. Myers. Our friends Pam & Wilbur joined us in cape coral to cruise back to gulf shores with us. Its always nice to have friends aboard that like the cruising. We enjoy them very much.
We stopped in Tarpon Springs, for a 3 day wait on weather so we could cross the gulf. This always a fun stop. All the greek rest. and the docks are full of sponges, for all the tourist. If anyof you ever get the chance I would try and go there.

We crossed the Mobile Bay finnally after waiting out flood waters for 2 wks. Felt really good to get cruising again. The waters are still high,but the debris is minimal and tolerable. We left LuLus with 317gals of fuel, a washing machine that had died on us and who knows what next. We were just glad to get under way. The next step of the leg, was to get through the locks. With Easter in just a few days we decided to cook a thanksgiving dinner (thanks for getting underway again). We took a new anchor on the okatuppa creek, just past Bobbys Fish camp. What a storm we had I was afraid the boat was going to get struck by lighting. Under way again the next day as we nearer the Tenn. river, we like to anchor in a bay across from Grand Harbor marina so thats where we stayed. Just around the corner we are in the Tenn, never know what your gonna see on the rivers.

Here comes down the river a floating marina. I thought it was a flooded Island, but the closer we got to it behold our eyes was a marina being pushed by a small barage. Not sure where it came from.

today, I am back on line again. We had a good time in Mi. (its always nice to go see friends and family) as we have had our share. While we where there I did see snow flakes 1st time in a year. I am so ready to see G.T.B. again. While in gulf shores we took advantage of the time we had and visited some friends from Miss. The weather has been okay, a break here and there what do you expect for spring? Kids have filled the beaches and Lulus has a crowd everyday. So many tourist. We just want to go and the day has finally come, on April 11,09 we will leave and head north up the bay and through the rivers till we get to green turtle bay..
Its been nice in gulf shores, I never have been here before or heard of it, so I can say been there too!!. Now its time to go and ready for it. So I hope to see you or talk to you soon. Looking forward to Derby Day at the club.

today we are in gulf shores Al. We crossed the gulf in 2-3ft waves after we sat in Tarpon Springs for three days waiting for the weather to calm down. The winds were blowing in high seas so the crossing was on hold. After gettin into the pan-handle ( the forgotten coast ) as locals call it, we stopped in Carrabelle. One of our favorite stops. We have our friends with us still so they got to see what the town has to offer, and they got to see the smallest police station in the world, ( phone booth ).

We cruised from there,to Ft. Walton beach. This is another stop we are sure to make as the town offers a free dock for the night. Another favorite. That night was worth the stop to see our friends come over and see us from Destin. We had cocktails and shared many laughs with bumpas and Patti. They brought some friends they

FT. MEYERS AND CAPE CORAL FL.

today is a cold winter day, with the wind blowing from the north at 15-20. when will it all go away we ask? As for all our friends,& family up north we are thinking of you. since we arrived in Florida we have had many visits with friends and relatives despite the cold. most of our time we are in Cape Coral, & Bradenton. As of today we are in Cape Coral till Feb. 12th, then start moving north we will stop in Bradenton again to say our good-byes for the season. Aboard with us will be our friends from Mi. They will cruise up the gulf coast with us to gulf shores. We plan on leaving the boat there for the mth. of March while we are in Mi.. New grandbaby again this is #6 & a BOY!!!.

I had a fun time with my girlfriends in Ft. Meyers beach we stayed at a motel for a few nites. It was good to spend time together. I called it the BITCH PARTY!! as you can see in the pics. Another gathering with friends from G.T.B. we did a cruise to pick up boat supplies from boat U.S. that was a first. On our way we seen lots of dolphins, with a mimosa brunch to spice the day up. The best part of being here is the port we are in. Judy & Joe have been the best harbor masters you can ask for. We have elec.,water, laundry,pool,hot tub & car. You can't get any better than this.
We been patiently waiting for warmer weather to come back around, which the weather man said by Sat. so we will see. If so it will be in the 80s & that means pool time. We have spent some of days and nights playing games, ( C.L.R.) and I of course have taken everyones money..Went to Ft. Meyers yatch basin seen some long time friends there and we also had others that drove down from Brunswick GA.. Its been really great to see some of our old cruisers and spend time with them.
Hope the weather is on its way to brighter,& warmer days for all of you up north. When we start up the ten-tom I worrie about the floodings, remembering what it was like the last time we came up. We have a birthday party to go to tonight so I will post the good stuff and for now be safe and stay warm..