Life On Orion

 After spending Sunday organizing and packing, today we are in Nashville. We left yesterday morning after spending an HOUR turning the boat around in the slip so Dave could work on the bow pulpit from the dock. The boat slips in this marina do not have a full length side dock so you have to position your boat so you can climb out onto that narrow 10 ft long piece of dock and for us that means backing into the slip. The front of the boat is then secured by lassoing tall wood pilings on either side of the bow with a loop of line around a boat hook. It requires a lot of agility and praying! In addition, since we are off the boat during hurricane season, we are required to double up on our lines. For Orion, that means a total of 10 lines! We knew Madison and I could not crawl over the bow railing and lower ourselves down to that ridiculous piece of side dock, so we loaded the car, secured the animals on the dock and got me off the boat. Tom had to undo all the lines, turn the boat around i

 It’s been a long time since I have been in such huge rainstorms, but we have been having a doozy. We woke up yesterday to loud thunder, torrential rains and a lot of wind. Madison was freaking out and was basically trying to burrow into the wall of the boat in our cabin… Dewey was even a little scared and I’ve never seen that. The worst part of the day was that the winds picked up and the water began flowing out of the creek the marina is on. The water level went down about 2 feet and that resulted in us being unable to get off the boat onto the narrow little piece of dock for the whole day. Madison luckily knows how to potty on the boat, but it was a weird feeling being trapped on your own boat. The dock was so far above us I could look underneath and see the bottom of the boats in the next row! Today the wind has shifted and by daylight the water level was such that we as well as the dog could once again get off the boat. I did a couple of loads of laundry in the marina laundry room

 Well, we have been busy doing some land travel now that we have a car and the boat is parked at the marina here in New Bern waiting for repairs. After the 4th of July holiday we loaded up the animals and drove the 10 hours to Orlando (Apopka) to stay at Mark and Kerry’s house while they went on a Mediterranean cruise. We watched their 3 dogs and took care of the house and pool, which was not tough duty for sure.  We got to stay in a beautiful house, have a pool in the backyard, enjoy our kitty as well as a total of 4 dogs and cook in a real kitchen and watch Netflix till we couldn’t see straight! All of the dogs were so good and they all got along with Madison, so that was a nice benefit. It is ungodly hot and humid in Florida this time of year, so the only time we poked our noses out of the house was to get in the pool - which we did every day! It also rains every afternoon this time of year, so we timed our pool time accordingly. Mark and Kerry got home last Sunday evening and Tom a

 It was sort of a strange 4th of July weekend, but a good one none the less. Sunday we decided to go exploring the area since we have wheels now… Drove to Moorhead City, which is a coastal town that we did not stop at on the water and it was a nice place. After awhile all the beach towns start to look the same to me and this one was no different. The beach was packed since it was a holiday weekend, so we didn’t stop - parking also a nightmare. I wouldn’t mind going back there on a weekday for sure. It has been so stinking hot and humid, we Arizonans can’t even breathe! We stayed inside the air conditioning for the rest of that day and watched a movie via DVD. Monday we were in the car by 8 am on the way to downtown New Bern for a 4th of July celebration at Tryon Palace. It is a huge mansion that was built in the 1700’s and was home to the first governor of NC when New Bern was the capital. It was designed in the Georgian style and has beautiful symmetrical gardens and grounds. Guides w

 You would think we would have slept in this morning since we didn’t have to cruise anywhere, but old habits die hard and we were up with the sun as usual. First stop was a laundromat with a large capacity machine to wash our comforter, rugs, towels and beach towels. I also had 2 loads of regular clothes, so it goes much faster when you do it at a laundromat. While they were washing and drying, we grabbed a quick breakfast, went to Harbor Freight for some tie downs and gassed up the car. On the way back to the boat we stopped at Harris Teeter for a few food items and then decided to stop at Belk department store so Tom could get some new shorts. What a nice store! Great sales too so Tom scored in the shorts department. There is a tropical storm brewing off in the Atlantic and is is apparently headed for North Carolina soon, so although we just got some rain and a little wind today, we have to prepare the boat for higher winds. We are in a protected cove tucked away from any big wind an

 As I predicted, today was bittersweet…. We left the dock this morning with Steve and Kathy for the last time and followed them to New Bern until we turned into the creek leading to our new marina and they continued on the Neuse River to their home marina near downtown.  It was such a weird feeling watching the space between our boats grow until they were a small dot on the horizon. We figured out that we have cruised with them for at least 7 months of our loop and we had it down to a finely choreographed dance. Our new marina is very nice, people are so friendly and it has great amenities, but we feel just a little lost right now and it will take us awhile to get our bearings. We are technically in New Bern, but 6 miles outside of town in a development called Fairfield Harbor.  There are several areas of homes, the marina, condos, pool, miniature golf and a beautiful golf course.  Actually we are considering it as a place to settle down in a home eventually.  We shall see… We have our

 All good things must come to an end, so we left Ocracoke this morning and traveled back to Oriental NC and are at River Dunes Marina where we stayed on our way north a few weeks ago. The water was calm and we made good time and the pool here felt especially wonderful due to the high humidity and heat. After an afternoon lazing by the pool it was spaghetti dinner at Kathy and Steve’s and a nice walk around the neighborhood with Madison. Tomorrow is our last planned voyage on Orion and unless we have to transport her north to list her for sale, it will be the last one period.  So bittersweet… We plan to enjoy our day tomorrow and will arrive in New Bern at a different marina than Steve and Kathy since our bow pulpit repairs will be done there. As Kathy pointed out, we both have transportation, so will be able to socialize for the holiday weekend before parting ways. Thank goodness for that!