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March, 2010 to March, 2011
We arrived in Bradenton, Florida on Monday, March 15th and took a slip at Twin Dolphin Marina a beautiful marina located in downtown Bradenton. We had a plan ... that's right a plan. The plan was to rent a car, rent a storage unit, buy a Recreational Vehicle (RV), move everything off the boat except for necessities like the espresso machine which would be moved to the RV, clean the boat, began land cruising until the boat sold and also begin looking at catamarans, our next boat. We wanted to have most of these tasks completed by mid April. We had a lot of work ahead of us. On Wednesday, March 17th we began by organizing the boat and getting things ready to move. On Friday, March 19th, we rented a truck and a 10 X 10 storage unit which of course was much larger than we needed ... little did we know. We began moving immediately and also began looking for a small Recreational Vehicle (RV) as our temporary home while the Heart was on the market. By Friday, April 2nd, we had moved a significant amount of "stuff" off Heart of Texas and had purchased our RV (Molly) a 1995 19 foot Coachman Catalina. By the way, after we purchased the RV we received an email from the previous owner informing us her name is Molly.
On Tuesday, April 6th I left Bradenton for a quick week and a half trip to visit family in St. Louis. Rankin was left with the Heart and the unending task of moving. By Friday, April 23rd, we had everything moved off the boat, had cleaned the boat inside and out and cleaned and organized Molly (RV) and she was ready to live aboard. So, the next day we had a pleasant drive to Charleston, South Carolina where our friends Walt and Pat (Centime) were staying with their boat which they had just sold. Walt and Pat's son, Chad and his wife just had a baby girl Sydney and we felt honored to join in the "new grandbaby" celebration.
After a quick visit with friends, we were on the road again. We continued our travels arriving in Fredericksburg, Virginia on Sunday, April 25th where our dear friend Jerry was kind enough to let us stay until our trip to the Ecuador and Galapagos Islands in June. During our stay in the DC area, we were very honored to be invited by our close friends Chris and Betty Ann Kraft to attend an award ceremony. Chris Kraft was awarded the Smithsonian Lifetime Achievement Award and it was a well deserved award. Thank you Chris and Betty Ann for allowing us to share this special moment with you.
We didn't want to over stay our visit with Jerry, so we decided to take a little road trip and spent four days in Shenandoah Valley National Park. This was our first "real" RV experience and we had a great time though it was cold and rainy. By the way, good thing our heater works great. We hiked about a mile and a half to a pretty waterfall, attended a few Ranger presentations about the local animals, had a little campfire and some local visitors ... deer.
After four days of "roughing it", we drove back through the curvy and scenic roads back to Fredericksburg. We continued our stay with Jerry until Thursday, June 3rd when we flew to Ecuador to begin our travels throughout Ecuador and Galapagos Islands click on the link to read about our adventures. We had a magnificent trip and can't wait to travel there by boat. We returned from Ecuador and Galapagos Islands two and a half weeks later on Wednesday, June 23rd. Grass doesn't grow under our feet. On Sunday, June 27th Rankin left for Bradenton continuing the boat search. I took a road trip leaving on Tuesday, June 29th and driving Molly from Fredericksburg, Virginia to St. Louis, Missouri for a nice visit with family. I spent a month visiting family in Missouri and taking short little RV trips around the area while Rankin was in Florida looking for our new home. Rankin joined me on Wednesday, July 21st in St. Louis for a quick visit with my family. Below are a few photos.
On Monday, July 26th, we drove to Viroqua, Wisconsin to visit Rankin's family including his niece Dash from New York. We spent over a month in Viroqua and the surrounding area with family. We attended the Oshkosh Air Show with Janie (Rankin's mother and Dash his niece) where Rankin was tempted by many aircrafts and Dash was completely bored. Janie, Rankin and I went land cruising for about a week visiting the local state parks with Janie as our navigator. Along with all the fun, Rankin had a long list of "honey do's" from his mom which included fixing her kitchen faucet and installing motion sensor lighting. While he was hard at work, I spent time with my family in the Wisconsin Dells which is essentially one big, fun water park. Here are some photos from our travels in Wisconsin.
We loved our visit and the weather was perfect but it was time to continue our travels. We left Viroqua, Wisconsin on Friday, September 3rd and drove to St. Louis spending a few days before driving to Mammoth Cave, Kentucky where we toured the caves. Then we drove to Signal Mountain, Tennessee to visit our good friends Walt & Pat Burgoyne, play a little golf and do a little hang gliding. That's right hang gliding ... it was Pat's idea.
We left Tennessee on Friday, September 17th and slowly made our way south to visit more good friends and family in Baker and Fort Walton Beach, Florida. We spent a week catching up with friends and humiliating family members by camping out in their drive way (sorry Aunt Betty). Though it was a quick trip, it was wonderful to see everyone again.
By Saturday, October 2nd we were back in Bradenton, Florida moving a few "survival" items on the boat ... that's right the espresso machine. Boy, the Heart looked great and it was great to be home again so much room especially compared to little Molly (19 foot RV). By November 9th, we had an offer on the boat and accepted it. By December 1st, the Heart of Texas was sold, by the 4th we were completely moved off and by the 5th we were showing the new owner John Hunt the boat systems. See the photos below. John Hunt, the new owner, looks very happy!
Since the Heart sold, we've been looking at boats and exploring some of the National and State Parks in Florida. We've thoroughly enjoyed exploring and discovering this wonderful resources available to us. Here are some pictures below. Everglades National Park
Lake Manatee State Park
Ortona Park
This takes us to the latest scoop What's Happening or perhaps check out our trip to Ecuador and Galapagos Islands it's worth the visit or just relax and spend a little time clicking around. |
