Finishing UpWe only had a few days to bring the tasks we were involved in at Faith to a close. Dave published the church’s website and turned over the daily maintenance to the church members. With Rigo’s help we re-positioned the serving equipment and tables into the school’s cafe, clearing the way for them to serve hot lunches. After a particularly rainy couple of days, it became apparent that the house rented by World Relief needed some attention to its roof. Ken and Dave spent an afternoon getting covered in muck cleaning it off. All in a day’s work.
Although the work on Peeler progressed slowly this season, by early April the contractor had finally replaced the roof, having constructed soffits on the side where the addition was removed. Although the contractor still had more to do, the new soffits were all bare wood that needed to be painted. So with Sandy and Ken’s help we primed and caulked all the bare wood. That was the best we could do in the time we had left.

Finally, there was one more task to do. On our last Saturday, Kim from Kim’s Open Door called asking if Dave could drive the bus to the tutoring program on Saturday. Sure thing. And with that done, we were done for the season. Sandy had left the Wednesday before. Ken and Karen headed out that same Saturday. And on Monday, it was our turn to say goodbye.   

Until November . . . well sort of.

Boat Stuff

The list of tasks needed to get Orion Jr back on the road and on the water was getting shorter. Dave checked the tires and topped off their air pressure. He also moved the tire pressure sensors from the RV and reprogrammed the Tire Pressure Monitor at the lower pressure required. After some debate, we decided to replace the batteries on the boat with 2 new Marine group 24 batteries. The load they could carry would be 25% less (150 amp-hours vs 200), but the advantage of having fresh batteries (and therefore a known entity) at a good price was worth the change.

Then, there were the leaks. The rain that exposed problems at the house next door, also reminded us of problems on the boat. The port side settee in the Main Saloon had a huge puddle of water. And the bilge pumped out a lot of water. We were able to eliminate several possible sources (portlights, hatch boards, shrouds), but narrowed in on a small crack in the port cockpit seat. We made a temporary repair and will look for the next rain to see if we are right.

As people asked how much longer we would be around, Cathy’s response was “if you see that mast still on the ground, you know we’re not going anywhere too soon.” Well that changed on the Thursday before we left. With Rigo and Ken’s help, we pretty easily hefted it on deck and secured it for travel. Orion Jr was ready to hit the road.

Visiting Harry and Friends

Cathy’s 60th birthday had a delayed reward. After the last of the Spring Break crowds had departed, we headed to Orlando to visit Universal Studios and the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. We tasted some butterbeer, shopped at Honeyduke’s in Hogsmeade, rode the Hogwarts Express, watched a wand choose its wizard at Olivanders in Diagon Alley, and even ventured into Knockturn Alley. We toured Hogwarts and took the Forbidden Journey ride into the chamber of secrets and rode with Harry and crew on their escape from Gringotts. There were lots of wand-waving wizards around, but we left the magic tricks to those who were willing to pay $50 for a wand. (I don’t think so.)

With four days to tour the two Universal parks, we had plenty of time to explore outside the Harry Potter land. We had a close encounter with a raptor dinosaur (click here to see a video),, rode the brand new (literally on its first day) Fast and Furious ride (pretty cool) and more than a dozen 3D/4D rides with Spiderman, Minions, The Simpsons, The Mummy, Transformers, and more trying to save us from the bad guys or take us to them. There were only 2  rides that had survived the 2 decades since our last visit, but one of them was Men In Black:Alien Attack, which was still a lot of fun. Luckily, it had some of the shortest lines, so we rode it repeatedly trying to improve our scores.   

We watched a few shows, but by far the most dramatic was Fear Factor. They convinced some volunteers to have scorpions crawl on them, drink disgusting stuff and dangle from perilous heights to win prizes. The show ended with a bang (literally) as one competitor dangled from a car hood several stories above the ground. Each day they were looking for volunteers to compete in the next show, but we were satisfied being just spectators.

Just outside the parks was Citywalk, Universal’s dining and shopping area. The one establishment that made an immediate impression was the Chocolate Emporium, conveniently located just outside the entrance to the Islands of Adventure Park. We had supper there one night, but by far the most memorable dishes were their desserts. We tried 2 or 3 of their sundaes over several days. And although we split each one, we were never able to finish one.   

 On a couple of occasions we left the park early. Once to visit with Dave’s sister Wendy and her husband Dave who drove up from Bradenton. And once to see the Blue Man Group show, which was funny and weird but still a good time. We had earned tickets to see it, so our admission was free. By Friday, we were ready to head back “home” to Jacksonville. It had been a good break and a great birthday gift.

The Road North
It took us 2 days to reach Poquoson towing Jr. The first of which was pretty uneventful. But the second day was a different story. Less than an hour out of Lumberton, where we had stopped for the night, a tire pressure alarm sounded. While we had seen a few false alarms over the years since installing them, this was certainly real. The front passenger tire on the trailer was leaking air through a sizable opening on the inside. Big enough that you could hear the air escaping despite the noise of traffic on I95. 

Luck and planning were with us however. Before heading north, Dave had changed our BoatUS insurance to include unlimited towing – which included both on water and trailer towing. Also, after contacting BoatUS, we discovered that we were parked on the side of the road directly in front of a truck service facility. Sure enough, the repair man came to us --- not up I95, but through the fence that separated the facility from us. By the time he arrived, Dave had fired up the generator to put air in the spare tire. It was pretty quick work to then replace the failing tire with the spare. The problem was not a puncture, but a belt failure in the tire. We also learned that we should be keeping our speeds down around 60mph.

Given that information, we pretty quickly turned off the interstate to take another route to Poquoson. We were well on our way to the Virginia Line when another alarm sounded. The same tire? No. This time it was the driver’s side rear tire. As Dave looked to pull over in the small town we were just entering, it looked like the business beside us was a garage. Really? Sure enough, after speaking to the receptionist, we were able to drive around to the service bay and almost immediately a mechanic was jacking up the trailer. This time it wasn’t a bad belt, but rather a bad valve stem. He just needed to deflate the tire, replace the stem and re-inflate it. In less than 30 minutes and for less than $10, we were good to go.

After a very long day, we pulled into Steve and Linda’s yard, very glad to be there. Let’s hope launching the boat will be a little less eventful.

Shortly after we greeted the Easter sunrise in the church courtyard, we found our numbers increased by one with the arrival of our grandson Droz who joined us for a week.  After his departure, Cathy joined her Mom and sisters for a few days to celebrate her mom’s 90th birthday.  In the meantime, we helped wind up projects, as we said goodbye to more of our friends.  The season is about to come to a close.

Yes, Chef

No ditch digging or electrical projects were on the agenda for Droz’ visit this year.  That doesn’t mean he wasn’t busy.  He had signed up to be head cook – i.e.,  chef – at the Wednesday dinner during his visit.  Since he was well into a culinary class at school, he rose to the challenge of planning and preparing a meal for 50 people.  

He had planned the menu before he arrived, so Easter Monday morning was spent preparing a shopping list.  There would be Caesar salad, bruschetta,ziti alfredo, and Black Forest Cake for dessert.  On Tuesday, we headed out to buy the ingredients to a Restaurant supply store and a few more grocery stores.  With the purchases made, Droz dove into preparation that afternoon and all of the next day, assisted by sous chefs Grandma and Grandpa.  

All was going according to plan until Droz detected a gas leak on one of the ovens around lunchtime on Wednesday.  The repairman was called, and Droz scrambled to get his baking done – 4 iterations of cake layers in the one working oven.  To his dismay, the repairmen arrived as the last cakes had just entered the oven.  To fix the problem, they would need to turn off the gas.  It was a race, but the cakes finished just as they had to turn off the gas.  That was close. 
 
The meal was a big hit.  And what leftovers there were managed to disappear over the next couple of days.  There were already discussions about maybe a repeat next year. . 

​When not working on the meal, we managed to break away for a few field trips.  On Friday, we headed to Clara’s for lunch, followed by a tour of Sweet Pete’s – one of Jacksonville’s home-grown candy makers – complete with a custom-made candy bar, taking the Skyway for an overview of the city and the river downtown.  Thursday took us to St. Augustine for the day, touring the fort and the old town on a beautiful, if somewhat blustery, day.

Happy 90th, Mom
 
The Sunday after Easter, we were surprised by a visit from Cathy’s Mom and 2 of her sisters, Carolyn and Chris, who joined us for Sunday service.  They had arrived in St. Simon’s Island GA the night before where the “girls” – Cathy’s mom and her sisters -- gathered later that day for a few days to celebrate Mom’s 90th birthday.  With our arrival, the weather turned blustery and gray, but we had a great time relaxing and reminiscing together while we celebrated Mom’s milestone.

​And Then There Were 5

While the project work continued, the pace started to slow as more of our members prepared to leave for points north.  More staining and painting was done, and at this point, there is almost no bare wood left on campus.  Bobbi and Sandy continued Karen’s work on the front pillars, powerwashing  them so  the rest looked as good as the first few she had done.  Don got the surface cleaner working again, requiring a series of new parts, repaired yet another bathroom fixture, a log splitter tire, deck boards etc.  And Fred repaired doors, the parsonage AC, and made seemingly endless repairs to the golf carts.  In the process, he worked with Jahaziel to help him learn how to keep the carts running and maintained while the Nomads aren’t around.  We’ll see how he does.
 
Dave worked with several members of the church to transition to a new website and calendaring system, and managed to help Pastor Rigo finalize his local pastor application.  It may not have required all the creative work of writing the many pages of papers, but his talents were essential in making sure they were submitted for review by the deadline.
 
Shortly after Droz returned home to go back to school, Fred, Don and Bobbi packed up and headed out.  It was still pretty cold up north, but you gotta do what you gotta do.  

Boat Stuff
 
With the eventual launch of Orion Jr getting closer, our attention is increasingly focused on getting her back in shape.  Cathy finished making all 5 windows for the enclosure (finally!), and then did some stitching on the bimini to reinforce the zippers.  With all the sewing work done, the canvas was stowed in preparation to return the mast to the deck.  

Dave took a drive down to Daytona to deliver our outboards and generator to Blake for servicing.  When we went to pick them up, we found out the generator and Nissan 9.8hp were in great shape.  However, sadly, our dinghy motor was toast.  It had served us well for 11 years, but it wasn’t salvageable.  For our trip in May, we figure the oars will get some use, instead.  The dinghy’s lights got some attention as well, since they wouldn’t turn on initially.  Although Dave managed to resuscitate the all-around light, he ordered replacements for all 3 to be sure we were covered. 
 
As the campground emptied out, we moved the boat to a spot out of the trees, powerwashed the foredeck and washed and waxed the hull.  In the process of moving the boat, we tested the trailer lights and brakes.  You guessed it. One of the sidelights didn’t work and the brake battery was questionable.  More replacements were ordered.  Opening up cockpit lockers to stow some new PFD’s, caused a chain reaction of activities which resulted in cleaning both lockers, changing the fuel filter (and ordering a replacement), and restoring the fuel tanks to their operating position. 
 
With still more to do to get the boat ready to go and RV ready to shut down, we decided it was time to go to Universal Studios and see the Wizarding World of Harry Potter – a delayed birthday present for Cathy.  The boat stuff will still be there when we return.

Parting Shot 
​
​Hemingway couldn’t be left out when everyone gathered in the courtyard before sunrise on Easter Sunday.  She found a way to become the center of attention – as always.