Sunday April 4th.

Hello all. Several of you have asked us to post photos of Rock Chalk or our sights alone the way, but there is one big problem. Shelley left the connector which goes from her camera (which has some great shots on it) to her computer in Austin. So no photos until we get home.

We spent Saturday night and today in New Smyrna Beach, Fl. We have been going hard for 10 to 12 hour days since last Sunday, so we thought we would take Easter Sunday as a rest day. Plus Shelley's folks, Bob and Jean, are here in their RV. They are headed from Austin to Ft. Meyers for a reunion of their friends. So they came over to the east coast last night and we had a nice day with them today. Plus they have a car. You forget how we take granted of just running to HEB or WalMart. With no car and not many Walmarts on the Intercoastal, that has been a challenge. So we did some resupplying today.

It also gave me a chance to play "Joe Mechanic" and check all the preflight items on the engines and water intakes. Everything has been working well, and I am hoping that does not change. We are once again going to take advantage of this beautiful calm weather and run outside in the ocean tomorrow up to St. Augustine. That is a big 70 mile day and skips Daytona Beach and some slow areas on the Intercoastal. The winds are forecast to be less than 15 mph and from the SE which will only help push us from the rear. That is the plan, even though everyone says the entry at St. Augustine is tricky. So Mike Priede if you are reading this tonight, and that is right, call by 7:00 am eastern tomorrow morning.

Another cool experience is the Shuttle launch tomorrow morning (Monday) at 6:20 am. That is an hour before sunrise, and the launch pad is only 25 miles south of us. If it goes it ought to be an experience of a lifetime for us. We are going to walk two blocks up onto the bridge over the intercoastal, which puts us about 90 ft in the air. Anyone bet that it scrubs out for some mechanical problem?

Today's free time also gave me a chance to study the charts ahead for the tricky Georgia/South Carolina part of the trip. So far the Intercoastal is like a river that runs parrallel a half mile from the ocean. After St. Ausgstine it weaves its way through rivers, creeks, across major inlets like the St. John river in Jacksonville, and not a whole lot of road signs telling us where we are. But we have our paper charts that are clearly marked and with some teamwork, we can do this. It also helps my chartplotter gives us our location but yesterday it lost its fix. When you rely on that technology and it goes away, there is a real pit in one's stomach that quickly moves to your bowels. Luckily it did not last long and it rebooted, but I had to go change clothes.

Stay in touch. From Rock Chalk Marc and Shelley