Hello from the middle of Florida. I am sorry, but this is Crackerville!!! We got to Rock Chalk on Thursday night, Feb. 10th at the Whiticar Boat Yard where we were having her serviced for her 2000 hr. update. They did a good job, and the engines are like new. Bob and Jean are with us, and they are wanting to complete the trip that they had always wanted to do, ie. cross Florida on the Okeechobee canal. We found a great marina in Stuart at the beginning of the canal called Sunset Bay Marina. From there we have headed across Florida in a ditch basically until we got to the lake today. Winds were out of the north this morning at 20 so we had some waves just like summer on Lake Cheney. Rock Chalk did well at 18 kts. and it took about 2 hrs. to cross the lake. It was really pretty straight forward.

Then we got to Clewiston where we thought we would stay at the famous Roland Martin Marina, made famous by the TV show and the bass fisherman. What a dump! They had more yellow tape around the docks than a murder scene. Nothing was working and the only person around the marina, was this 18 yr old girl who knew how to let you buy a souvenir, but had no clue how to do a pump out.

So we are now in search of a pump out. For those of you who are not nautical, that means that our black water tanks are full, and there is no place to dump them. Yikes! So we pushed on to Moore Haven, and when I say that we are in the middle of crackers, this is the epicenter. Most of the bubbas are bass fishermen, but I would tell you that the prevalent house here is a double wide. Shelley and I got the foldable bikes out and rode around Moore Haven. Not much to see but at least we got another six pack of beer.

Bob and Jean are doing great on the boat. There are many many steps on this boat, and I will challenge all of you that if you come on this boat, your legs will be sore. So they are doing well. Bob even rode the bike today. Jean is helping me navigate, as she used to fly.

We are headed to Ft. Meyers tomorrow, then on to Pine Island. Bob and Jean will meet up with many of their friends. From there who knows. Isn"t this what a boat is about, not a huge plan but playing it by what feels right. That is what we will do after we drop off Bob and Jean on Friday. We might leave the boat at Burnt Store Marina near Pine Island, or go on up to Tampa. Once we make a decision, then I will blog about it. Hope you are all OK. Marc