Back in the saddle Again!!

After spending 5 months in Austin, with Rock Chalk sitting in a yard in Stuart Florida, we drove back to see what shape she was in.  Yikes, she was dirty.   Really dirty.  We had a leak in the port side window in the main salon which made the inside smell a bit moldy, but the rest of the inside was fine.   But outside was dirty, and there were no water faucets nearby.   So we had to bring buckets of water 300 yrds, to the boat to do a bit of cleaning until they could splash her the next day.

We had a chance to go to dinner with friends from Colorado who were at a nearby marina on their sailboat for the season in Stuart.   John and Pat spend 9 months a year on their boat, so it was great to catch up with them again.

The next day we headed west up the St. Lucie River/Canal which leads through two locks into Lake Okeechobee.   We had a good weather window to cross the lake, which is known to be very choppy.  All else went well as we entered the Caloosahatchee River which flows down to Ft. Myers on the west coast of Florida.  We spent the night anchored at Pine Island, Shelley's folks old homestead, then on to Caya Costa State Park.
We will have Rock Chalk back at the Endeavour yard in Clearwater on Friday.  She needs a new bottom paint, a good wax job, and those nasty leaks in the windows fixed.  We will drive back to Austin this weekend, but plan to be back on Rock Chalk after Christmas.

So this post is a start to next years adventure.   Not sure where we will go, but isn't that why you buy a boat?   Just look out the harbor and say......"Let's go that way"