So we travelled to the Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville on Monday. What a cool place. The Saturn IV display is HUGE!!! And it is an amazing place showing all the technology that developed out of the space program. And the Orion project (Mars 2030...America's next great ship) is something to be looking forward to!
One tidbit I picked up. Remember when the astronauts used to carry their air machines when they were in full space suits going to the launch pad? I always thought is was for health purposes so they did not pick up any bugs. But they were actually breathing pure oxygen to deplete the nitrogen in their bloodstreams so that they did not get the bends going up (just like a scuba diver ascending too fast). Guess I missed that along the way.....
We had a work day on the boat on Tues (cleaning boat, doing laundry, etc) and left Ditto Landing, churning a bit of mud at winter pool levels, as planned on Wed. Worked our way out of the rain and into a beautiful day in Florence Harbor. Took a nice walk along the shoreline again and had a great dinner aboard. Julie is such a wonderful cook!
So Wed night after my shower I found an overflowing sump pump. OK, have voltage to the unit so the float is working (thanks Courtney for the electrical lessons before we left!) but a blown fuse on the pump. OK I think, old pump, blowing fuses, let's put in the new one I have as a spare. So I did...
Put water in the sump box and it ran. All is good. Not so quick. Fast forward to next days shower, another blown fuse on the new pump. OK, gotta be a clog in the drain line. So with the pressure of the city water hose, we blew it out (after the usual soaking as the connection is not secure when one uses duct tape to secure a garden hose to a discharge line). All is well now. But I can tell you this space was not designed for a 6'4" chief engineer....
After this repair we left for Aqua Harbor. A beautiful day to be on the river. Leaves are getting more color each day. And the chill is definitely in the air after sunset too. We spent a lovely evening on the boat enjoying some more home cooking...grilled brussel sprouts, and chicken. Great stuff!
Friday we drove to Corinth for a dental appointment as one tooth has become extremely sensitive to cold and hot. Mississippi highway in the morning....
It was tough finding a dentist open on a Friday! After X-rays, etc they ascertained that my tooth has just become hypersensitive and they coated it with a substance that is supposed to help. They also gave me some prescription toothpaste to try. We'll see.
Friday we drove to Corinth for a dental appointment as one tooth has become extremely sensitive to cold and hot. Mississippi highway in the morning....
It was tough finding a dentist open on a Friday! After X-rays, etc they ascertained that my tooth has just become hypersensitive and they coated it with a substance that is supposed to help. They also gave me some prescription toothpaste to try. We'll see.
On Friday night a few other boats arrived and we will likely leave here early Monday morning with them to start down the Tenn Tom....only 450 miles to Mobile AL now.
Julie baked some pumpkin muffins and delivered them and a card to Linda on Mazel Tug earlier today as it is her birthday. Hopefully they are well hidden from their dog Chewy!!
Sat afternoon we had to rescue our dinghy from the waves hitting the face dock. We left it in the water as only 9 MPH winds were predicted. But of course we had a rain squall go through with 25 MPH winds, white caps on the lake, and the dinghy bouncing up on the dock. Not the place to be being pounded against the face dock. The picture doesn't realistically show the size of the two foot waves pounding us against the dock.
So a few friends came over, I donned a life jacket and got in her and ran her over to the lee side of the dock. Had to add extra fenders to protect Sum Escape (as did Mazel Tug, LeeLoo and Grand Baron) from banging against the dock as well. How do the weather folks keep their jobs??!!
Ralph was the engineer of the procedure, Carey was the safety officer, Tom B was the dinghy manhandler and I was the pilot with the life jacket. The bilge pump ran for something like 3 minutes as I drove it to safety....it had taken on a lot of rain and wave action water. The pictures show how it had significantly calmed by the time we performed the "rescue".
Julie baked some pumpkin muffins and delivered them and a card to Linda on Mazel Tug earlier today as it is her birthday. Hopefully they are well hidden from their dog Chewy!!
Sat afternoon we had to rescue our dinghy from the waves hitting the face dock. We left it in the water as only 9 MPH winds were predicted. But of course we had a rain squall go through with 25 MPH winds, white caps on the lake, and the dinghy bouncing up on the dock. Not the place to be being pounded against the face dock. The picture doesn't realistically show the size of the two foot waves pounding us against the dock.
So a few friends came over, I donned a life jacket and got in her and ran her over to the lee side of the dock. Had to add extra fenders to protect Sum Escape (as did Mazel Tug, LeeLoo and Grand Baron) from banging against the dock as well. How do the weather folks keep their jobs??!!
Ralph was the engineer of the procedure, Carey was the safety officer, Tom B was the dinghy manhandler and I was the pilot with the life jacket. The bilge pump ran for something like 3 minutes as I drove it to safety....it had taken on a lot of rain and wave action water. The pictures show how it had significantly calmed by the time we performed the "rescue".
We went to dinner with 5 other couples tonight to celebrate two things... Linda on Mazel Tug's birthday and Bill and Annie's (Rock Me, Baby) completion of the Loop! They took two years and 11 days so talking to them about our two year plan was great to compare notes. I think we have the right plan.
October statistics: (wow over two months into our journey...)
Miles travelled: 692 Trip to Date: 1501
Travel days: 14 /27
Engine hours: 84 / 174
Locks: 9 / 23
Bridges opened: 2 / 7
Days on hook or free wall: 4 / 7
Gallons of diesel: 516 / 1072
Thanks for following.
Miles travelled: 692 Trip to Date: 1501
Travel days: 14 /27
Engine hours: 84 / 174
Locks: 9 / 23
Bridges opened: 2 / 7
Days on hook or free wall: 4 / 7
Gallons of diesel: 516 / 1072
Thanks for following.
No comments:
Post a Comment