3/11/16       Friday        Boot Key/ Marathon, FL


What a Day this has Been....sing along now.  Holy moly it was a busy and disjointed day with LOTS accomplished.

• The solar panels are installed!! They didn't get connected until after the sun was low so we don't know what the gain will be in full sun....but, they are installed. Alex will come back tomorrow to check on them and help us understand them better. He and David worked well together and David had to take some breaths to stay calm. And, the solar panels are installed. If they work according to Alex's advertisement we'll rarely (only when the sun doesn't shine) have to run the engine to charge the batteries for electricity. Think refrigeration!  
• We are better, nearly totally, provisioned for our trip north. I went with Wendy and Dan to get propane and gasoline and groceries this morning while Dave and Alex worked together. They had their rental car from adventures yesterday.
• I had my final chiropractic check up. He, Dr. Felts, did an additional snap/crackle/pop routine. I just have to be careful for a couple days to not lift anything really heavy...like propane tanks or gasoline bottles. Duh! And no hauling in of sails or lifting outboard motors. Double duh. Wait. I live on a boat!

Both David and I (and Wendy and Dan) have our traveling haircuts. Marisa, lives on a boat with Charles, works in a hair salon and cuts hair here in the marina on the side, inexpensively. David kept telling her "shorter" so now he looks like a military recruit.

There's a bit of chaos in ALL our four rooms that we will attack tomorrow more completely. As is always the case when we get ready to leave from somewhere we have in our minds so many things we have to do. Sometimes David stresses so much in trying to get them all done that he gets injured. I've reminded him of this tendency and we're both trying to limit our "have to's". We've agreed that tomorrow we'll work on two new projects in the morning, hit the Seafood Festival early afternoon, meet w/Alex late afternoon and rest before hitting the high seas on Sunday....if Sunday turns out to be the chosen day for departure.

Both of us are feeling a bit at sixes and sevens about leaving...sad and anxious. We'll be leaving comfort and some new friends for adventure and unknown. Personally, I've never liked leaving. Dislike leaving much more than being left. And, philosophically speaking, we're/I'm ALWAYS leaving...this day for the next day (assuming I'm lucky), this place for that place down the road. But those leavings are ordinary...or we think of them as ordinary. In reality, each next step is an unknown, potential adventure. I walked across the very busy US Route 1 this afternoon. THAT was an example of each next step being an adventure, in this case a "what the hell am I thinking" anxious adventure. Standing in the turn lane of a busy highway is stupid. I recommend NOT doing it. Just don't cross such a busy highway except at a traffic light. Personal experience of terror aside, each next step is into the unknown. So there.

We visited Don and Deana to check out potential hauling device for our dinghy to get it out of the water as we travel, and James Brown (! I feel good) who has a Nauticat much like ours. He has a shower though. We definitely have shower envy. His boat also has a hatch in the head for light and ventilation. Oh. Oh. Oh. Look. Look. Look. And, a composting toilet in the aft cabin w/his double berth. My, oh my. Ideas to emulate, especially the shower and hatch.

Hmmmmmmmmm. Pretty night. Cooler. Much less wind.