A Summer Land Trip - What's Next?

We finally arrived back at Punta Gorda and boarded Wrinkles on September 19th. We had a great three month trip visiting 12 states and so many friends. After flying from Punta Gorda to Wisconsin we visited family and friends while staying at Mike's mom's home. We drove down to Columbus, Ohio (along with Matt and Kelley) to visit our oldest son John and his girlfriend Brittnie. After returning to Wisconsin we watched our youngest son marry an amazing young lady. Welcome to the family Kelley.

While in Wisconsin we purchased a used Toyota Corolla to zip around and visit friends. Our trusty little Toyota was going to get quite a workout over the next few weeks. We roughed out a plan to visit friends and family as we slowly made our way back to Wrinkles. The plan included St. Louis to visit our sailing friends Bret and Theresa. From there we would head over to Illinois to see our good friends Steve and Sarah. From Illinois we planned to follow Route 66 all the way to Oklahoma City to visit our daughter Tina. After that we would head eastward to Calico Rock, Arkansas where Kim and Roy (Mike's sister and brother-in-law) live. Next some more miles eastward to stay with Karen and Peter (Brenda's sister and brother-in-law) in Huntsville, Alabama. Finally we planned on spending two days driving down to Punta Gorda. As you all know, plans do change.

We loved visiting each of our family and friends along the way. We shared great times and experienced some really awesome events. We were sad to leave our last stop and head out toward Florida, but it was time to move along. We were keeping a close eye on Hurricane Irma as the forecast was showing she could be passing within a few hundred miles of Punta Gorda. After driving 550 miles we stopped at a motel in Ocala, Florida for the night. The weather reports were consistently showing that Irma was turning ever westward with a potential direct landfall near Punta Gorda. We stayed a couple nights in Ocala to watch Irma's path before deciding whether or not to proceed.

We received a call from our marina telling us we would not be allowed to stay aboard Wrinkles during the hurricane. We made the hard decision to turn back north to stay away from Irma's path. We headed up to Huntsville, Alabama to wait and worry. Thank you so much to Karen and Peter for housing us sailing freeloaders.

Once Irma had finished pounding Florida we allowed a few days for the cleanup crews to do their work and for the fuel supply to be restored. It was hard not to rush out to see Wrinkles, but the crews don't need all of us evacuees getting in their way. Finally we headed south again and made our way to Wrinkles. She had taken the storm without getting even a scratch. We were very lucky!

So after nearly 5500 miles of driving we boarded Wrinkles. It was a funny feeling for us though. We were glad to see Wrinkles, but the sense of excitement we thought we should be experiencing wasn't there. We are not sure how to describe or explain how we did feel. Maybe it was because we knew our plan to spend the winter sailing down to the Keys was probably not going to be possible with the Keys being smashed by Irma. Maybe we are winding down in our desire to continue cruising. Maybe.....we just need to relax here in beautiful Punta Gorda and see what everything looks like in a month or two. We'll see.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Back To Wrinkles - Try Number Two

Huntsville Botanical Gardens

Several days ago we drove to within 3 hours of being back on Wrinkles before Hurricane Irma decided to move westward toward Punta Gorda. We turned around and retraced our route to Brenda's sister's house in Alabama and dumped our stuff in their spare bedroom again. Yes, we are officially freeloaders.

Karen and Peter welcomed us back and have treated us to wonderful food and companionship while we watched the Weather Channel non-stop for days. In between Brenda joined them for a fantastic dinner event at Katie's house. Karen and several of her friends take cooking to another level and enjoy getting together to produce amazing meals. Brenda loved every minute of the event. (Mike was still nursing a cold and decided not to infect everyone in attendance.) We have also toured the lovely Huntsville Botanical Gardens. The grounds, buildings and art are truly gorgeous.

The Chefs

View from Katie's patio.

Butterfly House at Huntsville Botanical Gardens

Now that Irma has passed and the traffic, gas supply, electricity and motel availability have all settled back to close to normal we are going to head back down. We plan on leaving Monday morning and driving to Ocala, FL for the night. Then we will finish the last 3 hours down to Punta Gorda which will leave enough daylight hours to get Wrinkles back in shape to sleep aboard.

It will be good to see Wrinkles and our friends again.

 

Posted with Blogsy

All Is Well With Wrinkles

Wrinkles in her slip this morning.

Wrinkles and Punta Gorda in general dodged Irma's wrath pretty well intact. Luckily Irma turned a bit to the east and spared our area from severe damage. There was plenty of rain and some damage to the trees and buildings, but nothing compared to Naples just south of us. Our thoughts are with those people who were severely affected by Irma. The idea of losing your home to a storm is heartbreaking.

It was wonderful to hear from our friends all over Florida that they and their families were all unharmed. We've also received soothing pictures and assurances from good friends that have checked in on Wrinkles. It is good to know we have a home to go back to.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Irma Takes Aim

Well, this sucks. It appears Irma has set her course north with Punta Gorda dead center in her path. So that means Wrinkles will be right in the eye of this mean storm. Just three days ago it looked like Punta Gorda would be on the far west edge of the storm, but Irma decided to shift west. The forecast is for an 8-10 foot surge near Wrinkles. All we can do now is wait, watch and hope. Our thoughts go out to all those people who have their homes and businesses in Irma's path. If you were brave or crazy enough to remain in Florida, we hope you found a safe spot.

Good luck everyone.

Posted with Blogsy

Hurricane Irma

We were just 3 hours away from Wrinkles when we had to decide whether or not to turn back north. Our good friends Don and Gail have been keeping an eye on Wrinkles in our absence which gives us peace of mind. We left Wrinkles in storm mode with all her canvas off and securely tied in with double lines. She is as prepped as she can be. The marina also called to let us know we wouldn't be allowed to stay aboard Wrinkles during this storm event. That settled our decision and we headed back north to Huntsville, AL.

We drove the 550 miles to Brenda's sister's house where we will nervously watch the weather coverage. We have lots of friends in Irma's path and we hope they all find a safe harbor. Go away Irma, we don't like you!

Be safe dear friends.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Road Trip Is Winding Down

Fishin' with Mario at Domask's Cabin

We have driven from Madison (Wisconsin) to Columbus (Ohio), Lake St. Louis (Missouri), New Baden (Illinois), Oklahoma City (Oklahoma) Calico Rock (Arkansas), Huntsville (Alabama) and are currently in Ocala (Florida). Whew! That was a lot of driving. We have about 3 hours of driving left to get back to Wrinkles in Punta Gorda, but as everyone knows Hurricane Irma is headed in that direction as well. We are at a surprisingly nice, yet inexpensive Howard Johnson's motel watching the weather news as we decide whether or not to stay here in central Florida to ride out the storm.

"Hayride" at Mike's sister's home in Calico Rock

Sharing a drink with Tina at Bricktown

We will watch the weather reports this morning and then decide what to do next. We may just spend one more night here to get a better idea of where Irma plans to go.

Don and Gail - Batten down the hatches and be safe!

 

Posted with Blogsy