We were off and running before 7 am with clear skies, calm winds and a temperature of 67°F. A few hundred yards down the canal, the engine sputtered and quit! The only time that had ever happened before was when we changed fuel tanks underway and there was a lag before the second fuel tank could kick in. This time, however, we weren’t doing any switching. Gale was able to get the engine going again; we motored for a short distance, and it died again. No motor power – no wind power. We were simply floating along in the middle of the canal. Not to worry, Gale determined that there was a broken wire between the solenoid and the fuel lift pump. He replaced the wire and we were moving down the waterway once again.
On the west side of Lake Okeechobee, we had three locks to pass through and three bridges that had to be opened for us before arriving at our anchorage in an oxbow at mile 124.3 of the Okeechobee Waterway. As the sun was setting, we lowered the dinghy and Gale took it into the marina nearby where he tied it up and walked a mile to a shopping center to buy some cold medicine. He came down with a cold over the weekend in Boca and it was really getting him down. He returned to the boat around 7 pm where Maureen fixed baked chicken and mashed potatoes for dinner.
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