Sunday, October 11, 2009

We left Green Turtle Bay and our mooring ball at 1:15 pm and headed through the canal between Lake Barkley and Kentucky Lake. We put the sail up as soon as we hit Kentucky Lake, even though there wasn’t very much wind, and enjoyed a very leisurely 2-knot pace to Duncan Bay where we dropped our anchor for the night. During the afternoon, the sun came out and began warming things back up, making a very nice ending for the day. The anchorage was lovely; we let the dinghy down and walked along the beach where we found thousands of unbroken snail shells and breathtakingly beautiful fall foliage. A mature bald eagle watched us from his perch in a dead tree along the beach while we hunted for shells. The sunset was spectacular!

Saturday, October 10, 2009

It was cold and overcast when we awoke. After a quick breakfast, we left Lucy on board and dinghied into shore before 9 am to drive to Paducah. We stopped at a couple of different shops and picked up a few more items before finally returning the rental car at 11 am. The agent from Enterprise gave us a ride back to the marina along with Adele and her Portuguese Waterdog. Adele single-hands Rosebud, a 22-foot Westsail sailboat. She mentioned that she used to pilot the excursion boat Windy out of Chicago Harbor but decided to leave that behind and take off on her own boat as soon as she became eligible for Social Security.

We had originally thought that we would walk into town today to take part in the Harvest Festival, but it was cold and we were still tired from our Iowa trip so we changed our minds and spent the rest of the afternoon resting, putting things away and updating the blog.

Tonight was the University of Iowa’s Homecoming and they were scheduled to play Michigan. Gale had checked in at the Yacht Club’s restaurant earlier in the day and they said we could watch the game in their bar on one of the two available televisions. We brought our box o’wine, shared an entrée of stuffed orange roughy, and watched Iowa squeak out a win, 30 to 27.

Friday, October 9, 2009

We were up at 4:30 am and left quietly as soon as everything was gathered together. Around 7:30 am we received a text message from Jess saying that Baby Jake had slept through the night all the way until 7 am! She was elated! Thank You, Modern Medicine!

The drive was relaxing and uneventful - the only stops we made on the way back were for gas and snacks, and we arrived in Paducah at 3:30 pm where we picked up some groceries and stopped at the liquor store. When we got to the marina at 5:30 pm we began loading up the dinghy with our traveling gear and our purchases. Just as we had about half of our items in the dinghy, the wind came up and the rain came down – hard!! We were told that it had been raining pretty much the whole time we were gone. We waited out the worst of the storm, finished loading things up and motored out to the boat. Gale made one more trip back to the main dock for another load while Maureen started putting things away. At 7 pm, everything was on board and most of it had been tucked into its place, so we sat down for a couple of glasses of wine and went to bed!

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Oh, Happy Day! Baby Jake slept through the night! Jess was so excited when she got up this morning and told us that Jake slept all the way from 10 pm to 5 am! Until last night, Jake had been waking up about every 2 or 3 hours needing comforting. Hopefully, the trend will continue.

Gale’s doctor appointment was at 1:30 so he spent the morning conducting some business and doing some research on the internet. Jess took Maureen with her for moral support as she went on a few sales calls. Maureen actually just waited for her in the car while Jess went in to see her customers. Jess said it helped just having her mom with her as she tried to get back into the work routine this week after being home on maternity leave for the past two months. Jess and Maureen enjoyed a terrific lunch at an Asian restaurant where you build your own stir fry. They also did a little shopping between sales calls but made it back home in time to pick up the little boys from daycare at 5 pm. Gale came home about the same time – Joe was a little later. Maureen made stroganoff for dinner which was a big hit for everyone. JT even had seconds! After a couple glasses of wine, everyone was in bed again by 10 pm.

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

We were up at 4 am to finish packing and to make sure the boat was secure in every way before leaving for Des Moines. We were on the road shortly before 6 am and had an enjoyable, albeit long, drive to Iowa. After a quick stop in Iowa City to see Kelle we arrived at Jess, Joe, JT and Jake Spalding’s house in Urbandale (Des Moines) just before 7:30 pm. We had stopped and picked up Asian food at a Tsing Tsao restaurant and were pleased to see that both JT and Jake, our youngest grandsons, were still up.

Joe was working the late shift at his restaurant, so Jess, JT, Gale and Maureen enjoyed our takeout meal before it was time for the kids’ baths. Jake had been to see the doctor today and was diagnosed with “baby reflux.” Everyone was hoping the new medication would help settle his stomach and allow him and his mom and dad to rest better at night, too. Everyone but Joe was in bed by 10 pm – he came in about an hour later and said there wasn’t a sound to be heard anywhere in the house.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

There was a strong, steady rain during the night; however, when we got up, the rain had stopped – for the moment, anyway. We grabbed our shower supplies as well as the laundry, and walked up the hill to the facilities leaving Lucy behind. Maureen took a few moments to start a load of laundry and before she could get into the shower, she heard a dog barking that sounded very much like Lucy. Dexter from Hard Hat, a Hatteras trawler, was attempting to get into a golf cart while Lucy was barking at him from a few feet away and sounding very aggressive. Fortunately, Dexter had owned several pit bulls and knew that these dogs generally do not attack people. Maureen accepted a ride back to the boat in the cart and put Lucy back inside – this time shutting the door. It had begun to thunder in the distance and Lucy was a little frightened.

By now it had started to rain again. Maureen was able to work her shower and primping in between loads of laundry and just decided to stay where she was until the chores were completed. It rained buckets for about 3 hours!! By 12:30 pm, the rain let up, the laundry was done and we left the slip at Kentucky Dam Village Marina for Green Turtle Bay Marina where we had reserved a mooring ball for the next few days while we traveled back to Iowa. We arrived at GTB at 2:30 pm; secured the boat to the mooring ball; let the dinghy down and took it to shore where the car rental agency out of Paducah picked Gale up at 3 pm. Maureen stayed aboard the boat to make beds, put laundry away and straighten things up a bit. Lucy “pined away” at the back step of the boat until Gale returned at 5 pm with a DVD he had picked up at the marina office. We watched “Out of Time,” starring Denzel Washington, on the laptop as we enjoyed some wine, hors d’oeuvres and the movie.

Monday, October 5, 2009

We slept in until 8 this morning. It was feeling rather cold and damp with the nice rain we had last night and temperatures in the 50’s. After breakfast, Gale and the boys took Lucy out for a walk and then came back to play a few rounds of Blokus. Finally around 11 am they deemed it warm enough to go out fishing in the dinghy. After about an hour with no bites, they were back on the boat and looking for some lunch. We scrounged what we could from the refrigerator and came up with enough to satisfy two growing boys and two adults. We had planned to rent a car and drive back for an appointment in Des Moines on Wednesday, so the food supply on board was down to a minimum.

Tony arrived about 2:30 pm while Gale had the boys out in the dinghy catching small pan fish. They were within a few yards from the boat and the boys hollered at their dad that they were having some good luck fishing. When everyone was back on the boat, we visited for a few minutes before walking our company back up to their vehicle. We said our goodbyes and made plans for one more possible get together before we left the Kentucky Lakes area.

It was now time to figure out how we were going to watch tonight's Monday Night Football game -- a highly anticipated matchup between the Green Bay Packers and the Minnesota Vikings. If you are a football fan, you would know that Brett Favre was the star quarterback for the Green Bay Packers for 17 years but was traded to the Vikings last year. Maureen spent some time on the internet trying to figure out how to get the game on the computer without having to subscribe to a service for a year or more. When Gale went to the marina office to pay for another night in the slip, he asked the manager if there was a sports bar nearby that we could walk to. Evidently the nearest sports bar was in Paducah, 25 miles away. We kept forgetting that we were in a “dry county” surrounded by other “dry counties” so there were no bars close to our location. The manager then mentioned that if we’d like to, we could use Houseboat #10 – he would leave it open and the television tuned to ESPN.

After a quick dinner, we walked down the dock to Houseboat #10 and entered a luxurious yacht with a living / dining / galley area that could accommodate more than a dozen people. There were six staterooms – each with a queen-sized bed and vanity with sink. There were also two full baths. All of this was part of the main living space. Then, on top of the boat, not only was there a place to pilot the yacht, but also a wet bar, a huge hot tub and a large open area big enough to hold a dance! We certainly enjoyed watching Minnesota beat Green Bay aboard this beautiful boat.