To the North and Back

Day 147

Miles today:    0  Total miles: 2,744

Hours today:    0

Locks today: 0.    Total locks: 34

We have been MIA from this blog for the past 3 weeks or so. We flew home to move out of our house- we decided to put it up for sale somewhat spontaneously when we were home for the holidays. It sold in about a month, so of course we needed to move out. After shuffling some furniture to each of our three children and numerous trips to Goodwill, we successfully combined the contents of this house with furniture in our vacation house on the beautiful Upper Mississippi River. What a hassle- changes to utilities, insurance, address, security systems, banking, etc. etc. But now we are well settled in one house and it feels wonderful!

Historically we have moved on either the hottest, coldest, or wettest day of the year. This time, the weather was ideal. We loved seeing the ice leave the river over the course of a week as temperatures reached the 70's consistently, and even 80 degrees one day.

Wonder what this raccoon had in mind...

It was great to spend time with family and to simplify our lives considerably. Now we are back on the boat and are making plans to continue our journey.

We shared docktails with Bill and Laura from Kindred Spirit last night- new friends are such a blessing! We all plan to attend the MTOA Rendezvous in Daytona Beach next month. We will leave Punta Gorda sometime next week and head for the Okeechobee Waterway to cross Florida.

Mark is attending continuing education classes in Fort Myers this weekend while I enjoy time to work on photography and putter around the boat. It's good to be back!

Mara Beel must have a cousin??

Enjoying Punta Gorda's Laishley Park