Trip South

We left Oriental, NC 13 Jan 09, for a 5 day trip on to Isle-of-Palm, SC. As you can see by the icicles on Cats Cradle the weather was cold so we stopped at marinas every night along the way. During the days we stayed fairly comfortable thanks to an alcohol heater and our enclosed cockpit, especially when the sun is shining. Arrived at friend Arlene's for a few days rest and a pleasant visit. The plan is to continue on our way within the next 2 days, proceeding on to our final destination for this year, Jacksonville, FL. The first order of business will be to pick up our generator so that we can be self sustaining once again. Then Bernie will be working for West Marine for 2-3 months.

Sadly, we received news of the death of Carol's Uncle Tom in upstate New York. Our thoughts are with family.

Our new mast

Cats Cradle had her new mast stepped Christmas Eve day, we had left on a road trip the day before so didn't see it happening but were pleased with the progress. We spent a few days over Christmas with family in Lancaster, PA. The yard closed down right after putting our mast in until 5 Jan, when they returned the remaining work went fairly quickly. For now we have been put back together well enough to proceed on to Jacksonville, Fl where Bernie will be working for a couple of months. Sometime Apr/May time frame we will be returning to Deaton's for more damage repair. Good friends Joyce & Paul drove down from the Richmond area to help celebrate Bernie's birthday on the 2nd, so good to see them. Our stay in Oriental has been made much easier with the hospitality of Tom & Joyce of "Whispering Seas", as well as the friendly people of Oriental. We now have some cold weather traveling to do -- the flannel sheets are on the bed and we have plenty of fuel for the alcohol heater, so we will press on.