From the land of brown and grey to the land of green

lining up for turkey dinner

table set waiting for occupants

loaded and ready to go

streets of NYC

The lights of Broadway

David,Deb,Naomi and Mike

Our Home

Note the trees are GREEN

From the land of brown and grey to the land of green


We are now settled into our spot at the Great Outdoors in Titusville Florida. The journey started the Saturday before Thanksgiving at 8AM and it was 23 degrees that morning. Our drive to Long Island was uneventful.  The truck was loaded to the gills, the bed was packed denser than uranium, the back seat was piled up to the headrest, two kayaks on the rack above the bed and three bikes mounted on the back. The first stop was in West Boylston Massachusetts to visit with Diana's father. After a brief visit we were back on the road to Long Island. This leg of the journey took a mere 4 hours. The miracle was we did not encounter any traffic on the Long Island Expressway. Yea!

The next day we drove (Angelo did the driving) into NYC to meet up with all of David's siblings and their respective spouses.  I can't even dream about driving our big truck into "The City". We saw the Broadway show “On The Town” and had a great meal with even better fellowship after the show.

Thanksgiving day, a very special day perhaps made more special than in the past given the events of this summer. David's sister Debbie and her husband Angelo hosted a great meal for 26 family members all of which  contributed to the spread. The day after Thanksgiving was spent at David's other sisters, Naomi and her husband Hans’s house for more good food and fellowship.

The next morning we pulled out of Happaugue Long Island at 5 AM sharp for the next leg of our journey to Florida. With the early Saturday start, it was clear sailing out of the Metropolitan area. Our original plan was to stop somewhere in South Carolina and finish up the next day. With Diana’s help driving  David could get a break. He felt good so we continued on and arrived in Titusville at our friend's Dick and Andrea's house at 11 PM.

Taking possession of our Airstream didn't go as smooth as we wanted. For the last three weeks we phoned and emailed the dealership who sold us the trailer to make sure everything would go smoothly so we could take delivery of the Airstream on Dec. first. It didn't happen. We arrived in Winter Park promptly as instructed at 10:30 on the first and the trailer was nowhere to be see. It was still at the storage facility. When it showed up they were to take us through the process of hooking up the Hensley hitch that came with the trailer, however they didn't do their homework. There were missing and broken parts. After several hours of going nowhere they said they would deliver the trailer to Titusville and install the new hitch in Titusville once they ordered the necessary parts. 

We are now on our rented lot at the Great Outdoors in Titusville. After several days of stowing our gear and figuring out the systems of the trailer we have taken some time for fun stuff.

We have been riding our bikes around the park, 16 miles of roads. Walking down to the bath house to do laundry. It reminds us of our days on the boat having to tote the West Marine buggy filled with laundry. David has found new roadways to do his 30-40 mile rides. He went to Christmas (yes it is a real town here).  Today we met friends and learned how to play pickleball. Yes even Diana was on the court swinging the paddle. We ended the day in the pool then hot tub. 
 

Another Season Comes To An End

Abe and David White Mountains

Acorn Woodpecker

California Coast

David and Eamon compare tattoos

Diana and Marg in Duke Garden

David, Charlie-Diana'Dad and Diana

Diana, Bill and Maggie

Dry Creek Vally California

Fall Colors Wilson Lake

Fenway Park

First Snow Wilson Lake

Islands off Maine Coast

Big Sur Coast

Semipalmated Plover

Stellar Jay

Sunrise Wilson Lake

Zach and Diana

Another season comes to an end. We can’t believe that it is time to head south again. It seems as though we just pulled down Finch Road with the sights, smells and sounds of spring around us. Based on the current weather it could be said we should have gone well before now!

This summer has been filled with many great times and some not so great. The bad times first. Diana was diagnosed with breast cancer the end of July. The journey has been tumultuous but is culminating with a soft landing. The good news is that after lumpectomy and sentinel lymph node removal her surgeon declared her cancer free. Further tests indicate that chemotherapy would not have any added benefit. Radiation therapy will finish up this week and should reduce possible reoccurrence.

The fun stuff included a visit from Eamon in June and Abe in July. Shortly after getting back to Maine we flew out to the west coast to visit with Zach in Los Angles and then on to Petaluma to visit with Diana’s sister and her family. In addition to great times with family we did some exploring in the Big Sur area. The scenery was spectacular; the hikes offered everything from waterfalls to magnificent vistas and large coastal reewoods. One of them afforded us a great view of several California Condors soaring through the air. We were close enough to see the wing tags with our binoculars.

Upon return to Maine David went back to work at The Down Maine Veterinary Clinic for the third summer. It was great to see some of my long-term clients.  Work lasted a little longer this year because Tatiana, a Veterinarian at the practice just had a baby Boy.

For the most part the weather this summer allowed us to enjoy many out door activities. Most days David was able to ride his bike to work. We were able to get the kayaks wet many times; on several occasions as members of the Wilson Lake Plant Patrol where we monitored the lake for invasive plant species. For one 1 long weekend we traveled way Down East to Washington County and did some hiking along the Bold Coast Trail.

It was great to be able to visit with friends over the summer and we will miss them but look forward to getting down to Florida and catching up with our southern friends.  This winters adventure starts with picking up our new to us Airstream Trailer. We hope to spend some time getting used to it and the pushing off to our nomadic travels.

From the land of warmth and green to the land of cold and brown

From the land of warmth and green to the land of cold and brown.

Well where do we begin. Our journey from FL. is complete. We are saddened to leave Geo Nova behind but look forward to our new adventures in our Airstream.

I guess we should back up a bit and fill you in on all that has taken place. Once we put he boat up for sale we had to keep it ship shape for showing it. After 3 weeks a man came and looked at her. It didn't pan out. (thank goodness because Diana didn't like him) 2 weeks later our broker called all excited. He had a call from 2 couples, one from the mid west and one from the DC area. The couple from the DC area saw the information about Geo Nova on the web site and fell in love with her. We scheduled a showing and the broker said he wanted us on the boat for it. When they walked up the dock we knew before they even got on the boat they would buy her. Pat and Patti were shown the boat. Diana made lunch for everyone. We talked with them about Geo Nova. They said it was on their bucket list to go cruising. When they asked why we were selling we explained it was on our bucket list to go RVing. We had bought an Airstream and next winter we were going to start land cruising. They laughed and said take care of the Airstream because when they get through ocean cruising that's what they plan to do next. We signed papers and the next step was to have the boat surveyed. It's like a house inspection. The date was made for April 28th. The surveyor went up the mast in the lockers and all through the boat. Since she was in the water we had to go to the marina next door and have her hauled so the bottom could be inspected. Then it was out in the river going back and forth taking sails out and checking the engine. Once back at the dock the surveyor told us about a few minor things that needed attention. Pat said I’d take care of everything. With that said the paperwork and banking work was completed on May 6th. Pat and Patti became the new owners of the boat.

Over the past couple of months since making the decision to sell the boat we investigated RV's of all types including trailers, buses and 5th wheels. We made the choice to go with an Airstream trailer. We were at the right place and right time. A 2012 used 30 ft long trailer, only used 4 times, came on the market so we bought it. Part of the deal was the company would store the trailer until next December and deliver it to the park we wanted it at. A win win situation for us. We then started to look at the type of vehicle we would need to tow the Airstream and found out the Sequoia wouldn't cut the mustard. We'll again a deal was presented to us so we drove back to Maine in our new Ford diesel 250 truck. Thank goodness we bought it. We used it to transport all of the stuff on the boat we could use on the trailer to the trailer. Then we filled the bed with everything that was left to go back to Maine. Even the back seat was full!  

We left Titusville on May 6th and headed to Savannah to spend a couple of days with David's brother Mike and wife Carol. From there we went to Durham NC and looked up old friends of Diana's, Marg and Dave. Diana and Marg used to work together in the lab at the old Watts hospital back in the 70's. Boy has Durham changed. The hospital is now a math and science school for high school students in the state. We took a walk through the Duke gardens. Diana got to add 3 new birds to her life list that we saw at the pond in the gardens. From here we drove to NJ to see David's aunt Irma and Uncle Lou. We had a wonderful dinner and shared our stories with them. When Lou found out we joined the Airstream club and if we do a caravan with them we will need a CB radio. Well thanks to Lou we have one. He gave us one he had. From NJ it was back to Maine but with a stop in Sterling MA to see Diana’s dad who is 90. His roommate had a mother’s day lunch ready and dad had a mother’s day cake (from the store) for Diana. With a stop at the grocery store in NH we were ready for the Camp. The stop at the grocery store was unnecessary because Tatiana and West were kind enough to provision for a meal upon reentry I know it’s a home but we will always call it the Camp. After unloading only a few things we made dinner and relaxed.

The next day was in the 80’s so we got the truck unloaded then got outside work done. David put on his wet suit and we got the dock in! During the afternoon he went to the clinic to get our mail and wine!

It’s cold today, in the 50’s so we are working inside getting everything unpacked, going through 2 boxes of mail and just cleaning up.

We will work on getting things squared away here in Maine for the next several weeks then off to California to visit Zach and Diana’s sister. David will reenter the real world on June 17^th when he reports to work at Down Maine Veterinary Clinic.

All and all it was a fun winter with lots of bird watching, hiking, bike riding and visiting with new and old friends.

We hope to have an additional posting when we get back from California.

Our New Beast

Great Horned Owl

View on a hike

Little Green Heron

Gator and turtle on kayak trip

Another Hike

The Trail

Great Horne Owl and baby

Juvenile Great Horned Owl

South Lake

Our new living room

Our new winter home

Saying goodby to Geo Nova

Loaded tor the trip back to Maine

Change of Plans

PLAN B

We are still in Titusville. We will be here for the rest of the winter/spring. We have had a lot of sleepless nights and stomach aches to come to this decision but we are moving forward and putting the boat up for sale. We talked to a broker on Thursday and signed the papers this morning.

We both have mixed emotions about this but have decided to move forward. It’s been 25 years of adventure, fun, work and pain but we are ready to try something else. Our plan is to continue birding, hiking, biking, line dancing, beaching it and just enjoying life here until May. We will be going to visit Abe again. The Savannah music festival is in March so we will hope to catch some of that. If the boat doesn’t sell we may do the Bahamas next year. If the boat sells right off we’ll come up with Plan C.

If the boat sells we think we might look into a camper/trailer so we can start land cruising. After watching the winter weather in New England this past year, we defiantly don’t want to spend winters north. So only time will tell where and what we will be doing.

I hope you were sitting down when you read this. We know its quite startling news.

Well we are on to the next adventure but in just another fashion!

We will be driving back to Maine in May. The end of May/June we will be flying out to LA to see Zach then driving up to Petaluma to visit Maggie and Mara then back to Maine so David can go back to work the middle of June.

That’s the Plan B for now anyway.

Semipalmated Plover

Time To Say Goodyby to Titusville

Canaveral National Seashore

Greater Yellow Legs

Northern Pin-tail Duck

Smyrna Dunes Park

Purple Sandpiper

Snowy Egret

R

Sandwich Turn

American Bittern

Great Blue Heron Goes Spear Fishing

Savannah Sparow

Green Winged teal Duck

Well it is now Feb. 23. We have been enjoying our extra time here in Titusville. We are glad we stayed to see after Dick. The weekend after David took him to the doctors he got very sick. We convinced him he should go to the emergency room to get checked out. The good news is that the hernias didn’t have any intestine twisted in them. He now has an appointment to see a surgeon tomorrow. We will see what happens next.

A few weeks ago we went birding in the Orlando Wetland Park. It is about a 30-minute drive from here. It has miles of dikes you can walk on between the wetlands. We started out on a 2 ½ mile loop. Seeing lots of birds and gators. At one point we had to wait for a gator to cross the dike so we could continue. Well we were about 2 miles around the loop when David noticed he lost the lens cap to his new camera. There was a bench with a beautiful view so I stayed with all of the birding gear (scope, cameras, binos, backpacks and water bottles) so David could quickly back track to where we last had to put the cap on the camera (about 1/2 a mile to check). Well just around the corner was the first obstacle, remember the gator that we had to wait to cross the dike. With in a few minutes of David leaving I hear a growl/roar. What the hell! It’s then behind me, all around me. I use the binos to check out where I first thought it came from. Sure enough I get to see my first gator growl/roar. It was about 14 feet long, sticking it’s head straight up out of the water along with the tail straight up, it almost looked like a U. The throat billowed out then the growl/roar. It got them all started. After the gator did this about 6-7 times with others around responding it stopped. Well I continued to bird and gator watch thinking David should be back any minute. After about 45 minutes I got worried so I called David. He had backtracked the whole 2 miles because when the gator roared he thought it was following him because of where the sounds were coming from so once he got to the ½ mile mark he didn’t want to come back the same way to me because of the roars. He was freaked out (scared). Needless to say we survived to tell the story.

Last weekend Abe invited us down to his place. We went down on Thursday because he had the next 3 days off.  When he got off work we went to a brewery for beer and burgers and met a couple of his friends.

Friday I dropped off David and Abe at the beach to go out on their paddleboards. I forgot to bring a bathing suit so I went out to buy one. David said it was a challenge to stay on the board for more than 3 seconds. Later in the day we went for a walk to check out a property for sale that Abe thought he might be interested in. It was about 2 miles from where he lives now. It was a great walk along the ocean avenue. It turned out to be an old hotel turned into a co-op. The realtor was showing it to a friend so we got to go inside. She also told us about another co-op for rent right across from the beach so we checked that out on our walk back. When we got back to Abe’s neighborhood he saw an open house sign so we had to check out the 1.9 million dollar house.  It was interesting to see how the wealthy live. It had an elevator, marble staircase, and a master bathroom bigger than Abe’s apartment and a kitchen with 2 of everything, needless to say over the top.

Saturday we took another walk to the jetty about a mile and a half from Abe’s. He has a great apartment right at the foot of the intercostals waterway bridge, once over it you have to walk past the mansions to get to the public park to access the beach. Late afternoon Abe and David loaded up the boards and drove to join a group of boarders for a full moon night paddle in Lake Worth inlet. They left before dark and paddled out to Peanut Island to watch the moonrise then headed back to the main land. I‘ve only been on the board twice and knew it would be too much for me for a first trip boarding so with nothing better to do I cleaned Abe’s apartment and did laundry. The guys came back with some great pizza to end the night.

Sunday we packed up after breakfast with Abe and headed out to do some birding on the way home. David and I have been using a birding app on our phones to find birding hot spots that have birds we haven’t seen before. We have been having a great time exploring new spots and finding new birds.

Before we left for Abe’s we poured a ½ gallon of vinegar down the aft head to clean it out while we were gone. Well good news is that it cleaned it out but it also loosened up the mineral deposits that have built up in the hoses over 14 years to the point that pipes got blocked. We borrowed a snake from Dick. After working the pipes we decided it was best to order new hoses and replace what we could get to. Now mind you when they built the boat they didn’t consider replacement issues so they cable tied the hoses together under the floor where we couldn’t reach it to cut it. After much swearing we got help. Paid a guy with thinner arms than David to try to reach and cut them. He did and in 2 minutes the old pipe was out and the new one in. Thankfully we stayed at Dick and Andrea’s while the bathroom was torn apart for 3 day.

I have been making bracelets with a new design using a button, beads and leather. It’s a lot of fun. I’ll need to send a package to the farm stand so they can be sold while I’m gone.

Yesterday we went to a Greek festival for the food and dancing. David had never seen any Greek dancing. When I ate one of the cookies it brought back a flood of memories for me from Worcester. The 2 decker I grew up in was a block from a Greek orthodox church and a Greek family moved in on the first floor. Because of the language issue I never got the name of the cookie but always tried to see how they were made. Yia-yia didn’t have a recipe written down. She used her hands, a little of this a little of that.

After lunch we had to go to the beer festival that was in the next town. They had 60 different beers, some we had had before. I was driving back so I only tasted a few. David enjoyed many tastings. The down side to the day was getting back to the car (we parked on the other side of the mall from the brew tasting) someone backed out of their spot and took the left rear wheel well cover and bumper off our car. We were able to bang things back in place but another issue to deal with. Tomorrow the insurance adjuster checks it out.

We have checked weather out and it looks as if we will have a good window Wednesday into Thursday to go south to Miami. We hope to leave Titusville on Tuesday afternoon and go the 20 miles down to the lock at Cape Canaveral. We will anchor and wait to get through at 8am Wednesday.

It’s been wonderful here but it’s time to move on so we can spend a couple of months in the Bahamas. We’ll let you know when we get to Miami and when we plan to cross to the Bahamas.

Diana's Handy Work

Diana's Handy Work

Diana's Handy Work

Paddle Boarding At Sunset