July 8, 2010 What to do about the blog??

Hello to all our friends, family and recent kinky oriental commentors.

I have been in a real quandary this past month over what to do with the blog. The recent spate of afore-mentioned comments has confirmed my thoughts that I will stop posting. While the life adventures certainly continue for the captain and me, this blog was about THE TRIP.

Secondly, while I enjoy sharing adventures with friends and family, I no longer need to share with the world. I do not need the world reading about where we live, what house we bought, where we work, when we travel, what we drive, etc, etc. ad infinitum. Internet security (or lack of) and data-mining programs scare me silly. My deep-seated need for personal privacy wins. I just can't do it. William Wordsworth said it best: the world is too much with us. That sonnet is as applicable to modern life today as it was when written 200 years ago.
For the record, I feel the same way about all those social networking websites. Buyer Beware!

So, briefly, we are about settled in the Kemah area. I am working full-time and Craig returns in a week or so. The marina is beautiful and we look forward to closing on the house at the end of the month. We are fortunate to have both families close in Dallas and lots of friends here already; many are boat owners who have been cruising or are going cruising. Although it will be a goodly while before we take off again, we are scheming the where/when/how/new boat (yikes!!) for our next journey. It's all part of the plan.

Thank you very much for reading, following our travels and commenting to let us know you were there. I'll sign off with a favorite Don Blanding poem. There are several...this is the best.

The Double Life
How very simple life would be
If only there were two of me
A Restless Me to drift and roam
A Quiet Me to stay at home.
A Searching One to find his fill
Of varied skies and newfound thrill
While sane and homely things are done
By the domestic Other One.

And that's just where the trouble lies;
There is a Restless Me that cries
For chancy risks and changing scene,
For arctic blue and tropic green,
For deserts with their mystic spell,
For lusty fun and raising Hell,

But shackled to that Restless Me
My Other Self rebelliously
Resists the frantic urge to move.
It seeks the old familiar groove
That habits make. It finds content
With hearth and home -- dear prisonment,
With candlelight and well-loved books
And treasured loot in dusty nooks,

With puttering and garden things
And dreaming while a cricket sings
And all the while the Restless One
Insists on more exciting fun,
It wants to go with every tide,
No matter where...just for the ride.
Like yowling cats the two selves brawl
Until I have no peace at all.

One eye turns to the forward track,
The other eye looks sadly back.
I'm getting wall-eyed from the strain,
(It's tough to have an idle brain)
But One says "Stay" and One says "Go"
And One says "Yes," and One says "No,"
And One Self wants a home and wife
And One Self craves the drifter's life.

The Restless Fellow always wins
I wish my folks had made me twins.

Take Care.
Angela and Craig

June 6 Kemah, Texas

Greetings from Kemah, Texas...a quaint coastal community on Clear Lake, off Galveston Bay, about 20 miles south of Houston and 5 miles from the sun. It is H. O. T. but otherwise completely fabulous. I arrived on Wednesday, June 2 and Craig has Hakuna Matata snugly situated in Watergate Marina. The marina has tight cleanliness and mooring restrictions, so all the boats have clean decks and secure lines. With hurricane season upon us, this provides security to all boats in the slips. We are in a 55 foot slip, so it is wide enough and long enough to protect us from other boats. The docks are floating rather than fixed, which means that it would take a 15 foot surge to float us out of the slip.

First order of business, get rid of my rental car and buy us one set of wheels. We think we can get by readily enough with only one car for the time being. On Thursday, we drove up to the CarMax in north Houston. An excellent experience, and at the end of the day, we own a 2007 Nissan Xterra with 15K miles. I'll tell you what, future cruisers. It may be easy enough to fall off the grid, but it is a trick to get back on it. We had some 'splaining to do, what with Texas drivers licenses attached to Texas addresses but a mailing address in Florida. Got through all that. But the insurance? gawd. As if we didn't get hosed enough by the medical insurance denial, the car insurance was/is a nightmare. Frankly, I think insurance people should be strung up with the democrats, but I digress. So here's the deal, and a lesson for you. When we sold our cars, we dropped our auto policies. Two separate companies, neither of which told us of the consequences. What we found out this week is this: if you have an active TX driver's license and don't have insurance, even if you no longer own a car, they figure you have access to and will drive someone else's car, putting you in absolutely THE highest risk category. Huh? Plus, we could have gotten this special "don't own a car" supercheap insurance to avoid this issue. So here we are, excellent credit and driving records, paying more for a 6 month policy for one car than we ever paid individually for two cars. Whatever. Deep breath. Move on. It will pass in 6 months....


Craig is not sure of his swimsuit modeling career, so is practicing for car modeling as well. What do you think?

On Friday, we met with our realtor and went to see 9 houses. It was a busy day. The ones we have be loving on-line for the last 6 months got ruled-out pretty quick. Easy enough to understand...if they have been on the market that long, even in this market, there is an issue. It was a fun day and in the end, we found one we absolutely adore. I don't want to tell you about it lest I jinx it, so more later once we pull the trigger.

In the interim, it has been a great week/weekend. Skip came over and we had beef tenderloin and a swim. Beef that is delicious and does not require a bank loan for three servings. God bless Texas!! Another night we went for sushi like we have not had in a while...

Here are some shots of the marina:

A view from Texas 146, entering Kemah. Craig took me to the seafood markets where the commercial boats unload their daily catch. Right out of the water and no oil.

More marina shots.

I'm home, deep in republican country, even if the truck is missing a 30.06 across the window.

Even so, there are still a few stupid people around:

I have one week to play before I start back to work. I hope Craig can find it in is heart to take me sailing. It's been so long...

May 31 Update Coming Soon...

Craig and crew had a safe passage across the Gulf of Mexico. He is situated in Watergate Marina in Kemah, Texas. This is my last night in Tallahassee, Florida. I leave tomorrow afternoon to drive to Destin, Florida to visit my good friend Deborah. I'll spend the night and then proceed to Kemah on Wednesday.
See Skip's blog for the crossing:

http://www.skipsphotos.blogspot.com/

May 19 Party over Here (Tallahassee) Party over There (Key West)

I am in Tallahassee enjoying long hot showers and quality time with my parents. I can't show back up at Dell-Perot with trashed out, sun and salt-soaked hair, so I did a Loreal color job because a) I'm worth it, and b) there was some gray (the horror....). Today my mom treated me to an Aveda salon cut and some serious shampoo and conditioner. Work has not fully intruded into my life yet but it is creeping in. This evening I have a conference call at 7pm. Right in the middle of patio happy hour. Can you believe that?? We are going for shrimp and oysters tomorrow evening, before the oil invades the famed beds of Apalachicola Bay. More to follow on a comparative analysis with Texas gulf coast crustaceans and bivalves....

http://www.oysterguide.com/maps/gulf-coast/apalachicola

Dave and Skip have made it to the boat. Correction. They have made it to Key West. I just called Craig and they are "discussing" travel plans at a "meeting" at Turtle Kraals on the boardwalk. The boys leave tomorrow for the now 6 day trip across the Gulf of Mexico. It is 850 miles! The oil slick continues to spread and reportedly, a tendril of oil has now entered the Gulf Stream Loop Current. It is on its way to the keys, so it is time to get out of there.

If you don't have the link, follow their progress at:

http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=01jO48fsx9ND6WJvd9aBHK68Fp0tv63qu

Fair winds and following seas!!!

May 7-12 Key West, Florida

Pulling out of Bahia Honda on May 7th, we made the run to Key West. The winds were a brisk 3 knots and the seas steep at 1 foot. Iron jib did most of the work for us. Matt donned pirate gear for the trip.

We have had a great time here in Key West, enjoying the sights, sounds and local restaurants.

Street scenes in Key West. This guys would stand perfectly still and then shout unpolitically correct epithets at unsuspecting passerbys, just like R. Lee Ermey of Full Metal Jacket fame. He was a scream. There were a lot of clearly foreign people on the street. Full volume. "Welcome to America. Speak English!" He didn't win any prizes from them but the rest of us had a good laugh. I was afraid to tell him I was from Texas.

Sunset in Key West, at anchor off Fleming Key. The boat is S/V Worth W8N4.

Chickens (ground hawks) roam the streets of Key West. This was my first time to encounter an entire family.

Watching the performing artists at the sunset party at Mallory Square is one of my favorite things. Many of them are fixtures on the square and even though we have seen them before, they always entertain...the cat man, the escape artist and a variation of the tin man. However, I met one enterprising individual who hid around the corner of a walkway and would jump out, screaming "booga booga" at unsuspecting strollers. Hilarious.

It is with mixed feelings that I tell you this is my last blog of the journey. I leave on Friday to go to my parents house, visit with them and finalize on-boarding (a job? gasp!)with Dell-Perot. As per my prior experience, they are still very good to me and I am excited to rejoin my colleagues. It looks like my first assignment may be Beverly Hills. Early June. As Craig says, just where a shopping-deprived woman needs to go. It is also exciting to contemplate the prospect of actually seeing the houses that Craig and I have been shopping on-line. People take pictures of the wierdest things, but I digress. It will be great to be close again to family and friends. We also have friends waiting for us in Kemah, so all in all, we are excited about the future.

The boys arrive on Wednesday May 19th to head across the Gulf of Mexico. Pray for good weather, contained oil and fair winds.

PS. Did I tell you that my baby sister got ENGAGED??? I love him. He took me to see The Cult when I was back in Texas. And then bought babes a beautiful sparkly! I would post a picture but you would be blinded and I can't be responsible for that. A wonderful catch on both sides!! Yoo-hoo!!

May 6 Bahia Honda State Park

Today we motorsailed to Bahia Honda with very light winds. We were joined by Matt and Linda on S/V Worth W8N4 who also had cruiser friends Jim and Arlene on board for the day. The anchorage is bounded by the old US1 bridge, with a cut out for sailboat entry, and the new US1. After lunch on board their boat (chicken ceasar salad, bean salad, cocktail shrimps and bread), we went to the park to explore.

S/V Worth W8N4 underway.












Going through the old bridge. In the center photo, you can see the old train tressle and water supply line on the lower deck. With progress, they added the wider portion on top to accomodate cars.

This boat picture is for Skip. And you know why!! For those who don't, check his blog at http://skipsphotos.blogspot.com/ and find the pertinent post.

Hiking up to the top of the old bridge.

There is a naval station and Coast Guard station down the way in Key West. They like to buzz the beach on exercise manuevers.

We also took a short walk through the butterfly garden. The Florida Keys are home to a wide variety of butterflies, some of which are not found anywhere else in the United States. We saw one, pictured below. As I strolled the garden, listening to birds (eat butterflies) and looking at iguanas (might eat butterflies if omnivores), I came to a quick conclusion as to why we only saw one. I'm not a smart girl, Jenny, but I do know butterflies.....

Then we went to one of the beaches. Matt may be the only person I have ever met that can have a great day and a bad day within the span of 30 minutes. Did not wear shoes into the water. See video below. I should add that he is a good sport for letting me post this video. I'm really not that mean. Could have been YouTube!!

Sunset in Bahia Honda. Lot of lightening in that cloud, but fortunately it did not come our way.