We just got back to Mobile from an unscheduled trip to Florida.  I had to return to have a medical procedure (which went well) and received the added bonus of being in Tampa for Granddaughter Sydney's sixth birthday...(where has the time gone) and the Barbie "Frozen" (the newest kid flick coming out at Thanksgiving but already being merchandised!!) that her mother Christine made for her.  What a lucky girl...

    We also got to spend time with Grandson Cole...with eyes lit up and ready for CAKE!!

After a few days with them we headed to Naples to 'dog sit' Bob's new best pal...Kingston our Grand dog!  Yes we have Grand ..kids, dogs, and cats, oh also a Hamster that was Sydney's birthday present.  Talk about a diversified family!

Kingston loves to 'chew' (up) little puppies like Bob, this was a rare moment if restraint for him!

 Our trip was not incident free, it wouldn't be up to Merrill standards if there wasn't something to get my anxiety level to hyper level.

We had to rent a car to drive to Tampa, had it for 24 hours and when we turned it in they found a small (think tennis ball) dent under the rear license plate.  It didn't happen when we were in the car and we only stopped at rest stops twice because we were in a time crunch after forgetting that we had to subtract an hour from Central to Eastern time.  So it must have happened in the Marina parking lot the night before we left.  This resulted in an insurance claim because we NEVER opt for the rental companies insurance (live and learn) because we never rent cars (until now).  So now paperwork is my devil.

This year has definitely been a learning curve in our lives in many ways.  The first being if it's not something, it's something else and doing the Great Loop is damned expensive!!  

Medical problems can butt their heads in at any time (one of the reasons we wanted to do the Loop now, who knows what will happen now that we are on the "downhill" fast track) and when you are traveling that presents its own headache....thank God for the genius who invented Advil!! 

 

Knock on wood, Tie A Knot has been behaving this year or we would definitely be headed for "what were you thinking counseling".  Fuel is coming down in price, and even though I am extremely grateful couldn't it have happened in June???  So, we find that life's problems can present some of life's greatest joys and our motto of "tie a knot and hang on" has served us well, for in the end it all comes out in the wash.

It was 65 degrees when we left Tampa yesterday morning and 35 when we woke up in Mobile this morning!  We are headed for the last leg of the trip, the Florida Panhandle (intracoastal waterway) and the dreaded overnight crossing from Carrabelle to Tarpon Springs.  This was NOT on my bucket list, in fact it was not on this trip list.  We were going to take the armpit route and hop to several small ports down the west coast to Tarpon Springs.  All was good....THEN we find out that this is probably not an option in our boat with the constant barrage of cold fronts, and the winter time shallow waters in these ports not to mention the lack of dock space.  We could get to Steinhatchee and find not only was the water too shallow to get in, the docks all filled, and no place to anchor because the water is too shallow....  "Beam us up Scottie".... our friends who recommended this route did it in the Spring, a whole other ball game.

So now I have time to stew, fret and make myself nuts, or maybe I'll just take a deep breath, chant Ohm, and have a glass of wine....sounds like a plan.........

Stay tuned.