Day 181: Monday, March 4, 2013

Port to Port: Fort Myers, Florida

Underway: 0:00 am      Motor Off: 0:00 pm      Miles Traveled: 0      Stayed At: Marina

Mile to Mile: We need to start checking off our To Do List this warm and sunny day so we can be ready to move sometime between Thursday and early next week. We have a goal of being in Norfolk, Virginia by May 1 and this is about 1,033 miles from Fort Myers. At a leisurely 25 miles per day, this would take about 41 days – we have 56 days to play with but there are many places we will want to spend 2 or 3 days so we need to get moving soon.

Our projects include route planning, taxes, finishing the dinghy lift, tightening up the rudder (it wobbles a little) and provisioning for the next several legs of our journey. If we are lucky, we should be ready to go Wednesday or Thursday of this week. We are mentally ready to go (as soon as we make a road trip to Mel’s Diner for $3 margaritas again).

So today was route planning and tax day – yuck. I spent the entire morning and part of the afternoon doing the girls and our taxes – surprisingly, I almost finished but I need a few more pieces of information and I need to go over the info with the girls so they can have this much fun next year. Cindy worked on our route and potential stops between here and Stuart which sounds easy but ends up being a pain because there are options and bridges and locks and other obstacles in the way.

It sounds like Minnesota has been getting a real winter for a change. Lots of snow and cold which we don’t miss at all. We’ll try to send some warm sunshine north to speed spring on its way (we have had the boats in the water in March once or twice so maybe spring will come in fast). Think Spring!