Day 200: Saturday, March 23, 2013
Port to Port: Titusville, Florida
Underway: 0:00 am Motor Off: 0:00 pm Miles Traveled: 0 Stayed At: Mooring
Mile to Mile: We have a car so it’s time for a road trip. We are driving to Tampa to visit our friends Cliff and Caroline and surprise my Mom who is visiting her niece Elena. We got going early but had a minor hiccup when Boris coughed and sputtered and stopped completely about 200’ from the boat. (Note to self – when something isn’t running right or needs fixing, fix it ASAP or pay the consequences usually at a in-opportune time). Luckily the breeze was helping us toward the marina and someone dinghying to the marina stopped by and offered us a tow – we were very thankful since paddling an inflatable dinghy is inefficient and painfully slow. I borrowed a pliers and screwdriver to remove the carburetor so I can clean it sometime before we get back.
The trip across the state took 4 and a half days…I mean 2 hours in fairly heavy traffic. What a difference to the peace and quiet of the ICW. We met our friends at the Westfield Mall and headed off to pick up their daughter Emily before we went to an Art Fair in Hyde Park. We spent several hours chatting, wandering, shopping, eating, and even buying a couple things. We found some really cool gold plated cut coins with three giraffes cut out of a Tanzanian coin. We seldom buy stuff at Art Shows but we had to get these for the girls and Cindy with their connection to Tanzania.
We had a blast catching up with our friends adventures getting moved to Florida. They are still in a holding pattern waiting for a yes or no answer on their offer for a house being sold as a short sale. Stressful and exciting at the same time.
We finished the day eating and drinking (again) in Ybor City and headed back to Brandon to surprise my Mom and stay at Elenas’ place for the evening (thanks’ Elena) – lucky this worked out since we were having trouble finding anything in 20 miles because of a Formula 500 race in downtown St. Petersburgh – we heard that slips with tickets were going for $4,000 for the weekend at the marina. That would be interesting.
Because we were so late, our arrival wasn’t a surprise but it was fun anyways. We don’t know when we will be home next so this weekend will have to tide us over for a while.
