HARBOUR NORTH MARINA, CHESAPEAKE CITY, MD

28 to 31 August, 2004. We made pretty good time since we were able to take I-95 in the Cadillac through the DC area. We arrived at the Marina and paid for the boat. We got to know Jason, the boat salesman there, who let us sleep on his houseboat a couple of nights. Rocky sanded the barnacles off the bottom of the boat and I cleaned the inside. Bees love to build their hives in these boats that constantly fill up with rainwater so we battled them for most of the first day. We may be able to patch the sail but we’ll probably just replace it completely. We figure that we can invest a few hundred dollars and then sell the boat for up to $1,500. This Marina is great, with over 500 boats, many of them stripped out and just taking up space. We’ve already picked out our next 25 foot sailboat. This one has some living amenities, such as a sink and tables. The Tidewater has only just enough room to squeeze in and sleep. We were just about to apply the bottom paint when it started raining. We spoke to Gail on the Phone and she told us how much she missed the Cadillac. Also, Bob had sold the house and the house that Gail’s new boyfriend was living in also sold so she needed to move soon. We needed to get the bus up there eventually anyway, so we headed back down to Florida.

LUMS POND STATE PARK, DE

26 to 27 August, 2004. This is a State Park but we did get a small discount with our Golden Access Pass. We set up Gail's tent and bought an air mattress. The weather was awesome and so was the moon. Some woman had a 3-legged frog that she reported to the rangers. It was a genetic defect, not an amputee. indicating that there might be toxins in the area. She dropped it so many times as she showed it to everyone that I thought it had a rougher time with her than with it's own handicap. Even though this campground is in Delaware, it's just a few miles from Harbour North Marina in Chesapeake City, MD. Pennsylvania is only a few miles away too. In fact, we can buy a tax-free carton of cigarettes in Delaware for $25.99 as opposed to $32 plus tax in Maryland. We plan to order more $13.95 cartons online soon.

GREENBELT PARK, GREENBELT MD

25 AUGUST, 2004. This place is a federal campground so we were able to use our Golden Access Pass. There were some nice trails and the showers were good but other than that, it was pretty average. It's located about 12 miles from downtown Washington DC. The traffic around here is a nightmare so the campground was a welcome sanctuary. From here, we'll travel into Chesapeake City, MD at the top of Chesapeake Bay where our 24 foot sailboat awaits.

BACK TO GAIL'S HOUSE, ZEPHYRHILLS, FL

11 August to 24 August, 2004. We managed to get everything we owned into the bus and drive it over to Gail’s. We moved in, temporarily, at $300 / month. We had another hurricane party as “Charlie” approached from the Gulf. It was supposed to hit Tampa directly but took a turn and battered the Ft. Myers area instead. This was our second hurricane party that included Rocky, myself, Gail and Timmy, a friend from when we first moved to Tampa in 1997. The hurricane failed to show up again. On August 20, Rocky and I placed a bid on a boat that was ready to end at $118 on ebay. We got the boat for $122.50. It’s a 24 foot Tidewater Rainbow Knockabout Sailboat. The boat was in Maryland so we needed to get up there to check it out. We decided to take Gail’s Cadillac instead of the bus so we could make the trip in a day or so. Gail knew how to drive the bus so we switched vehicles and were on our way.

BACK TO MICHAEL, NATALIE’S AND ROXANNE’S, FT. PIERCE, FL

16 July to 10 August, 2004. We moved into one of the apartments at the Sea Caps Motel that Michael is managing at $225 / week, electric included. It was nice to be back on the beach. We picked up the pallet that contained everything else we owned, aside from what was in the bus. We had even been given a satellite dish by Bob, the owner of Gail’s house, so that we could finally get some decent TV. Rocky spent most of the time painting and fixing up what he could in some of the apartments. I began posting early century postcards on ebay and spent lots of time at the beach. We spent a lot of time with Michael, Natalie and Roxanne, cooking for each other and getting out once in awhile. It rained nearly every day and there were many rainbows over the ocean. It was nice to spend some more time with them.