Day 90, "on the loop", 1/6/2023

First off, Happy New Year. We hope you all are off to a great start and if you make resolutions, best of luck with it, you can do it! 2022, like 2021, was a challenging year as the pandemic lingers on, the loss of family and friends, employment, health and weather challenges, we are happy to say goodbye! Here's hoping for a wonderful 2023, challenges will come but prayerful and thankful we have family and friends we can lean on to get through the difficult times.

This also marks 3 months on the loop, hard to believe! The days are passing by so quickly.

We arrived in Key West, Friday, December 30th, just in time to celebrate New Year's. Jonathan is with us until January 3rd so he continues to enjoy this warm weather. Friday evening, after a long day of traveling, we walked from the Marina to Hogfish Grille. We were not familiar with the area and by map(s), the restaurant seemed to be a short walk. Well, after about 15 minutes, walking in some extremely dark, muddy allies, we made it to Hogfish Grille.The food and music was GREAT and worth the walk; BUT... we took a Uber back.

Saturday, 12/31, we spent the day walking up / down Duval Street (a well known street in Key West). We gave Jonathan a glimpse of Key West before he travels back to St. Louis. Once back from walking around Duval street, we decided to have a very low key New Year's celebration. We stayed on the boat to watch 2 football games (Michigan / TCU and then Georgia / OH) on TV. I know in some cases the games didn't turn out the way our friends had hoped; however, they were both great games. Congrats to both TCU & Georgia fans! As we sat watching the final play of the GA /OH game, the "Red Shoe Drop" was taking place in downtown Key West.

Side note: Our neighbors and friends, Denny & Shelia Rasure gave us a bottle of champaign as a going away gift and said we should drink it during a special occasion, we had planned to drink it as part of our New Year's celebration; however, Joel decided that we should not waste it by opening it and then going straight to bed... so we decided to save it for another day (it will be soon). After the football game, we went upstairs to the boat deck, saw a few fireworks in the distance and heard neighboring boat horns honking. We toasted with cups of water and off to bed we went. We loopers say, the looper midnight is 9pm, so being up at midnight was WAY past our bedtime!

Sunday, 1/1, with a low key NY Eve's celebration, we rested very well. We spent this day exploring the marina. We took the dinghy out for the first time (since leaving Kentucky Lake), found a sandbar near by (pictures below) and spent remainder of the day at the marina pool and talking to other boaters. Closed the day with dinner and an ice-cream at the marina.

January 2nd was the last full day with Jonathan before he returned home. We went into the town of KeyWest, saw some very large Manatees (at least 3), took a few pictures and a vide0 (see Facebook page, if interested in seeing the video: Tracy Carr Boisselle). After lunch, we returned back to marina for pool time and dinner (on the boat). Jonathan played corn hole with some of our marina friends. Jonathan may be loosing his edge for corn hole, Joel beat him at least 2 times before Jonathan made his comeback! We have really enjoyed having Jonathan these past 2 weeks. Jonathan said he "MAY" even come back to see us in the summer, fingers crossed. My heart is full!

and... some Christmas decorations

On Tuesday, January 3rd, as we waited for Jonathan's departure time, we hung out by the pool and walked around the Perry Hotel Marina checking out the amenities. The property is nice, there are 2 pools, 2 restaurants, an ice cream shop, a gym, coffee shop and 2 ship stores (in addition to a bath house and extremely nice laundry area).

Jonathan left for Saint Louis, the return back went smooth. Jonathan caught a ride with some friends who were taking their daughter to the Key West airport. Jonathan is a "seasoned" traveler but he has always traveled with us! He had to change planes in Atlanta, which was a bit worrisome for me (because it's such a large airport and you must get on the sky tram to go from terminal to terminal). Jonathan did just fine! He got home around 11pm, CT. Thank you all who offered to pick him up or keep an eye out should there have been bad weather, we really appreciate it! Jonathan will get to spend another week or so at home before returning to U of ARK. By the way, did I mention, Jonathan made the Dean's list (woo hoo)!

Side note: You may have read, Jonathan's driver did not pick him up in St. Louis on the 19th (to take him to the airport) as we had planned. We were so irritated since we confirmed with the person, 2 - 3 times. The person apologized to me by phone (he overslept his alarm) and sent Jonathan a separate text stating he wanted to make things right and offered to pay for his parking. Upon Jonathan's return to St. Louis, he forward the driver the receipt and Venmo information. Joel and I told Jonathan not to get his hopes up, WELL... GUESS WHAT! The Uber driver paid the full bill of $144.00. Joel and I thought if the driver paid, it would only be the 1 way fee ($50, which is what we would have paid from Eureka to airport). Remind us to collect the money we gave Jonathan for parking or did Jonathan just get a Christmas bonus! Bahahaha.

The rest of the week, were cleaning day(s) for us. Joel worked on the boat, getting the salt off from the last couple of long trips and cleaning the outside deck and windows; while I cleaned the downstairs, defrosted the freezer :-( and major deep clean of the bathroom & kitchen. I reorganized and consolidated some of the food items. We had stocked up on a few items for Jonathan's visit, and he did a great job of leaving bags of chips and crackers half full.

We made our first bicycle trip to the grocery store (Publix). The bike trails are not as easy (and fun) as the Dunedin trails. Those with vehicles aren't as friendly to the bikers here and it's much more touristy, so bike etiquette is also lacking. No one advises when they are passing, especially those on the rental bikes.

We are now ready for our next guest: Morgan's and Norris'. We are looking forward to some fun in and around Key West. The Heise's had to change their plans, we will miss them and hope they join us on another part of our trip!

Something you may find interesting, if not, skip over:

The three pictures taken below were from the Dunedin marina. As I have mentioned in previous post, all marinas are a little different. Regardless of the marina we stay at, if they have power, we connect to a water supply and power box.

• Picture 1: Markings for Docks and slips: Here you see this is Dock C and in one direction slip numbers 01 - 11 & 42 - 52 and then in the other direction are slips 12 - 41.

• Picture 2: The electric panel (like at our homes) provides a reading of the power each slip uses. We pay dock fees which covers the water and power use.

• Picture 3: The building in the background is "dry storage". Boat owners can keep their boats here and have them pulled out when they wish to use them. Note: There are over 350 boats in that building. We have seen some AMAZING and BEAUTIFUL boats.

In previous post, I mentioned crab pots. Below is one that washed up or was pulled out of the ocean for some reason. See the ropes and wiring, you do NOT want this to get caught up in your props. In this picture, you can see some sponges and other random stuff caught in the trap.

Manatees are large, aquatic mammals sometimes known as sea cows. They can measure up to 13 feet long and weigh as much as 1,300 lbs. They have paddle-like tails (sort of look like a mermaid tale). Their face and front view has a cow-like appearance.

Unfortunately, the main cause of death for these mammals are human related issues, such as habitat destruction and human objects. Manatees are curious and slow moving creatures and sometimes get cut by boat propellers; hence, the scares you may see on their back(s). Other causes of manatee death include adverse temperatures, predation by crocodiles on young, and disease.

Check the boat out below. SHOUT OUT to KU fans, Rock Chalk! We met this guy, super nice. This is a 2019 sailboat w/ 3 berths (sleeping quarters) and 2 heads (bathroom). Joel and the captain of the boat had a lot to talk about as it related to sailing and this boat in general. Beautiful and well kept boat!