Wednesday, January 23, 2013

We own a boat!

We are in the parking lot of Thunderbolt Marina, in the small township of Thunderbolt, adjacent to Savannah, Georgia (map).  Out our windows we have a view of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, and, to the north, the 65'-tall bridge that carries US-80 over it.

Yesterday morning found us in Jacksonville, Florida, where we spent the night at a Walmart on the east side of town, ironically right next door to the Camping World (map). We had first tried a different Walmart closer to the bank, with several nice dining options in walking distance, but even though it was not listed that way in our directory, it was clearly posted No Overnight Parking.  Our drive to Jacksonville from the Spirit of the Suwannee was otherwise uneventful, although this was our very first time on the stretch of I-10 between I-75 and its eastern terminus at Jacksonville.

We rolled over to the bank just as they opened and found it pleasantly empty when we walked in.  We had absolutely no trouble arranging the wire transfer; the banker merely looked at Louise's South Dakota driver licence.  They did not even ask us to enter the PIN for our ATM card.  So all the sturm und drang about transaction security came down to a glance at an out-of-state license.

We were in Richmond Hill, just south of Savannah, by 12:30, and the sellers of the boat, John and Laura Lee, met us at the Love's truck stop there to lend us their spare car, a 90's-era Jeep with a stick shift and manual transfer case, so we could get around while we are in town.  Very nice of them to take such good care of us, and we asked them to join us last night for our celebratory dinner.

All the funds were in the seller's account by mid-afternoon, and the boat is now ours.  We arrived at the boatyard early in the afternoon, and they sent us to this lot to get the bus squared away.  We are a good ways from the boat here, so we've been driving back and forth in the Jeep, which requires going through two locked gates each time (the marina and boat yard, while under the same ownership, have separate entrances, and the boat is still in the yard).

When we got aboard yesterday, a technician was in the engine room wrapping up the last project on the previous owners' watch, an air conditioning pump that had gone bad last week,  John allowed that he hoped this was the angry god of the sea's last jab at him, and I know how he feels.  Regular readers will know that our toilet broke last week, and just yesterday I spent two hours repairing the satellite system, which gave up the ghost right after we left Suwannee.

We loaded a very small handful of things aboard, including a set of new dishware that we bought just for the boat, a shop vac we also bought for the occasion, and some paper goods.  We'll be living aboard Odyssey for at least a dozen more days, as we will be driving down to Fort Lauderdale next week for Trawler Fest.  As much as we'd like to spend a night in our new digs right away, we think moving onto the boat is going to be stressful enough for the cats without forcing them to make the transition twice.

We have lots of work to do to get the boat ready for our occupancy.  First among them is figuring out where the cats' litter box is going to live -- the last thing we want to do after they are aboard is to mess with their routine any more than is necessary.  We also need to containerize and stow all the loose items that had been stored elsewhere and are now on the boat, such as the touch-up paint kit.  And we want to give the whole boat a thorough cleaning before we start loading any more things aboard.

We have four more days here before we need to head for Fort Lauderdale, and we'll get as much done in that time as we can.  I emailed two different sign companies this morning to get quotes on re-lettering the transom, which really needs to get done before our training cruise which starts February 8th.  And we need to get the boat tied up in a regular slip here in town so we have a temporary base for all these activities.

We had a wonderful dinner last night with John and Laura Lee at Tubby's Tank House, just down the street from the marina.  We discussed getting the boat moved and John, who holds a captain's license (our insurance will not let us move the boat without a licensed captain until we are "signed off"), is going to meet us here at 1pm so we can shuttle a car over to the other marina, go over a few things aboard, and get underway in time to make port at the new slip before dark.  We want to arrive at something other than low water, and high tide this afternoon will be at 6pm.

18 comments:

  1. Got to love docking your 1st time at least at slack tide you won't be fighting the currents.Good Luck Capt. Sean

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  2. I hope you enjoy the boat as much as you enjoy the bus.

    I will continue to enjoy reading about your travels. :))

    Bill Kelleher

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  3. Congratulations on your first steps into the next adventure!

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  4. Congrats!

    I hope you will post lots of pictures of your new home. As a non-boater, I'm having a hard time visualizing life aboard a boat and am especially curious about the head and galley. I also have this vision of a boat being damp.

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  5. Congrats on the boat purchase! A major turning point in your lives and blog as well! We all out here in internet land appreciate your blogging! Keep up the good work!
    Robert McHenry
    Dieselrvowners.com
    Concord NH.

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  6. Congrats on the boat purchase. A new adventure begins.

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  7. Don't worry about cleaning it up before you move in. You'll be cleaning CONSTANTLY from now on :-D

    Hope we get a chance to see the new home!

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    Replies
    1. Would love to have you guys aboard. Remind me when you leave for Thailand? If you are willing to drive some, maybe we can connect before you become ex-pats...

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  8. Congrats guys, still totally jealous after reading all your bus trips and now look forward to the boat trips.

    If you're keen for a trans-pacific cruise, please be sure to stop into the Sunshine Coast or Brisbane in Australia and we'd be more than happy to show you around (and chew the fat over cruising the US)

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  9. CONGRATULATIONS on your boat! I am so excited for you and anxious to see some pictures. What an adventure you have in store for the future.

    Good Luck!

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  10. Now the BIG bills start! Congrats on the boat!

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  11. You might want to consider something like this for the litter box. Has worked great in the bus!

    http://mightybus.wordpress.com/2012/12/10/meanwhile-pantry-lights-and-slide-trim/

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  12. Congrats!

    But it's gonna be a little bit of a challenge to get the boat to next New Year's Arcadia rally!

    Hehehehe. . .

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  13. eeeeeee! Congratulations! I KNEW I had to keep an eye on the blog. Just need to see some pictures now.
    I mean c'mon! It's like blowing smoke in the face of someone who just quit. Not fair. Not fair at all.

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    Replies
    1. Patience, grasshopper. All will be revealed, in time.

      Seriously, we are a little preoccupied. We'll get photos (and video, too) posted just as soon as we get the chance. Most likely after our training cruise.

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  14. Congrats... Looking forward to the new blog perspective. Have fun with your new toy.

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  15. But did you pull out all the money from your Chase account, though?

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    1. We are in the process. Since it is our main checking, we have to wait for all the in-transit checks to clear, plus we need to change our bill-paying service over to the new accounts. Lots of steps, lots of work, but we're so done with Chase now.

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