Taking the seanic route
After breakfast and Bible reading, Neil changed out the engine start battery, 6 hours, Reneé polished stainless and shopped at the Michigan store. Subway sandwiches for lunch. M/V Alita Fox, our yard neighbor, (Jean and Cody) invited us over for tea. Jean and Reneé talked politics and Cody and Neil tried to change the subject.
We went out for dinner at the COWBOY restaurant (because the chicken hadn’t defrosted). Hamburgers, the Mexican way, with roasted jalapeño on the side. Very good!
Our first day on the boat, Neil changed out the generator start battery, 3 hours. Reneé swept the deck, it was very dirty, and moved items from the boat to the apartment, from the apartment to the boat.
We have a list of things to do on the boat before putting it back in the water. The Salvador (the owner of the boat yard) told everyone that the lift would be out of service for a week to get new tires. So far one set (out of four) is off the lift. They take. Two of the wheels off and transport them to the shop change them and fill with foam, then bring them back install them and move to the next set.
Monday is a Mexican holiday, so, I am not holding my breath on a week.
We went out for dinner and a beer. Reneé had fish tacos, Neil had beef tacos, we didn’t know that the tacos came with a margarita, Neil had both of them. The price was reasonable, about 200 pesos each for the tacos. We watched Ground Hog Day but fell asleep half way through.
Travel day from Nashville Tennessee. The start was not that great, up at 3 and through our showers before Renee’ saw the message that our flight was delayed by 2 hours, so we tried to get back to sleep. The flight took off as rescheduled.
Once we got to Phoenix, we rushed through baggage claim and out the door to the shuttle. Then off to Puerto Peñasco. Finally got lunch in Ajo, Arizona at about 2 pm. Then continued on into Mexico. We arrived around 5:30 at Safe Marina
Neil picked up dinner at the chicken place across from VIP.
Travel day from Savannah, Tennessee to Nashville.
This was our last day in our new home for a while. We took some bags of leaves and trash to the Convenience Center (local dumpsters). Then picked up a U-Haul truck. We have to get to the airport and get our vehicles put away as well. We wanted a shuttle to the airport, but not available. We wanted a rental car, nearest to our house is Jackson, Tennessee, a little more than an hour one way. I was discussing this with my brother Dave who suggested the U-Haul truck.
Turns out it was almost the same price and the truck was less than a mile from our house.
Our flight was scheduled for 6:30 am so getting a hotel near the airport was necessary.
We cleaned up the house as much as possible. We’re in the middle of a kitchen remodel. The guys doing the work were elsewhere this day, and will be there next week to finish up.
The drive was fairly uneventful, until we got into Nashville and rush hour traffic in a 10’ truck. But we managed to get there in one piece.
In Nashville, we went to the bank to get some cash for our trip then dropped off the truck and got an Uber to the hotel. Drury has a pretty good deal going on, they have good rooms, good comfortable beds, reasonable rates and dinner with 3 drinks each and breakfast.
Renee’ and I retired 12/21/23. We both really enjoyed our jobs, but not as much as being retired. I will have our Christmas letter up before I publish this.
I hit a deer on Nov. 7. There was a lot of damage to the Tundra, and it was in the shop, Paul’s Autobody in Fulton, MO got it back to us on 12/22! Almost $18,000 worth of damage.
We rented a U Haul trailer and moved out on 12/22. I drove the truck south leaving a bit after noon. Renee’s sister and her husband and mother all came and helped clean out the place. They stayed at a friend’s place (Brendan and Callie) in Fulton overnight then headed south.
We moved into our new place on Christmas Eve. Then enjoyed Christmas Day in Savannah, TN. The family left on 12/26, and we worked on moving in to our new house some more.
12/28, we headed west first stop was to visit friends Steve and Cyndi Hollinger in the Phoenix AZ area. We were with them 12/30 – 01/01 (Happy New Year!) this was a great visit, Steve played Sax at a nearby winery, and we played cards at their place.
01/01 night we stayed at a hotel in Yuma. Our normal route to the boat would have been via Lukeville, (Phoenix to Lukeville to Puerto Peñasco) about 4 hours. Well Lukeville has been shutdown for a month. (News today as I write this on 1/2 is that it will be open on Thursday 1/4). So, the alternative routes were either via Nogales to the East, San Luis (south of Yuma) or Calexico/Mexicali to the west. The least of the time differences was an additional 3 hours. We elected to stay in a Hotel in Yuma and drive in today 1/2. It was clear sailing all the way down with no issues. We had a late lunch here in Puerto Peñasco then off to the boat.
It took us a few minutes to find the boat, then we unloaded all the stuff we brought. We did a few boat projects, and then talked to some of the people there in the yard. Finally off to a hotel for the night.
Well, that was NOT a good nights sleep. The beds were small and hard (full size), and a car alarm went off as we were going to bed. Thankfully it only went off one time, of course the other one (different tone) started at 4 am and went off for a couple of minutes then off for a minute and then back on etc. Until about 6:30, I assume when the owner had to go to work. We got over the yard and paid our bill and finished up on the boat. Then headed out of town. It was a quick uneventful trip to the border then a three and a half hour trip to go about 1.5 miles. Finally across the border we headed to Carlsbad and our friends place.
I don’t expect to write about that, but will return to the blog when we get back to the boat in February.
