16 November 2020
No boat travel.
At 9:20 a.m. we had the rental car loaded and were on our way to New Jersey from the marina in Jacksonville. Google Maps predicted we would be home at midnight. As we traveled I-95 north, it felt like we had been on the road forever. I looked at Google Maps and saw that we "only" had another 11 hours to go. Groan! Google's estimate was not too far off base. We pulled into our driveway in New Jersey at 12:30 a.m. Only stopping for pit stops and gas, Clark drove the whole way.
When we got into the house, Clark went around and turned on water, hot water, appliances, etc. Fortunately, we have a means to adjust heat in the house remotely. Before we got home, I used an app to bump the heat up from 50 to a more comfortable 68 degrees. At least the house was warm when we walked in.
17 November 2020
No travel.
Although Clark needed it more than I did, neither of us felt like doing anything today. I brought enough food from the boat to make it until Wednesday without needing to hit the food store. Although I had planned on bringing frozen vegetables for dinner, they remained in the freezer on the boat. Even though I remembered the hot dogs sitting next to them in the freezer, they got forgotten. For once we had a full day of meals with not one vegetable served - horror of horrors. Luckily, we survived the trauma.
18 November 2020
Having rested up yesterday, we tackled the chores that brought us home. Clark launched the ice eater / bubbler for the floating dock in the back. We had set it up before we took the boat south. He only needed to drop it in the water and set up the thermostat.
While he took care of that task, I headed off the the food market to get something for the empty cupboards in the house. I found it challenging to shop for just the right amount of food for our short stay in New Jersey - not too much, not too little. Given these days of a pandemic, going to the store multiple times is not high on my list of favorite activities.
Another job on Clark's priority list came about while we were biking in Jacksonville. One of the spokes on my bike when pop when it broke on the trail. Having had this issue in the past, we had spare spokes on hand. He brought them and the bike pump with him and did the repair here in New Jersey.
The last item on Clark's "To Do in NJ" list involved a ladder, bucket, boat hook, and trowel. Armed with his tools, he went off to clean the gutters. The way our house is built some of the gutters can be reached with a step ladder; others are so high it takes an extra tall extension ladder to reach them. Clark took care of the low-lying fruit on his own.
When it comes time to reach the higher gutters, he calls me in to assist. It takes the two of us to "waltz" with the extension ladder. It is no easy feat to get the ladder to go where we want it to and then position it correctly on the sloping ground by the house. However, since we have doing this dance for years, we have figured out how to move the ladder around from spot to spot even though it stands over two stories above our heads.
I always wear a hat and an old coat when Clark is over my head digging leaves, pine needles, and dirt out of the gutter. Inevitably there comes a time when I get showered in whatever he is pulling out. Since I am dutifully holding the ladder secure, I cannot run for cover. I am always happy when that job is marked complete!
21 November
After two days of rather dreary, chilly weather, today proved to be a great day in terms of weather. Clark suggested we go for a bike ride and drove us to Seven Presidents Park in Long Branch, New Jersey for an outing. We hoped to ride on the boardwalk, but the first thing I noticed when we got there was a sign listing all the "things" not allowed on the boardwalk. Basically, the only allowable object is a person on two legs or in a wheelchair. Everything else appears to be verboten.
Fortunately, Long Branch has done an excellent job of proving a bike path that follows along the boardwalk pathway. Lots of folks were out enjoying the good weather. All appeared to be conscious of "social distancing" rules.
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| Long Branch Boardwalk (no bikes, no skateboards, no pets, no ...) |
I found it amusing to read the names of the neighboring shops. Apparently, residents and visitors to this area must have a "sweet tooth". The "Candy Bar", "Sundaze", and "Waffle and Ice Cream" shops were across the way from the "Chocolate Factory" and "Stewarts Root Beer".
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| Windmill Burgers and Fries |
With temperatures in the 60s, we truly had exceptional weather. Instead of being home, it appeared that a good portion of New Jersians were out boating on the Atlantic Ocean today! Notice how calm the water is for all these small boats!
All too soon we hit the end of the bike trail / boardwalk and turned back towards the car. On route we passed by the Seven Presidents memorial. Of all the presidents I would expect to see standing in a position of high honor, it would not be President Garfield - our 20th president. Elected president in 1880, he was shot in 1881 and died in Long Branch New Jersey.
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| Tribute to President Garfield at 7 Presidents Park |
Just before we got back to the car, we found a little piece of boardwalk that was not posted, so we took a ride on it and captured a selfie before exiting to the parking lot.
23 November 2020
Having enjoyed our exercise a couple of days ago, we decided to go for a walk down the street. We waited until the afternoon to let things dry out a bit from yesterday's rain. At the end of our street is Riverside Park. When we got there, we found some parts of the park still a bit flooded, but we managed to find a way to the waterside for the views.
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| These 3 kindly posed for the camera as we approached. |
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| Path along Little Silver Creek at Riverside Park |
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| View across Little Silver Creek from Riverside Park |
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| View of Sea Bright / Monmouth Beach from Riverside Park |
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| Swans coming to visit the park |
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| Swans |
26 November 2020
After a couple of dreary days, today turned out to be a truly gorgeous day with record high or near-record-high temperatures in the 60s. Clark watched the parade on television. I watched some but then disappeared to work on some acrylic paintings that I had started during the previous rainy days. I decided to work on some pictures for my two grandchildren in Connecticut.
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| Glittery Unicorn |
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| Travel Collage |
Given only the two of us would be together for Thanksgiving, I decided to treat it like any other day in terms of meals. Instead of turkey, we had chicken and stuffing with eggplant parm on the side. We ate our Thanksgiving dinner, for our evening meal. Given the great weather and the plans for a feast later, we decided to take our bikes and go for a ride.
Our path took us on a Figure 8 around Thompson Park with a cross over to Cross Farm Park. Clark had never visited Cross Farm Park, so we biked over to explore the trails there. Most were nicely paved, but we managed to find our way to the off-beaten track at the side of the park where my teeth rattled as we bumped over gravel and around puddles. Our foldable bikes are not designed for comfort on gravel.
We followed the dark black line on the map indicating a paved path around the perimeter of Thompson Park. Including the trek around Cross Farm Park, we biked around 5 or 6 miles.
Scenes from our ride ...
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| Marlu Lake at Thompson Park |
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| Biking at Thompson Park in Lincroft, NJ |
27 November 2020
Not wanting to go to the food store before or on Thanksgiving, I ran in and out this morning for a few essentials to make it to the end of our stay here in New Jersey. Before heading out, I wrote out menus for every day until we leave so I knew exactly what I needed to buy to make it through.
After lunch, we took our bikes to Dorbrook Park in Colts Neck, New Jersey for another bit of exercise. This trail is no where near as long as the one at Thompson Park. When we did that ride, the sun was out and it was warm enough that I decided to forgo a jacket. Today, the sun had gone into hiding by the time we got out on our bikes, and the wind cut through my sweatshirt as if I had no jacket at all. Clark was smarter and wore a windbreaking type jacket.
Only about 2 miles long, we zipped around the bike trail in no time. Clark did find a spot to snap some pictures along our ride.
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| A tad cloudy this afternoon |
Our ride took us past the Swimming River Reservoir.
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| Foot path along the reservoir - Egret Path |
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| "Rockin the Trails" Trail (not paved so we passed on exploring further) |
Given we were in the neighborhood, we stopped at Delicious Orchards for some fruit and a pie. Clark waited in the car while I ran in. Although the parking lot was packed with cars, the inside of the store was relatively empty. I wonder where all the people went!
When we got home, I worked on getting materials together for doing some art when we get back to the boat. Then at 5:30, we had our first ever Zoom call with our boating friends the McFalls. Except for a couple of frame freezes, most likely due to our WiFi connection, we had a great Zoom experience. It was so nice to connect with our good friends we met on the Great Loop in 2016.
28 November 2020
Having agreed that we would spend the day entirely outdoors, Clark and I drove to Connecticut to visit our son Chris, his wife Heather, and our two grandchildren - Lillian 4 and Jack 2. As soon as we arrived, the little ones ran and put on their masks. We adhered to the plan of no hugs and keeping our distances. It did my heart good just to be able to see them at play.
For the most part, the weather cooperated with our visit. We had temperatures in the 60s and, other than a brief rain shower, we had good weather to be outdoors. Just as we planned to go (in separate cars) to the park, it did rain. That shooed us into the garage for a bit. With the cars parked out in the driveway, we had plenty of room to stay distant while still enjoying time together.
Worrying the rain would return, we never did get to the park. Instead, we took a walk around the neighborhood. Jack pushed his shopping cart, and Lillian rode her scooter. She practically flies on that thing. I am vey glad she has learned how to work the brake!
Painting, hiding, and finding rocks is a popular activity for my granddaughter. Her friend Madison lives down the street. On our walk, we checked out Madison's rock garden.
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| Madison's Rock Garden |
We arrived at 12:30, in time for lunch served outside on picnic tables, and left around 3:30 as, with the sun dropping in the sky, the temperatures dropped precipitously. The closer it got to the sun setting, the colder we became. We said our farewells and jumped in the car from the trip back to NJ. Clark and I spent 6 hours in the car today to have 3 hours with the family, but it was worth every minute on the road.
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| Stormy skies on the horizon |
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| Storm's coming closer |
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| Mickey at my son's house |
30 November 2020
Having completed everything on our New Jersey checklist except our dentist appointments, we started preparing for our return trip to Florida. I packed bags with things to bring back to the boat, ran the vacuum through the house, scrubbed the kitchen, and generally cleaned up in preparation for being away from home once again.
1 December 2020
Today was an extension of yesterday as I continued packing for the trip back to Florida and completed miscellaneous pre-departure chores like laundry and such. Our final task to complete our checklist for this trip north meant a visit to our dentist. We had back-to-back checkups scheduled in June that got canceled due to Covid-19 and eventually rescheduled for December. That meant the last dentist visit for each of us was a year ago.
Prior to driving north, Clark called the dentist office and got a complete rundown on their covid-19 procedures to feel comfortable. He said they exceeded his expectations greatly and felt comfortable with seeing them for checkups. Several days before our appointment, Clark confirmed our intention to come in. They sent us a form, which we completed with our medical status. Upon entry to the office, they took our temperatures.
New equipment had been installed. The hygienist said it removed the aerosols generated during cleaning. She said it has one problem ... it sounds like a vacuum cleaner in your face. It did indeed! Fortunately, we both take good care of our teeth, so other than a deep clean and x-rays, we got away with a clean bill of health.
I went first. After checking my teeth, the dentist gave me his permission to leave New Jersey tomorrow as planned. Since Clark would be sitting in the dentist's chair next, I told the dentist that I hoped he would give Clark permission to go with me.
Our appointments were scheduled for 5:00 and 6:00. By the time we were both home, it meant a late dinner. Afterwards, I did everything that I needed to do pre-departure that had not yet been done with the exception of emptying the refrigerator.
2 December 2020
Traveling north we managed to make it home in only 15 hours of travel time because we got to Washington, D.C. and Baltimore after working / daylight hours. Going south, we had no good departure time to choose from that would not put us in that zone during business hours. Given that, we targeted a 9:30 departure hoping that would at least put us there after the lunch hour.
Knowing Clark would be driving all day, I let him sleep and got up around 8:00 to start making sandwiches for lunch and dinner on the road, emptying the fridge, emptying the dishwasher, and collecting my electronics, etc to take with me. When he finally came downstairs, he grabbed a quick breakfast and then started closing down the house. We got underway about 9:45 / 9:50.
Basically from NJ to FL, we just followed 95 south for hour after hour after hour. We did hit some traffic but nothing too severe. Traffic slowed down heading south at one point to stare at fire trucks, cops, and a burned out wreck of a car on north 95. We passed multiple areas where the speed was reduced for work zones.
It began to appear repetitious and I started to believe I was experiencing Deja vu. For example, I kept seeing huge strips of tire rubber at the side of the road where an 18 wheeler had blown a tire. They all appeared to be about the same size and shape. "Didn't I just see that?" I asked myself.
The construction zones also looked the same. So much so, that at one point I asked Clark if we were going in circles and seeing the same place over and over again. As the night wore on, we both got a bit punchy. We would see a Road Work Ahead sign. Then a sign for road work in 500 feet, then road work in 1000 feet, then roadwork in 500 feet. Wait! What! Then without seeing any roadwork whatsoever, we would see an End of Reduced Speed Zone sign indicating the end of construction.
The fake news about road construction would not have been so bad had it not been for the dire threats of penalties for disobeying the reduced speeds. The trouble with that was figuring out the correct speed to travel. We see a sign for reduced speed ahead. Then we would see 55, then 60, then 70, then 55 or 45 who knew what to expect. The funniest one was two signs on opposite sides of the road - directly across from each other - one said "Speed Limit 55" the other said "Speed Limit 60". Actually, there were 4 signs together and 3 said 60, so we chose that speed.
When we started up the Google Maps app, the distance to be traveled showed 928 miles to the marina and a travel time of 14 1/2 hours. It predicted an arrival time of 12:03. I threw an additional 2 hours on to that as what I really anticipated. Just about 16 hours after we left our home in New Jersey, we pulled into the parking lot at the marina. The clock said 2:00 a.m. I was proud of myself for being spot on with my ETA!
Having allowed for weather to be hot in Jacksonville while we visited New Jersey, we left the small portholes open in the boat to allow air to circulate. When we arrived at the boat, it was just about 40 degrees outside and about the same inside the boat. Clark turned on the heat, but no amount of air circulation would warm the sheets. Even with the electric blanket turned out, we had freezing sheets when we finally got to climb into bed at 3:00 a.m.
Driving through in one day gets it over with and saves money - no need to pay for a dinner at a restaurant or a hotel room. Still, I find it horrible as a passenger sitting there for 16 hours doing nothing but searching for the next available radio station and digging in the backseat for food. How Clark can drive for that long in one stretch is beyond my imagination.
3 December 2020
We only carried the essential bags back to the boat at 2:00 a.m. so this morning we collected the rest of the things we had brought back from New Jersey. After putting everything away and eating lunch, we drove to Green Cove Springs where we have our USPS mail shipped to see what mail has accumulated over the past days. Clark came away with quite a stack to go through.
Next we drove to the local Publix food store. I went in to get supplies to replenish the boat for our next days of travel and anchoring out. Clark stayed in the car and took a first pass through the mail. When we got back to the boat, I did all the tedious work associated with putting food away and packaging meat into meal-sized portions for the freezer.
Clark filled the water tank which was quite literally on empty. Again, thinking we would have hot temperatures while we were away, it seemed reasonable not to fill the tank before departure and have it sit there in the heat. Still, now we have totally fresh water in the tank for a fresh start.
One of the packages waiting for us upon our return to the marina was a new toilet seat for the master head to replace the one that broke when Clark fixed the toilet seal. While I processed the food, Clark repaired the toilet.
We plan to return the car tomorrow and leave on the boat on Saturday. Before leaving, I have 3 loads of laundry to take care of including sheets and towels. That should keep me busy tomorrow. If we find the time before we return the car, we may hit a local farmer's market.
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