August 1, 2006

Hi from Virginia! We reached Norfolk, VA Sunday afternoon on our fourth day out. We thought we had a freezer problem so we hurried up here thinking we would have better luck getting a technician in ‘the big city’ but Rick discovered it was an easy fix and took care of it. He has been doing a great job taking care of all the systems on the boat.

We enjoyed the trip up from North Carolina. There are some very remote but beautiful areas. We are always learning…like the value of prior proper planning (or lack thereof) when it comes to the timing of bridge and lock openings (grrrr), but that’s what it is all about. We went through our first lock which was exciting, but thankfully, an easy one to traverse. Here are a couple of pictures taken on the way up. We have seen hundreds of Ospreys hanging out on the waterway marks and we included a picture of one of them checking us out.

This sunset picture was taken across the Intercoastal in the tiny town of Coinjock, NC, famous for their 32 oz prime rib dinners (we had fish).

As you probably know, it is sweltering here now so we haven’t done as much sightseeing in Norfolk as we had hoped. We took a 2-hour boat tour of the Navy Boat Yard this afternoon which was really interesting. My dad is a retired Navy officer and spent much of his career going in and out of Norfolk so he is excited for us being here. We leave tomorrow to go up the James River, anchoring in Smithfield, home of Smithfield hams (how cool is that??), then the first settlement of Jamestown for a few days.

I’m so glad I have such smart friends and family who know that while I said you can’t use the comments field, you actually can. I guess what I turned off was anonymous comments. At any rate, Rick and I have both enjoyed reading them and your email and will make sure that we do as you say and keep the wine cooler full! Best to all.

Rickshaw has left the dock! Our departure was a few weeks later than we had hoped but, hey, we are both retired, what else do we have to do? We have learned that living on a boat means that things just break. What worked in the morning doesn't necessarily mean it works in the afternoon. We are told that at any one time there are at least five problems and, hopefully, one knows about two of them! Needless to say, we have been working on some things and updating others!

But all systems are now in working order. We don't have cell phone coverage at the anchorage where we currently are but we DO have wireless thanks to the Verizon air card (amazing what technology brings).

We left Morehead, NC this morning at 9:00 and traveled north 65 nautical miles along the Intra Coastal Waterway (ICW), and are now anchored in the Pungo Creek, just SW of Belhaven, NC. The wine is chilled and we just set up the grill and will be having flank steak and potatoes for our first night out. We plan to spend the next 3 months cruising up the Chesapeake and following the leaves back south in October/November.

We will update this site with info from time to time so that you don't think that we have run aground or dropped off the end of the earth. While this is a blog it was suggested that we don't allow conversations on the site as we would soon be overwhelmed with spam. You have our emails and we hope that you keep in touch. The adventure begins!