It’s 6:45PM SYL is tied up, the AC is on, I have made my dinner for the evening (a huge sandwich) I’m sitting here eating & enjoying getting to my destination before dark….. Even though I have a day and a half to go before I’m there, I feel so much like I’m home. I previously docked 2 different sailboats here next to the “Rainbow Bridge” so this is my old stomping grounds. I worked in a refinery that is 600 yards away from where I’m docked for two years… I am on familiar ground… er .. water.
Today started out humid but soon cleared to a “blue bird day”. If your a duck hunter you know what that means… no clouds and nothing but bright sun… terrible for duck hunters. Duck hunters want a cold cloudy day so the ducks have to fly low and have a hard time seeing you in your blind… blue bird days usually mean no ducks…. but it was great for this sailor, the sun welcomed me home to Texas.
After the Ellender Bridge at the Calcasieu River, it was all gravy. No bridges, locks or crooked narrow channels to worry about. Tomorrow I’m picking up some crew. Katie and Dean that own “Our Way Too” are going to meet me in the morning and ride the rest of the way to Galveston. So far I have enjoyed the solitude of the Louisiana swamps… but it will be nice to have people on board again. The ditch from here to Galveston is probably the ugliest part of the whole thing… but oh well…..
I’m actually going to try out a new marina when I arrive in the Houston area, Bayland Marina in Baytown reopened today after being destroyed by a hurricane. The facility is very close to the job I hope to be working next week and is the closest marina to my house so when I go home to the lake I’ll save about 30 minutes driving time. I love Waterford (where we always kept SYL) but the drive to work is trough the worst traffic in the area. We will see how it goes, but I’m docking at Bayland Saturday to try it out.
I’m trying to gather up the engergy to clean the boat before my crew arrives… but so far that just hasn’t happened. I’ll clean the bathroom and kitchen a bit.. but the end of this trip would definitely be classified as a “man thing” Function won out over form by leaps and bounds since Linda left the boat in Destin. It’s not horrible… but… ok, yes it is….. maybe I’ll clean the back deck and call that good.
Man it’s nice to be settled before dark. I now have a little time to unwind, not just lay down and worry about not getting up at daylight. I did some long legs on this journey. The 100 mile run to the Mermentau River on Wednesday set up the whole trip for me. After Wednesday’s big run, that made it where I would have two 75 mile days left…. and that’s doable on these longer spring /summer days. We have a full moon now too, so if I decide not to stop in Bolivar tomorrow night… we could have a nice moonilt sail into the bay. I planned on stopping but I suspect it will be nice and we won’t stop short of our goal…. Bayland Marina.
Well, the ibuprophen is kicking in and the cabin is cooling down.. life is good. I may scout around for an open electric outlet but for now I’m on the Honda. This old restraunt I’m at is closed down so I’m sure the power is turned off. Esther’s got plenty of my business when it was open with their good seafood and service.
7:30 and it’s still plenty light outside. I guess I better scout around if I’m going to.. goodnight all
Rusty