Mike and Beth's Adventures

Boat trips are about more than just visiting interesting places.  Of course that is the goal, but the boat itself, is a living creature and needs constant care and attention.  Every couple of days of cruising leads to a day of maintenance and repair.  For instance,  a couple of days ago we turned on the inverter and it showed an overload condition.  Most of the time the built in protections will provide a safety net and no damage will result.  We were not so lucky this time.  The surge of current damaged internal components and we now must replace the unit.  I found one online and am having it shipped to the marina we will be visiting in about a week.   The latch that holds the refrigerator closed also broke.  Another online purchase to restore full functionality.  Online seems to be the easiest method for replacing parts as we are in locations that do not have marine chandleries nearby.   Shopping.  When we need...

We are berthed at Ditto Landing and using it as our base camp for exploring the Huntsville area.  At the dock was a replica of the original Ditto Landing Ferry. Other cruisers had warned us there wasn't much to do here, but we are finding the opposite.  First of all there is a nice greenway to walk and bike.  It follows a lovely like creek for quite a distance and then head towards Huntsville.  This is the Aldridge Creek Greenway.  And then there is the Tennessee River Greenway that heads east for about a mile to Whitesburg Boat and Yacht Club.  We biked the Aldridge Creek Greenway to get our propane bottle filled at the local Marathon Station. When the kids were young, we sent them to Space Camp, at the Huntsville Space at Rocket Center.  Visiting again brought back many good memories.  While at camp, they trained to fly a space shuttle mission.  At graduation, we were surprised and pleased that Kate won the "Right Stuff" award for her focus...