June/July 2010
Sunday, July 25, through Thursday, July 29, 2010 -- 63 days until departure. Things are getting put away. Escapade is beginning to look ship-shape and like a cruising boat. On Sunday, expecting storms, we turned Escapade around -- stern in. She is slightly longer than her slip and she ties much better stern-in. On Sunday the heat wave finally broke in a violent thunder storm with winds gusting to 45 knots. Sunday night was the first time since June that we turned the air-conditioning off and slept with the hatches and windows open. By Wednesday, the heat was back, but another storm on Thursday cooled (upper 80s v. mid 100s) things off again.
Also on Sunday evening, we enjoyed the company of Bill and Rosemary (Levity, Nordhavn 43) aboard Escapade and enjoyed their cruising stories. We learned a lot from their experiences.
Ken added 4 shelves in the commissary for storage and one in the saloon for our MacBooks.
On Tuesday, we had dinner with Warner and Helga (M/V Prussian Pride) at Mango’s.
The only major tasks remaining are the replacement of the windlass and the water maker, though there are a hundred minor tasks left.
Monday, July 19, through Saturday, July 24, 2010 -- 68 days until departure. We are still stowing stuff aboard, deciding what is a must and what is just what we would like. 
Ken tried attaching the new anchor to the existing rode. Of course, one necessary step is to remove the old anchor from the old rode. After a can of “Blaster” and hours of pounding on the shackle with a 12” pipe wrench and a hammer, he gave up and cut the old shackle off. Silly him. He was believing the guys in the camp that said that you needed to seize the shackle with Monel wire. I’d like to see that shackle come loose on its own. Ken deployed all 325 feet of rode and marked the chain every 10 feet. Of course (Murphy is alive an well), the windless failed. We had to retrieve the rode manually. The new anchor is installed and fits perfectly.
Linda had all of our maintenance manuals digitized, freeing up a 18” X 18” X 24” cabinet. We installed a new flat-screen TV, freeing up a 24” X 26” X 28” cabinet. Another benefit of the new TV is that it has much better receiver sensitivity so we get several more channels.
We installed a router and a bridge for WiFi communications. Our printer works (wirelessly) through the bridge avoiding more cabling.
Friday we drove to Fredericksburg for dinner with Kevin and Courtney, and a break from all of the preparation work.
We are making some progress on our to-do list, but not as much as hoped. It seems that every time we complete two tasks, we have to add one more. It looks like some of the less important items will wait until Georgia.
The weather remains brutally hot and humid. It is nearly impossible to work outside. Ken actually suffered signs of heat exhaustion the day that he worked on the anchor. He swears that he won’t do that again. Thank goodness for air conditioning. Daytime highs are in the mid-90s or low 100s, with humidity in the same range. This weather is more typical of a few weeks in mid-August. It has been relatively constant since mid June. One of the local TV stations reported that every months this year has been warmer than average.
Thursday, July 15, through Sunday, July 18, 2010 -- 74 days until departure. 
On Thursday, July 15, we officially moved aboard Escapade. Aside from doing the necessary things -- put the food in the refrigerator -- we spent the evening relaxing and enjoying our new lifestyle. It has been a long time since we were last aboard. That time was spent packing our land-based possessions for storage while we cruise. It is so good to be aboard again. We really missed the nautical lifestyle.
We are finding that our lifestyle has made a dramatic change. We are able to enjoy life at a more leisurely pace.
We spent the weekend bring stuff aboard and stowing it.
Wednesday, June 23, through Sunday, June 27, 2010 -- 95 days until departure. 
Packing up the Reston house and moving aboard continues. We are finding and utilizing spaces that we would never have used as weekenders. The lazarette is full of spare parts and toys. The space in front of the collision bulk head contains our off season cloths.
This year is very strange. 
We’ve only been out twice, so far. In prior years, we probably would have been out five or six times by now. Aside from all of the work that we have to do, the weather has been so brutally hot that it is nice to sit in the slip with the air conditioning on.
On Sunday, we realized that the movers are coming on July 6th, 9 days from today. We probably won’t be back to Escapade until we move aboard, except maybe a trip just to drop things off.
Saturday, June 19, through Monday, June 21, 2010 -- 101 days until departure. We closed on our house on June 18 and are renting-back. Moving aboard continues. We got our new water-maker and Rocna anchor. Herrington Harbour North has a New Orleans themed slip-holders party on Saturday night -- sorry no pictures. Ken forgot to bring his camera. May set a record as the warmest May in recorded history. June is on track for repeating that record. The Hurricane Prediction Center is predicting a very active hurricane season.
Tuesday, June 1, through Tuesday, June 12, 2010 -- 110 days until departure. We made a lot of progress toward “moving aboard”. We built containers in front of the collision bulkhead to store off-season cloths. Linda left for work from Escapade directly without going to Reston first (First Time). We cleaned out the storage locker and worked on organizing Escapade, throwing out stuff that had accumulated over the years, and started putting spare parts in the lazarette.
Steve and Barb (see Links) have slipped their Middle River lines and are headed north to New England for the summer.
The next month will be busy packing up the house and moving aboard Escapade.
June/July 2010
Thursday, July 29, 2010
