Dang, I'm getting better at this blog stuff! I'm not getting any better at making the "tracker" keep up and post where I am every 4 hours. Problem is not much has happened today except we moved 88 miles South to the Calooshatchee River then up to the City Marina of Ft Myers. Saw a looper here I met on Mar 13 last year in his boat "The Lord's Provision". Jim Mumper is from PA and is going to be going back home up the East coast soon.
I'm leaving again early in the morning for Roland Martin's Fish Camp on the West side of Lake Okeechobee. He has a fishing show on one of the sports channels We'll be a fine meal for the many bugs waiting for dinner! Actually, with my new camper canvas bug screen that is so small it'll keep out "no-see-um's". That shows his place a lot. The. Few came through there when we brought PHANTOM up to Tarpon Springs from Coral Gables in April '15.
As soon as I get the "tracker" tracking, I'll be up to snuff.... except I want to be able to post pics from the day!
Time now for a nap before dinner!
Wednesday, March 29, 2017
I Can't Say I'm the Fastest Looper on the Circuit....
..... but I never said I was! The first 7 hours were great, then a "bar" captured us for the next 3 hours.... and not the drinking (durn it!) kind. Fact is, we'd been better in there and the money better spent, rather than using our chits for "relief". How do you spell relief…… Tow BoatUS!
If you're ever in the area of Sarasota, Do Not believe their charts! Don't think you're going to be in 14' of water just because the chart says.... so cause you ain't, at least I wasn't. Here are some lessons learned:
1. Don't believe anything that charts say, just say it ain't so!
2. If you find yourself buried in sand… turn up the radio, turn off the engines, get out your fishing poles AND smile/wave to everybody going by mak'em think you're fishing.
3. Don't call BoatUS, wait for the tide to come up.
4. If you do call, don't let them pull you over 15 degrees 'cause it might bend your rudder (it did mine).
After spending most of the day around Sarasota, I decided to continue South to Venice. That's where I started this narrative but fell asleep to awake 2 hours later. That means I'm writing next AM and now it's time to take off for Ft Myers, otherwise Bill is gonna catch up with me on Friday!
If you're ever in the area of Sarasota, Do Not believe their charts! Don't think you're going to be in 14' of water just because the chart says.... so cause you ain't, at least I wasn't. Here are some lessons learned:
1. Don't believe anything that charts say, just say it ain't so!
2. If you find yourself buried in sand… turn up the radio, turn off the engines, get out your fishing poles AND smile/wave to everybody going by mak'em think you're fishing.
3. Don't call BoatUS, wait for the tide to come up.
4. If you do call, don't let them pull you over 15 degrees 'cause it might bend your rudder (it did mine).
After spending most of the day around Sarasota, I decided to continue South to Venice. That's where I started this narrative but fell asleep to awake 2 hours later. That means I'm writing next AM and now it's time to take off for Ft Myers, otherwise Bill is gonna catch up with me on Friday!
Friday, March 24, 2017
The Start of Something Big is About to Finally Happen!
The time is drawing very near for the departure of PHANTOM from her home port of Tarpon Springs on her adventure to the Great Loop. Finally it was a good day today for me and Caterpillar. I wrote a post yesterday to explain how disappointed I've been for the past week…. but as luck would have it, before I could get it posted here.....it disappeared! Couldn’t find it anywhere, so exhausted, I went to bed.
As you may know, or not, although I thought I had told everybody on Earth, that on the 22 of Nov 2016 (just before Thanksgiving last year) I ordered two new After Coolers (AC) for PHANTOM, not because I needed them mind you, but merely for preventative measures. Finally after FOUR months, they arrived but only two days before my planned depart date on my Great Loop. The good news was I received the AC's, but the bad news was the person I had scheduled to installed them..... had caught a bad case of the flu. Fortunately I had a backup plan and when we initiated that, the parts proved to be entirely different from the original equipment and with NO photos or instructions provided by Caterpillar work could not be compeleted. Scott began the installation but soon afterwards, decided without proper documentation, it was safer to wait for help.
Enter the people at Ring Power now, our local CAT dealer in the area. They provided a repairman on short notice, for a lot of money naturally. I’m happy to report Joe now has both engines running and checked by his computer and given a healthy report. Everything is a go so we’ve spent the last three days taking off and putting on everything we think we will or won’t need. Of course, this means we’ll forget the most needed and not need anything we bring. What a mess but we’re finally getting a hold on our situation.
Winds for the last couple of days have been 15-25 mph but by late Sunday, or certainly by Monday, PHANTOM will be on her way..... with me simply hanging on! Lately I’ve been questioning if this is the right thing because of the unusual circumstances and many signs encountered.
When I picked up PHANTOM in Coral Gables Florida in 2015, Bill Parsons and two other friends went down to Miami to help me bring her back. Originally these two people had planned to join me on many parts of the Loop. Randy Maybry notified me only a few days before my planned departure, that he was NOT going! Fortunately, I had recently felt that he was not fully committed, but I was never told otherwise each time I asked if he was going. Celia Martin was helping me prepare for the trip when she found out her son was moving from Oregon to Chattanooga. She decided she needed to see him when he arrived so she departed for Tennessee last week..
To make matters seem insurmountable, next came the service problems with Caterpillar. After I got over the shock, I decided it was now or never if I wanted to go. There are many places going through the 165 locks on the route where you need 2 or 3 people as a minimum. A friend, who traveled through Tarpon Springs in 2015 on his loop, indicated then that he might be interested in riding with me when I started my loop. I called Joe about a month ago and he arrived Monday. His help has been very much appreciate and we both are ready to leave. One slight future problem I will encounter….. Joe can only stay with me until 1 May and after that I’m on my own again!
How I’m going to handle that…. I don’t know but I realize now that we're going! For one to accomplish the improbable you have to make the attempt. The only way for me to surely fail, is never try. So Joe and I will depart maybe Sunday, but latest Monday, There is an interactive map here, which will recorded and report my position every four hours so you can see where I am, or was, or when I’m stopped. I'll try to write something as often as I can when I feel like it will be interesting for you. Comments and suggestions are welcome and appreciated and I hope you enjoy going with me on this "Trip of a Lifetime"!
As you may know, or not, although I thought I had told everybody on Earth, that on the 22 of Nov 2016 (just before Thanksgiving last year) I ordered two new After Coolers (AC) for PHANTOM, not because I needed them mind you, but merely for preventative measures. Finally after FOUR months, they arrived but only two days before my planned depart date on my Great Loop. The good news was I received the AC's, but the bad news was the person I had scheduled to installed them..... had caught a bad case of the flu. Fortunately I had a backup plan and when we initiated that, the parts proved to be entirely different from the original equipment and with NO photos or instructions provided by Caterpillar work could not be compeleted. Scott began the installation but soon afterwards, decided without proper documentation, it was safer to wait for help.
Enter the people at Ring Power now, our local CAT dealer in the area. They provided a repairman on short notice, for a lot of money naturally. I’m happy to report Joe now has both engines running and checked by his computer and given a healthy report. Everything is a go so we’ve spent the last three days taking off and putting on everything we think we will or won’t need. Of course, this means we’ll forget the most needed and not need anything we bring. What a mess but we’re finally getting a hold on our situation.
Winds for the last couple of days have been 15-25 mph but by late Sunday, or certainly by Monday, PHANTOM will be on her way..... with me simply hanging on! Lately I’ve been questioning if this is the right thing because of the unusual circumstances and many signs encountered.
When I picked up PHANTOM in Coral Gables Florida in 2015, Bill Parsons and two other friends went down to Miami to help me bring her back. Originally these two people had planned to join me on many parts of the Loop. Randy Maybry notified me only a few days before my planned departure, that he was NOT going! Fortunately, I had recently felt that he was not fully committed, but I was never told otherwise each time I asked if he was going. Celia Martin was helping me prepare for the trip when she found out her son was moving from Oregon to Chattanooga. She decided she needed to see him when he arrived so she departed for Tennessee last week..
To make matters seem insurmountable, next came the service problems with Caterpillar. After I got over the shock, I decided it was now or never if I wanted to go. There are many places going through the 165 locks on the route where you need 2 or 3 people as a minimum. A friend, who traveled through Tarpon Springs in 2015 on his loop, indicated then that he might be interested in riding with me when I started my loop. I called Joe about a month ago and he arrived Monday. His help has been very much appreciate and we both are ready to leave. One slight future problem I will encounter….. Joe can only stay with me until 1 May and after that I’m on my own again!
How I’m going to handle that…. I don’t know but I realize now that we're going! For one to accomplish the improbable you have to make the attempt. The only way for me to surely fail, is never try. So Joe and I will depart maybe Sunday, but latest Monday, There is an interactive map here, which will recorded and report my position every four hours so you can see where I am, or was, or when I’m stopped. I'll try to write something as often as I can when I feel like it will be interesting for you. Comments and suggestions are welcome and appreciated and I hope you enjoy going with me on this "Trip of a Lifetime"!
Sunday, March 19, 2017
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