CHESAPEAKE, VA TO MOREHEAD CITY, NC

The AYB yard crew pulled us around 9:00 on the morning of the 16th. Once out of the water, we found that the prop was bent, but not so bad it couldn’t be straightened. We also discovered that the gel-coat on the rudder had been chipped in a couple of places, so that would require being up on the hard again, until the repairs could be completed. Our luck being what it was, the weather turned cold for the next two days; too cold to do the fiberglass work. We ended up being out of the water until the 20th, but with the repairs completed and the boat better than new, we were back in the water and ready to head south again (but this time, not in the damn Dismal Swamp Canal.)

We departed the Atlantic Yacht Basin at 6:45 am on October 21st and began our journey south, towards somewhere warm. It had gotten cold a few days in Chesapeake, VA and neither of us liked the feeling of being cold one little bit.


As we made our way down the ICW, we discovered that the new, newly straightened and tuned prop really improved the performance of our boat. With no wind, no current, and the engine speed set at 2800 rpm (the best power to efficiency curve for our engine) we were making 7.2 knots true speed, which is really flying for a sailboat. In short, this made us at par with most of the trawlers that are out here on the water and faster than 90% of the sailboats. By 2:30 pm, we had arrived at the Coinjock Marina, Coinjock, NC, which is home to the best prime rib in all of America. With a great dinner under our belts, we retired for a good nights sleep.


The next morning, we were off of the Coinjock dock by 7:00 am and on our way towards Manteo, NC. Manteo, on Roanoke Island, is the site of the first English Colony in the Americas, one of the nicest ports of call on the east coast and one of our favorite places. After a leisurely trip down the Albemarle Sound, we made the Manteo Town Dock around 2:00 pm and were snug in our slip in short order.


We planned to stay in Manteo for two nights, but once again, the weather gods intervened and changed our plans. After two beautiful days, a storm blew up on the Outer Banks and proceeded to stall over the area, which forced us to stay in Manteo for three more nights. This wasn’t necessarily bad staying the extra three days, but we had to be in Charleston, SC by the first of November and those three days used up all of our spare travel time.

On the morning of the 27th we got up a half hour before dawn and made ready to leave Manteo. At first light, we pulled out from Shallow Bag Bay and were treated to a spectacular sunrise as we sailed south towards Ocracoke, Island, which was our next planned stop. It was one of those rare days in sailing, where the wind and the current and your direction of travel all worked in harmony for the common good of the journey.


As we flew over the water at speeds of 8.5 to 10 knots, it soon became apparent that we’d reach Ocracoke Island well before 2:00 pm and would still have another day of travel to Morehead City. If, however, we continued on towards Morehead City, we’d make Adams Creek by 7:00 pm and maybe be able to go all the way to Morehead City in the dark. Worst-case scenario was, we’d anchor out and go on into Morehead City in the morning. With this course of action now the plan, we continued to take advantage of the wind and weather and flew on across the Pamlico Sound towards Adams Creek.

We actually make Adams Creek at 6:30 pm and, as the sun began to set in the west, entered onto the northern end of the channel. The anchorages along the way were crowded with sailboats and trawlers; all having taken advantage of the good weather to move down the Alligator River portion of the waterway and arrive here before us. In the light of dusk, however, we could see that the illuminated markers along the creek were all operational, so moving at night would 1) not be a problem and 2) allow us to move unhindered by other boats.

As it turned out, traversing Adams Creek at night was so easy that we made Morehead City and the Portside Marina, without incident, at 11:15 pm. It was so quiet at the marina that we were able to pull in unassisted, get the boat tied up, hook up power, walk the dog and fall into bed before midnight. Just to be on the safe side, I went back up before going to bed and put all four of our fenders between the boat and the dock. I don’t know why I did it, I just did; and it was a real good thing, because, once again, the weather changed.

We were awakened around 3:00 am by the beating of waves against the hull of the boat. To make matters even more interesting, the boat was jumping up and down at least three feet every two or three seconds. It would seem that one of those darling little North Carolina Thunderstorms had appeared out f nowhere and decided to blow like hell out of the east; the direction from which this marina had no protection.

I ran outside and began to check the lines and fenders. The extra fenders were doing their job, preventing our direct contact with the floating dock, and the lines, which Kim had doubled, were holding us securely in position. The sail boat in front of us, a catamaran, wasn’t in such good shape.

The cat’s owners had landed earlier in the afternoon (I found this out later) having survived a storm at sea that had shredded their Genoa. Exhausted, they’d gone to bed, having tied up at the dock with the bare minimum of fenders and lines. The wave action had popped their two fenders from between the hull and dock and their boat was taking a beating. I helped them push out their boat, reinsert their fenders and add a couple more. Then we rigged two more dock lines, which really stabilized their boat, and had everything secure by about 3:45 am.

As we all shook hands over a job well done, the two guys on the cat asked where we were heading and when. I told them we were leaving at first light, weather permitting, and they said they’d be up to help us off. They said it was the least they could do for us, since I had helped them secure their boat without it getting any damage.

True to their word, the guys from the catamaran were both up and sitting on deck at 7:00 am, as I came topside and prepared to leave Morehead City. After paying the marina for our stay, the two guys from the catamaran helped push us off the dock and we were underway towards our next stop, Surf City, NC.

Dismal Day in the Dismal Swamp

Finally, we are back in the water after a week on the hard. Thank heavens the weather has been great, nice and cool at night and sunny during the day. We were surprised when at 4:00pm yesterday they decided to put us in the water. 4:00 is normally quitting time and there was only one space left on the face dock at the far south end…just for us!! It is a great place for Schooner, but the crew team yelling at 5:30 am is a bit unnerving. While work was being done, we met some of the greatest boaters. We shared drinks, snacks, meals and stories with many. I hope to meet again along the waterways.

This morning, we started out early, 6:45am moving off the dock in RAIN!! The Great Bridge opens at 7am and next is the Great Bridge locks next. We wanted to get through these 2 before the restrictions for rush hour. Both were uneventful…I have the locks down pretty well now that we use the non assistant side and I can tie off at mid ship and don’t get yelled at by MR. Grumpy Pants!! What Gordon forgot was the Steel Bridge also had restrictions and we had to wait close to an hour…aarrrgggg!! A steady rain and cool temps made it pretty miserable.

Finally after clearing the Steel Bridge, the turn off for the Dismal Swamp Cut is only a short distance. This was the first time we had attempted to traverse this cut. I was excited as we were going to pass down through an historic series of bridges and locks to Elizabeth City and a new passage south. Also it was prime fall color!!!

We entered the Deep Creek lock first in line, with 8 other boats at 11:30 am. The rain had almost stopped and this made it easier to handle the boat in the lock and more comfortable too!! The lockmaster/bridge tender, Robert Peek, was friendly and very helpful, this being our first trip through. We were about an hour loading and clearing the lock and when you get everyone out of the lock, Robert has to jump in his truck and drive 3/4th a mile so he can open the bridge for everyone. Fortunately for him, they only do this 4 times a day!! We were now on our way into the historic cut first made possible by George Washington to open up better trade routes south.


Well…that didn’t last very long!!!! We were just really settling into the trip when there was this big THUNK followed by 3 more; CRUNCH, BANG, SCREECH!!! We made it all the way to the 12 mile marker.

Yep, we had hit a summered tree! And that brand new prop ws now crunched along with the rudder. We pulled to the side and let the other 7 boats pass and turned back for the bridge. I can say I have been in the Dismal Swamp Cut, but it wasn’t the most pleasant experience!! We were able to tie off to a bulkhead and wait another hour for the bridge to open before re-entering the locks for our return trip back to AYB. This was an extremely slow trip back as we could only travel at a slow 4knots and with the bridge openings we were only able to get back just before dusk…a long, wet, cold miserable dayyyyyyyyyyyyy.

Plans are to short pull us in the morning and assess the damage...more later in the saga of "Current Jumper".

WASHINGTON, DC TO CHESAPEAKE, VA

It’s been a long time since we’ve posted anything to the blog, partly due to not having internet at a few locations, partly due to working on trying to defeat government run healthcare and partly due to plain ole’ laziness. But, with all of these issues temporarily resolved, it’s time to catch everyone up on our escapades.

We left Washington, DC early in the morning, on my birthday. The sun was shining, the sky was clear and the sail down the Potomac was absolutely gorgeous. The day was so perfect that we made a whopping 62 miles and reached the town of Newberg, MD right about sunset. We anchored out just south of US Highway 301 and the “Harry W. Nice Memorial Bridge,” which connects Maryland and Virginia, and went to bed with a gentle breeze rocking us to sleep. Early the next morning, however, the weather turned to crap!

We were awakened around 5:00 AM by the boat bouncing, waves slapping its sides and the wind howling through the rigging. The weather had changed and a cold front had moved in on top of us (NOAA lied and said it wouldn’t come in for another 24 hours.) We hauled anchor as soon as it was light and beat a hasty retreat on down the Potomac, towards the Chesapeake. Unfortunately, we could only make about 3.5 knots into the wind, so we made little headway at all. After being beaten for the next ten hours, we finally turned into the town of Ridge, Maryland and the Point Lookout Marina. It was very protected, secure and we spent the next two days there.

We had a small weather window on the 28th, so once more we headed out into the Chesapeake and turned south towards Norfolk. After about four hours, the wind blew up again and beat us on our nose. Once again, we were moving no faster than 3.5 knots and getting hammered by waves crashing over the bow every few seconds. So, once again, we turned into the nearest port (Deltaville, VA) and laid up for an additional two days. The only consolation was that Deltaville is geared to boaters, so we were able to resupply at the local market and do some service work on the boat while we waited for the weather to break.


On the 30th of September, the weather finally cleared and we went non-stop to Norfolk, VA, where we stayed at the Waterside Marina. We only intended to stay for one night, but learned that the 16th Annual Norfolk Harbor Party and Seafood Feast was being held on October 1st. We just had to stay and check it out.

The festival began around 4:00 pm at the city park, adjacent to the marina. For $40.00 per person, one could enjoy all you could eat of crab cakes, fish, clams, raw oysters, steamed oysters, scallops and the famous Harbor Party Clam Chowder. Additionally, there were strategically located, self serve Budweiser “Tap Trucks” and wine tents where you could drink your fill. Frankly, our bill in a restaurant would have been well over a hundred dollars each for what we ate and drank at the festival. An added bonus was, we were able to meet and speak with Bob McDonnell, who was later elected to the governorship of Virginia. From our impression of Mr. McDonnell, Virginia made a wise choice in electing him governor.


On Friday, the 2nd, we mounted out and headed for the town of Chesapeake, VA and the Atlantic Yacht Basin. There, we had the boat hauled for its annual maintenance routine and some additional enhancements that are hard to do properly when the boat’s in the water. While the boat was “on the hard,” we got a car and went shopping for supplies and Christmas goodies for our granddaughters. We met some new fellow cruisers, who were at AYB for the same reason as us, and share some food, drinks and stories of each other’s adventures on the water.

While the boat was out of the water, we’d been researching the Dismal Swamp Canal, which is the old waterway created by George Washington (that’s right, the first president of the United States) and is still in use today. We were told that our boat had a shallow enough draft (5’) to safely transit the canal and that we’d come out at Elizabeth City, NC and escape a lot of the desolate waterway between Norfolk and Morehead City, NC. So, on the morning of October 14th, with all of our repairs complete, we took off foor the Dismal Swamp Canal. And that's when our luck changed.

Gordon's Birthday

Yesterday, was Gordon's birthday and we took the Metro over to Virginia and to Ray's Hell Burgers. It is probably the very best hamburger I have ever had, besides my own!!

When you go in you have a choice of one of their special concoctions or you can build your own. I chose to build my own!! All start out as a 10 oz. burger, ground fresh in store and patted out. I added mushrooms, onions, mayo, tomato, xtra swiss cheese and jalapenos peppers...yum !!!

Gordon got the Big Punisher which consisted of being diablo-grilled and brushed with our spicy chipotle marinade, pepper jack cheese, charred jalapenos, grilled red onions, and Piranha Sauce(Fiery, Spicy, Green Sauce)!!!
Check them out online as they have an incredible selection of stuff to put on your burger and it was great and a must stop if you are in the DC area.

So this morning we got up early and took the Metro (we are getting good at this)
down to the National Harbor and its marina. We were going to make a stop here but decided after this visit that maybe next time. This is a newer facility, fashioned after an upper end Mall, condo/motel,and restaurant destination. The Gaylord Hotel and Convention Center is located adjacent to the marina and this is where we actually ended up spending the most of the day.

We went in and found they were serving a Sunday brunch at $30 per person...you say what??? I must say it was well worth it! They had 7 stations of food, a cereal/fruit station, pastries/bread station, salad station, pasta station, fish/meat station, and 2 desert stations!!! There was bagels and lox, roast turkey, prime rib, 4 different types of ravioli, Cesar, pasta, and bean salads, shrimp, the big ones,oysters, snails, baked/fried fish, and the deserts ...cake, ice cream, chocolate dipped strawberries, pudding, tirramisu, and assorted cookies and brownies...YUM DOUBLE YUM!!! We ate for 2 hours!!!

We walked about the inside garden and shops and checked out the convention facilities. What a beautiful place to have a convention. Now, if only the rest of National Harbor would catch up and fill the empty store fronts with some unique shopping this would be a great stopping point.

The grounds are amazing and they have a very "different" sand sculpture/play ground. Also, many miles of walking trails and watersports abound and are there for the taking.Or yooou can just stroll the waterfront and stop for a drink here or there.

Since we were both stuffed to our gills, the ride back into DC was a bit uncomfortable and long but we waddled back to our boat and called it a day and a good day at that!!!

WHERE'S BO?

The last time we were in DC was in 1984. Reagan was the president, you could buy a super house for under $85,000.00, gas was a $1.10 per gallon and people stood in long lines to tour the White House. There were no metal detectors at the gates, no ID’s were required to walk in, so all persons, both foreign and US citizens were welcome and picture taking inside the President’s House was encouraged. It was a really great tour.

Fast-forward to today; 2009. There are no tours for the general public, foreigners (other than those on diplomatic passports) cannot gain admittance, little to nothing may be brought inside and picture taking, if you do get in, is absolutely prohibited. Certainly, it is a different time.

So, how were we able to get inside the White House? Well, we had gone to see our Congressman, Henry E. Brown, Jr., who represents the 1st Congressional District of South Carolina. Kim and I wanted to meet him and discuss the government run health care bill and get a pass to observe the House of Representatives in action. With our business concluded and the obligatory photo op taken, Congressman Brown asked if we wanted to take a tour the White House. Of course we said, “Yes!”

We learned that each Congressman and Senator has a certain allotment of spaces for their constituents on official White House tours. You get no real choice of time or date of tour, you just hope you can make the next one that’s available, for which your representative has openings. Our tour would start at 0730 hours, on September 24, 2009.

Well, even though we were now on a tour schedule, there was tons of stuff yet to do and lots of planning still required. First, we had to submit all sorts of personal information to the Congressman’s Office. You see, there’s a complete U.S. Secret Service background check required of all hopeful entrants into the White House. The background check takes 5 to 7 days and the Secret Service can deny you admission to the White House without explanation.
Permit
We had to make sure that we could get to the White House at 0700 using public transportation, so a few days before our scheduled tour date, we did a dry run. Making that dry run turned out to be a good thing, because the access to the pedestrian gate follows different paths at different times of day. Also, the pedestrian gate, as depicted on the map, isn’t exactly where it says it is. The bottom line was, we had to leave the boat at no later that 0545 to walk to the METRO station and make the right connection to reach the White House by 0700.

We received our notice of security clearance and, on the date of the tour, got up at the appointed hour, made the subway and it’s connections (God, it’s quiet at that hour) and arrived at the white house by 0700. Were we ever surprised to find a crowd of 40 or 50 people already there! Once in line, there was an additional wait of about 20 minutes (during which an additional 30 or so people came into the line behind us) before a Secret Service Agent came out and announced how the line was to proceed, how the metal detectors and inspection worked and what documents and ID’s we’d need to provide to gain entrance. Wouldn’t you know it, there were women who showed up with hand bags (they weren’t allowed to proceed) people who forgot their letters or ID’s (they were turned away too) and people with cameras and video recorders (They were sent packing as well.) Why bother to get instructions if you’re not going to read them and do what they say.

Next, it was past the Agent with the list of names, then through metal detector, then waved over by the magic metal wand (in case the metal detector missed anything) and finally, we were on the lawn of the White House. Then, we were ushered up a path, inside a side entrance to the East Wing and placed in a group of about 30 people with our own, personal Secret Service Agent as tour guide. Finally, the official tour of the Whit House began.

We saw Libraries where Teddy Roosevelt smoked and read, salons where First Ladies entertained and rooms that used to be laundries that are now elegant sitting rooms. There were green rooms, red rooms, blue rooms and State Dining rooms. Oh yes, and don’t forget ballrooms. All in all, the tour was pretty cool. And, thanks to modern technology, cell phones and an understanding agent, we even managed to secure a photo or two of the East Room.






The 45-minute tour flew by as if it were only 4 or 5 minutes long. As quickly as it had begun, the tour was over and we were ushered out, sub-group by sub-group, onto the streets of DC. We spent a few additional minutes in front of the White House gates for a picture or two and then it was back to the boat to gather cameras, maps and guide books and enjoy our last day in DC.

National Zoo

Today, the three of us, ventured off to find the National Zoo. First, we caught the Circulator the local bus and that took us to where we picked up the subway. That dropped us about 4 blocks from the zoo entrance. We made a quick stop at McDonald's for lunch before embarking on the great adventure. It's amazing how good the cheeseburger tastes when you haven't had one in a while!!

The National Zoo is part of the Smithsonian Museums so it is free like all Smithsonian properties. It is spread over about 50 acres and is under going renovations in the Elephant house and big Cat area. But it is also home to Giant Pandas, the first ever brought to the US. We were able to see the Pandas and have some great pictures. It was like they were posing for us! You can go online and google panda cam and view them live at many of the Smithsonian Zoos. It was quite cool and I think we spent an hour at just the pandas.

Next stop was the gorilla room!! They ask that you back-up to the glass enclosure before turning around to look at the big guys. I had Schooner with me as I backed up and she just laid down ignoring everything. This big gorilla came up behind me and slammed both hands against the glass scaring both Schooner and me. He just stood his ground looking at Schooner and Schooner at him. I wish I could have taped it...it was sooo cute! The other Gorillas all came by the glass to see her and many other people got "my" pictures!! From the gorillas we saw the Orangutans, who played ghosts with sheets...too funny!!

We walked by the hippo yard and caught one swimming and got to see many birds including flamingos. Many of the animals came over to the fences to see Schooner and people began to follow us to get pictures. The wolves were the most curious but furthest away and they all (5 of them) paced the fence to see Schooner. Even the bear, tigers and lions got up from sleeping and posed for us.

My only disappointment was there was no giraffes!! What is a zoo without giraffes?? All in all it was a great day, alot of walking and the foot is still sore but it had to be one of the best zoo visits ever. I wish I had had Havyn to share it with...next year!! In the meantime enjoy our pictures!!!

OUR CONGRESS IN TRACTION

Today, September 17th, is both Constitution Day and Citizenship Day, which has been observed annually since 2005. This day commemorates two things, the signing of the Constitution of the United States on September 17, 1787 and all who, by coming of age or by naturalization (this includes my father), have become US citizens. Knowing the significance of this day, Kim and I figured it would be the perfect day to visit the Capitol Building and view an actual session of the 111th Congress of the United States of America in action. There is, however, a caveat here. As Popeye the Sailor Man used to say, “Youse don’t just goes to the show, youse needs a ticket.”


Fortunately, we learned about "the ticket" when we went to visit our Congressman here in Washington. As a courtesy, we’d each been given one, which, our Congressman explained, was now required to enter the House Gallery and observe the House in session. We were told to arrive around noon, as nothing much would be done in the morning and all of the voting would happen from noon on. So, armed with this advise and two tickets, we hopped on the Circulator and headed for the Capitol Building.

We arrived at the East side of the Capitol at 12:05 pm and made for the Security Checkpoint. Since we’d been there three days earlier, we figured we knew the drill as to what was allowed to pass through Security. Additionally, we’d been advised that nothing could be taken into the Galleries other than articles of clothing and handbags and that there were lockers provided for all other "touristy" items. So, we entered the Capitol and prepared to passed through Security.

We walked up to the portal, put our change, wallets, keys, cameras, watches, belts, backpack and handbag into tubs and passed them through the X-ray unit. Then we walked through the Metal detector and, of course, set them off, so we were scanned by a guard with an airport style, magic wand (she found nothing.) Well, the first thing that happened was, the guards at the X-ray machine confiscated Kim’s NEW bottle of water. Now it didn’t matter that three days earlier, we’d been passed through with three (Yes I said THREE) bottles of water. Today, however, it was no water allowed (we were told this had been the rules for years, but we knew better.) So, I had to take the water outside, throw it in a trash can about 25 yards from the door and come back through Security and be rescanned. Total elapsed time, 12 minutes.

From Security, we followed the signs to the main exhibit hall and presented our tickets to a volunteer worker. We were directed up a flight of stairs, down a hallway and into a cue, which led us to a door where our tickets were inspected. We were then passed into a room where we had to surrender my backpack and everything electronic; camera, phones, keys with electric door lock fobs, pagers, etc. Anything that transmitted an electrical signal was forfeit and, after surrendering everything contraband, we were given a claim check for our surrendered possessions.

From the “Confiscation Room,” we were sent up an elevator to the House Gallery Hallway. Kim and I were thinking, “Whew, we’ve made it” but we’d celebrated a bit too early. As we rounded the corner into the hallway, we realized there was a sizable line ahead of us. The reason for the line was another metal detector and another security checkpoint. Once again, we took off belts, change, wallets, watches, keys and our one handbag. Through the metal detector again (Oh yeah! It buzzed again), through the magic wand inspection (still nothing) put everything back on again, only to wait in another cue to enter the Gallery.

The Gallery, which overlooks the House Floor, has seating for about 800 people. The Capitol Police, however, in their infinite wisdom, only open up about 200 of the available seats. Consequentially, you have to wait until someone comes out of the Gallery before you can enter. This took about ten more minutes, so finally, after a 47-minute waltz through the Capitol’s version of Homeland Security, we were seated in the Gallery of the U. S. House of Representatives at 12:49 pm.


The scene below us was nothing like we expected. The terms chaos, pandemonium and disorganized all came to mind simultaneously. There was some poor guy standing at the podium, banging with a gavel and trying to call the House to order, but the Representatives pretty much ignored his banging and continued to walk around the floor while laughing, talking loudly, shaking hands and slapping backs. The whole time this was going on, people were standing at the two lecterns on the floor, reading prepared speeches or making comment on the legislation up for discussion. There was such a din from the floor, however, that you couldn’t understand a word being spoken by the people at the lecterns.


The whole floorshow took about three hours. Then, as if a switch had been flipped, everyone began leaving the room without anything being said about adjournment. In less than five minutes, everyone was gone except for 6 congressmen, two court recorders and three people up on the dais, who acted as officers of the House. Between the remaining six, they all got up and spoke puff pieces, recognizing good citizens from their home States, and then they also left. From our vantage point, the entire spectacle didn’t meet our expectations for the law makes of the most powerful nation on earth. Rather, it was closer to an Alabama Mardi Gras street party with lots of good ole’ boys and bull crap, but minus the beads and beer bottles (well…..as far as we could tell.) It was very disappointing.

So, with our visit over, we reversed our path, reclaimed our possessions from the “Confiscation Room,” vacated the Capitol grounds and headed back to the boat. On the way home, we both agreed that, based on our experiences here with the whole political scene, the best thing that could happen to our government, is term limits for all of the members of Congress. Maybe it would stop a lot of the good ole’ boy, self serving, special interest crap and get our Representatives to focus their attention where it really needs to be; on the interests of “we the people.”

By the way, the included pictures are from the internet. You see, you're not allowed to take pictures, read any material, write any notes or make any record of what you see and hear while observing the House in session. 1st Ammendment what???

Labor Day & the Hospital

Well I have put off writing this in the blog long enough!! We celebrated Labor Day quietly on the boat, sleeping in a bit. Schooner was biting at the bit to go for a walk so as Gordon headed to the grass I was washing out the lines I had soaking in Wisk to clean them up. I had my shower and was already dressed to take a ride; we had a rented car, and were also getting ready to head out. I’m not quite sure what happened next…. All I know is I remember it as slow motion as I was tumbling down the back of the boat! I missed the dingy I think but again by the looks of the bruises it must have knocked me back in toward the swim step. My foot caught in the ladder and almost twisted my big toe off! I have an egg on the back of my head; don’t know what it hit and the most disgusting thing is I was in the marina water!! Gordon comes back to the boat; I have already pulled myself out of the water and am sitting in a chair accessing the damage, and like the crack about beans on a paper plate, he asks if the hose sprayed me!! 31 years I have been married to this guy and he has to joke when I’m hurt!! Well, there was NO way I was going to the hospital wet so I hobbled below, took another shower to get the marina water rinsed off and dressed again. I also hoped everything would stop hurting and I could better access my booboos!! The foot!

George Washington Memorial Hospital was really pretty fast. First upon entering you go through giving your name and complaint. Then they send you to triage, temp, blood pressure, excellent by the way, and an overall check of injury. Next. I was sent to X-ray then put in the treatment area. Now this was a holiday so this area had local drunks sobering up, or cut from fighting. Homeless, looking for food and a bed where it’s cool (today it was 92º) and weekend warriors nursing cuts, broken bones, and strained muscles. I was given a new shoe, lots of gauze pads, an ACE bandage, drugs and a tetanus shot in my right arm, the only place it didn’t hurt! yep that's my butt!!




Nothing is broken for those concerned, just bruised and strained. I guess I will have a few days of bed rest!!