The first day of a (possibly) long journey

I haven’t posted in a while because Billy Ruff’n hasn’t actually been sailing but we have been having a good time! For the last month or so, we’ve been on a mooring in Aberdeen Creek, in the backyard of our very good friends, the Sullivan’s and visited with our eldest son’s family. We continue to prepare the boat and entertained ourselves going to a Salty Dawg seminar and the Annapolis Boat Show. At the show, we met someone from Mid Shore Electronics in Cambridge, Md., who could help us with a radio install and some other communications equipment issues. We also got a surprise visit from Jacobo, a brother-in-law from Mexico, and together enjoyed a wonderful send off dinner with the Sullivan’s and Hansen’s. Yesterday, we dropped the mooring to start our way down the Chesapeake Bay; first stop 36 nm to Cambridge. Course, we started the motor at 8am and heard a funny noise; fortunately, just low on coolant. The day was wet & foggy, but not too cold. We got the jib out for a bit as we crossed the Bay and arrived just in time to call the manually operated drawbridge into the creek off Choptank River at 1:30pm. Today, we are messing around with communications equipment and looking forward to a visit from our dear friends and former boat partners, the McCarrons. To quote Ratty from Wind in the Willows, “there’s nothing, but nothing, like messing around with boats”.

P.S. Enjoyed the “Chocolate Situation” from Blackwater Bakery in Cambridge, Md. (see below)