We Are Positive – August 21, 2022, St. Augustine, FL, USA

Well, it was inevitable, I guess. We finally tested positive for COVID19. I got it first and Ron shortly after. It isn’t that big a deal really, but just feels like a bad sore throat which turns into a bit of an annoying cough. I guess I should be grateful I have not gotten it until now, we are both vaccinated and boosted (so it isn’t that bad – just feels like a cold), and we have a place all set up with no plan to travel in the next few weeks, so we won’t be spreading it.

I slowed us down for about a day but other than that, we have really been doing what we had planned without too much issue.  Ron has been to the boat everyday and we’ve been walking 5 miles all but one day.  We even checked off a couple boat projects already.   

Ron had gotten the fiberglass repair completed and it turned out perfectly even though he was quite stoned from the resin fumes!  He has also been working on the new Bimini top which we needed to reconfigure before we can pattern out the surround.   One more day on this and we should be able to do that. 

He has had company too.  As hard as we tried to keep the birds from nesting on our boat, they were determined, and we have one.  Now I feel too bad to take it off since it has birds in it.  I have to wait till they leave to clean it up.

I guess we will keep to ourselves for another week and we will test again to see if we are still positive or not.  We could be in a much worse place that’s for sure!  Life is tough in paradise.

We’ve Got Some New Wheels – August 12, 2022, Jekyll Island, GA, USA

The reasons started to pile up for us to put the motorcycle away now that our trip our west was wrapped up. We still want to travel the east coast at some point, but it seems that is much more feasible by boat. There are issues traveling with a motorcycle on the east coast.

Our first issue is weather. In August there seem to be rain showers every afternoon and our travel would be slow going. This would also make the road more dangerous trying to navigate in the rain, negotiate semitrucks in the rain, etc.

Secondly, we really miss having a kitchen and my hotel room cooking is lacking. Being vegetarian is hard enough for the occasional meal, let along every meal. I have to say the finding something at the gas stations is not impossible but not the best either. Let’s just say our health has declined and something we do not want to continue ignoring. We aren’t exercising, aren’t eating the best, and that can become the root of many issues.

Lastly, we have the time now to make our last changes on the boat before next season and since the hotel costs seem to be overpriced (in my humble opinion), it would help our budget to stay in one place for a while so this means, back to St. Augustine we go to visit the boat.  We picked up an Airbnb on the beach with a kitchen and laundry. 

We also put the bike back in storage and rented a car.  Our first rental was kind of funny – take a look.

More than that, there was also something wrong with the key fob and every time we tried to unlock the car, the alarm would go off and if looked like we were stealing the car.  Very funny.  So, we took it back since this would most certainly get old and got ourselves some new wheels.  This one is nearly as interesting since it has “lane assist.”  This feature nearly drives the car itself which of course drives my control freak hubby crazy!

After a fun filled week visiting Columbus and Cleveland, and getting our new wheels, we took off to Jekyll Island for the parents’ resort.  We stayed a couple days then headed south to St. Augustine.  We will spend the next month here, hit Columbus one more time to see all the Daughter’s before we shove off again in October.  I now get to put together my best honey do list for the boat!

Back to the Heartland – Columbus, Ohio, August 4, 2022

Over the last several days, we wound our way through South Dakota, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, and ended up in Ohio again yesterday. Let me just say we passed A LOT of corn and soybeans. Much of it looked like this…

Based on my new expert observation of nothing but farmland the last 4 days, it is time for dusting the crops.  That means every now and then we have an exciting moment which looks something like this.

Or that fact that we had one of the freeways shut down on us when a semi going 70 miles an hour plows into a construction truck (or at least that was the story of the truck who pulled into the gas station behind us after following us through the stand still of traffic).  Once again being on a bike had its upside since we were able to weave through traffic to get back to the exit and find an alternative route.  The bad news was it included gravel roads.  This is not fun on a motorcycle, but my experienced hubby managed fine, and we found our way out (no thanks to Apple).

Now that we have managed to ride nearly 9,000 miles here are a few new items to add to our trip notes.

• I have a farmer’s tan…on my face.  It’s attractive.  You can clearly see the lines from the chin strap of my helmet and sunglasses.  Ron’s looks the same, but his beard is nearly blonde as well. 
• The number of RVs on the road out west is insane.
• The farther east we got, the more rain, traffic, and more semi’s we encountered.
• We passed an inordinate number of other bikers heading to Sturgis and I am glad we won’t be there during the very insane week.
• Since we are from the Midwest, it became increasingly boring as the scenery was all too familiar.
• We had hoped to go through Upper Peninsula Michigan but due to the temperature and storms, had to change plans and go the route we did. 
• We both desperately want a home cooked meal after eating out and from the gas station the last couple of months.
• Hotels are sold out everywhere…including Columbus and are 25-50% more expensive than we planned for them to be.  Thank goodness for some good old fashioned travel hacking.  It shocks me.

We have decided to change up our whole plan again cause…why not? We have loved this so far and while we want a few days break, we don’t want to quit, and we will share more on the new plans soon.