Phil Preparing Storage Area

Phil's friend, Kay, has been kind to offer us a unused stall in her horse barn to store our stuff while cruising.  In return, Phil is building her a tack room.  I think he's mostly done with the tackroom and the re-wiring of electricity.  Then he'll start on making a storage shelf to make maximum use of the 12' x 12' x 9' tall space.  He'll use 2x4's for the frame and boards of rough cut black walnut and cherry that we wanted to keep, as the shelving to lay items on.  Kills 2 birds with one stone.   I know I'm not using the correct terms, but I hope you get the idea.  "Changes" is in the water, the floor sole is varnished and put back in.  Phil has ordered some stainless steel flat bar stock to make one of the chain plates longer as a result of getting the rigging fixed.  He still needs to put the autopilot in.  He has the Garmin 545 GPS installed and there is tons of other things to do.

My sister Cheryl and her husband Jeff have offered their home in Dayton as a place for Katie to live and go to Sinclair Community College this fall. (Aren't they great!) When we were in Dayton this past weekend, she had an opportunity to see the college and she likes what she sees.  So now she has applied and we are working on getting an appointment to talk to an Academic Advisor, do the Freshman tour and hopefully register for classes.   This college is highly rated and very reasonable - less expensive than Lakeland Community College, but a quality place to go and transfer to many other places in Ohio.  Wright State Univ in Dayton could be an option to complete her 4 years.

We lost electricity yesterday, and after Phil looked at the electric panel (has the breakers in there), I called the electric company about the electric outage.  They came - flipped the main breakers - low and behold - electricity was back on.  The good thing is Joe (CEI man) liked the house - noticed it's for sale- we got to talking (I never do that :)  ) I gave him a tour top to bottom and the back yard- he knows our friends Phil Waddle and George Schlauch (works with them) - and he went home with more information to show his wife.  He needs to sell his house in Madison, OH, but he loves century homes and seem to like mine.  We'll see what happens, but I would love to sell him this home.  We've had over 2000 "hits" on the web sights that our realtor has the house listed on.  All it take is one good bid.

New St. Thomas Pictures

Here are some more pictures of Phil on his trip.  Today Phil and friend, Kay Herdman had lunch together.  She has been kind to make a deal with us to store some of our belongings in her empty 12' x 12' empty horse stall if Phil builds her a tack room.  Thank you Kay!!  

Today they went to Carter Lumber and brought back much lumber using her truck. It was piled high. Phil has the frames up and also the sheeting up today. It's inside her barn so no need to put a roof on, thought it will have a ceiling.  Tomorrow he goes back to insert wiring for electricity.  He thinks that he'll need to re-wire the entire barn.  Phil also got lumber to make shelves so we can maximize the usage of the space.  He'll use the black walnut from the tree cut down in our back yard  for "decking" on the shelves - killing two birds w/one stone.  

Sunday we have scheduled an open house.  We lowered the price a little, hoping it will create more interest.  It would be wonderful if we could live on the boat a couple months this summer.

Phil's Home

I picked Phil up at CLE airport about 530pm yesterday.  His plane was on time, we got his baggage first off the plane and I got there late enough so that we were able to not pay parking.  He was hungry/  All he had to "eat" for breakfast and lunch was coffee and they didn't have any food to buy on the plane, so we stopped at Bahama Breeze for supper.  Definitely was in need for a shower - so that was top priority when we got home.  He had lots of stories to tell and now I have an official St. Patrick's day T-shirt from St.  Thomas to wear next year for St Patty's day.  Now to get back to work on clearing out his stuff in the garage, get the boat in the water and so on.  Hear tell that Captain Dave loves Phil as crew.  WE all know how Phil fixes things (used this skill many times on this trip) and knows how to sail.    

Phil in Albany, NY

They had a nice trip up the Hudson River today and docked at the marina about 730pm.  They arrived at low tide and after powering thru some mud - got into 20' water.  Phil says is a narrow river kind of like at Port Dover in Canada.  After a sundowner, they will be going out to eat at a local restaurant.  Of course they have showers, so I'm sure that will be on the plan tomorrow morning at the latest.  The plan is for the crew change tomorrow.  Jim and Phil will be renting a car to get to an airport with Phil arriving home Wednesday early evening at Cleveland Airport.  It will take at least another week for the boat to arrive at it's final destination in Erie, PA.  BTW, starting tomorrow, Phil will have his cell phone on since they have good signal where he is and he can also charge up his phone.

Phil at NY Harbor

I heard  from Phil tonight.  His cell phone worked from 8 miles out.  When we stopped talking, they had made it to the beginning of the shipping channel.  They are doing ok.  It's was 25-30 knot winds the first 3 days and they were sailing 8-9 knots/hr and water coming over the boat.  Phil did not get sea sick as he took Bonine the first 3 days, and then later he was ok when it got rough again.  Phil's lucky as the quarter berth is a dry berth as everywhere else there were leaks.  Tonight Captain Dave and Phil will be alternating 3 hr watches to get them thru New York City Harbor to the Albany River.  Jim is not experienced enough sailor for this part of the trip.  They expect to get to Albany NY on Tuesday.  Phil hopes to get home Friday at the latest, but he may be needed to transport the boat via the Erie Canal to Erie, PA.  I know that Captain Dave was on the phone when Phil was talking to me trying to work out the crew part.  Glenn, I let him know to give you a call if he stays on the boat.  Phil has been glad for the experience and I'm glad that Louisa called me both times.

Making good time from St. Thomas

I have heard from Louisa, Captain Dave's girlfriend, today and the men are making good time  the sailboat.  Nice to have the satellite phone. They are currently at 35.14N 72.22W (about as far north as Cape Hatteras) and with less than 350 miles to go, expect to make it to New York Harbor by Sunday evening.  Everything is going smoothly since they left St. Thomas.  We are having an open house on Sunday 1230p to 230p so hope that someone likes the house to make an offer.  It is Maple Festival this weekend, so hope it's a good decision to have the open house when there are a lot of people going by.