July 26-31, 2016 Ixonia to Salt Pond and CoinJock

After good-byes everyone rushed off,  We four,  Jack, Mary, Bubbie and I drove to Johnson Creek and the Kwik Trip there where I withdraw cash from their free ATM and fueled up the car.

Backseat travelers

And of course fueled everyone else up to.  They have good breakfast sandwiches.

We drove until we found a "pet friendly hotel in Jackson Ohio.  A Quality Inn which was, well not a Hampton Inn.

"I can eat it all, no problem".  

But first we had t have dinner.   Mary wasn't feeling well so Jack and I went to the local Bob Evans where, eyes bigger than his stomach, he ordered eggs and pancakes.  The waitress, using her best southern accent, remarked, "are you-all sure you-all can eat all that food?"  Jack answered in the affirmative.  The adult (me) said sure, curious if he really could pack it all away.

Well, he got through maybe half of it before agreeing he couldn't eat anymore.  The waitress gave me one of those womanly, "I told you so" looks reserved for stupid male adults.  But I gave her a big tip anyway.

And on the way back to the hotel we did stop at MacDonalds to buy some McNuggets for Mary.

Bubbies first hotel room experience ... I think

I needed rest becasue we had another long day of driving so I got a single room and left Bubbie, Mary and Jack to wrangle over the TV.  I went to bed early in the eerie quiet of a cannine-less room.

We were up and on the road at a not too early hour and near Hampton, VA encountered horrific traffic congestion die to some construction.  But we did make it to the marina before the office closed.

While Bubbie explored the marina with Jack, Mary started loading up a cart and I went to the boat to open it up, disengage the dehumidifier and start up the A/C units.

Everyone clamoring aboard.  You can just see Bubbies head

The dehumidifier work fine except the drainage hose I connected wasn't doing anything.  All the condensate went into the bucket which of course was full.   I'd better check that manual again.

The T-head dock we are on is a slanted a bit and makes clamoring around with heavy packages and luggage a bit of a challenge.  But we managed to get everything aboard using to dock carts.

We had ordered some parts etc. and they were at the Marina office too.

We had the car for a few days yet so the next day went to Yorktown.  It was a hot day but we only had a few days to do all the tourist things so to hell with the heat.

One of the few exhibits.  Many more not yet on display.

We first stopped at Yorktown Battlefield park which is a national park.  It hasn't changed much from the last time were through here.  Interesting!

We didn't do the driving tour of  the battlefield.  Its a self guided driving tour of the battlefield and its a large area.  Now that Bubbie lives with us we have time constraints so we must prioritize our off boat activities ... right Mary?

Gift shop purchases

Hard to resist a penny crushing machine

Overlooking Yorktown square

Is there a crab left anywhere?

Next we drove the two miles to Yorktown Victory Center.  The main museum is just finishing up a refurbishment and wasn't all that interesting because many of the displays weren't available.   The gift job enjoyed Jack's visit though .. several purchases.

Jack kayaking up Salt Pond

Then we drove a short distance and parked in Yorktown and walked downtown and somehow ended up at the Riverwalk Restaurant where Jack devoured a pound of crab legs.  And to think we used to indulge in Happy Meals for him only a few years ago.

Shortly after we took a slow drive through Yorktown back to the boat.

Jack wanted to kayak so I got it down for him and off he went exploring Salt Pond.

I drove off and did some shopping at Farm Fresh grocery.  Mary started doing laundry.

Investigating tidal creatures

The next day Jack and I left Mary and Bubbie alone and went into Norfolk to visit the battleship USS Wisconsin at Nauticus.  We used the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel  (not to be confused with the much longer Chesapeake Bay Bridge).   On the way to Salt Pond we cruised right over it and will do the same when we leave.

Nauticus is, beyond the battleship, a bit of a marine museum with ship artifacts, sea life etc.  Interesting place.  And its right next to a cruise ship terminal and beyond that a large river front park.

It was another hot day but the heat didn't dissuade anyone from climbing all over the ship.  Well, maybe after a few hours things became a little too warm.  At that point we left the ship for the cool of the museum and spent an hour in there.  Very interesting.

USS Wisconsin and Jack

Then it was gift shop time.  I'm not much of a gift shop goer.  Jack, is Mr. Gift Shop.  So we went in, I secured a nice comfy chair and started to read the NY Times.  30 seconds later Jack was back saying he was all done.

Replenishing after visiting the battleship, museum, and a gift shop.  

It was an extraordinary moment.  Jack?  Done?  In three minutes?  In a gift shop?  Unprecedented!

We left the large and renown gift shop and strolled next door to the Nauticus cafeteria where we feasted on water and ice cream.  Hey.  It was a hot day!

We drove back to the boat using the tunnel again.  There is a surprising amount of traffic congestion around here.  Or maybe I'm just more sensitive to it becasue we don't drive all that much.

I made a grocery run to the nearby grocery store, Farm Fresh while Mary did some laundry. We ate pizza from Annas again and then went to bed.

I drove Mary and Jack to the Buckroe Beach and Park a few miles down the road in the morning and while they splashed around in the water and searched for dead stuff, Bubbie and I did some engine maintenance and created some alternative routes we could use when (note I said when, not if) the weather turns crappy and we have to alter our planned destination.

The beach goers called me in mid afternoon and I went to pick them up.

Cocktail Party!

By then it was cocktail hour and since we have new crew members aboard it was an inaugural cocktail  party.

The pool was being shocked because of a persistent algae bloom but should be ready for fun tomorrow.  Algae love this steamy weather and even the mild levels of chlorine in the pool cant keep it down so they periodically shock the pool which kills pretty much everything.  It's left a day so the chlorine can evaporate off leaving a sparkling clean pool for another week or so.

We went to Walmart this morning for a stocking up, shopping run.  We will be anchoring out most of the time.  Well that's the plan anyway.  So we need to stock up on food and other essential items since we wont have access to any stores.

Walmart is by far the cheapest place to do massive shopping.  I was surprised though how interested  Jack was wandering the aisles at Walmart and discovering all manner of sparkling trinkets.  The renown Nauticus gift shop paled in comparison.

We were back in record time and got everything on the boat.  I took the car back and then Jack and I hit the pool.  Mary declined to swim, and read a book while keeping a careful eye on the laundry located in a small air conditioned room behind the pool.

Then it was time to relax.

TV zombies.  All three of them..

While they immersed themselves in satellite TV I was cajoled into taking Bubbie out for her nightly walk.  

Prying her away from the TV wasn't difficult.  They were watching the intense drama from the 70's, Emergency.  Scintillating TV it is not.  

Out around the marina there was 15 minutes of smelling until I commanded, "Bubbie poop!".   And she actually did.  Under a bush so I couldn't make use of the fine little black baggies the marina freely provides so dogs can amusingly watch, while you pick up their leavings.

It was an early to bed night because we are leaving early tomorrow morning for Coinjock, NC our first stop.

We did leave early this morning and encountered rain storms approaching Hampton Roads.  We also had an encounter with a RoRo, which was doing 19 knots (via AIS) coming into Hampton Roads.  It was cutting off our route to the other side of the channel where the naval ships were docked.  Prudence being the better part of valor, or something like that, I slowed and changed course to run parallel with it until it was past us. 

We ran along the Naval piers seeing the aircraft carriers, CVN-73, CVN-75 and CVN-77,which is the newest and last Nimitz class carrier.  We saw it at the Naval Ship yard up the Elizabeth river when we came down through here in June.  So it was moved over to the Naval Base.  That would have been something to see.

Numerous other ships were there.  And a few submarines too.

As we left the naval base and began running through the commercial port the radio crackled with the announcement of RR Bridge 7 closing.  That bridge was 2 miles in front of us and we cant pass under it.  So we slowed way down and cruised at about 3 mph until another radio broadcast announced the bridge was opening.  The slowdown put a bit of a crimp in our timing.  We were attempting to time our arrival at Great Bridge Lock and Great Bridge so we wouldn't have idle around waiting for them to open.

Jack attentively tending lines in Great Bridge Lock

 As it turned out we ended up waiting for 20 minutes at the Great Bridge Lock, and then waiting another 15 minutes for Great Bridge to open.

Waiting for the bridge put the navigation in Humor mode ... ETA Never?

Bubbie meanwhile seems to have a halcyon attitude while the boat is moving.

Shade.  A fan.  A nap.  What else does a cruising dog need?

We only had a slight wait at the next bridge, and running at 1800 RPM we made North Landing Bridge which only opens twice an hour.  We sailed right thru without stopping.

Surrounded but never molested by the thundershowers 

Once in Coinjock Sound we found ourselves between severe thunderstorms.  We had some rain but luckily the heavy stuff with its companion lighting was past us.  We pulled into Coinjock by 6:08.

Readying lines for Coinjock marina in the distance

We and three other boats were on the dock.  Not busy day for them.  Once were all tied up and secure it was off the restaurant.  They are famous for their delicious (and huge) Prime Rib.  Jack, on his quest for sea food rejected the prime rib and went for ... what do you think.

 No prime rib for this guy.  It's Crab Legs!

After eating Bubbie was walked by Jack and Mary while I talked with the guys on a few boats that had passed us in Coinjock Sound, Queen Bee, and Venture an old commercial dinner cruise boat.

Talked with the first mate on Venture and he related a tale of woe, 3 weeks of repairs, new equipment purchases, dirty, boat etc.  He and the other two guys in the crew are acting as a delivery crew, taking it to the Virgin Islands.  Ironically that’s where he lives.  I forget his name, but he’s a retired musician, and nationally known although I never heard of him or his band, Tin something-or-other.  Nice guy though.

Forecast looks ominous tomorrow but I’m not sure which forecast to believe.  My gut tells me it’ll be a ok day, but very stormy night.  Since we have Jack and Bubbie on board I’m thinking we’ll play it safe and stay here another night.  We'll figure that out tomorrow morning.