OH.....OH. Long Time No Post!

Time has certainly slipped away from us the past 10 days. We must be retired! .... and a little tired at the end of each day as well. Or maybe we are partying with some friends or who knows what. We decided that a quick "catch up" post  might help assure everyone that we are alive and well.

We left Tarpon Springs on Monday, March 18. We stopped on consecutive nights at Madeira Beach, Turtle Beach, and then Port Charlotte. There we met up with some friends [ Doug and Judy ] that we met three years ago at a Great Loop Rendezvous. It was like we had seem them last week. We had a great visit and think that we will meet up again in May.

From there we traveled down to Ft. Myers to stage ourselves to cross Lake Okeechobee and to meet up with Debi's brother, Jeff, and sister-in-law Kathy. They arrived on Saturday, March 23rd and have been on board since then. Because of high winds we stayed an extra day in Ft. Myers but had a chance to tour the city a little.

On Monday we left Legacy Harbor Marina and went to Clewiston, FL the jump off spot to the crossing of Lake Okeechobee. There is a famous redneck fish camp there started by Roland Martin who has some great trophy bass on the wall.

Today, Tuesday, we left Roland Martin Marina and crossed the lake. It was a bit rough with 2-4 foot waves but it only took 3 hours to make it across. Yesterday we did our first locks passing through three of them and today we did two more. Tonight we are in Stuart, FL on the east side of the state and will start inching our way up the coast line.

We are all doing well and Debi and I are enjoying having Jeff and Kathy on board. At most stops we have run into other loopers that we know or are new acquaintances. We are looking forward to starting up the east coast and enjoying a little slower pace.

Soon we will fill in the blanks and hope to add some pictures. But right now I am being called to get ready to go to dinner. This looping can be hard work! Those of you who have gone before us know what I am talking about. We hope that all of you are well TOO!!!