The Saints: St Louis and St Augustine

May 12 - 31,  2013

We've traveled a lot of miles in the past couple of weeks, unfortunately, most of those miles have been in the car.  I had to go to St Louis for my pre surgery tests.  That is 1150 miles -- a long 2 days.  All of the tests went well and I was approved to have both of my knees replaced on June 21st.  Traveling to St Louis, allowed us a good visit with our daughter and her family.  Christopher, our 7 year old grandson, drove back to Stuart with us and will spend a couple of weeks on board.  He endured the 2 day road trip better than I did -- less complaining!



  

The City Museum in St Louis must take anything that
is donated and then turn their local artists loose on it.
A very creative place!

JAC's preschool class made a movie.  Here she
is in her acting premier. 

When we left for St Louis, we had said long good-byes to Bonnie and Jon, thinking that we wouldn't be traveling together until November. Some of the work on their boat took longer than expected.  Yea, we are heading North together!  By Tuesday, groceries and parts had been purchased and we were both ready to go.  In spite of the barnacles that had grown on our propeller and bow thruster, we made the 79 miles to Melbourne.  If a boat (or actually anything), sits in salt water, it must be scraped periodically to remove the barnacles, that grow faster than rabbits can multiply.  We should have had it done in Stuart, but since we arrived during the Memorial Day week-end we missed our opportunity.  Having a fouled prop and bow thruster cost us dramatically in fuel. Instead of using 18 - 22 gallons to travel 79 miles we went through 66.  Ouch!!!!  On Wednesday, Jon made arrangements with an acquaintance to clean our bottom.  The diver met us at the Cocoa Village Marina.  The marina is generous and in a very cute town. They allow transients to stay a couple of hours for free; so boaters will sample the city. While the diver did his thing, we toured and ate pizza. We will definitely come back for another visit and stay longer. Thursday morning we caught up with Bonnie and Jon in New Smyrna Beach. With our freshly scraped prop, we  zipped along at our usual 8 miles per hour.  The River's Edge Marina in St Augustine will order a fuel truck for boaters that stay overnight. They were so accommodating that we stayed two.  Friday morning we took on 759 gallons of diesel. Our best fuel price in years -- $3.48/ gallon including tax. Our last fuel purchase was January 6th.  Love the way this Krogen gently sips fuel!  St Augustine is one of Christopher's favorite cities -- especially the fort.  We had a beautiful day to see all of the sights before returning to Jon and Bonnie's boat to relax, put our feet up and watch "The Princess Bride". Somehow we had missed that 1987 classic.  Now, we have to watch it a couple of more times to catch the dialogue that slipped past us....total silliness!           


       

 Gotta smile -- we're lovin the ride!

"Sittin on the dock of the bay"

 

  

Leaving Stuart with our new paint job.

Super nice kid, Mike, delivered our fuel and told us
about his Pappy. 

Firing the cannon at Castillo de San Marcos.  During
battle each cannon was fired every 15 minutes to
conserve ammunition. 

A new recruit for the cannon brigade.

These bronze cannons are a work of art.
They are still in great condition.

The fort was completed in 1695 and was never captured
in battle.  The walls were made of coquina ( a limestone mixture of coral and broken shells).  They did not crumble
when hit by enemy artillery or violent storms.  The fort is
well known for it's double drawbridge entrance, 40 foot
dry moat, and diamond shaped bastions in each corner.

We love St Augustine!