Newsletter August 2007

"The Fat Boy Hits the Waterway!"

Yes, the crew of Pipe Dream is back with a final recap of our adventures this summer. Before I bring you up to date I need to acknowledge someone who was a little miffed about not being mentioned in the summer newsletter. I forgot to mention, that Susan, Jutta’s son Brandon’s girl friend, also attended the wedding in Germany. The fact she was there almost escaped me because she spent about 50% of her time in the bathroom doing her hair. Well Susan, your hair sure looked great!
In the last newsletter we had just returned from Europe and had traveled to Chicago to see Jutta’s new grand-daughter, Jordan Isabelle, and the proud parents, Brian and Rachel. After ten days in Chicago it was time to give the new parents some privacy and turn our attention to our cruising friends Bev and Bob in Toronto. They had made the fatal mistake of inviting us when we cruised together in the Bahamas last winter. Since we are CARBS (Cheap Ass Rag Baggers), we never turn down an invitation. We rented a car in Chicago and drove to Toronto. Bob and Bev rolled out the red carpet for us. We were very impressed, although I can’t think of anyone more deserving! Our other Canadian sailing buddies, Bob and Viv from Montreal, also drove down for the weekend and we had quite a party. It’s great to have good friends you can mooch off of during the summer. We stayed a week in Toronto and I am sure there was a food and wine shortage in that city when we left.
Being professional tourists, Jutta and I decided to take the scenic route back to Chicago. The country side between Toronto and Chicago is just beautiful. We stopped to view the Niagara Falls from the Canadian side in the rain. Quite an awesome sight. I’d never seen so many tourists wearing body condoms (plastic ponchos).
Now that we’ve entered the “AARP Generation”, a number of highlights have been added to give our cross country trips a new flair: Senior Coffee at MacDonalds. Yes, at every McDonalds you can buy a senior coffee for around fifty cents. Senior Breakfast at I-Hop and Dennys. 10% Discount at Salvation Army Thriftshops on Wednesdays. Can’t beat that! There are some advantages to getting old, one just has to look hard to find them!
We returned to Chicago and spent another four days with Brian, Rachel and little cutie Jordan. Kat, Jutta’s daughter from San Francisco flew in for the weekend and mother and daughter got to pal around together for a few days. I just stayed around the condo doing domestic chores. That’s the life of a subservient sailor? In fact, I fixed a big Mexican Dinner for all of us including Wendy and John, friends of Brian and Rachel. Everyone liked the beans so much that I cooked another big pot of good old Mexican Frijoles for them to eat after our departure. Last week the news reported tremendous storms with heavy winds in Chicago. I hope that had nothing to do with my pots of beans.
The big day arrived and Jutta and I hopped a flight out of Chicago, back to Savannah and Pipe Dream. Savannah was having the worst heat wave in 50 years. What a welcome back to the boat. It was 98 degrees with 90% humidity. We walked out of the airport terminal and our glasses steamed up to the point we couldn’t see. If hell is this hot I’m going to change my ways! The minute we got to the boat we rushed to the V-Berth (the pointy end of the boat, inside) and pulled out the window air conditioner we had purchased at Wal Mart two years ago. We mounted it in the companion way (ladder to enter the boat) and began to cool the boat. It took five hours until it was relatively comfortable. Things got a little better now we had some relief from the sweltering heat. Four days later it was Jutta’s birthday, the “big” one, and the window unit burned out. What a wonderful birthday present. Next we tried our computer, the one with all the expensive navigation programs. It started loading and then decided five years of faithful service was enough. It was toast, we lost most of our programs. There goes the cruising kitty! Thank God for senior discounts! We threw the window unit in the dumpster, rented a car for the weekend (an air conditioned one), and added a new computer to the shopping list. It took two days to stow all the gear and food and we finally cut the dock lines and headed up the Inter Coastal Waterway bound for the Chesapeake and, hopefully, cooler weather. At the present time we are in South Carolina and making 50 to 60 miles a day. It is still hot and muggy but, at least, there is a breeze.
During our travels this summer I put on 10 pounds. I thought German beer, schnitzel, sausage, afternoon cake and coffee were non fattening. As you probably guessed the old captain is on a diet. That means the weather is miserably hot and I can’t have any cold beer. I have always considered cold beer a therapy. To some it’s a six-pack, to me it’s a support group! Salvation in a can. Oh well, it’s time to have another stalk of celery.
Remember those dollars for the “Help Ferdy Cruising Fund”. Keep in mind if you don’t send a buck I might come live with you for a week!

From the hot sweaty decks of Pipe Dream

Ferdy and Jutta