Wednesday, May 16

Happy Birthday Brother-in-law Fred
We didn't forget, its just a little out of the way to drop by for cake.

We left Norfolk early this morning, while the sky was still gray and got a little drizzle for the first couple of hours.  We entered Chesapeake Bay and it was chilly and overcast, but later this afternoon it turned nice and sunny.  We didn't see any land on any side for many hours. The predictions are for high winds and small craft warnings tomorrow, so we found a very nice little anchorage with a lot of protection - at Mill Creek on the western shore of the Chesapeake - just in case we have to spend tomorrow here.  
Spaghetti and meatballs for supper... we are eating quite well..... we've had steaks and chops and shrimp kabobs and pork tenderloin etc. Our little grill is quite wonderful and as long as you area stocked with the right groceries everything is copacetic.  Now I know what Dennis will need to buy for round two.  Every morning we pull up the anchor early and once we are underway one of us brings breakfast up to the helm  The early mornings on the water are gorgeous, that's when its calmest and everything looks so beautiful with the low sun in the east.  We also go below and gather up lunch midday and eat it while riding along.  Our goal is to get this boat back to Racine, can't be dilly-dallying around stopping for lunch.
In the evenings Dennis checks in with New Berlin email (as he promised) and I get to look at my email and this blog.  For really big excitement, we have DVD movies and TVshows.  We have watched a few episodes of Downton Abby, which we never saw before and Northern Exposure, which we loved 15 years ago.
Things we learned today:  How to run the radar in case we need it sometime.  How to put in waypoints and do compass reckoning to create our way own route map. Most important I learned where the distress button is on the radio.  Push that little red guy and the Coast Guard will know where we are, how fast we are going and in what direction.  Some of the most valuable lessons are things you never want to use.  That probably goes for the rest of life too....... hmmmm, food for thought.