We're on our boat!
We spent the first night on our boat that will house us on our journey on America's Great Loop! Today is July 19, 2018 and since our last posting, we acquired a Mainship 400 (a 40 foot trawler) through Curtis Stokes and Associates (Michael Martin as our buyers' broker) which was located in Fort Myers, Florida at the beautiful Legacy Harbour Marina.
Acquiring our boat went very smoothly. We went through the "pre-approval" process with Cindy Lewis for financing, which helped us determine our budget for purchasing a boat (We made it our personal challenge to purchase a boat less than what we were approved for) and Michael Martin led us to "Time Out." We secured "Time Out" with a 10% refundable down payment contingent on our liking it upon inspection, the hull and mechanical surveys, and financing. Late June, we made the trip to Legacy Harbour to look at her. The surveys and financing went as we hoped and by July 11th, we were owners to "Velsignet" formerly known as "Time Out" with a hailing port of "Saint Paul, MN", formerly of Georgia.
At home on Long Lake, MN, we were busy packing up our lake home in anticipation of renting our home while we embark on our adventure. Each box packed was another leap of faith for what God has placed on our hearts. Besides packing boxes and managing our Seattle business, we researched and secured boat insurance, made a plan to get "Velsignet" to a harbor safe from hurricanes, learned about Verizon's wi-fi and unlimited data access, and so much more as our minds swam with ideas and questions and wonderings.
On July 17th, Mike and I awoke at 4:30 am to begin our journey in our Suburu Outback with a loaded enclosed trailer of provisions for "Velsignet" and to get her to safety from the hurricane regions. An experienced boater in Fort Myers told us "Don't be too uptight about Florida's hurricanes," but the Minnesotan in us told us to "Get her out of there!" And so we convinced ourselves that taking Velsignet from Fort Myers to Demopolis, Alabama would not only be the thing to do for safety reasons, the exercise would force us to get to know our new boat and give us good boating experience for how to handle her.
Awake by 4:30 am on Tuesday, July 17th, we were on schedule for a 5 am departure. Little did we know then that it would be almost 4 hours later before we actually left Long Lake. After all our anticipation and preparations to get on the road early, Mike could not find the keys to the Suburu. Within a short time, Brenda was in the Mercedes on her way to meet sister, Carol, who was visiting Mike's parents and who had the set of extra car keys (it's a long story why Mike's folks had the extra set of Suburu keys....but has to do with an alternative plan for getting to Fort Myers). By 8 am, we were on the road headed to Stillwater, MN with the Suburu and trailer (Mike) and Mercedes (Brenda) for our first stop: drop off the Mercedes to our daughter, Jordan.
After a nice lunch on The Dockside Restaurant (Jordan and Brenda) and a nap (Mike) in Stillwater, we began our road trip. At 11 pm, we stopped in a small town in Missouri that had a Motel 6. We got back on the road the following morning before 6 a.m., missing the opportunity for the Motel 6 continental breakfast offerings. By 4 pm, we were in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, where we picked up a rental Ford Escape at Hertz. With Mike in the Ford and Brenda in the Suburu hauling the trailer, we made it to the Kingfisher Marina in Demopolis, Alabama before 5:30 pm. After obtaining permission from the Harbormaster to leave the Suburu and trailer, we made haste to transfer what we could fit from the trailer and car into the rented Ford (leaving furniture which we'll change out when the Velsignet arrives in Demopolis) and got back on the road. Two hours later, we found rest at a Comfort Inn in another small town for the night.
We arrived at Fort Myer's Legacy Harbour at approximately 5 pm on Thursday, July 19th, and at the marina office got into conversation with 2 boaters from the get go: Ross (who has a condo in Orange Beach and is married to an Irish girl) and Jim. Harbormaster Eric welcomed us, took us to our boat, and gave us a brief orientation to the electrical systems to get the AC going (the interior temperature was 102 degrees!). We immediately began loading the provisions we'd brought with us and by 10 pm we were enjoying a bottle of Brunello wine with our shrimp pasta and salad on the sundeck of Velsignet! Overhead we heard a small plane which reminded us of our flying friends, Renee and Tom. How fun it would be to have them here with us right this minute. But alas, we are here. With our boat. Life is good!
Acquiring our boat went very smoothly. We went through the "pre-approval" process with Cindy Lewis for financing, which helped us determine our budget for purchasing a boat (We made it our personal challenge to purchase a boat less than what we were approved for) and Michael Martin led us to "Time Out." We secured "Time Out" with a 10% refundable down payment contingent on our liking it upon inspection, the hull and mechanical surveys, and financing. Late June, we made the trip to Legacy Harbour to look at her. The surveys and financing went as we hoped and by July 11th, we were owners to "Velsignet" formerly known as "Time Out" with a hailing port of "Saint Paul, MN", formerly of Georgia.
At home on Long Lake, MN, we were busy packing up our lake home in anticipation of renting our home while we embark on our adventure. Each box packed was another leap of faith for what God has placed on our hearts. Besides packing boxes and managing our Seattle business, we researched and secured boat insurance, made a plan to get "Velsignet" to a harbor safe from hurricanes, learned about Verizon's wi-fi and unlimited data access, and so much more as our minds swam with ideas and questions and wonderings.
On July 17th, Mike and I awoke at 4:30 am to begin our journey in our Suburu Outback with a loaded enclosed trailer of provisions for "Velsignet" and to get her to safety from the hurricane regions. An experienced boater in Fort Myers told us "Don't be too uptight about Florida's hurricanes," but the Minnesotan in us told us to "Get her out of there!" And so we convinced ourselves that taking Velsignet from Fort Myers to Demopolis, Alabama would not only be the thing to do for safety reasons, the exercise would force us to get to know our new boat and give us good boating experience for how to handle her.
Awake by 4:30 am on Tuesday, July 17th, we were on schedule for a 5 am departure. Little did we know then that it would be almost 4 hours later before we actually left Long Lake. After all our anticipation and preparations to get on the road early, Mike could not find the keys to the Suburu. Within a short time, Brenda was in the Mercedes on her way to meet sister, Carol, who was visiting Mike's parents and who had the set of extra car keys (it's a long story why Mike's folks had the extra set of Suburu keys....but has to do with an alternative plan for getting to Fort Myers). By 8 am, we were on the road headed to Stillwater, MN with the Suburu and trailer (Mike) and Mercedes (Brenda) for our first stop: drop off the Mercedes to our daughter, Jordan.
After a nice lunch on The Dockside Restaurant (Jordan and Brenda) and a nap (Mike) in Stillwater, we began our road trip. At 11 pm, we stopped in a small town in Missouri that had a Motel 6. We got back on the road the following morning before 6 a.m., missing the opportunity for the Motel 6 continental breakfast offerings. By 4 pm, we were in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, where we picked up a rental Ford Escape at Hertz. With Mike in the Ford and Brenda in the Suburu hauling the trailer, we made it to the Kingfisher Marina in Demopolis, Alabama before 5:30 pm. After obtaining permission from the Harbormaster to leave the Suburu and trailer, we made haste to transfer what we could fit from the trailer and car into the rented Ford (leaving furniture which we'll change out when the Velsignet arrives in Demopolis) and got back on the road. Two hours later, we found rest at a Comfort Inn in another small town for the night.
We arrived at Fort Myer's Legacy Harbour at approximately 5 pm on Thursday, July 19th, and at the marina office got into conversation with 2 boaters from the get go: Ross (who has a condo in Orange Beach and is married to an Irish girl) and Jim. Harbormaster Eric welcomed us, took us to our boat, and gave us a brief orientation to the electrical systems to get the AC going (the interior temperature was 102 degrees!). We immediately began loading the provisions we'd brought with us and by 10 pm we were enjoying a bottle of Brunello wine with our shrimp pasta and salad on the sundeck of Velsignet! Overhead we heard a small plane which reminded us of our flying friends, Renee and Tom. How fun it would be to have them here with us right this minute. But alas, we are here. With our boat. Life is good!
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| This is "Velsignet"--which means "Blessed" in Norwegian. |
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| Our destination for "Velsignet" is at the Kingfisher Marina in Demopolis, Alabama |
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| A view of the Kingfisher Marina |
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