Splash!

We have splashed, but before we get to our current situation, we’ll fill you in since we left the boat in September.

Back in the water!

Did you think we wouldn’t make it back to Now or Never? We were starting to think so, we really thought we’d take a 6 month break but that has turned into 8+. This was our longest time ever away from Now or Never.

The past eight months seemed to have moved at a slow crawl. The first mate fought a battle with respiratory issues that just would not end and a broken foot. The captain, well, was pretty much bored out of his mind. We broke up the winter with an unplanned 3.5 months in Florida, fleeing the cold Indiana winter and spending time with family and friends.

Before we headed south, a trip to the Ohio River was on the agenda for a dockmate get together that just happened to land on Tasha’s birthday. We gathered aboard The JAKAL and enjoyed a cool late November cruise with the gang from A-ramp. Jeff and Kelly hosted along with their cute pup Louie.

Fun aboard The Jackal with our River Gang

We drove south for Thanksgiving to meet up with the Bohonek Family on Live the Dash in Gulf Shores, Alabama. It was a fun reunion since parting company in late August. We enjoyed the looper comraderie with boat full for Thanksgiving dinner aboard Live the Dash, 16 in all! We also hit the local hotspot, Flora-Bama Bar for a pre-turkey dinner drink! Just your typical Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving with Live the Dash and half of Escapade at Flora-Bama and 16 loopers for dinner on Live the Dash!

The Dash crew would soon be crossing their wake, completing their loop journey in Fort Myers and we wanted to be there to celebrate this milestone. They opened their Florida home to us to wait for their arrival, and we made the trek from Gulf Shores. Their arrival took a bit longer than intended and we spent a couple of weeks soaking up the Florida sun and stumbling on a condo to spend a few months at for the winter. Located on the Caloosahatchee River in North Fort Myers with a beautiful view of downtown and the river toward the Gulf.

Sunshine in December!

After celebrating with Jordan, Emily, Lauren, Reed, and Sherman and a host of others for their wake crossing, we headed home for Christmas with Nick, Lauren and Lauren’s parents north of Chicago on Grass Lake, and Ryan and Joe in Columbus.

Live the Dash arrives in Fort Myers completing their Great Loop adventure!

Family Christmas

We loaded the car and made it to Jeff and Maria’s house in Port Charlotte to ring in the New Year, our 2^nd new year’s with our Ohio River gang before settling into our condo the first week of January.

Ohio River gang south – Port Charlotte

We had a great winter enjoying the sea and sun and spent the majority of our time with our buddy boat, Live the Dash, and family Tiffany and Mark. Both live very close to our 9^th floor condo with killer views.

Sister, Dash crew, and View

We also caught up with nephew Rick and Marnie, our kids from Indiana and Illinois came to Florida, a host of friends, and the Mrs. Roper pub crawl at the beach.

All kinds of boat rides, river watching, a parade, and pie from a vending machine

So many get togethers

Late March came too soon and we were headed North to get ready to board Now or Never for what we believe will be our last leg of our journey.

We really didn’t enjoy ourselves 🙂

Before returning to the boat, Dave had a big birthday to celebrate. He wanted to commemorate this day with his 1st 10K. With no training (other than his daily walks), he not only won his new age bracket, but placed 6^th overall in the Indianapolis race! The boys were with him for the big win, treated him to brunch, and then some ax throwing. We rounded out the evening with a great dinner in Indy at St. Elmos with great steaks and the best shrimp cocktail (if you know, you know).

Birthday fun!

We caught up with our granddaughter Abby for dinner and celebrated her recent graduation from the University of Cincinnati and one more year for outdoor track and pole vaulting. She was riddled with injuries this season and we didn’t get to see her vault, hopeful for next year!

Abby

Our buddy boat, Live the Dash made a visit to our Indiana town in their new rig. Always good to catch up with this gang.

The Bohonek Family visits Indiana!

Dave made four trips to Michigan to work on the boat for several days each time. He painted the bottom, replaced anodes, buffed and polished below the rub rain, and took on the big job of fixing the bow thruster that quit on us in the last lock of the Trent Severn Waterway in early August. It takes a lot of work to keep a boat in sea worthy conditions and we’re thankful he is able and willing to tackle everything for us.

Lots of work being done, thankful for a heated building, it’s cold in Michigan!

This is beginning to sound more like a Christmas letter than a boating blog, sorry.

We spent the last few weeks chaotically preparing to cruise full time again and then a week in Algonac to splash Now or Never, prep and stock the boat, and return our truck home with the help of Jordan of Live the Dash.

The bow thruster fix was a success, and we used it immediately as the wind was quite strong when we were dropped back in the water and needed to dock. We’re excited to get moving again, our first stop will take us north on the St. Clair River to a favorite city, dock just up the Black River in Port Huron, MI.

Cheers!  David, Tasha, 

                  & Remy forever in our hearts!   –   Loop Dog for 1 year and 3357 miles

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Two Christmases and more than two years since our first dog has been on board with us, Remy was the best!