Delayed, But NOT Defeated

Beaufort   

It was a beautiful, clear morning and I was on the dock at 8:45 to say goodbye to Fernando and Judy and help Sunset Run get underway. My final words to them were, "we'll see you in The Bahamas." Barry missed their departure as he was aboard Crossroads speaking with two contractors about our repairs. Both gentlemen came highly recommended, arrived on time, and were enthusiastic about completing our projects. We feel good about The Plan to get us fixed and on our way again. We've been cruising long enough to know that there will always be something to spring up and try our patience. In previous years, we've dealt with stabilizer issues, generator issues, paddleboard issues, and injector pump issues. We'll get through this and move on. My thoughts have turned to how we're going to spend the next month here in Beaufort. Quick arrangements were made for Barry to take the train tomorrow morning out of Morehead City and return home. He'll pick up his Escape and a new/replacement solar panel then drive back to Beaufort. With our own vehicle at our disposal, we're looking forward to exploring this area of North Carolina. One down side of traveling by boat is that the area we visit is often limited to a three-mile walking distance radius. Thanks to two magazines recently given to us by my Aunt Wrenn, we are not lacking for destinations. My Roadside America app has also given us several interesting ideas. 

The good news is we have a front row seat at one of the best sunset spots we've ever found. It seems the show every night is unique and breathtaking. 

I'd like to share a little analogy of what happened to our solar panels during the storm. I have ridden out two strong tropical storms aboard Crossroads in our home slip in Deltaville. We have also endured strong winds for days at a time while at anchor. The difference the other night was wind direction. In times passed, the wind has been on our bow -- our pointy end was into the wind. The other evening, the wind was hitting us from the tail end. All of the aerodynamics were subverted. The wind got under our panel and provided lift. My thoughts have since gone back to our cruise south in November 2019. We had a young gull hitch a ride with us while traveling from Belhaven to Beaufort. It wandered around the deck and occasionally found itself in the wrong orientation to the wind. We, like that bird, had our feathers ruffled.