Friday 13 November 2015

Mobile Alabama to Ennismore to Mobile ROAD TRIP!!

When we arrived in Mobile Alabama we noticed many of Looper boats "on the hard".  That is boat lingo for out of the water on blocks.  Quite a few Loopers were having work done.  When we asked what type of work they said they were having the bottom of their boat painted because we are now in salt water.  Ugh???.....what's the difference?  We had never heard of this.  We researched and decided it would also be a good idea to have ours done as well.  Many of the boaters were renting cars and driving home while their boat was having this work completed.   The Marina said it would take two weeks for them to complete the work given the number of boats they had to work on.  Steve and I decided to rent a car and drive home to see the family!!  We arrived at the Enterprise rent a car and were given a lovely van for the trip.  Steve asked if there was anything else....Camaro......Mustang...anything cooler than a mini van.   Nope none of those vehicles were available.  The van was our only choice. We were given a 10% discount on the rental because we are members of America's Great Loop Association.  Many Loopers rent vehicles and take a trip home at some point during their journey.
 We left Mobile Alabama homeward bound.  So excited to see family and talk about our journey with them so far.  GPS says it will take us 19 hours to make the drive so we did it in 3 easy days.  We stayed pet friendly hotels.  Dexter had a blast.  Steve loved the van...baaaaahahahahah.

We arrived home and it looked like winter was about to arrive.  Leaves were gone from the trees however we did arrive to 20 degree temps.
When we arrived home I went straight for the shower.  I got to have what boaters call a "Hollywood shower"!  The difference between a boat shower and a Hollywood shower is like this:
Boat Shower:
-turn on water and wet hair
-turn off water shampoo
-turn on water rinse and condition
-turn off water wash
-turn on water rinse and at the same time turn on the pump to pump the water that is in shower out of the boat
-turn off water
Hollywood Shower:
-turn on water, stand there while the hot shower water soaks your hair.  Stand there, wash hair, stand there.  Rinse hair, keep rinsing hair, stand there.  Condition and wash, stand there.  Rinse, stand there and now there is singing.  Rinse some more, stand there.  Turn off water.
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Now don't get me wrong.  A boat shower beats the hell out of a public shower however some of the showers in some of the Marina's we have visited are comparable to a spa....others not so much.  There is also a thing called a "greedy boat shower".  That's when you have a Hollywood shower on the boat with no disregard for the amount water and hot water you use.  I've been known to have the odd greedy boat shower.  That has been my little secret until now.
It was great to be home and have a dinner with the kids as well as our good friends Len and Gail.  We spent almost a week at home and then head back to Mobile on Wednesday Nov 11th.  Stopped in at my Mom and Dad's on our way back to the boat, happy to be able to see these faces!!   Love you Mom and Dad...and Coby xoxoxo!
 Heading southbound across the US Boarder....asked to take a picture of our Border guy who actually had a sense of humour.  I declared my apples and our less than $1000 in cash.  He said "do you have any other fruits or vegetables?"...I said no although I had some lettuce I forgot about....Then he said do you have $200,000 in cash?  Steve said no $150....he said $150,000 Steve said...you love your job don't you.  He said yes and then said no you can not take my picture but thank you for asking and we were on our way.  So this is all I've got on the boarder crossing.
Seconds from the boarder we were on I75 in traffic stopped.....when we heard a crash....before I knew it there was a guy at my window saying how sorry he was.  He was hoping to merge in to our lane and was looking at the guy behind to see if he would let him in.  Well he let him in but he didn't look ahead to see if the traffic was moving.....we were stopped.  Not much damage but a bit of a pain in the butt.  RBC insurance was awesome and has our backs.  This shouldn't cost us a cent.  
  We continued to head South...yeah good thing cause it was getting friggin cold out!  Dexter loves to look at cars passing by but he really needs to run.  We love the rest stops along the way so he can get his energy on and burn it off.  Dexter is clearly having more fun than Steve.  Love that little guy....and the big guy too!


Back to Mobile Alabama and our floating home.  When we arrived we found all of the work to be complete but we were not floating.  Boat on a sling, car on a hoist....just shouldn't be.  Boat should be floating, car should have rubber on the road.  It wasn't long before we were floating.


Floating!!! We unpacked all of the stuff we bought back in Canada that you can't buy in the US...Clamato....Jube jubes and Diana Sauce....love our Canadian stuff!....or at least our Caesars for sure!


After we were settled we took a walk down the dock and met many new Looper friends.  There are actually more Loopers here now than when we left this location almost 2 weeks ago.  We met new friends and some that we have previously met on our travels. 

We were pleasantly surprised to meet new friends from Midland Ontario.  The Red and White is not often seen on this trip so right off the hop you just have that much more in common.  "Something Special" 
The Pelicans were all around our boat entertaining Dexter as do the Canadian Geese at home. 

We will head further South East to the Florida panhandle with a seat reserved on our back deck for one very special brother in law.  Living life "One Bay at a Time"










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