Wednesday, December 29, 2010

85° 43.699’ W

30° 08.723’ N

Bay Point Marina

Panama City Beach, Florida

We returned to our boat after spending 30 days at home with family and friends. Two days after arriving in Illinois we drove to Ohio to have a holiday visit with Barb’s son Keith and his family. Our timing allowed us to enjoy one school program before returning to home.

On our return to Lombard, Barb flew to New Hampshire for a holiday visit with her other son Dan and his family.

We spent the Christmas holiday with my Daughters Sherri and Jill and their families. Being together is very special and the main ingredient to a special holiday season!

While we were home we squeezed every minuet from every day and saw as many of our friends as possible. There were a few we missed - only because we just ran out of time. Our next holiday season will have more time available to visit, as the boat will be in winter storage on the east coast.

Today our Grandson Patrick and his father Ray picked us up at 5am at our home then drove us to O’Hare airport for our return flight to Panama City Beach, Florida. Patrick who is in drivers training did a great job and will get his license this coming year!

We changed planes in Atlanta, Georgia arriving here around 11am. We then rented a car driving straight to the marina to check on how the boat faired during the freezing weather! We found the boat in perfect condition much to our relief. After checking all of the systems and running the engines we declared the boat ready to continue east!

Later in the day we drove to Pensacola Beach where Barb's son Dan and family were vacationing with in-laws. After a much to short a visit we returned to our boat, another 95 mile drive for some much needed sleep.

By the time we returned, the temperature had dropped below freezing and our portable heater decided to quit working so we added another power line to the boat and started up the internal heating system which was to be worked on in a couple of days! What’s another half hour working in the cold when all you want is sleep! The boat heated up quickly and we slept well!