N34 58 25 W76 48 73, Minnesott Beach, NC

It's been a year since our last report. I believe we were in Charleston when the last report was posted so I will go back to there and try to catch up.

We were finally able to leave Charleston and headed up the ICW to catch the 0900 opening of the Ben Sawyer bridge. Saw our first alligator on the way. We made it to George Town, SC around 1900. From there we stayed at the Lightkeepers Marina in North Myrtle Beach, SC then to St. Johns Marina the next day. The timing going up the Cape Fear River was totally off. We spent hours bucking the current and making about 1 knot headway. After fighting our way up to Wrightsville Beach we anchored in the harbor for the next good weather to cross to Beaufort, NC.

05/16/07 was the morning to leave and with strong southerly winds it made for a fast trip. Cindy got us a free mooring ball right in the downtown harbor. We stayed for a few days then headed for Oriental and Wayfarers Cove marina. On the way we stayed at Whittaker Pointe Marina where our friends Ashley and Carol got a job running the marina. After a couple of days we headed off to Wayfarers Cove marina. Little did we know at the time this would be our home for almost a year. This picture of Wayfarers was taken from our mast looking out at the entrance channel and the Neuse River beyond.

Cindy and I really didn't have much of a plan when we left so, we were sitting in our boat with Jessie and Marty going "what now?" We bought a car, actually two cars but the first one was junk, and started to explore.

Shortly after we arrived our beloved Jessie dog passed on. She was 16 years old but still ready for anything up to the very end. We had her creamated and brought her ashes back Minnesota to the family animal cemetary on the farm under the lilac bushes to be with her furry friends.

We really liked this area as it is filled with our type of people: boaters and x-boaters. The focus of our search was first what area do we like and secondly, are there any jobs. Our travels took us to Oriental, Washington (Little Washington), New Bern and Morehead City. After a long day of touring we would come back to our boat at Wayfarers Cove and say "this is the life". So we ignored the second search criteria and started to look at houses in the Minnesott area. Same old story, if we liked it we couldn't afford it and if we could afford it we didn't like it. So we decided that we should build a house. I think all the time spent living on the boat mildewed our minds. We tried ear candles on Cindy but that didn't seem to work either. We found a piece of property we really liked and according to the map (not chart) this must be the place. Looks like we may have to clear out some trees, can we see the Neuse from here, hard to tell with all the foliage. So we bring in the brush hogs to take out all the stuff less that 4" diameter to see what is going on.

Cindy chains herself to a tree to stop all the destruction. We took out over 40 good sized trees, sorry Mr. Gore, but we left as much as we could. After the dust settled we couldn't be happier, we have a view of the river! So we toast to our new building site. After not working for over a year and no jobs, why not build a house?? Must the Gumbay Smashes we had in the Bahamas that pickled our brains. We still needed Marty's sign-off on the house plans. I want a private bathroom with a bigger box and make sure it doesn't rock!

So we start the clearing and building design process. In the mean time Cindy gets a job at a hospital across the river. So she gets to start and end her day with a glorious boat cruise on the free ferry. She is so lucky. I get kind of a job with the local wireless Internet company in Pamlico County. I'm an independent contractor with a non-profit doing installs and service calls and as a bonus they pay me now and then. We also start to clear the building site to get the foundation in and help our good friends Charlie and Kerri who live in Little Washington open up a canvas shop. We first met them on Lake Erie and spent the summer cruising the Erie Canal with them.

We were still living on the boat and as 2007 comes to an end we celebrate Christmas on Johesa. Here she is all decked our for the holidays with our new crab pot Christmas trees on the dock.

The house is a modular which means it is built in a factory near by and shipped to the site on semi trucks and set in place by a crane. Work on the lot continues. Once it's cleared we still need to get the foundation built, no basement just a crawl space, and get a driveway and septic installed before the house arrives. Around mid-January we get the call that all is ready and they will deliver the house in two 16' X 56' boxes. What a Christmas present.

They show up and luckily no rain forecast. The Get-R-Done crane truck shows up and the first module is close behind. Slight problem, the Get-R-Done crane breaks down and we have to wait for the new crane to arrive. After crane setup, we start the next morning. What an amazing process. They pick up the modules and drop them on the foundation and they fit perfectly. Once the modules are in place they raise up the roof that is hinged to the top and set the dormers in place. In less than a day the main house was up and the roof in place. Now they start the porches and garage which will still take a couple of months.

During this time we get some sad news. Cindy's father Irv passed away. He was 91 years old and lived a good life. We flew back to Minnesota at the end of January to be with family and for the funeral. It was a great service that honored Irv's life in Iowa and Minnesota. Here's to you Irv. We will miss the infamous no-low bid at the 500 games.

While in Minnesota we were treated to wind chills of -30 deg. Our blood has gotten thin but even the locals said it was cold.
So we rented a Penski truck and with the help of friends in MN we loaded all our belongings into the truck and headed cross country for NC. We make it to Cincinnati the first day and stayed with our friends Harlan and Shelly for the night. Up bright and early the next day for the final leg to Arapahoe, NC. We got everything unloaded and the truck back the next day ahead of schedule. Thanks to Andy and Cindy for the help!

All the while we continued to work, Cindy still at the hospital and me with PineLink and a local sail/canvas shop. We get the OK to move in and again with a lot of help from friends, (boy do we owe a lot of people) we move our stuff in. So here is the somewhat finished product. We still have some painting to do and the grounds need a little help. Although we don't plan to do a lawn we still need to clean things up some. These images are coming in the front door, looking left, looking right.

Well that pretty much brings us up to date. We plan to re-group here in NC, try to build up some funds and start planning the next adventure.

CLODS (Cruisers Living On Dirt)
B&C