Greetings,

We are finally in a marina, in Delcambre, Louisiana. Our official arrival occurred around 1700 on Thursday, May 24, 2012. The marina is called North Pier Marina. We are on Pier A, slip 5 & 6, which is actually the "T" head. It's quite new, having been completed just this past March.

Our plan, discussed in the last update of May 14th, held pretty close to reality.

We did leave DREAM AWAY at the dock in Morgan City and go to Atlanta to get our truck. We thought we were settled, but on the morning of the 15th of May, the dock master came by and asked that we move DREAM AWAY down the dock. This was something of an adventure as it caught us short on time to make the move, and we had to get DREAM AWAY out from between two shrimp boats, and then put her back on the dock between two other shrimp boats. The good news was that there was not much wind or current, and we did have some help from a man who comes down to the dock almost every day the weather is good, and fishes all day. He has his whole fishing ensemble set up, including folding chair, a table/stand and beer cooler, a radio, and all of his fishing gear in places on the stand. He said he would help us, and he was indeed a great help. We were able to throw him our lines when we moved down the dock. We got all of our lines looped over the pilings, got fenders deployed, and got the electricity hooked up.

We then got all of our luggage packed, had showers, and waited for the taxi. There are no buses out of Morgan City, and we didn't know anyone for whom we could buy gas and get a ride, so we had take a taxi to New Iberia where we met the train. The taxi got us to the train depot around 1400. Unfortunately, there was no real station, and the train did not arrive until 1740, so we had to sit outside in plastic chairs, in the shade for 3 1/2 hours. If we have to take the train again, we sure won't worry about arriving early.

Once we boarded the train, The Sunset Limited, life was good. Our 4 hour trip from New Iberia to New Orleans was wonderful, and uneventful. We had coach class seats which were roomy and comfortable. Once we got ourselves settled, we headed to the dining car to enjoy a meal while watching the scenery go by. We sat with another couple who had started their trip in Tuscon, AR, and were going to New Orleans. We had a great visit with them. We were even able to point out DREAM AWAY to them as we crossed the railroad bridge where it passed over the Atchafalaya River in Morgan City. The only disappointing part of the trip was that it was dark when we got to New Orleans, so we were not able to get a good view of the Huey P. Long Bridge over the Mississippi River.

We got off of the train, and took a taxi to our hotel. We got to our room and went quickly to sleep. We were up early the next morning, May 16th, checked out of the hotel, and got a taxi to the Union Station to get on the train to Atlanta. On this train, The Crescent, we had reserved a "Roomette". This was a wonderful way to travel, and it was especially great that the "Roomette" upgrade included three meals. We took advantage of the meal service in the dining car, and really enjoyed both the food and the company. Again, it was quite entertaining to dine while watching the scenery unfold. Kitty took advantage of the drop down bunk, and took a wonderful nap. It was also a plus that we had a private toilet and sink. We arrived in Atlanta at 1940, wonderfully refreshed, and were met at the station by Tina and Stacy, who took us to dinner at one of their favorite haunts, El Azteca.

Our visit in Atlanta was wonderful, as usual. We got in good visits with Stacy and Tina, and Judy. On Monday morning the 21st of May, we went to our Atlanta storeroom and loaded the truck with most of the stuff we had removed from DREAM AWAY for the passage, plus a couple of tools that will be necessary to accomplish a couple of projects I have planned for DREAM AWAY. After loading the truck, we drove back to the hotel where we were staying. Stacy and Tina had treated us rather lavishly by renting us a suite at a hotel when they left on a previously planned beach holiday. They also provided the adjoining room for Judy, so we had a really laid back visit with her, too.

We arranged to have lunch with my old boss at Digital, Gene. He had picked up a good used Velvet Drive transmission from another former Digital boss, John, who was not using it, and offered it to me after reading the update about my Velvet Drive transmission failing. I do like to have spares, so I took John up on the offer!! When we arrived at the BBQ restaurant to meet Gene, he had invited another former Digital employee, who are also friends, Gene and his wife, Sherry. It was a great gathering, and fun to catch up on news and relive the old stories.

After lunch, we went back to the hotel to meet Judy when she got off work. We played cards with Judy, and read our books for the remainder of the day.

The next day, May 22nd, we spent a couple of hours visiting with Judy, then got into the truck, and headed out for Morgan City, Louisiana. We arrived into Morgan City around 2230. We got just what was necessary out of the truck and onto DREAM AWAY, got DREAM AWAY aired out, and went to bed.

May 23rd was a busy day for us. We left DREAM AWAY early and drove up to Delcambre, LA. The folks at Coastal Crewboats were not at the shop. They were off in Venice working on a boat. We went by the marina in Delcambre that was newly finished. Kitty called the marina manager, and made arrangements for us to keep DREAM AWAY there until the end June. We then went to the local police station where we signed the lease and paid our rent.

We then went looking for a storage room in which to store stuff from DREAM AWAY and the tools I brought from Atlanta. We could not find a suitable, available storage room, in Delcambre, or in the neighboring town of Erath. We ended up renting a 10x10 unit in New Iberia, that is about 11 miles away. We went to our new storage facility and unloaded all of the stuff from the truck into the storage room. From New Iberia we drove back to Morgan City, stopping in a grocery store to get groceries for the weekend.

Because of the upcoming Memorial Day holiday, Kitty and I decided to take DREAM AWAY to the marina in Delcambre the next day, May 24. That way we could get settled in, and would not have to fight the holiday waterway traffic.

We left the Morgan City dock early on the morning of the 24th, and headed up the GIWW at 0700. It was a nice trip, and we were able to motor sail about half way by putting out about 1/3 of the Genoa sail. We got to the marina in Delcambre, and were tied up, by 1700. It was an easy, relaxing trip, and we were very relieved to be mostly settled.

The very last item required to get truly settled in was to retrieve our truck from Morgan City. This problem was solved by some help from Steve, who is a mechanic for Coastal Crewboats. He drove us from Delcambre to Morgan City on the morning of the 25th of May. We got the truck, picked up a few more groceries, and came back to Delcambre. We now feel as if we are settled in - at least until the end of June.

I will be looking for someone to lift the main mast off DREAM AWAY so we can move her to the dock at Coastal Crewboats. I will also be looking for a job as a captain of a crew boat.

I will be filling in a section on the web page under Passages Made in the next couple of days. That section will have a lot of the pictures we took during the trip from Georgetown to Delcambre.

regards,

jimk

Member Seven Seas Cruising Association

WEB page http://www.dreamaway.net