Greetings,

I have finally made an update to the WEB page - it is completed and uploaded. The best section to look into is under "logs". I have put in a new log that is called the "maintenance log". As you will see by reading it, it is a really quick update on what I/we have been doing on the boat since we got to Houston.

We had not planned on being in Texas for as long as we have been, but Mother Nature's bulls-eye on Florida made it a good idea to stay put. Most of the projects that were slated to get accomplished over the summer in Florida, have been done here in Texas.

The good news is that all but one of the known leaks has been repaired, and the last one should be taken care of before we leave.

Now on to the subject of continuing our cruise to Florida. I had planned to wait until the end of September to head to Florida, if there were no named storms brewing, or we thought we might leave the first or second week of October.

When the end of September rolled around, the weather was looking great. But, I had another skin cancer come up on my left hand and that had to be taken care of. During the time that we were waiting for the biopsy to come back on that tumor, another one showed itself on my right hand. When I went into the dermatologist to have the left hand tumor removed, she also did a biopsy on the right hand. The right hand biopsy came back positive, and that tumor was removed this past Friday, the 29th of October. I have an appointment with the dermatologist on the eighth of November, and hope to get an all clear and have the stitches removed. If I do get the all clear, we should be leaving Houston on the morning of the ninth of November.

The plan ('Guideline') is to leave Houston and sail directly to the Dry Tortugas, spend a day or two at there, and then head to Miami, getting there before Thanksgiving. Now having said that, we shall see what the weather brings, both before we leave and while we are at sea.

The prevailing winds are from the southeast, and that is the direction that we need to go. We are hopeful that we can leave on the back side of a "norther", which would enable us to get south and east before the prevailing winds return. We shall see what the wind gods bring.

The biggest thing is that we are continuing the cruise, and we are really looking forward to moving forward with our journeys.

We'll try to be better at communicating, and will endeavor to keep the WEB page better updated so you all will know what we are doing.

regards,

jimk

WEB page http://www.dreamaway.net