Maintenance/Cruising Log

I did the final packing of my suitcase and briefcase. I made sure all of the hatches and ports were closed on DREAM AWAY.

I disconnected the solar panels. Because the refrigeration is going to be off while I am gone, the wind generators will be able to keep up with the electrical load. The wind generators are also self regulating, so they will not overcharge the batteries.

When everything was ready for my departure, I opened the Sunpacs, and placed them around the boat, I hung them from the security bars in the aft- cabin, the main cabin, and the mid-cabin. Having the Sunpacs in the boat for three weeks should kill most of the mold, and any stray bugs left in the boat.

I locked up DREAM AWAY, and headed up to the ranchito. John, the Monkey Bay Marina dockmaster, was waiting for me. We loaded my suitcase and briefcase into the launcha, and we headed off to town.

John dropped me off at Bruno’s, and from there I made my way to the Litegua bus station. I purchased my ticket and when the bus arrived we started on our way to Guatemala City. We left right on time.

I had called the taxi driver I had used the last time I was in Guatemala City, Ovidio, and he was waiting for me when I arrived at the Litegua bus station in Zona 1. We got my gear, and he took me to my hotel, Apartamentos Las Torres in Zona 10. I got checked in, and settled into my room. I then contacted Kitty via Skype, and brought her up to date on the trip and she brought me up to date on her activities.

I then set to work on the Maintenance/Cruising Logs, still trying to get caught up. This will be an ongoing project! I also checked into my flight, but did not have a printer to print out my boarding pass. I went to the front desk, and they said they did not have a printer. Of course the problem could have been my poor Spanish, and her poor English!

So I went out to find a print shop or a computer store where I could get my boarding pass printed. I had the boarding pass file on a flash drive, so I thought I was set. I was lucky, and just down Calle 13, about three blocks, I found a Xerox print shop, and a couple of the employees spoke English.

I got my boarding pass printed for 1Q which is about $.13! Spirit Airlines charges $10.00 to print your boarding pass at the airport! For that little effort, I saved myself $9.87!

While walking back to the hotel, I passed at little comedor. I stopped in and had dinner. It was great, ¼ of a chicken with salad, and fries, with a beer for only Q40! A little under $6.00. I asked, and found out they open for breakfast, at 0600, so I will be going there in the morning.

Now the fun begins! On the way back to the hotel I decided to go into the Holiday Inn, and get some cash out of the Cajero (ATM). I was getting low on cash, and I knew I would need some for the taxi to the airport tomorrow, plus Immigration charges, and I needed to get some more cash put onto my phone. It is also nice to have the local currency in hand when we return to Guatemala.

I put in my ATM card, did all of the right things, heard the machine count the money, but the cash never came out of the machine. I went to the front desk and talked to them about the problem, but of course, they could do nothing, because it is not their machine, but the banks machine.

The woman at the front desk did tell me where the closest Banco Industrial was located. This was the bank that owned the ATM machine. I went down the street to that bank, and it was closed. The bank was on the same property as the Radisson Hotel, so one of the bellmen who spoke English pointed me to another Banco Industrial that was in an upscale shopping center and was still open.

I made my way to the shopping center, and into the Banco Industrial bank. I talked to a couple of the employees there, and with my poor Spanish and the fact they did not speak English, I deduced that I must call my bank in the US and start the problem resolution from there.

I went back to the hotel and contacted Kitty via Skype. I gave her all of the necessary information she would need, and asked her to call the bank in the morning. The reason for that is the account I was using is actually her account, and I was afraid the bank personnel would not talk to me.

When I finished talking with Kitty, I spent some more time on the computer, and then went to bed.

This morning, I went to the comedor where I had dinner, and had breakfast. It was great. I had the Desayuno Chapin, and coffee for Q16. That is about $2.20, and the breakfast was very good.

On the way back to my hotel, I stopped at an ATM that was just outside the Banco Industrial next to the Radisson Hotel. If I had a problem, I wanted to be close to the bank. No problem today, I got my cash, and went back to my hotel.

I worked on my computer, because I was not leaving for the airport until 1015 to catch my 1230 flight. After some time on the computer, I packed everything up, and headed out to the airport.

When I got to the airport, I got checked in, went through Immigration, and officially left the country, then through security, and finally to the gate. I read on my iPad until the plane left, and it was pretty much on time.

The flight arrived into Fort Lauderdale around 1630, and had to go through the immigration and customs routine to get into the USA. I finally arrived at my gate around 1745. My flight was not scheduled to depart until 2130, so I had plenty of time.

I was craving food and coffee, so I went to the cuban restaurant in the concourse and had a sandwich and congri, but no coffee! The restaurant coffee machine was broke. When I finished, I went to another vendor and purchased a great cup of coffee.

My flight was scheduled to depart at 2130, so I had a bit of a wait. As it turned out the flight did not start to board until 2245, and departed at 2330. Instead of arriving at 2330 in Atlanta, we did not arrive until 0100 on Wednesday.

Our good friend Karen, came down to the airport with Kitty to pick me up. The luggage took an hour to arrive at the carousel, so we did not leave the airport until 0200.

Karen lives in the condo next door to the condo in which Stacy and Tina live, so Karen dropped us off at our condo, and then Karen went home. It was 0330 by the time Kitty got in, had a bite to eat and got unpacked.

It was a very short night. Kitty had a doctor’s appointment at 0945 within a half hour of the condo, but first we had to get a taxi to Buckhead Auto Care to pick up Ruby. When we got to Buckhead Auto Care and picked up Ruby, she would not start. It turned out to be a loose connection on the battery.

We got that organized, and then headed off to her appointment Emory Healthcare at St. Joseph’s hospital. Kitty had one test scheduled for the morning, and another test scheduled for the afternoon. Both tests were at the same facility.

Kitty was able to talk them into doing both tests while we were there in the morning. Because of that change we did not have to come back in the afternoon.

When the tests were finished, it was close to lunch time, so we went over to where Judy works. She has her old job back working as a mashgiach at Good Friends. We had lunch there, and Judy was able to get some time off and join us for lunch. It was great to see her, and we had a nice visit.

She had to get back to work, and I did not want to play in Atlanta traffic. We headed back to Tina and Stacy’s condo. They were on a trip, and had not returned, so we were the cat sitters!

Judy gets off work at 1400, so after she got off and stopped for a short appointment she arrived at the condo, and we had a very nice visit, generally catching up on life! Kitty was napping, so it was just Judy and I.

Kitty got up from her nap, and visited a bit, and then Judy had to go home and get some sleep. She arrives at her job at 0500!

We planned a small dinner of cheese and crackers, but our good friend Karen showed up with a couple of boxes of take out Chinese food. We had a great meal, and while we were visiting, another friend dropped by. It was a good time and a good meal.

Karen left, and then Barbara left, and Kitty and I went to bed. it was 2200, and we only had about three hours sleep last night.

I started off the morning with my normal ritual of getting on the Internet, answering email, and checking the weather, while making a pot of coffee.

I spent all morning on the computer verifying all of the parts and packages we had ordered. Most everything had arrived, just two parts outstanding. I also spent two hours scanning in documentation so I will not have to carry it all to Guatemala.

In mid afternoon, after lunch, we headed to the Emory Healthcare at St. Joseph’s hospital, where Kitty had an appointment to see Dr Khant. The doctor is getting Kitty set up for her Reclast IV, and also getting her Blood Pressure medicine squared away.

Kitty got a Prevnar13 pneumonia shot, and also had some blood work done while she was there.

We left the doctors, and came home to Stacy and Tina’s condo. Tina and Stacy came home from their trip to New York. We visited for an hour or so, and then they had to go out to a dinner meeting.

Our good friend Karen was scheduled to come over around 1900 for dinner. I was preparing a dinner of pork chops, sauteed julienne vegetables, and salad. I had put the pork chops in a marinade yesterday, so they turned out wonderful.

I sauteed the vegetables in sesame oil, and they turned out great. We had a great dinner and a wonderful visit. Tina and Stacy came home before Karen left so, we continued the visit, and opened another bottle of wine!

I started off the morning with my normal ritual of getting on the Internet, answering email, and checking the weather, while making a pot of coffee.

Another day spent mostly on the computer working on the January Maintenance/Cruising Log, and the May Maintenance/Cruising Log. I am determined to get these two logs done and upon my DREAM AWAY web page.

In the mid afternoon we left Tina and Stacy’s condo, and went to the post office. I mailed a defective LINK 2000R to Tekris Electronics to see if the LINK 2000R is repairable. We left the post office and went to the Kroger grocery store to get a couple of items for the Shabbat dinner tonight.

We then went to Judy’s apartment and settled in for a couple of hours before going to Shabbat dinner at Judy’s friends house. We all started reading, and we all dropped off to take a little snooze.

We woke on time, and headed over to Nava’s house to have dinner and celebrate Shabbat. It was a wonderful dinner. We enjoyed the food and the fellowship with Nava & Tal’s family. Besides Kitty and I they had a guest who was visiting from Israel. He had some interesting stories to tell.

Kitty and I folded around 2300, and departed to go back to Judy’s apartment. We drove back and Judy walked back. When we all got to the apartment, it was to bed for us all.

I started off the morning with my normal ritual of getting on the Internet, answering email, and checking the weather.

We spent the night at Judy’s apartment. Of course I was up early working on my computer and the Maintenance Logs. Kitty and Judy slept in. When they finally got up, we had some fruit and some banana bread. We had a lunch engagement, so we all got dressed and Kitty and I drove over to Rabbi and Mindy Asa’s house. Judy of course walked over to their house.

We had a wonderful lunch. Mindy is a great cook, and we had great conversation. Another couple was their for lunch, and they had just come back from a year in Israel. Between them talking about their travels and our travels, we had a very good meal.

After lunch we went back to Judy’s apartment, and played some cards. It was getting late, and Judy needed to get some rest, so we departed, and stopped at a couple of stores on the way back to Tina and Stacy’s condo.

Next on the agenda we all went over to a good friend of Stacy and Tina’s who is having a surprise birthday party for his girlfriend. It was a great party and lots of folks attended. We left the party early because we already had reservations for dinner this evening.

We went to Houston’s restaurant. I was looking forward to the pork chops, and I was not disappointed! It was a great meal. We came back home, and visited some more, and then headed off to bed.

I started off the morning with my normal ritual of getting on the Internet, answering email, and checking the weather.

I spent most of the morning and early afternoon on the computer and working on the Maintenance/Cruising Logs. I finally got the January Maintenance/Cruising Log finished and up on the DREAM AWAY web page. I got the May Maintenance/Cruising Log finished and up on the DREAM AWAY web page.

I then did an DREAM AWAY Update to announce the Maintenance/Cruising Logs. This was the first DREAM AWAY update since February 7th.

We then got ready to go with Judy out to her NA meeting. Depending on traffic, the meeting could be an hour away. Before we went over to Judy's apartment, I did a data backup, of my hard drive, and then started a UNIX “ dd” command backup of the complete hard drive.

We went over to Judy’s apartment in Ruby, and left it there. Judy drove us out to Duluth for the meeting. We drove out to the meeting, and there was very little traffic, so we were 30 minutes early.

The meeting got under way, and the meeting was all about Judy’s sponsor, and Judy’s third birthday. That means she has been off of prescription drugs for three years. A very significant event, and everyone was pleased and excited for Judy.

When the meeting was over we drove back to Judy’s apartment, and then we got into Ruby and drove back to Tina & Stacy’s condo. Judy gets up very early on Monday mornings for work, and we did not want to keep her up very late.

When we got to the condo, I checked and the UNIX “dd” command backup had completed. Stacy will now take that backup and upload it to one of his servers and then keep that backup on the cloud.

We visited with Stacy for a while, then we all headed off to bed.

I started off the morning with my normal ritual of getting on the Internet, answering email, and checking the weather, while making a pot of coffee.

Of course time was spent keeping the June Maintenance/cruising Log up to date, and I started work on the February 2015 Maintenance/Cruising Log.

We headed off to run a bunch of errands. Our first stop was to see Larry at Buckhead Auto Care. I thought he might know where a bearing store might be so that I could pick up a square flange mount bearing. Larry deals with automotive bearings, and did not know a source for a square flange mount bearing. I will have to find a shop here in Atlanta using the Internet.

We then went to Home Depot to pick up a couple of items I needed and to pick up a tool for John at Monkey Bay Marina. Our next stop was the Cutco store they have in Buckhead. Tina had mentioned that a Cutco store had opened at the Peachtree Piedmont Cross Shopping Center.

I have wanted to get a pair of the Cutco Shears for many years. The pair of shears we have in the galley on DREAM AWAY are pretty good but I just have the feeling they are on their last legs. This just seemed like too good of an opportunity to pass up, so we purchased the Cutco Shears. Lake all of their products, the Cutco Shears are guaranteed for life.

Our next stop was the Goodwill store on Roswell road, also in Buckhead. We were looking for a specific suitcase we could use to haul some of the boat parts we are taking back to Guatemala with us.

They did not have the suitcase we were looking for so we headed back to the condo. Things had changed with Kitty’s best friend Kathy. Kathy wanted Kitty to come up to Charleston to help her with the issues she was facing dealing with the pancreatic cancer she has been diagnosed with.

When we got back to the condo, Kitty got on the Internet and made plane reservations to go to Charleston. In the meantime I found a bearing shop using the Internet. The company is Motion Industries.

Motion Industries has a shop here in Atlanta, so I called them, and the person to whom I talked was a great help. I was able to measure the square flange mount bearing, and the person on the phone found the exact one I needed.

The bad news is they did not have it in stock, so he ordered it from their Birmingham, Alabama, warehouse. This is good new for Nicola & Noel. This bearing is for the prop shaft on their yacht, TANTALUS.

When all of that Internet work was finished for myself and Kitty, I continued working on Maintenance Logs.

Tina, Stacy, Kitty, Karen and I then went to dinner at Stacy and Tina’s favorite hangout, El Azteca. We had a great meal, and were met there by a work associate of Stacy’s, Andrew. Andrew’s girlfriend, Sharon, showed up. Needless to say good food and lots of Margaritas made for a night of good conversation and a good time.

We headed back to the condo, and Tina and Kitty headed for bed. Stacy and I stayed up and visited, but we eventually tired out and went to bed.

I started off the morning with my normal ritual of getting on the Internet, answering email, and checking the weather, while making a pot of coffee.

I realized that I will be going to my friend Dale and Karen’s house in Cross Hill, South Carolina this coming weekend. Since I will not be taking the scanner I had borrowed from Stacy, I decided to concentrate on getting all of my documentation scanned into my computer.

Tina and Stacy, mostly Tina, are our mail forwarders. When any snail mail comes to this address, Tina will scan the document, and then email the scanned document to me. She then saves the original paper document. Being the nut case I am, I go through all of the paper documents and make sure I have them on my computer before I throw them away.

Tina knew we were coming to Atlanta, so the last couple of weeks of mail had not been scanned, so I needed to do it. I did not want to take any of the paper back to Guatemala, so it important I get all of the scanning completed. I spent all morning on the computer scanning, and updating documents.

Kitty was able to get her Reclast IV scheduled for the afternoon at 1330 at the St. Joseph’s injection clinic. It was close, so Kitty and I packed up our books and headed over to the clinic.

We had a bit of confusion, but eventually it all worked out and Kitty got her Reclast IV. We were able to get back to the meeting room at Tina and Stacy’s condo in time for the scheduled get together.

The get together was scheduled for the day of the wedding, because some of the people invited to the wedding decided to come anyway. It wasn’t exactly a party, but a get together. We called it a “Toast To The Future”

We had the wine for the “Toast To The Future” that we had purchased for the wedding toast. We also had a cake that Dolce Catering & Bakery provided.

We had paid for the wedding cake in advance. When we called to get the money back they kept a $125.00 as a restocking fee? Not sure how that worked, since we cancelled well before the wedding date. Kitty somehow talked them into providing a $125.00 cake for the restocking fee for the “Toast To The Future” get together.

Several friends stopped by for the get together, and and Judy’s good friend’s from Austin came by. We had also ordered a small canape plate from Good Friends Catering, so we all sat around and talked of the future, had a snack and sipped wine.

The get together was from 1600 - 1800, but it finally broke up at 1930. Tina had a ticket to the Rolling Stones Concert in Atlanta, so she had left around 1830. We got the meeting room all cleaned up and the leftovers dispersed, and all went home. Judy went home to get to bed as she starts work at 0500, so she is up very early.

Kitty myself, and Stacy went up to the condo. We snacked a bit, and visited for a couple of hours, and the we all headed to bed.

I started off the morning with my normal ritual of getting on the Internet, answering email, and checking the weather, while making a pot of coffee.

Worked on the computer all morning scanning in documents, and working on the Maintenance/Cruising Logs. I also did a data backup of my computer.

We had sandwiches and chips for lunch, and the Stacy drove us down to Hartsfield airport. We got Kitty checked in, luggage taken care of, and she went into the terminal, and Stacy and I headed back to to the condo in Buckhead.

When Judy got off work, she came over to the condo. Kitty and I had a dinner date with her, but obviously Kitty was not going to join us. Judy had preordered a sushi meal at Fuego Mundo. The time for the dinner was also pre established, so Judy and I hung out and visited.

We left the condo around 1700, and got to Fuego Mundo around 1730. They had the sushi meal all prepared for us, so Judy and I sat down and enjoyed our meal. It was very good and tasty, and included several varieties of the sushi.

When we finished the meal, Judy dropped me off at the condo, as she had to get home so she could get to bed and get some sleep.

Of course Kitty had called, and she was in Charleston getting settled in with Kathy. Kathy was not doing well, but having Kitty there really helped her mood and outlook.

Stacy and Tina normally go play Trivia at Genki on Wednesday evenings, and tonight was no exception. Good friend Karen joined us, so we had the team to win! Tina, Karen and Stacy, had dinner while playing trivia, but I just drank along with Stacy, having had dinner earlier!

We had a a very slow start, missed a couple of easy questions, but we ended the evening in second place and won 25 Genki dollars! The Genki dollars can only be spent at the restaurant, but we will be back next week!

We came back to the condo, and Stacy and I visited, and talked about computer projects that needed to be accomplished.

I started off the morning with my normal ritual of getting on the Internet, answering email, and checking the weather, while making a pot of coffee.

Normal morning work for me while I am in Atlanta, working on the computer, and trying to get the Maintenance/Cruising Logs up to date.

Spent all morning on the computer, then I packed my clothes and hot dogs for the weekend at Dale and Karen’s house in South Carolina. Stacy had volunteered to drive me to Roswell, to meet Karen at 1300.

Before dropping me off, Stacy and I had planned to have lunch together so we could have a talk. We chose Hooters in Roswell. I really love their wings, and this particular location we used to go to a lot when we lived in Roswell. It was still in its original location, and still going strong.

After lunch Stacy drove me to The Atlantic Seafood Company, and Karen was waiting in the parking lot. I moved my luggage into her car, and I got in Karen’s car, and we headed out.

When we got to I-85, we stopped at a Chick-fil-A so Karen could grab some lunch. I also took over the driving so Karen could continue to work. Around 1730 we arrived at the house in Cross Hill.

Karen’s husband, and my good friend from when we were in the Marine Corps together, got to the house about two hours before us, and had adult beverages ready, and chicken defrosted for dinner.

Dale and Karen had a discussion about the chicken, and how it was going to be prepared. The end result was, the chicken was put in a container, and put in the refrigerator. The chicken would be consumed at another time!

We then headed to their dock, and got onto the pontoon boat. We were planning to do some volunteer work with kids from Camp Kemo tomorrow. Dale wanted to take the boat from his house to Grand Harbor where the event is to take place, to get some idea of the time involved.

We came back from our outing, got the boat all secured, and came into the house and had some sandwiches for dinner. Watched some TV and visited, and then went to bed.

I started off the morning with my normal ritual of getting on the Internet, answering email, and checking the weather, Dale made me expresso coffee with his espresso machine.

Naturally I spent some time on the computer working on the Maintenance/Cruising Logs, then we had breakfast. After breakfast Dale and I got to work on the pontoon boat.

We rolled down the portable gas tank Dale has, and gravity feed about 15 gallons of gasoline in to the fuel tank on the pontoon boat. We got together some water, ice, spare clothes and got onto the pontoon boat. It was Dale, Karen, and myself, and we headed over to Grand Harbor with Carl and Debbie in their boat, and Frank and Sherry in their boat.

Dale And Karen On The Pontoon Boat

Captain Jim On The Boat

Frank & Sherry On Their Pontoon Boat

The meeting for all of the crews was being held at 0915, and we arrived around 0845. We went out to the parking lot, and they were grilling brats along with grilled onions and peppers. Dale and I each had one, and it was really tasty. Nice way to start off the day. We also noticed a team of folks were boiling peanuts, but they would not be ready for an hour or more!

We had the meeting, and it was all pretty well laid out. There was a morning session, back for lunch, then an afternoon session, and then back by 1500. We found out one of the boats did not show up. The captain got called into work but did not bother to call.

Karen had a friend, Louie, who had a boat, and called him. He was able to join in the fun. Carl and Debbie took Karen over to get on Louie’s boat to show him how to get to the dock at Grand Harbor, and also to be a spotter on the boat.

Louie and Karen showed up, but as it turned out the kids, from Camp Kemo, who were supposed to show up at 1000, did not arrive until 1045. Schedules slipped a bit, but in the end it all worked out and we took a group of ten kids with two counselors out on Dale’s pontoon boat. I was the spotter for Dale’s boat.

Kids Arriving At The Dock

Our kids arrived, and we got them all settled on the boat, and life preservers fitted. The two counselors were happy with the arrangements, so we left the dock and headed to the other side of the lake. Dale wanted to be pretty far away from the other boats.

Front Of Boat With Our Kids On Board

Back Of Boat With Our Kids & Dale Driving

Back Of Boat With Our Kids

Once we got to the other side of the lake we stopped the boat to launch the three person tube, that we would be dragging the kids around on. While we were getting that done several of the kids and one of the counselors jumped into the lake to cool off and swim around.

We got everyone back on board the boat, then put three of the kids on the tube, and ran around with the kids hanging on, and having a great time. About every 15 minutes or so we would change out the riders on the tube, and do it all over again. The kids were having a great time, and it was great fun watching them.

Three Kids On The Tube

Three More Kids On The Tube

We did this for about an hour and a half, and then went back to the dock for lunch. They put on a great spread for lunch, and by them we had the boiled peanuts, so I was pretty happy.

After lunch we expected the same group of kids, but we were rewarded with a different group of kids, and different counselors. Just like the morning, we got everyone loaded and fitted with life jackets, and headed out to the other side of the lake.

We got the tube into the water, and three kids on the tube, and spun them around the lake.

Three Kids On The Tube

When we had the last three kids on the tube for the afternoon, it started to rain. It rained pretty hard but not for long. By then everyone was tired, so we headed back to the dock. The rain had stopped, and in fact it had not rained at the dock!

We said our goodbyes to the kids and the folks running the Camp, and headed back to Dale’s house. Karen was on Louie’s boat, and did not get wet, so when we got back to the house Dale and I changed into dry clothes.

Then we got word there was a pool party at Carl and Debbie’s house so we got changed into swimsuits and went down to the party.

Dale, Carl, Karen And Sherry At The Party

Sherry And Karen

Louie And Barbara

Sherry, Frank And Carl

Danny & Chris In The Pool

Karen, Debbie And Dale In The Pool

Emily In The Pool

Caught Photo Of Nick With No “salute”

We did not have a plan for a meal, so Frank ordered three pizzas, and some hot wings, so we all ate well. It was a good time, but after a couple of hours, I went back to the house, took a shower and went to bed.

I started off the morning with my normal ritual of getting on the Internet, answering email, and checking the weather, Dale made me expresso coffee with his espresso machine, and I made a couple of more for myself.

While waiting for Dale to get organized, and Karen to make breakfast, I worked on the computer and the Maintenance/Cruising Logs.

Dale and Karen, and their dog Buddy, meet a couple of the neighbors with their dogs at 0800 and they all take a walk around the neighborhood to let the dogs have a good run. I normally join in, as it is a good way to get the blood flowing.

Getting Ready For The Walk

Buddy Checking Out The Grass

Yesterday we had left the tube on the pontoon boat, so this morning it was dried off. Dale and I let the air out of the tube. We folded it up and I put it away in the small basement.

Dale had to run into Greenwood, to take care of some errands, and I needed some rum for the condo back in Atlanta. Stacy sent me an email saying that the rum I had left at the condo had evaporated!! We got our shopping list from Karen, and headed out.

As we were driving through a town called Ninety Six, on our way to Greenwood, Dale mentioned that there is a Star Fort in Ninety Six, and it is a National Historic Site. We decided we would go there and take the walking tour of the site.

We started the walking tour at the Logan Log house. The tour is about 1.5 miles, and was not a very hard walk at all. There was two additional “side” walks of 1.5 miles each, but we did not take advantage of them. It is an interesting site and learned some good information about the early war for Independence in the south.

Logan Log House

Logan House Placard

Star Fort From Viewing Stand

Rifle Tower Placard

Rifle Tower

Stockade Near Star Fort

Memorial To James Birmingham

When we got back to the Logan House, that completed the tour. Dale and I left the Site and went into Greenwood. First stop was the liquor store where I got some rum, and I got Kitty some Fireball Cinnamon Whiskey. We stopped at several grocery stores looking for a sauce, and finally found it, so he went back to the house on the lake.

It was late in the day, and Karen had mowed the grass while Dale and I did the errands. Dale was tired, so he went to take a nap. Karen changed and went down to Carl and Debbie’s pool to hang out. I stayed at the house and worked on the Maintenance/Cruising Logs and did some catch up on email.

Dale got up and Karen come home. Dale made some burgers for dinner, and then we went down to Carl & Debbies to swim and hang out. After a couple of hours there, we came back to the house, and I went to bed.

I started off the morning with my normal ritual of getting on the Internet, answering email, and checking the weather, Dale made me expresso coffee with his espresso machine, and I made a couple of more for myself.

As usual, I worked on staying caught up on email, and working on the Maintenance/Cruising Log. After a breakfast of an omelette, prepared by Karen, Dale and I went down to the dock and prepared the wakeboard boat to go out. Karen wanted to ride the wakeboard and the surfboard before we went back to Atlanta today.

Dale and I got everything together, and we went out on the lake. We used the boat to pull Karen, and she used two different kinds of boards.

Karen Concentrating On The Wakeboard

Dale Driving The Board Boat

Karen Getting In The Groove On Her Surfboard

Karen Riding The Wake On The Surfboard

After about an hour of dragging Karen around the lake, she was tired, so she got back aboard the boat. Dale took us for a tour of the lake. We went by a earth and rock berm near the Buzzard Roost dam that can be blasted open in an emergency.

Rock Berm

We then drove down to the actual Buzzard Roost dam and checked it out. This is the dam that actually creates Lake Greenwood. Tried to find a little more history on the dam and its construction, but was not able to.

Buzzard Roost Dam

After looking at the dam, Dale drove by some of the houses built on the lake, including a couple of million dollar houses.

Beautiful House On The Lake

We then took the boat back to the dock at the house, and got the boat secured and boards and equipment put away. We then all took a shower and got ourselves cleaned up.

Karen went down to Carl & Debbie’s house to hang out at the pool. Dale took a nap, and I worked on the Maintenance/Cruising Log.

Karen returned from the pool. We all three made a bunch of chicken kabobs, and then took them all down to Carl & Debbies. While there we barbecued the chicken kabobs, and other folks provided dishes, so we had a great pot luck dinner.

Around 1900, we left Carl and Debbie’s and went back to Karen and Dale’s house. Karen and I did our final packing, and around 1930 we headed back to Atlanta.

We got in around 2230, and I went to Stacy and Tina’s condo. They were on a trip, and Kitty was in West Virginia, so I was on cat duty. I feed the two kitties, Shadow, and Cookie.

I put my stuff away, called Kitty to say good night, and finally hit the sack.

I started off the morning with my normal ritual of getting on the Internet, answering email, and checking the weather, while making a pot of coffee.

I worked on my computer, staying caught up on email, and of course trying to make headway with the Maintenance/Cruising Log.

I updated the Linux Mint 17 operating system to the latest updates, and then updated my VMware Player software. I verified that my virtual machines all worked.

Now it was time to test my virtual desktop software, NoMachine. I could not get the software to work properly between my Linux Mint 17 laptop, and my iPad. I had hoped it would work, as I was not using my Pepwave router, but the router at Stacy and Tina’s condo.

I still could not get the NoMachine software to connect up the Linux Mint 17 laptop, and my iPad. Very frustrating, as I had had it working at one time. Will have to study it more to find the solution.

I am working on the dining room table and the overhead chandelier had a bad light bulb. I got a spare bulb from the stash and replaced the bulb, and it is now working.

I then went out to run some errands. I had to go to the rum store to purchase rum, and had to got to a hardware store. I needed to replace some light bulbs I had used in the microwave. I also wanted to get some quick set epoxy to repair the nameboard we had given Stacy this past Christmas. I also stopped at the grocery store and purchased a whole chicken and some corn on the cob!

The nameboard had broken in half where I had epoxied it back together. The nameboard we had given Judy had no problem staying together, but Stacy’s had broken in two. I really wanted get it put back together as a surprise when they came home from their trip from Jamaica.

By the time I got back from running errands, Judy was off work, so she came by the condo and her and I visited for a couple of hours.It was nice just to be able to talk with her one on one. I do not get that opportunity very often.

Judy left, as she had a couple of errands to run, and she has to get to be early. She gets up at 0400 to be at work at 0530. It does make for some long days.

I butterflied the whole chicken, and got it going on the electric grill that Stacy and Tina have on their balcony. They have not used the grill in a very long time, and were not sure it worked. I wanted to test it to make sure it worked, as we were planning to use it on Father’s do cook hamburgers and hot dogs!

The chicken started cooking so I was pleased about that. I then went into Stacy’s office and got the nameboard all set up to apply the epoxy. I did the setup, did a dry run, and then mixed up the epoxy. I applied it to the nameboard. If it did not get all into the seam, I knew I could apply another application.

Nameboard With Epoxy Applied

I then went back to working on the computer while the chicken was cooking. It seemed the chicken was doing very well, just not as hot as a gas or charcoal grill.

I had sent an email to our good friend Karen to see if she wanted to join me for dinner. She did not get back to me, so she either did not read the email or was too busy to get away.

When the chicken was finished, I started cooking the corn on the cob in the microwave. When the corn was done, the chicken had cooled a bit, so I sat down to a wonderful meal.

After dinner and the cleanup, I went back to Stacy’s office to check on the epoxy. I was very disappointed to find that the epoxy had not set. It was five minute epoxy, but there was a problem with it. So no surprise for Stacy when he came home. I would have to get new epoxy, clean off the old and apply new!

I will let it set overnight, and hope it might kick off, but if five minute epoxy did not kick off in two hours, I doubt that 12 hours would change anything.

I started off the morning with my normal ritual of getting on the Internet, answering email, and checking the weather, while making a pot of coffee.

When I got the coffee started, I went into Stacy’s office, and the five minute epoxy still had not set up. No surprise today for Stacy when he returns, but I am determined to get the nameboard fixed before I go back to Guatemala.

I have a doctor’s appointment scheduled today with some blood work, so I am fasting until after the appointment which is at 1345.

Spent some time on the computer doing some more scanning and working on the Maintenance/Cruising Log.

Decided to get to work on getting the NoMachine software to work properly between my Linux Mint 17 laptop, and my iPad.

I think I have figured out my problem with NoMachine. I have it running on my Linux Mint 17 laptop, and my iPad. I will be able to test it out this afternoon when Kitty and Stacy get back to Atlanta on their iPads.

When I loaded the NoMachine software on the Linux Mint 17, two pieces of software loaded. One piece is called NoMachine, and the other is called NoMachine Service.

On my list of applications that comes up in my menu on the Linux Mint 17 laptop, NoMachine comes before NoMachine Service, so I started the NoMachine software, not the NoMachine Service. As it turns out this is the client software. Since I have no server software on the iPad, it will not connect.

If I start NoMachine Service, this is actually the server software, it runs, and when I select NoMachine client software on the iPad it connects right up! The NoMachine Service server software has an option to run at system startup, so I have chosen that. I was able to start the client software on the iPad, and it connected right up.

The previous testing was all done on the router Stacy has in his office. So now that I have figured out the naming of the NoMachine software I can get it going quickly. It would have been nice if the folks that wrote the NoMachine software would have called it NoMachine server and NoMachine client. Oh well, us old guys are a bit slow!

I had brought along my spare Pepwave router to test the NoMachine software on while at Stacy’s. Now that I know the software works, and I can connect the iPad to my Linux Mint 17 laptop using Stacy’s router, I wanted to test using the router I would be using on DREAM AWAY.

I powered up the Pepwave router, and was able to connect to it on the Linux Mint 17 laptop. My first generation iPad would not connect to the Pepwave router, so naturally the NoMachine software would not work. At first I thought it was a problem with the software, but for some reason the iPad would not connect to the Pepwave router.

Overlooking router problems, and headset problems, the NoMachine software seems to be working fine. I will be able to test it out this afternoon when Kitty and Stacy get back to Atlanta, and we can use their iPad.

It was getting late, so I headed out for my doctor’s appointment at Emory Healthcare at St. Joseph’s hospital. My appointment was at 1345, but I wanted to get their early in case they could take me early. I did and they did! I saw the doctor, got a Prevnar13 pneumonia shot, and had the blood work done. I also got a prescription for our Typhoid booster.

I actually left the doctor’s office five minutes after I was scheduled to start. you know that does not happen very often, if at all. Dr Khant was in a hurry to get started on a trip, so he was moving along!

I left the hospital and headed down to the MARTA Lindbergh station area. Kitty had flown in while I was at the doctor’s and was waiting for me at the Five Guys restaurant near the Lindbergh station.

It was great to see her again, but I know it was hard for her to leave her best friend Kathy in West Virginia. We are hoping for the best in Kathy’s decisions regarding her diagnosis of pancreatic cancer.

Stacy and Tina were coming back a little later from their trip, so I had decided to make stuffed peppers, corn on the cob, and a green salad. I decided on the peppers, because there were several peppers in the refrigerator in the condo, and they were getting close to being bad.

When Kitty and I went back to Stacy and Tina’s condo we stopped at Kroger’s grocery store and picked up some last minute items for dinner.

When we got home, and all of the groceries put away, and Kitty unpacked, I tried the NoMachine software using my Linux Mint 17 laptop, and her iPad connecting through the Pepwave router. Her iPad connected immediately to the Pepwave router, and the NoMachine software came right up.

Now it looks like I have a specific connection problem with my first generation iPad connecting to the Pepwave router. This will bear more investigation.

I got busy making dinner. The stuffed peppers are a bit of work, but I had Kitty as my sous chef, so we got it prepared, and done just about the time Stacy and Tina arrived home. They had kept us current with texts on their progress.

They got settled in for a few minutes, and we had a nice dinner, with wine, and a very nice relaxed visit. It was nice to be able to talk to them at home in a relaxed atmosphere.

Our good friend Karen had been working late, so she came by and joined us for a late dinner. It was a nice visit all the way around, and a very nice finish to a long day for all of us.

I started off the morning with my normal ritual of getting on the Internet, answering email, and checking the weather, while making a pot of coffee.

Another typical morning working on my computer, staying caught up on emails and working on the Maintenance/Cruising Logs. Will I ever get them caught up?

Tried another test with the Pepwave router, my Linux Mint 17 laptop, and Stacy’s iPad. Stacy had the NoMachine client software on his iPad. Stacy’s iPad connected right to the Pepwave router, and of course the NoMachine router came right up.

When I get back this afternoon, Stacy and I will work on the problem I am having. It is definitely a connection problem between my first generation iPad and the Pepwave router.

Kitty and I were meeting some old friends who I used to work with in the Atlanta office of Digital Equipment Corporation, DEC. We left the condo, and stopped at the Ace Hardware store to return the epoxy I purchased a couple of days ago, and purchase another brand.

We then drove to the Egg Harbor Cafe in Sandy Springs. There were nine of us when we all sat down. It was nice to see everyone, and we had a nice time telling stories and remembering all of the good times and adventures we had working with and for a great company.

After lunch, Kitty and I went home to the condo. Kitty went up to take a nap, and I was able to capture Stacy so we could work on the specific problems I was having getting my first generation iPad and the Pepwave router to talk to one another.

I will not go into a long explanation of all we did, but out of desperation we did a factory reset of the Pepwave router. We set the router back up, and lo and behold my first generation iPad connected right away to the Pepwave router, and of course the NoMachine software connected right up.

Not exactly sure what was the hangup, but it is fixed! It will be interesting to see what happens when I get back to DREAM AWAY and see what problems I have on the operational Pepwave router.

While we were working on this problem I told Stacy that we could have another problem in the future. I cannot use any but the first generation iPad in the cockpit of DREAM AWAY. All of the later iPads have magnets in them, and I cannot use them around the magnetic compass. Interesting problem!

After working more on the computer, it was time to head out for our Trivia at Genki date. The four of us were going, and we were meeting our good friend Ginny there to have dinner and of course play Trivia.

It was a great evening, and we had a great meal, spread out over the game, and a wonderful visit with Ginny. We had been out of touch with her for a long time and it was great to do some catching up.

Ginny has said she will come down to the Rio Dulce over Thanksgiving. It would be really nice to have her down here for a few days. It would give her a real chance to kick back and relax, and for us all to catch up.

We came back to the condo and Stacy and I visited and talked about who knows what, and we eventually went off to bed.

I started off the morning with my normal ritual of getting on the Internet, answering email, and checking the weather, while making a pot of coffee.

Before Kitty got up and we had breakfast, I was working on the computer, as usual. Keeping up with email, doing research and of course working on the Maintenance/Cruising Logs.

Immediately after breakfast Kitty walked across the street to an emergency clinic. She had a bite near her left eye and it was getting worse. She felt it would be a good idea to get it looked into.

When Kitty went to the clinic, I worked on packing our luggage for our flight back to Guatemala. We were allowed two bags each of fifty pounds. I wanted to get some idea if we were able to pack what we had in the four cases. We also wanted to find out if we had any additional room for stuff.

It was going to be a tight squeeze, and I marked all of the boat parts as “Yacht In Transit”. That was in the hope if customs went through our luggage I would have some hope of getting away with all of the stuff I was bringing in. I also marked a bunch of stuff as presents, since we will have just had our birthdays and father’s day.

Needless to say it was going to be fun taking care of four bags of 50 pounds each, plus our carry on bags. What a joy!

When I finished with the packing chore, I walked across the street to see how it was going with Kitty. The doctor also thought the “place” near Kitty’s left eye was a bug bite, and gave her a prescription for antibiotics.

We left the clinic, and went and got the prescription for her antibiotics, and to get our Typhoid prescription. We got the prescriptions, and went back to the condo.

I had the new five minute epoxy, so I took the two pieces of nameboard out on the balcony, and cleaned them up. I scraped and sanded off all of the old epoxy. I did a dry fit, and then mixed up the epoxy and applied it to the two pieces of the nameboard and put them together.

This epoxy worked, and kicked off very quickly. I then applied some more of the epoxy to fill in a couple of gaps and tiny holes. I left the nameboard out on the balcony, so the epoxy would have plenty of time to setup.

Judy and I had planned a date, so it would just be the two of us, and we would have a chance to chat between us. As it turned out with Kitty going to West Virginia for a week, Judy and I had already got together a couple of times, but I did not want to pass this up.

I had planned a picnic, and that is what we had. We met at the Kroger grocery store near her apartment. I picked up a sandwich, and Judy got some Kosher sushi. We then walked over to the Bruster’s ice cream store in the Kroger parking lot.

The Bruster’s ice cream store has several picnic tables under some very large pine trees, so I thought it was a great place for a picnic. Of course after we finished the main course, we had to sample some of Bruster’s product.

Judy During Our Picnic at Bruster’s

When we finished the ice cream, Judy went back to her apartment,, and I went back to the condo. When I got back, I was able to unlock my iPhone as I had waited the prescribed 24 hours from AT&T, and it worked.

I can now use my iPhone in Guatemala or anywhere else I would like to. It is only a backup phone, as we do not really need two phones.

Both Tina and Stacy had dinner meetings, so Kitty and I planned to have dinner at home. I had marinated some pork chops, and we has some more corn on the cob. I also just chopped up some fresh veggies to have as a salad.

Stacy came in and said he got out early, and did not have dinner. That was great news, as we had extra of everything, so it would be just the three of us for dinner.

Little did I know, but at the time I was being set up by Stacy. Kitty knew about it, but did not let on. During our troubleshooting of the first generation iPad, and the Pepwave router I may have said a bad word or two. At the end I was very happy that it all worked.

As I was going back and forth between the kitchen and the grill on the balcony, Stacy handed me “my” first generation iPad, and asked me if the NoMachine software still worked. I turned on my iPad, and it came up asking me very basic questions, like the iPad had done a major reset, and I was starting from scratch.

I nearly went through the roof! I quickly went out to the balcony to make sure the pork chops were not burning, and came back to the kitchen. Sure enough the iPad was starting from scratch. I had lost all of my apps, and all of the data I had on the unit.

I was cursing, spluttering, and threatening to throw the iPad off of the balcony into the pool. That is when Stacy let off the hook. Unbeknownst to me he had ordered a “new” remanufactured first generation iPad to have on DREAM AWAY as a backup. That is the iPad he had handed me.

It truly was starting from scratch, and my first generation iPad was in good shape and had no problems. After that I had to have a large adult beverage!

Jim With New iPad And original iPad

We had a great meal and a very nice visit getting caught up on all of Stacy’s business ventures. As we were sitting around visiting, Tina came home from her dinner meeting. We all sat around chatted, doing some catch up.

After dinner Stacy and I worked on getting the “new” first generation iPad to look like my iPad. We wanted to get the new one so it would have all of the applications on it that my first generation iPad has on it. There was some problems, in that not all of the applications would load on the new iPad.

We did not get all of the applications moved over and could not figure out why. It seems like some of the applications are not backward compatible to the IOS operating system running on the first generation iPad.

I started off the morning with my normal ritual of getting on the Internet, answering email, and checking the weather, while making a pot of coffee.

Not much going on so I spent all morning working on the computer trying to get caught up on email, scanning and of course the Maintenance/Cruising Logs.

We were spending Friday night with Judy at her apartment, so Kitty and I left the condo and went over to Judy’s. Judy showed up from work. I stayed at the apartment to keep working on the Maintenance/Cruising Logs. Kitty and Judy went shopping to get some promised clothes for Judy.

Telephone reception is very poor at Judy’s apartment. Judy’s landlord, Janie, came down to Judy’s apartment and told me to call Kitty. I had to go out in the street before I could get enough bars to make a phone call.

That is when I found out Judy had a flat tire in the Kroger parking lot. Judy had called the tow service, and they were waiting for the service to show up and change the tire. They finally showed up, got the tire changed, and Kitty and Judy came home.

Judy got her shower, and Kitty and I got dressed for our Shabbat dinner at Rabbi and Ester Pranski’s house with their family.

Jim Ready For The Dinner

Jim And Judy Ready For The Dinner

Judy walked over to Rabbi Pranski’s house, and we drove over to their house. Rabbi and Ester Pranski’s family were just beautiful. It was an enjoyable & tasty meal. Everyone in the family participated in the celebration. Kitty and I were involved in the conversation, and it was obvious they all thought alot of Judy.

After dinner Judy walked back home, and of course we drove. We got back to Judy’s apartment around 2330, and we all called it a night and went to bed.

I started off the morning with my normal ritual of getting on the Internet, answering email, and checking the weather.

Woke up this morning and I am 71 years old - WOW! I am into my eighth decade on this earth. Enough of that, back to work.

Judy and Kitty slept in this morning, so continued staying caught up on my email, and working on the Maintenance/Cruising Log.

Judy got up at 0730, got dressed and walked over to the Beth Jacob synagog to schule. Judy gave me directions to Rabbi Feldman’s house, where we were going for lunch, and Judy said she would go directly from the synagog to their house.

I continued working on the computer while Kitty slept in. Kitty got up around 1000, and we had a bite of breakfast. We then got ready for our lunch engagement with Rabbi & Miriam Feldman. We were waiting to leave Judy’s apartment, and Judy showed up.

No problem, she just got out of schule early, and decided to come home first. Lunch was scheduled for noon, so Judy left to walk over to the house, and Kitty and I drove over.

When we got there, there was an additional 10-12 folks for the luncheon meal, including two of Rabbi and Miriam Feldman’s grandchildren. Rabbi Feldman is the lead Rabbi at Beth Jacob, so he was delayed a bit because of last minute items that always come up.

The meal here was wonderful, and delicious. It was a great meal and gathering. The conversation at the table was enlightening. Here again it was obvious that the Feldman’s thought a lot of Judy, and were happy for her decision concerning the marriage.

After the lunch, we drove back to the apartment, and Judy walked back. When she arrived, we visited for a few minutes, and then we packed up and left. We had things to do, and so did Judy. It was pretty late in the afternoon.

We had to make a stop at the Kroger for some groceries, and then a nearby liquor store for some rum, and a hardware store for some batteries. When we finished the errands, we went to Stacy and Tina’s condo.

Stacy and Tina took us out to a favorite Persian restaurant for our birthdays, Persepolis. They have lamb on the menu, and Stacy and Tina knew I love lamb. The food was great, I had the lamb kabob, and the flatbread & cucumber sauce was especially wonderful.

The highlight of the meal was the belly dancer. On her second appearance I got up to accompany her, and that was great fun.

Jim And The Belly Dancer

We left the restaurant and went back home. We chatted and visited for an hour or more and then wandered off to bed.

I started off the morning with my normal ritual of getting on the Internet, answering email, and checking the weather, while making a pot of coffee.

I worked on the computer keeping current with emails, and of course working on the Maintenance/Cruising Log.

Tina of course was up early, so we took Ruby back to Larry at Buckhead Auto Care. Of course Larry was not there so we locked up Ruby, and left the keys in the drop box.

Tina and I then went to a Publix Supermarket just down the street, and purchased a birthday cake for Kitty’s 71st birthday, which is today. We got back to the condo, and had breakfast.

Kitty and I then started the real packing of our suitcases. We have a busy day planned for today, and we are flying back to Guatemala on a 1000 flight, so we will be leaving early tomorrow morning. We pretty much got everything into the suitcases except what we would be needing today.

We borrowed Tina’s scale, and we weighed each suitcase as we packed them. Good thing we did, because we had to move a few items between cases to get the weight under 50 pounds in each case.

I checked the nameboard out on the balcony, and the epoxy had set up very well. I was confident that we could now put the nameboard up on the wall in Stacy’s office.

I got out a hammer and the picture hangers, and Stacy decided where he wanted the nameboard to go. We then put it up and admired our handy work.

Nameboard Hanging On The Wall

Closeup Of DREAM AWAY On The Nameboard

I was very pleased to get this done for Stacy while I was In Atlanta. I did not like having our Christmas present to him broken and standing in the corner. Now I felt like I had accomplished something.

Stacy In His Office

Now it was time to start the picnic for Father’s Day, birthdays, and Independence Day preparations. I made up the burgers using ground beef and ground pork. Gail, Tina’s sister, was bringing the Buffalo hot dogs. Kitty and Tina got all of the veggies for the picnic cleaned cut, sliced and diced. We even had a watermelon cooling down.

The picnic was mostly for family, but we also had two close friends show up. Judy showed up, and of course she brought her own food. Gail showed up, and she brought me a wonderful birthday present. Two pounds of boiled peanuts! I love em’. Gail also brought the Buffalo hot dogs for the picnic. Robin, a neighbor from the first floor of the condos, showed up.

Gail, Stacy, Tina, Judy Preparing The Goodies

Judy Working In The Kitchen

Kitty Working In The Kitchen

Gail, Stacy, Tina Preparing The Goodies

Now it was time to start the cooking. I had already had the electric grill turned on, just waiting for everyone to show up. I took out the hamburgers, and several hot dogs, and cooked them up.

Burgers Done Cooking The Hot Dogs

When they were done we set up a sort of buffet. We put the hamburgers, hot dogs, cucumber salad, macaroni salad and all of the fixins’ in the kitchen. We then all made up our plates the way we wanted them, and all sat around the dining room table and ate!

Robin Getting In Line

Gail Getting In Line

After we had enjoyed the meal, and hurt ourselves with all of the good food, we did some family picture taking.

Judy And Jim

Judy, Jim And Kitty

Judy, Jim, Kitty, Stacy

Tina And Stacy

Now after we have stuffed ourselves at our picnic, we get down to the point of the gathering - birthday for Kitty. We presented her with some gifts and cards, and then comes the cake with one (71) candle!

Kitty With The Tea Rose Perfume

Kitty With The “ All Creatures Great And Small” DVD Series

The presents are done, now it is time for the cake.

Robin Presenting The Cake

Kitty Preparing To Blow Out Her Candle

With the candle out we had the cake and watermelon course to top off the wonderful meal. Kitty then took a couple of family pictures.

Stacy, Jim, Judy

Stacy, Jim, Tina, And Judy

We have finished the meal, the cake and dessert, so we just sit around and visit. Judy takes off first, because she has to get up so early in the morning, and needs a good night sleep to start off the week. Gail then heads home, she has a fairly long drive to get home, and then she has to work tomorrow.

So we are just chatting, and our good friend Karen calls, and said she is back from the lake early, and would like to come over and chat, and say her goodbyes to us. Karen comes over and she has a hamburger with the fixins’, and also has a small piece of cake.

We continue to chat, and then Karen and Robin go home around 2330. It was a great day, and very nice to get together with family and friends. We head off to bed, as we have to get up early, and leave at 0730. Stacy has volunteered to take us down to the airport to catch our flight. in the morning.

I started off the morning with my normal ritual of getting on the Internet, answering email, and checking the weather, while making a pot of coffee.

Finished all of the packing, after Kitty got up early. Brought all four of the suitcases from the loft where we slept downstairs, plus the two carry-ons, Had a banana and coffee cake for breakfast, and Stacy drove us to the airport. He dropped us off at the new for us, International terminal at Hartsfield airport.

We got checked in and to our gate without much hassle. We took off on time and arrived on time, and we even had a snack on the airplane.

When we landed and retrieved our luggage, we were selected to have our luggage inspected. I was not looking forward to that, as we had a bunch of boat parts, and parts for other boaters at the marina. The good news was they did not look at all the suitcases, and since I did not have invoices, they asked me to estimate the value of the parts.

I estimated about $250.00 is parts, and they charged me about $25.00 in customs duties. I was lucky, because I know I have about $200.00 just in Yamaha parts! We paid our duty, and went out to the curb, where our taxi was waiting. I had called Ovidio yesterday and asked him to be at the airport to pick us up and take us to the Apartamentos Las Torres in Zona 10.

He was there waiting for and took us to the hotel. We got checked into the hotel and settled in. My appointment with the dermatologist was not until 1600, so we had a couple of hours.

We went to the dermatologist, and had one place hit with liquid nitrogen, and she found one place that must be surgically removed. That is a bummer, but we have it scheduled for July 6th.

We went back to the hotel, but traffic was so bad we got out of the taxi about three blocks before the hotel. In fact we got out of the taxi right in front of the little comedor, El Guate al Instante, in which we were going to eat dinner!

We had our dinner, which was inexpensive, and very good, and then walked back to the hotel. We settled in, and were in bed asleep by 2000.

Woke up early as usual, and started in to work on the computer. Check weather and email, and then went down to the lobby to get a cup of coffee. I brought the coffee back to the room and worked some more on the computer.

Kitty got up early, and we got our bags packed, and had them all down in the lobby by 0730. Ovidio picked us up at the Apartamentos Las Torres, and took us to Litegua Bus station in Zona 1. We purchased our tickets, and waited for about 45 minutes for the bus to leave. We got all of our luggage loaded, and the bus left on time.

We did our normal lunch stop, and finally got to the Rio Dulce around 1415. John, the Monkey Bay Marina dockmaster was waiting for us. I told John I had to make a couple of stops in town before we could go back to Monkey Bay Marina. I hired a porter to take all of our luggage down to the dock at Bruno’s, and then John, Kitty and the porter went down to the dock.

My first stop was the TiGo store to get money on Kitty’s phone and to purchase a new USB modem so we could get to the Internet. I then stopped at one of the veggie stands to purchase some fruit and veggies, so we could prepare a meal or two before we had to go back into town.

I walked down to Bruno’s, and John, Kitty and another passenger were waiting, We got into the launcha and headed back to Monkey Bay Marina. We unloaded all of our luggage and bags at the dock right next to DREAM AWAY.

John had opened DREAM AWAY up, so it was aired out some, but we got all of the ports and hatches open, to air out the boat, and to get it cool. I hauled all of the bags and luggage from the dock down to DREAM AWAY.

Kitty and I spent the next two hours unpacking, and getting most of the stuff put away where it belongs, or in the case of boat parts, piled on the workbench in the garage. We delivered the part I had for Andrew to him, and we got John all of the stuff we brought back for him.

We had showers, made a quick and easy dinner, and went to bed, both of us pretty tired, and looking forward to sleeping in our own beds.

I started off the morning with my normal ritual making a pot of coffee. Our cellular modem from TiGo was not working for some reason, so had no access to the Internet. No checking of weather or email. I am hopeful to get back into town after we pick up Jillian and Jordan to get the problem resolved.

We listened to the Rio Dulce Cruisers net on DREAM AWAY. The net is everyday at 0730 except Sunday. It covers all of the local news and events, and a good source of local information that matter to cruisers.

There was no announcement for the specials at Backpacker’s Hotel on the Rio Dulce Cruisers net. Kitty and I wondered about that. We will have to check with Heather, the director for Backpacker’s Hotel, and Casa Guatemala.

Very wet and rainy day, but around 1000 we went up river to the dock at Mansion Del Rio, and Jody was there to meet us. We went to her house and saw our two cats, Jillian and Jordan. It was wonderful to see them again, and I am pretty sure they were happy to see us again.

We visited with Jody for about an hour and caught up on Jillian and Jordan, and all the news of the Rio Dulce; loaded all of the stuff and Jillian and Jordan in their carriers into the tender, and headed back down river. Our timing was not good at all, we got hit with a major rain storm, and by the time we arrived at DREAM AWAY we were soaked.

Jillian and Jordan were not too wet, but they were not happy! We literally undressed in the cockpit and toweled off. Then we got got all concerned dried off and all of the cat goodies dried off.; We spent the remainder of the day trying to keep dry and I was working on the computer and catching up on paperwork. Too wet to attempt a run into town.

Whenever there was a break in the rain I pumped out the tender. I did that three times during the day. As I mentioned, a really wet day.

We had defrosted pork chops for dinner, but when I went up to the outdoor kitchen, I could not get the grill to stay lit. The gas bottle felt full, but I changed it out with the gas bottle for the two burner table top stove. Same result, so I put it all back together. My suspicion is the regulator is bad.

Went back to DREAM AWAY, and cooked the pork chops on the stove top. We had a nice dinner and read. We cleaned up and then read some more, and went to bed.

I started off the morning with my normal ritual of making a pot of coffee. I also feed our two cats,> Jillian and Jordan, and attempt to brush their beautiful coats.

We listened to the Rio Dulce Cruisers net on DREAM AWAY. The net is everyday at 0730 except Sunday. It covers all of the local news and events, and a good source of local information that matter to cruisers.

Again there was no announcement for the specials at Backpacker’s Hotel on the Rio Dulce Cruisers net.

This morning will be an errand day, so first on the agenda was to pump out the tender. We left Monkey Bay Marina, and went to Backpacker’s Hotel for breakfast.

Before we ordered breakfast, we had a talk with Heather, the director for Backpacker’s Hotel, and Casa Guatemala. She explained that the new restaurant manager was working nights, so she asked if I would take over the Backpacker’s Hotel specials announcements on the Rio Dulce Cruisers net. Of course I said yes, and that was settled.

We went to the restaurant and had breakfast. The Backpacker’s Hotel restaurant is a lovely place to have a meal. You are literally right on the Rio Dulce, and under the bridge. We both had the Desayuno Chapin, which we enjoyed.

From the Backpacker’s Hotel we walked over to Tienda Reed looking for chocolate, but they did not have any. We walked back to the Casa Guatemala store at Backpacker’s Hotel and purchased meat, cheese, bread, and eggs.

We left the Backpacker’s Hotel, and went across the river to Bruno’s, and left tender there. We walked down to the TiGo store, they were expecting us! It seems there was a known TiGo problem with the USB modems sold this past Tuesday. They took our modem, and got it activated. Now we will have the Internet on DREAM AWAY when we get back.

We then went to Dispensa Familiar to purchase groceries, and then stopped at our normal veggie stand and purchased fruit and veggies for a couple of days. Then it was onto Ingrid's Tienda to purchase wine. We walked back to Bruno’s, got into the tender with all of our purchases, and went back to DREAM AWAY.

I am still having carburetor problems on the outboard engine. I brought back a bunch of parts from the states for the Yamaha outboard, so I am hopeful I can get both of my carburetors working.

I took both carburetors back to the shop, along with the new parts, and basically made sure both carburetors had all the same parts. I had made a mistake with some of the fuel pump parts.

Carburetor Apart On Workbench

The “old” carburetor ran fine, but was slow to accelerate to top speed. I was hoping putting in all of the correct parts and in the right place would fix that problem.

The “new” carburetor would accelerate very fast, but would flood out and stop the engine. The outboard with this carburetor installed had left me twice, and once I had to row all the way back from town.

I put the “old” carburetor on the outboard, and it ran exactly the same. Just like I had not done a thing to it. I put the “new” carburetor on the outboard, and the engine would keep running, but only at slow speed, just above an idle. Sometimes it would run normally, and then flood out and go back to an idle.

I ended up putting the “old” carburetor back on the outboard, because it would at least run. I could live with the engine taking 10 seconds to accelerate to full speed.

Since I was up in the shop working, I decided to see if I could find the problem with the grill in the outdoor kitchen. I changed the regulator, but that did not help, so I put the regulators back where they belonged.

The wind was not blowing at all like yesterday afternoon, so when I turned on the gas, I could hear gas escaping! This was not good. I found the problem to be the gas line from a “T” to the burner on the side of the grill. The gas line was burnt in two!

Gas Line “T” Under The Grill

I cut off the burnt end of the hose, and clamped a bolt into the hose, and that fixed the leak. John will have to get another piece of hose to get the burner working again. Now at least the grill is working!

Today was more rain, and several power failures. We just have to work between the rain storms!

The refrigerator/freezer on DREAM AWAY, had finally got down to a good temperature, so I brought all of the goodies and food from the refrigerator/freezer in the ranchito down to refrigerator/freezer on DREAM AWAY.

With Jillian and Jordan, back on board, the refrigerator/freezer working properly, and the tender working good, we are pretty much back to normal. Now to catch up on emails, paperwork, scanning, and the Maintenance/Cruising Logs. I am sure the Maintenance/Cruising Logs will be a constant project for the next several months.

I started off the morning with my normal ritual of making a pot of coffee. I also feed our two cats,> Jillian and Jordan, and attempt to brush their beautiful coats.

We listened to the Rio Dulce Cruisers net on DREAM AWAY. The net is everyday at 0730 except Sunday. It covers all of the local news and events, and a good source of local information that matter to cruisers.

I did my announcement for the specials at Backpacker’s Hotel on the Rio Dulce Cruisers net.

I hate to admit this, but I am updating the Maintenance/Cruising log in the middle of July, and I just discovered I did not make an entry for this day in my Google Doc. Since I can hardly remember what I did yesterday, I will not be able to fill in much for today.

I only took two photos, so that brings a couple of items back.

The first photo is of our female cat Jillian taking a nap on our bed. It is hard to see just how cute they are is some of their napping positions, but I will include it.

Jillian Napping On Aft-Cabin Bed

I can tell from the second photo what we had for dinner today. It was Crabby-Cheese sandwiches. This is a taste treat that we first ate in Key Largo in the Florida Keys. This sandwich is basically a patty of crab, onions, cheese, and eggs fried, and then placed between two pieces of fried bread. It is a real taste treat!

Crabby-Cheese Sandwiches Cooking On The Galley Stove

I started off the morning with my normal ritual of getting on the Internet, answering email, and checking the weather, while making a pot of coffee. When the coffee is started, I feed our two cats, Jillian and Jordan, and attempt to brush their beautiful coats.

We listened to the Rio Dulce Cruisers net on DREAM AWAY. The net is everyday at 0730 except Sunday. It covers all of the local news and events, and a good source of local information that matter to cruisers.

I did my announcement for the specials at Backpacker’s Hotel on the Rio Dulce Cruisers net.

Today I had designated electrical and electronics day! I had purchased an AC regulator for my generator. I had also purchased a LINK 2000R Ideal regulator, and terminal board that needed to be checked out. I purchased three new Hella Turbo fans that needed to be installed. All of these items I had purchased on eBay.

Kitty had purchased a new DVD player that was region free that needed to be installed, and I wanted to do some more troubleshooting on my generator problem.

My generator problem is covered in some detail in the April Maintenance/Cruising log, but it is not up on the DREAM AWAY web page, so I will go into some detail here, and then into the trouble shooting.

The problem started when I was using the generator to charge my batteries using the Heart Freedom Marine 25 Inverter/Charger. Something went screwy, and it quit working properly, so Noel and I changed out the Heart Freedom Marine 25 Inverter/Charger because I had a spare unit.

Changing The Heart Freedom Marine 25 Inverter/Charger In The Garage

To make a long story short, changing the Heart Freedom Marine 25 Inverter/Charger did not change the problem at all. When using shore power to run the Heart Freedom Marine 25 Inverter/Charger both units worked as advertised, When using the generator to charge my batteries, the output of the Heart Freedom Marine 25 Inverter/Charger was only half it’s rating.

I started looking into the generator, and discovered the brushes on the generator end were not good. They were replaced, but did not change anything.

I decided to put off any more troubleshooting because we had our trip planned to the states, and I had the new AC regulator for the generator that I would be bringing back with me.

Earlier this week, because of so much rain, we had several power failures, so the marina would run their generator. When I was charging my batteries with the Heart Freedom Marine 25 Inverter/Charger, I noticed I was only getting about half the rated output. Then I noticed the AC voltage out from the marina generator was only 105 VAC!

This got me thinking! No smart comments! I looked at the troubleshooting documentation for the Heart Freedom Marine 25 Inverter/Charger. It stated that if the AC voltage was low, the DC current to the batteries would be lowered also! My problem, that is not a problem.

First thing I wanted to do was to run the generator, and the watermaker. I verified the seacock was open for the generator raw water inlet, and started the generator, and let it warm up. I started the watermaker and had it producing water.

I went to the Heart Freedom Marine 25 Inverter/Charger and measured the input AC voltage, and it was 98 VAC! This is not good, but the watermaker was working fine. When the watermaker had run for 30 minutes, I shut it down, and the voltage went back up to 120VAC.

This certainly means my problem is with the generator, and when ever a load is put on it, the voltage drops. The generator was pretty hot after running so I decided I would not work on it today, but need to do some investigation into this specific problem!

AC Voltmeter While Watermaker Was Running

AC Voltmeter While Watermaker Was Not Running

Now it was time to check out the LINK 2000R parts I had brought back from the states. I had taken all three LINK 2000R parts with me to the states that I received from Nicola & Noel off of TANTALUS. Lightning had struck their boat, and knocked out the LINK 2000R. They upgraded their system, so they gave me the LINK 2000R monitor, Ideal Regulator and the terminal board.

When I got to the states I sent off the LINK 2000R monitor to Tekris Power to see if they could repair the monitor. I had talked to Chris at Tekris Power and he said he was pretty sure he could repair the Ideal Regulator and the terminal board, but the monitor was questionable. As it turned out they were not able to repair the monitor.

I opened the seacock for the raw water to the main engine, and started the engine. I wanted to verify operation of the Ideal Regulator that was installed. I ran the main engine for about 30 minutes, long enough for the Ideal Regulator to switch from Bulk Charge to the Accept mode.

I shutdown the main engine, and disconnected the Ideal Regulator, and connected the new spare Ideal Regulator. I started the main engine and the new spare regulator worked just fine.

New Spare Being Checked Out

I shut down the main engine, and disconnected the new spare Ideal Regulator, and re-connected the original Ideal Regulator. I again started the main engine to verify operation. Everything worked as advertised.

While all of this was going on, in the background I was running a data backup of my Linux Mint 17 laptop and also a “ dd” command to copy from the internal hard drive to the external hard drive in a USB case.

Running The Data Backup

“dd” Command Backup

Next item is to check out the terminal board that is between the Ideal Regulator and the LINK 2000R monitor. This is not easy, and I had put off even checking my onboard spare until I came back from the states with the new terminal board I had purchased.

The terminal board is located in the navigation station behind the LINK 2000R monitor and the Garmin GPS 128. The problem is the terminal board has ten wires attached to it. So to check out a terminal board, means I disconnect 10 wires from the original board, and then connect the ten wires to the spare.

But before I could even start this testing process I had to remove the Samsung SyncMaster 191T monitor from the navigation station. Once the monitor was removed the testing process could begin.

Monitor In The Navigation Station, Garmin GPS 128 Removed

Monitor And Garmin GPS 128 Removed From Navigation Station

Now with all of the hardware removed, I disconnected all of the wires from the terminal board, and connected them to the spare I had purchased on eBay. I started the main engine, but the regulator would not turn on. The terminal board I purchased was bad.

I stopped the main engine, and disconnected the eBay spare, and connected the spare terminal board I had on board. I started the main engine, and it all worked properly.

I stopped the main engine, and disconnected the on board spare and re-connected the installed terminal board. I started the main engine to make sure all was good, and it was. Stopped the main engine, and put the monitor and the Garmin GPS 128 back in place, and everything looked like it did three hours ago.

Last thing for the day was changing out one of the Hella Turbo fans in the main cabin for one of the new ones I brought from the states. That went very smooth, just time consuming doing all of the wire and connector changes.

New Hella Turbo Fan From 9 of 2013!

I cleaned up, and put all of the tools away, and took account of the day. First, I know I have a generator problem, more research is required. I have a known good spare LINK 2000R monitor. I have two known good LINK 2000R Ideal Regulators. I have one known good LINK 2000R terminal board.

If I can get the bad LINK 2000R terminal board I have here on DREAM AWAY, back to Stacy in the states, I might be able to get it repaired. Time will tell.

I started off the morning with my normal ritual of getting on the Internet, answering email, and checking the weather, while making a pot of coffee. When the coffee is started, I feed our two cats, Jillian and Jordan, and and attempt to brush their beautiful coats.

Did not have the Rio Dulce Cruisers net this morning, because it is Sunday.

Today was another day on the computer. I spent the morning getting caught up on email and working on the Maintenance/Cruising Log.

John, the Monkey Bay Marina manager, came to DREAM AWAY and asked us to lunch at Hotel Kangaroo/Las Mexicanas as a payment for bringing his stuff back to the Rio Dulce. We happily accepted, and planned to meet at the ranchito at noon.

When we got to the Hotel Kangaroo/Las Mexicanas restaurant, John ordered the Encacahuatado, and on his recommendation I ordered one also. It was wonderful, and if you know me putting together pork with a peanut butter sauce can hardly be beat!

We came back from lunch, and both Kitty and I got to work on our computers. I finished up the Maintenance/Cruising Log entry for yesterday, and made a big dent on the scanning I have remaining.

When I finish scanning this round of paperwork, I am going to start scanning in a bunch of pictures.

Since we had a pretty late lunch, and a big one, we just had cheese and crackers for dinner, and read. Around 2130, we headed off to bed.

I started off the morning with my normal ritual of getting on the Internet, answering email, and checking the weather, while making a pot of coffee. When the coffee is started, I feed our two cats, Jillian and Jordan, and attempt to brush their beautiful coats.

Kitty was up early, listened to the Rio Dulce Cruisers net on DREAM AWAY. The net is everyday at 0730 except Sunday. It covers all of the local news and events, and a good source of local information that matter to cruisers.

I did my announcement for the specials at Backpacker’s Hotel on the Rio Dulce Cruisers net.

Today was a day of errands, and I had hoped to work on one of the leaks in the head, but it did not turn out that way.

Kitty prepared a wonderful breakfast, which I thoroughly enjoyed. After breakfast, we went into town in the tender, and the outboard still has some issues with the carburetor. We docked the tender at Bruno’s, and we walked to Tita’s salon. Kitty had decided to get a permanent, so she would be tied up for a couple of hours.

Front Door Of Tita’s Salon

Tita And Kitty Inside Salon

While Kitty was at Tita’s, I walked down to the SunDog cafe to see Kevin. He had a couple of movies for Kitty, and I had a USB flash drive to put them on. The was something wrong with the flash drive. It is an 8Gbyte unit, but Kevin could only see 256 Mbytes!

I then walked down to the TiGo that is at the corner of the main road (CA13) and the road to San Felipe to get triple Q on Kitty’s phone. Once I got the Q100 on the phone, I went to the Dispensa Familiar to get some groceries, then I stopped at our favorite veggie stand and got some fruit and vegetables.

I then went to Miriam's Tienda to purchase two bags of the really great tortilla chips she sells. From there I went to the lady that sells frozen chickens, and purchased two chickens from her. I took at the stuff back to the tender at Bruno’s. I then went home to DREAM AWAY and put all of the groceries away.

I checked the USB flash drive on my Linux Mint 17 laptop, and it sees it as an 8 Gbyte drive. When I put the USB flash drive on Kittys Windows machine it sees it as a 256 Mbyte drive. Both machines say it is formatted as a FAT32 drive?

Did not have time to deal with it, so I got another USB flash drive, and headed back into town to get Kitty. I initially went to the SunDog cafe, but Kevin was not there, so went to Bruno’s and picked up Kitty.

We headed down river to Bacadila Bay. This is where the Linda Vista restaurant is, and we wanted to try it out. We were there on our last trip to the river in 2010-2011, but had not been back since we returned.

Front Of Restaurant Linda Vista

The view from the restaurant looks straight down river and you can just see the beginning of the El Golfete.

Truly A Beautiful View

Kitty ordered one of her favorite meals, spaghetti bolognese with flour tortillas, and I ordered Grilled chicken sauteed in vegetables with a side of fries, green salad, and garlic toast.

Kitty’s Spaghetti Bolognese

Jim’s Grilled Chicken

We both really enjoyed the lunch, and the atmosphere at the restaurant was wonderful. As we were eating, a large charter fishing boat headed up river to its berth near the fort.

The Host

After lunch we headed back to Monkey Bay Marina. On the way the outboard engine on the tender would not run at top speed. These carburetors are really driving me crazy. I am going to have to look at them again.

When we got back, I got changed into work clothes, and took the carburetor off of the outboard, and took that one and the spare out to the shop.

Both Carburetors On The Workbench

I took both of them apart, and verified that they were put together properly, and they had all of the proper parts where they need to be. I founds a couple of problems, but fixing them did not change the performance at all.

Since we had a pretty late lunch, and a big one, we just had cheese and crackers for dinner, and read. Around 2130, we headed off to bed.

I started off the morning with my normal ritual of getting on the Internet, answering email, and checking the weather, while making a pot of coffee. When the coffee is started, I feed our two cats, Jillian and Jordan, and attempt to brush their beautiful coats.

We listened to the Rio Dulce Cruisers net on DREAM AWAY. The net is everyday at 0730 except Sunday. It covers all of the local news and events, and a good source of local information that matter to cruisers.

I did my announcement for the specials at Backpacker’s Hotel on the Rio Dulce Cruisers net.

I got in the tender with the second carburetor, and headed up river to Oscar’s outboard shop. The engine would not come up to speed, and when I tried to accelerate, the engine would flood. Oscar is the man who rebuilt my outboard about five years ago, and I really trust his ability.

When I got to the shop, Oscar came out and looked at the engine, and we went out for a test run. The engine failed, and I saw Oscar shake his head when it failed like he knew what the problem was.

He took the carburetor off of the engine, and took my spare back to his shop, which is right behind Tienda Reed. He took both carburetors apart, and with all of the parts put together a good carburetor. He showed me the problem of why one carburetor would not work.

The holes the pin that holds the float goes into were very worn, and allowed the needle valve not to close, and then flood the engine. He put the the good carburetor back on the engine, and it performed perfectly. I now have a reliable outboard engine.

On the way back to Monkey Bay Marina, I stopped at RAM Marine. I needed to check on TANTALUS and SERENITY, to see how they were doing. Both look good overall, but SERENITY has some pools in the forward tarp that I must try and fix.

When I got back to DREAM AWAY, I got out my brush and bucket with soap and water and washed down DREAM AWAY. It was in need of a scrub, and she looks much better now.

I then worked on the generator while copying movies from a hard drive for Kitty. I had read on a blog that dirty slip rings could cause the problem I am seeing. When I replaced the brushes, I had looked at the slip rings, and they did not look very dirty, but I always want to eliminate any suggestion I find.

Back Of The Generator Before Pulling Out On Slides

Checking New Brushes For A Problem

I checked the new brushes for unusual wear, but did not see any. I then got a rag, and dampened it with acetone, and wiped down the slip rings, but they were not really dirty.

Slip Rings On Rotor

I then went into the junction box and checked all of the connections to make sure there were no loose connections. I also looked for burnt wires or connections, but could not find any. I started generator, but I still had the low voltage problem with a load on the generator.

Open Junction Box On Generator

I put the generator back together, and slid it back into the engine room. It is going to take more work to try and figure out what the problem is.

Now I got our vacuum packer and bags out. I vacuumed packed the LINK 2000R parts I had checked out earlier in the week. I wanted to put them away, but having them vacuumed packed means they will probably last a lot longer that normal.

I also vacuumed the 6 pounds of coffee I had brought from the states. I really love a french roast coffee, but I have not been able to find a source here in Guatemala, and they grow and pack a huge amount of coffee here.

Vacuuming Packing Coffee

We made a dinner of BBQ ribs, corn on the cob and sauteed veggies. We watched a film while we ate dinner, and after cleanup, we went off to bed.