The Lucky Us Great Loop Adventure - Trip Update

We, John and Terry, are back in League City after spending the fall in Qatar.  Our plan for starting the boating adventure was to leave the dock sometime in January.  John, in an attempt to curb Terry's expectations had starting using the "F" word - February, but we were both still committed to getting everything ready.

Well, "the best laid plans of mice and men often goes astray" is at work again.  We made a quick trip to Rockport to visit Terry's parents.  We had a great visit which included helping them celebrate their 62nd wedding anniversary.  We were just a few hours away from heading home when John had a seizure (the first ever for him). We did not know what was happening to John so called 911 and ended up in the hospital in Corpus Christi. The next four days John was prodded, poked, and coddled.  The good news was that no underlying cause was found.  The bad news was that no underlying cause was found.  We are told that the chances of another seizure is very low but John has to be seizure free for 6 months before he can drive.  While driving a car after a seizure is regulated driving a boat is not; however, the doctors are recommending we wait.

So...today we are officially in the "F" month and Terry's expectations have been curbed.  We decided to adjust our plans again. Our new goal is to leave the dock in the May/June timeframe. We will spend a lot more time on the Gulf of Mexico/Florida segments of our trip then we originally planned and thus extend our trip from 11 months to 1-1/2 years.   In the meantime, we will continue with our boat preparations and practice this retirement/grand parenting thing!  They say "practice makes perfect" and we are close to having the weekday movie matinee process perfected!

John, by the way, feels great!  And Terry is enjoying her new role as chauffeur - after all, that puts her in control!

Below is a picture of Terry trying out our diving hookah system.  This will allow us to  work under the boat when needed to cut away crab or lobster lines that can wrap around and foul the propellers.

Adventure Detour / Alternative

Howdy from the Middle East - Doha, Qatar!

As many of you are aware, John and I are spending the fall in Doha, Qatar.  I will be doing maternity relief work for my good friend Julie Barker whose daughter, Ava, is due next week and John will be teaching.  Both of these assignments are at the branch campus of Texas A&M University in Doha.  I arrived earlier this week, Monday evening, and started working on Tuesday.  :o)   John will arrive here early in August. 

The following are some snapshots of the view from the apartment.  I've also included some pictures of the three bedroom 2-1/2 bath interior.  The place is quite nice and there is plenty of room for visitors so please consider a trip to the region! 

View from apartment window - on the 29th floor.

Another view from apartment.

Living Room

Another view of Living Room

Dining Room

Kitchen

Spare Bedroom (the 2nd one has a queen size bed)

Master Suite Closet

Master Bedroom

Bathroom

Space Shuttle in Houston Ship Channel -what a way to end our 20 day trip!!!

Space Shuttle in Houston Ship Channel -what a way to end our 20 day trip!!! Posted: 01 Jun 2012 02:46 PM PDT After yesterday's failed attempt at returning to our home port due to the bridge being close from 0700 to 1700, we took no chances by getting an early start. We left Moody Gardens at 6:18 a.m. headed for the Galveston Causeway Railroad Bridge. This was not without some trepidation since I had tried unsuccesfully 4 times the night before to call the bridge keeper on the VHF radio... As we approached the bridge, it went down, but there clearly was a train on the causeway approaching the bridge.

Ultimately, we made it through the bridge and were finally on the last leg of our 20 day adventure.  The picture (left) shows the base of the SE (Galveston) side of the new bridge. The base of the new bridge is formed by vertical steel pilings. Once the base of the old bridge (red barge) is removed, the new channel will be 300 feet wide instead of the older and much more dangerous width of only 105 feet.

When we were about 4 miles from our turn from the ICW into the Houston Ship Channel, I noticed the unmistakeable silhouette of the space shuttle crossing our path up ahead... Sure enough. We had heard on the news last night that the shuttle was about to arrive in Galveston on its way to the Johnson Space Center. About the same time we heard the Coast Guard announcing that there was a 500 yard exclusion zone around the barge carrying the shuttle. We were going about 3 knots faster than the "shuttle" so we caught up to her entourage in the Ship Channel (picture above).

There were 3 tugs (one pulling, one pushing and a "spare") and at least 7 small Coast Guard boats forming the safety zone around the shuttle. We proceded to pass even though we were well within 500 yards by virtue of being in the Houston Ship Channel.

We were allowed to pass, but several of the patrol boats (photo to the left) kept between Lucky Us and the shuttle. Just a friendly reminder...

This really was pretty exciting! Neither of us had ever seen a shuttle launch, landing, etc., but this special opportunity was a pretty cool substitute!    

Here is yet another picture of the shuttle taken during our point of closest approach. I love this view of the shuttle complete with "UNITED STATES" in big bold letters on her side.

...and oh yes, we arrived safely back at our dock on Clear Lake about 2 hours later.  On the way from Galveston Bay into Clear Lake boats were starting to gather to watch the shuttle arrive along with seemingly dozens of patrol boats from several state agencies as well as various counties and cities.  There are 10,000 boats on Clear Lake, and quite a few of them were going to create a huge traffic jam. Personally, I just smiled to myself since we had already had our own special moment all alone with the shuttle.

     Well, that's it.  Our 20 day trip to Brownsville/Port Isabel consisted of 15 days with at least a few miles travelled on the water.  We covered about 800 miles and saw lots of beautiful scenery, wildlife, etc. Yes, we are happy to be home, but I am not at all sure that we were ready for the trip to end.  I guess that all is well.

Return trip from Port Isabel -Day 7 plans change...

The plan to head back home from HarborWalk Marina today got "derailed". -pun intended...  After hearing the weather forecasts this morning, we decided to head back early. We left the dock about 6:45 am, and about 15 minutes laer, we had exited the marina and were in the ICW headed East toward Galveston.  At this point we noticed the Galveston Causeway Railroad Bridge going down presumably to let a train pass.  Then the Coast Guard came on the radio to announce that the bridge was going to remain closed today from 0700 to 1700.  Well, there went the day!
A few minutes earlier and we would have made it through the bridge since we were only a little over 2 miles from the bridge. What to do? Well we decided to head to the Moody Garden's Resort and Convention Center. This is a fabulous resort with all sorts of amenities, including a small marina.  Plus, we were running short on food on the boat which suddenly became a concern since we were not going to get home for lunch or dinner or ??? We docked at Moody and unloaded our trusty scooters for a several hour trip to Wahlgreens drug Store, Tuesday Morning, Randall's Grocery Store and back to Wahlgreens to pick up 2 prescriptions for me. The Admiral prepared a wonderful (fresh) salad with hot BBQ chicken for lunch. After the hectic morning, a nap seemed in order, but the nap was quickly interupted by a half hour thunderstorm.  Another squall line moved through about an hour later. Then the sky cleared in fairly short order.  Under a beautiful blue sky, we walked up to the hotel for a very nice dinner followed by:

After dinner, we walked out to the pool and as you can see, magic happened. Well, we had worn our swim suits under our "dress" clothes.

     The pool was warm,and the whirlpool was even warmer...  A nice end to a day that was quite a bit different than we had planned.  Guess that's part of the equation - be flexible. After all, we are retired.

     Okay, so we will try again to set off for home in the morning.

Return trip from Port Isabel -Day 6

We are ever so slowly getting closer to home.  Today was another intentionally short day as we travelled from Freeport to HarborWalk Marina and Yacht Club. HarborWalk is on the mainland about 5 miles West of the I-45 causeway bridge into Galveston. The trip from Freeport only took about 3 1/2 hours so we arrived for a late lunch aboard Lucky Us.  The transient slips are along the pool complex between the yacht club and the marina store/fuel dock.

The picture on the left (above) shows Lucky Us docked stern first with the pool complex just behind.  The picture on the right (above) shows part of one of the two pools with Lucky Us barely visible to the upper left of the low, scrub palm tree. We spent 3+ hours enjoying the sun, warm water and even the whirlpool.  The last picture is of the Admiral and says it all - this retired life is pretty good!

Sadly our plan is to depart for home in the late morning after logging some pool time. There are some thunderstorms predicted for the Houston area for late tomorrow afternoon and evening so the option of staying here an additional day is probably not there...

Return trip from Port Isabel -Day 5

Today is Tuesday, May 29, and it is our fifth travel day on the trip back from Port Isabel to home. Today's trip from Port O'Connor to Freeport took just over 8 hours with once again excellent weather. This is one of the more scenic parts of the trip in terms of man made structures.

The Caney Creek Swing Bridge is one of two remaining between Galveston and Brownsville. We went through the other swing bridge in Port Isabel.

The two other man made "wonders" are the Colorado River Locks and the Brazos River Floor Gates. Due to the lack of flooding, both sets of locks were open, and we were able to get right through with no wait (knock on wood).

   We arrived in Freeport actually Surfside, which is across the ICW from Freeport on the Gulf of Mexico, showered and headed out to the Red Snapper Inn in Surfside for dinner. The picture above shows the Admiral on her electric scooter headed down the dock on the way to dinner. Personally, I get a big kick out of seeing the Admiral nicely dressed for a dinner out at a real restaurant and riding off on her "chopper"... 

   Later tonight we heard this loud engine noise and looked outside to see this:

It is a huge barge mounted drilling rig that was pulled by two tugs  and pushed by a third.  Hence, the loud noise as all three tugs were working very hard. You just never know what you are going to see... We were very grateful that this huge tow passed us while we were safely docked for the night rather than while we were out cruising the ICW as it would have been a tight fit for passing.



Return trip from Port Isabel -Day 4

After four nights in Rockport, it was finally time to continue our homeward journey. We left the Rockport Yacht Club at 8:00 am and headed over to Key Allegro Island Marina for fuel (and a pumpout of the holding tank). That done we set off toward the ICW to continue on to Port O'Connor.  Beautiful weather all the way! We were obviously still "recovering" from our wonderful cruise with the grandkids. Terry, claims that she does not take naps, beat me to the punch after lunch when she announced that she was going down below to "lie down". It could not have been a nap, but she did sleep for over an hour (women???).  We had a relaxing evening and were asleep by 10:00.

Today's picture is of me (John) doing some "Captain Stuff".  I include this not out of vanity but out of ...frustration (I guess).  There were 40 plus pictures from the trip with the grandkids. I was in only 2 of them, and in both of those pictures, I was cut off above about mid-chest...  Now, lest any of you forget what I look like - here is a picture of me...