Monday, May 13, 2013

Final Entry For Awhile. Thank You All.

It's been quite a ride, both blog-wise and Drift Away-wise.   Our first blog entry was January 13, 2011 and was titled Beginning of the blog of Drift Away, our 1980 46' Cheoy Lee trawler.   Including this one, there have been 633 entries since then, and over 200,000 page views.  One of our followers, MarkJ, happened to be the 100,000 hit.  He then prided himself on being number 200,000 and was kind enough to send this screen shot.  We have 90 regular followers, for which I'm grateful.  Each of you will be receiving a bottle of Dom with a thank you card.


I've tried to be honest in showing our lifestyle in this blog.  And that's what it is, a lifestyle blog.  It's not a cruising blog really, because we spend so much time in each place that we stop that we like.  We cruise, but at a glacial paces.  It's not truly a liveaboard blog because we actually move from time to time.  And move we did.  1,429 nautical miles.

We left Seaview House Marina in Stamford on September 20th, 2011.  Our intended destination was Liberty Landing Marina in New Jersey, but we lost both engines and were towed to Oyster Bay in Long Island.  Not a good start.  It's all in Getting SeaTowed.  But Pam and I eventually made it to Albany, got married, and then headed south.  Our worst time on Drift Away was losing both engines off Sandy Hook in very rough seas.  One to two foot seas was forecast, but kicked up to six footers, which shook up all the gunk in our old fuel tanks.  Luckily, I don't get seasick easily and I spent hours in the engine room, getting one engine at a time to start and move us a bit before it died again.  It's all in Getting the Snot Kicked Out of Us.  We spent almost three weeks in Atlantic Highlands while I fixed the problem of fouled fuel tanks for good, installing a fuel polishing system and two Filter Bosses.

Since that time, we've traveled all the way down to Florida, and Drift Away has been pretty much flawless.  In total, we've traveled 1,429 nautical miles, which for my landlubber friends is 1,643 statute miles.  We've gotten together with many friends along the way, most of which we've met through the internet.  Not a crazy one in the bunch.  Oh sure, a tad off center perhaps, but aren't we all?

We've made many new friends too.  Perhaps our fondest memories are our liveaboard friends and locals that we met at Isle of Hope Marina in Savannah.  Sadly, all those liveaboards have moved on, and it will never be the same, but I think we captured the spirit of that group fairly well in this blog.

This is the final blog entry for Drift Away for some time.  We're heading out, towing a U-Haul full of our stuff and headed for Bleecker New York where we'll begin the process of putting down roots and building our Unabomber homestead.  You can follow our progress on that blog, Bleecker Mountain Life.   Like restoring Drift Away, we'll be doing much of the work ourselves, which should be pretty comical.  As you know, I don't sugar coat anything to make myself look good.  I do stupid stuff all the time, and I'm pretty proud of the fact that I still have all of my fingers and appendages.

We'll be busy all day today loading up the U-Haul here, then driving to Brunswick to fetch the rest of our stuff out of storage, and then spend a few days driving up to Bleecker in upstate New York.  Internet coverage will be spotty, but I'll update Bleecker Mountain Life as often as I can.  I'll be looking forward to seeing you there.

Although I just found out the cabin we're renting has only a woodstove for heat, we plan on staying there through Christmas and then returning to Drift Away and heading south more.  Unless Drift Away sells.  Who knows?

Last night's  sunset.


Sunrise, sunset
Sunrise, sunset
Swiftly fly the years
One season following another
Laden with happiness and tears

See you in Bleecker. Or I'll see you here in January 2014.

33 comments:

  1. Hay wait a minute-- No pictures of Drift Away getting hauled??

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nope. We're in North Carolina right now. We had a call from the marina and they can't figure out how to haul Drift Away without major carpentry work. Hopefully they can deal with it.

      Delete
  2. Dave,
    Congratulations on your last (?) Drift Away post. 200,000!!!! WoW!!!

    Hope we can get together this summer. By the way, Dan Fera and his wife know life in a rural part of Amsterdam 18 miles from Bleecker Mountain
    Bob

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hope? Hope? We're certainly going to get together. I need help pulling stumps. :)

      Where does Dan live?

      Delete
  3. All my life's a circle, sunrise and sundown
    The moon rolls through the nighttime, till the daybreak comes around
    All my life's a circle but I can't tell you why
    The season's spinnin' round again the years keep rollin' by
    It seems like I've been here before,
    I can't remember when
    But I got this funny feelin'
    that I'll be back once again
    There's no straight lines make up my life
    and all my roads have bends
    There's no clear-cut beginnings and so far no dead-ends
    I found you a thousand times
    I guess you've done the same
    But then we lose each other
    it's just like a children's game
    But as I see you here again,
    a thought runs through my mind
    Our love is like a circle, let's go 'round one more time
    All my life's a circle, sunrise and sundown
    The moon rolls through the nighttime,
    till the daybreak comes around
    All my life's a circle but I can't tell you why
    The season's spinnin' round again,
    the years keep rollin' by
    Oh all my life's a circle, sunrise and sundown
    The moon rolls throught the nighttime
    till the daybreak comes around
    All my life's a circle but I can't tell you why
    The season's spinnin' round again,
    the years keep rollin' by
    Oh all my life's a circle there's sunrise and sundown
    The moon rolls throught the nighttime

    ~Harry Chapin

    ReplyDelete
  4. My heart is heavy knowing that the "Drift Away Tales" are coming to an end for a season. Then I think about you building something and chasing chickens around and I perk back up. If only I can make it for the week until the FUN starts!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The fun has started. I'll try to get Bleecker Mountain Life updated.

      Delete
  5. Thanks Dave and Pam. The blog has been funny, serious and full of life events. Good luck at Bleeker. Looking forward to hearing the Bleeker story.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Wishing you all the best in the next chapter, Pam & Dave. It has been a treat following along. Hope all goes well as you "put down roots."

    Jim & Joan (Captain Jim and the Blonde)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Jim,

      Of course it won't go well. It never does! We were almost in North Carolina when we got a call from the marina saying they couldn't haul the boat without removing the Whaler from the roof and unbolting the crane. LMAO!

      Delete
  7. Thank you Dave & Pam. Good luck on your new life.

    Take a tip from me. Every time I think I need to stop blogging for a while, I'm proved wrong. There's no real reason for you to stop blogging.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey Dick! I'm not stopping blogging. Since I won't be living aboard Drift Away and will be living a dirt life that won't interest many who like reading boating blogs, I've started Bleecker Mountain Life - http://bleeckermountainlife.blogspot.com/

      Delete
  8. One more thought ...

    "Counting up what I've got to show, for all these years afloat…

    a dog eared passport, a weathered face, a tired old boat…

    a yarn or two that might be true and a couple of battle scars…

    days of sparkling waters, nights of falling stars….

    I've got seashells, I've got souvenirs, I've got songs I've penned…

    I've got photographs, I've got memories, but mostly I've got friends…"

    Eileen Quinn, “Friends” from “Not to Be Used for Navigation” – get it at ITunes

    ReplyDelete
  9. We're looking forward to raising a long awaited sunset beverage with Drift-Away next Winter in the Bahamas ... or wherever. In the meantime, we're anxious to follow your new adventures on Bleeker Mountain! Whatever, fair winds & following seas! Cheers! Jan & David, sv Winterlude

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Jan and David! Our thoughts right now are to head to Florida's west coast. I've heard it's beautiful there. Besides, the Bahamas is full of foreigners.

      Delete
    2. Hey, Florida's west coast is where we are (maybe you already knew that?)! Burnt Store Marina, Punta Gorda, Charlotte Harbor, FL ... it IS beautiful there. So hope to see you & if not, we'll be following along with the adventure on Bleeker Mountain!

      Delete
    3. Hey, Florida's west coast is where we are! Burnt Store Marina, Punta Gorda, Charlotte Harbor, FL ... So hope to see you & if not, we'll be following along with the adventure on Bleeker Mountain! Cheers! Jan

      Delete
  10. Dave, I'm gonna miss you. Reading your blog is an integral part of my morning routine. I'm doing some significant remodeling of our house right now, and there's no way I would take on the entire building of an abode as you plan to do. My hat's off to you, I thank you for the entertainment, and I'll look you up on the Bleeker blog. (Maybe I need to find a better way to phrase that)
    Jim

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Haven't you ever built a fort by throwing a blanket over the kitchen table? Or built a tree house out of pallets? This will be kinda the same thing.

      Delete
  11. Best Wishes and Safe Travels Pam and Dave!!Thank You for all the great stories. I will catch up with you on the Bleeker Mtn Blog.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Dave & Pam, Again, safe travels to Bleecker Mountain! We already miss the daily blog and the trials and tribulations of the Drift Away family. Hope to see you on the waterway next winter.
    Rick, Deb & Izzy

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi guys! We hope to be seen. If you ever do the Hudson and the Erie Canal, we're not too far away. Stop and say hey.

      Delete
  13. I'll miss having coffee with your blog at 5 am in the middle of the Maine winter, Dave. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There will be Bleecker Mountain Life (http://bleeckermountainlife.blogspot.com/), although that may not get updated everyday because there's no cell service, DSL, or cable TV up there. That's one of the first things I'll have to work on. I'll probably go for Hughes.Net if my cell antenna in a hot air balloon idea doesn't work.

      Delete
  14. oh and by the way...

    "Each of you will be receiving a bottle of Dom with a thank you card."

    You are so full of shit, I'll bet you never even left CT...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. A bottle of Dom. Dom Perrynom. It's a concoction distilled in Bleecker. It comes in a Mason jar. What did you think?

      Delete
  15. Hi Dave & Pam. Best of luck on your new venture. I started following this blog at the beginning because I was a fan of your writing on the CSBB. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Reckon I'll follow Bleecker Mt Life as one of my other favorite blogs (the gardening blog Outside Clyde) was all about building a cabin in its early years. We almost got together years ago when you had the boat on Lake Champlain and I was at the Champlain Valley Festival. Maybe we'll get together if you get Driftaway to the FL West Coast as we spend some time there in the winter. Fair winds (or whatever they say up in the mountains.) Hope you find a good Internet source soon. I'll miss the daily blogs if you don't. Best wishes, Mary Lou

    ReplyDelete
  16. Safe travels on your way to Bleecker Mtn. If you do get to southwest Florida next winter, look us up, our winter home is in Cape Coral.

    ReplyDelete