Blog post #3 April 1- April 9

The big announcement that was promised last time you will have probably already received in a separate email. To summarize, Joel has Parkinson’s and we are putting the extraordinary privilege of this trip in the service of raising awareness and understanding of PD, as well as raising some research money too. Go to http://support.pdf.org/onboardforPDcure for more details on our story.

It has been wonderful to hear from so many friends and relatives since we sent that announcement, and we are so grateful to have your support. Thank you.

Here are a few “at home” pictures.

Seder aboard,with more than a few boat modifications. A UU haggadah  in honor of our UU friends

Master stateroom

Guest quarters

Main Salon

You can see we are not exactly roughing it, Snow Goose is a very comfortable boat. But there are challenges. Although the to-do list is getting shorter, things like a broken bow thruster mean creative searching about for parts they don’t make any more. The boys found someone in Titusville who could rebuild it, and he did a wonderful job (think Foye Brown for those that know North Haven).











After we left Titusville we anchored in a most beautiful spot, barely a sign of human habitation, miles of salt marsh and birds and even a rainbow.



We spent a delightful few days in St Augustine while waiting for the bow thruster. St Augustine, established in 1565 and still there! Take that New England.












April 2 we left St A and the ICW to head up the St John’s River to Jacksonville in search of an alternator. Its always something on a boat. J & A spent the day trying to locate a new or rebuilt alternator to no avail. Stayed at a funky marina but mostly boat repair place. Of course arriving on a Friday means waiting until Monday for an open shop.


While at the Sadler Marina we met up with our first local Parkinson’s Research Advocates for lunch and had great time with them. Bill and Marilyn Wilson have done a ton of work in the Jacksonville area for PD, including presenting at numerous support groups, organizing seminars, and publishing the First Coast Parkinson’s Disease Newsletter. They had just gotten back from an adventure in Georgia where they did a lot of zip lines and and an obstacle course. They also went to Australia last year, Bill with a feeding tube in, because sometimes swallowing is difficult for people with PD - especially so his case. The good news is that with special swallowing therapy he is now tubeless and has gained 20 pounds.

Marilyn & Bill Wilson & our PD literature

While awaiting the alternator we took off up river and anchored in a tributary river, Black Cove, surrounded totally by trees and water. First launch of the inflatable kayak, I paddled while Janet rowed (actually we did a lot of just drifting) in serene quiet, except when the speeding boats (and there were quite a few on a Saturday,) came whizzing by.  Joel and Ansley on the boat, doing projects, as usual.
 



 
Back to the Ortega River and the very friendly and warm marina folks who led us to another old timer-fix- it-guy for the alternator. He rebuilt it for a song, and we were off the next morning to Jacksonville City Center just in time for “One Spark, The World’s Largest Crowdfunding Festival”, and our first presentation to a PD support group, arranged by our now good friends Bill and Marilyn who picked us up and otherwise took great care of us.

We are the experts?

One Spark is great fun, all these creative ideas looking for your vote and possibly your money. Those that get the most votes get substantial prize money, and they make it easy to donate with a smart phone app. You wander about and people pitch their passion, from how to heal Jacksonville through prayer, yoga in the prisons, solar powered clothing, obesity prevention, data glove with GPS embedded, you name it, art, music - over 550 projects in all. Some are looking for $5000, some for $500,000 or more.


 
 








 And great food and music. We really enjoyed Canary in the Coal Mine - the hot blond was our waitress the night before at Indochine Restaurant,  good waitress, and great music. Jacksonville is a really nice city, at least what we have seen so far. Lovely river frontage, lots of trees and parks, nice vibe.

 Today is bittersweet, we said goodbye to Janet and Ansley who have been with us since the beginning. Its not too much to say this trip wouldn't have been possible without them. Ansley and Joel spent all of February and beyond working on the boat. Ansley and Janet took the boat from the east coast to the west where we began the loop, both have been wonderful in sharing their accumulated wisdom from their many years of sailing, and they are great fun to have aboard. But now its time for us to see how it all works with two aboard. Stay tuned!