First Stay on the NautiNell

Hi All!

Thought I'd better get busy on my blog since it's about time for us to come home! This short trip didn't turn out exactly like we expected. Nothing bad, just too much work and no play! Let's put it this way - the NautiNell needed a little more than some lipstick.
Here's how it went: :-)
We left Joplin on Wednesday - March 9
Got to Reedville VA where the NautiNell is docked on Friday evening.
(Long trip)
Now this is the first time I've I had seen the boat, but Mike had filled me in and I had seen pictures. But let's just say the Nautinell needed a little bit more work than I had anticipated. There was the water damage in the galley, only partial electicity throughout, they hadn't completely de-winterized yet, so no water. Get the picture! This boat had set for 2 years before we bought it so we did expect some work.
Friday was a short night although we did toast our upcoming adventure with a few cocktails.
We woke early Saturday morning ready to begin. We both began cleaning the best we could. Mike began ripping off the damaged wood from the galley. We did make it to the Food Lion for supplies. Actually we had a good time!
On Sunday we still kept working on the inside. It was too cold to do anything on the outside AND we couldn't get supplies until Monday morning anyway. We are about 30 miles from any town.
Monday morning we were up and ready to go to town. First stop was the True Value Store in Burgess. Struck out there - told to go to lumber yard. Went to lumber yard and was told they also didn't have what we needed. Off to Lowe's - a mere 50 more miles.... Alas! Lowe's comes through as usual. We got the wall material, trim and ALMOST everything we needed. (At the time, we thought we had everything).
Did I mention we got lost going to Lowe's. Well we did!

On Tuesday Mike began the renovation. After a couple more trips into town, we called the job complete on Friday. Only the cleanup was left (my job).

We finally got the water tanks filled on Thursday. Now we know we have a small leak somewhere. This isn't really a big thing. It needs to be fixed before we leave though.

The electrical problem is something we are going to let someone else fix. The electrician here at the dock is going to look at it. Of course, he can't get to it until next week while we're gone.....

Now it's Sunday evening. I'm doing laundry and Mike's taking a nap. We just got back from a great meal. Crab is the big thing around here. They eat it everywhere and every way! I had a crabcake sandwich that was delicious.

I don't have the pictures ready to post yet. I'll try to in a day or so. You really will want to check out the before and after pictures of the galley. It looks great! I'm really proud of how it turned out. I'm really proud of my hubby who did all the work.

Now, it wasn't all work - there was some play!
We definitely ate well! We haven't spent much time on the east coast. Their menus are quite different. Like I mentioned earlier - it's crab or fish! Don't worry, though I found a great cheeseburger!

The weather warmed up so on Friday (it hit 80 degrees) we decided to take a trip in the dinghy. It's bigger than the "mouse" we have. It has an 8 hp evinrude motor. Believe this, after sitting for two years, that little motor started on the first pull! We took off to sightsee. It is very pretty around here. A lot of the trees are in bloom. Oh, I'm wandering off the subject here - the trip in the dinghy. Well after about 30 minutes of sightseeing close by, Mike thought we should venture out a bit. Well thank goodness, we hadn't ventured too far, because the little motor that could - wouldn't. It died and appeared to be froze up. We had to paddle back - about a quarter of a mile - that's boating the Chapman way!

It's still pretty early in the season here so we haven't had the chance to meet many people. We are planning to head home tomorrow. This means we SHOULD be in Joplin by Wednesday. We'll be there for a couple of weeks. Our auction is April 2. We will probably leave a day or so after that. Have I mentioned that we leased our house?
Well, we did! We still have lots to sell. Camaro, Motorcycle, Scooters, Rental House and all of our stuff!

We'll be on the NautiNell for most of April. We'll be back to tie up loose ends and say goodbye to our friends and family around the end of April. Then we'll head back to NautiNell to finish our preparation for our big adventure.

Be sure to check back in a few days for the pictures of our NautiNell.

Talk more later!

Admiral "C"