Monday May 16 to Tuesday May 31, 2011

We left The Old Grouch at Atlantic Yacht Basin for about 2 or 3 weeks in order to get some work done on the boat. Monday and Tuesday, I worked on the outside of the boat, washing it down to get rid of the salt and then waxing both the fiberglass and all the railings. Brenda worked on the inside, vacuuming, cleaning up the cupboards etc. A lot of work but the boat is now pretty clean and polished.

On Wednesday we rented a car for two weeks and on Thursday we left for Atlanta to take Brenda to the airport for her trip to Victoria to visit her mother. Why Atlanta? When I was booking the flight, I had no idea where we would be when the time came for her to fly to Victoria - so, I picked Atlanta. It was not a bad drive and we broke it into two days so there was no rush.

Brenda got on her flight around 7:00 am on Saturday after getting up at around 4:15 to get ready. We stayed in a hotel close to the airport so we caught the shuttle over to the airport. After getting Brenda off, I returned to the hotel and went back to bed. When I got up, I started driving back to Virgina. My goal for the week when the boat was being worked on was to visit the Civil War sites in and around Richmond, which I did and had a lot of fun.

Picked Brenda up on Sunday night (29th) at the Atlanta airport. She also had a good time visiting her mother. When she was in Victoria, she tried to contact some old friends of ours only to learn they were on the east coast doing the tourist thing. Anyway, I managed to get hold of them and we met in Myrtle Beach last night for dinner. Great time since we had not seen each other for a few years. We had breakfast in the morning and then said our goodbyes. We then drove to Chesapeake to get on the boat only to learn that it was not in the water. They apparently did not have time to get in the water even though it was finished. AYC paid for our night in the hotel and said it would be ready tomorrow. Actually, as we have to do some shopping, we were not really too upset since it gives a day to do that shopping before we continue the journey.

I think we will skip going up the Potomac to visit Washington. Probably go to Baltimore, rent a car and then go to Washington and then continue up the Chesapeake.