M/V Nearly Perfect: January 8, 2015

During our time at Dog River, we saw many Loopers who stopped by the marina on their way east. We had several celebrations while we were here. We started with a “crossing the wake” party for Ross and Barb (Attitude Changer) and Jan and Larry (Panacea) at Lulu’s. Mike and Debbie (friends of Larry and Jan), Russ and Elaine (Twelve Stones), John (Endeavor), and Les and Irene (Prime Interest II) all joined in the celebration. We met Rick and Pam (Tourist). They pulled into the slip next to us for a day. Jack had been following their blog so he felt like he already knew them. We spent an evening with them on our back deck before they took off the next day. On Wednesday, November 26, Turner Marine hosted a pot luck Thanksgiving dinner. Approximately 100 Loopers were in attendance. Barb and Ross traveled with us to Niceville, Florida for a Nickerson family Thanksgiving. They had joined us the year before for Thanksgiving and were still willing to go with us this year! We had a delicious lunch with Barb, Ross, Jan and Larry at Lambert’s, home of the throwed rolls. We spent a lot of time with Barb and Ross while they were here eating out, eating in, and just visiting. We introduced Barb and Ross to the beautiful Christmas lights at Bellingrath Gardens. We made a trip to Pensacola to tour the National Museum of Naval Aviation. Christmas was great – Christmas Eve at Jennifer’s, Christmas dinner in Niceville, and a few days later a Christmas celebration in Houston which included tickets to see the Rockettes. We hosted a New Year’s Eve pot luck dinner with Jeff and Suzi (Idyll Time) and Ted and Sarah (Manatee). The party didn’t end until almost midnight! We will probably run into all of these people at various times during our trip. While we were here, we tended to several maintenance items on the boat in preparation for our trip. We had the teak sanded and varnished (really looks nice now). Of course, the highlight of our time in Mobile was spending a lot of time with our girls. We made a few trips to Katie’s school to have lunch with her. The girls, individually and together, spent the night on the boat with us. Jennifer met us for lunch a few times. It was great seeing them on a regular basis. But now the scooter is secured on the top of the boat, the jetskis are tucked away in storage, and the car is parked in Jennifer’s driveway. We were scheduled to leave Dog River on January 3, but mechanical issues kept us here another week (the generator decided not to work). However, tomorrow we will leave Dog River and officially (finally) start our Great Loop Adventure!