#51 Finally!

MoonShine is on the move again! Today we left at dawn and ran from Cape May to Barnegat, NJ, zipping across the top of the water like a waterbug dodging a fish. Coming into the harbor the channel is narrow and no longer marked, thanks to the last storm. Which was fortunate for us, as it gives us a chance to practice our boating skills, especially when there’s a small fishing boat conveniently parked in the middle of what seems to be the channel. We are always grateful for these learning experiences. (Not!) The boat seems to be running fine, we are back where we were a month ago, minus a large slice of cruising funds. Tomorrow we run to Staten Island, where we have a slip for a couple of nights. New York!!

Our enforced trip home was productive and fun; we caught up with several friends as well as getting a lot of “stuff” that needed doing done, but wow, are we glad to be back on the road again. Major thanks to Jennifer and Mark at Canyon Club Marina and Resort in Cape May, John Conrad our mechanic, Chris at South Jersey Marina, and all the others who helped out in one way or another to get us going again. The friendliness of everyone we met in New Jersey was actually a bit surprising. Even a young man in a Walmart who helped us find something was super friendly and helpful. All that help made a difficult situation a whole lot more bearable.

This little snafu delayed us a month, which is not going to change our plans much, but it sure messes with my idea of how this was going to go. There was definitely some stress as we waited and waited and waited. The communication from the mechanic was not always timely, leaving us to wait and worry more than was necessary. We made the best of it and survived, but my desire to own a large boat like this for the long term is much diminished. Every time it breaks down it costs several boat bucks, which is annoying enough, but the time involved is what is really frustrating. If we were at our home port I would have fixed it myself and there would be no time pressure, but when you have a year long trip planned and you are thousands of miles from home, any major disruptions are stressful. Ah well, we have now left this particular problem in our wake.

While home we managed to fit in a contra dance with Mark and Deb, (look closely and you will also find Cheryl in there) and an evening dancing at tiki bar with David, Emma, Dave, Janet, Wendy and Craig.

While in possession of a Loopers greatest joy, a rental car, we drove up to Atlantic City, where we visited with Darrell and Mary on Loving life, and Cheryl gambled a bit in hopes of winning enough to pay for these boat repairs, (no luck). We walked the boardwalk and enjoyed the sight-seeing. The boardwalks are something else, miles of tourist shops, places to eat, tattoo parlors, places where anything that can be deep fried is available deep fried, carnival rides, and Ripley’s Believe It or Not. You get the idea, miles and miles of tourist heaven.

I have to say something about Cheryl. This last month has not been easy. And yet she has remained upbeat, as in all the other times we’ve had difficulties, reminding me that Cape May New Jersey is a place that other people pay thousands of dollars to visit, and yet I’m complaining that we’re “stuck” here. In other words, quit yer bitchin’. Not only that, but her method of burning off steam and stress seems to be to work. Cleaning the kitchen, washing the boat, reorganizing the storeroom, writing in her journal. Working on something helps her decompress from my screw-ups. I screw up often enough that the boat is always gleaming!

(As we travel up the Jersey coast I found myself reminiscing about H.G. Wells. Who of course gave us the classic “War of the Worlds”, set in Grover’s Mill, NJ, the initial landing site of the infamous Martian invasion of 1938. So Cheryl and I had to re-watch both the 1953 movie and the only half-way decent newer version, the 2005 movie with Tom Cruise playing an inept single dad trying not to get vaporized as he tries to get his kids back to their mom. The 1953 version is far and away the better one.

Another New Jersey tidbit, (and this is too long to get into much): the man who dreamed up “eugenics” in the early 1900’s had a school here in New Jersey near us, where eugenics took hold and spread even though based on totally fake research. Henry H. Goddard’s theories directly laid the pseudo-scientific groundwork that Adolf Hitler and the Nazi regime used to justify their mass sterilization and “racial hygiene” policies. While Goddard did not personally collaborate with Hitler, fictitious American eugenics served as a primary blueprint and inspiration for Nazi ideology. Which led to WWII and the holocaust. And it all started just a few miles from here.)

Check out that propeller hanging at the back of the boat. That thing is spinning at high RPM all day, hanging down in the water where you can’t see what’s ahead. No wonder more than half the boats here at this boat yard are in here for propeller repairs of one kind or another. We have since learned that propeller shaft breakage at the keyway is not that uncommon.

Atlantic City up close, and from a mile offshore:

And if I may, one more bit of New Jersey trivia dear to my heart. Reese Palley was a friend, mentor, and a major inspiration. I could tell you stories about him all day long. While in Atlantic City, we walked past a bit of history which was a thrill for me. The Marlboro Blenheim Hotel’s old location at Park Place and Broadway, inspiration for your Monopoly game board, now a Bally’s casino. The world’s first large reinforced-concrete structure and the first to offer private baths in every room. Not a single person around me of all the thousands had any idea of the significance of that piece of property. Scroll down to number 4 and click on the photo. If you want your mind blown click on them all.

https://reesepalley.com

I have decided something like this will be the next boat. It has all kinds of advantages over a “conventional” boat. The lack of engines means I won’t have to spend time changing oil and repairing things, the lack of propellers means I won’t have to worry about one breaking off, there are no electronics to maintain and update, and the flat stable floor space is great for an old couch for naps. What could go wrong? (Cheryl has some reservations.)

Cheryl: Oh my gosh! Not only is the boat spotless but since we went home, my house and yard are doubly spotless since they were already clean. It has been a stressful month. More so since there was not much we could do to facilitate things- we could only wait and rely on the good graces of others. But I must say, I’ve held firm to my original goal for this trip – as long as Butch and I are OK and we have fun along the way I’ll consider this trip a total success.

The hardest part of this ordeal was watching our Looper friends pull away from us. These people who we’ve been traveling with seven months or seven days have become so very important to our daily lives and watching them leave us in their wakes resulted in several sleepless nights. 

As a consolation, returning home allowed me to hook up with my Tennessee friends- not only the ones Butch mentioned, but also Wendy, BJ, John, Sandi, Michelle, Max, Carrie, Beth, Tim, Diane, Brian, Jill, Chloe, and a host of contra dancers – Linda, Russell, Sheri, Steve, Donna and Debbie. We were also able to attend Butch‘s Aunt Truby‘s memorial service and hang out with his adorable Aunt Lynda, Lefty, all of his cousins, as well as Aubrey, Mario, Jennifer and John. We spent time with my son and his wife and Butch‘s son. I even had the opportunity to hug and kiss my grandpuppy goodbye. I will miss him so much. My life is truly blessed. It’s all about friends and family.

Surprisingly, when we returned to Cape May, we discovered not all our boating buddies were out of reach. We’ve already met up with a few and hope to catch up to a few more who’ve taken side trips or time off the loop- closing the gaps between us. We’re also looking forward to meeting many new buddies as we continue north.

I’m so excited to see the Statue of Liberty, the New York skyline, the natural wonders of Canada and Michigan from the water. What a trip! Great Loop Part Two here we come!

“It is wrong-headed, in my view, to imagine that life is lived on a linear plane somewhere between opposite poles of risk and reward. There is another dimension. Even the most sober, sane and cautious life is temporary. What makes for a life well-lived is not the number of our days but how we spend them. Never sail an ocean and you will surely never die at sea, but die you surely will. We seem to regard death not as an inevitable end of all things but as a kind of grand larceny of our basic human rights. Our uniquely American lust for justice will not be served until the root causes of this heinous crime, be they failures of our medical or political or economic systems, are legislated and litigated into oblivion. This is the great folly of our time. The beauty of life is organic and therefore limited by time. Look around you. Most of the people you see will have left this earth in twenty or fifty short years. Yet knowing this, when we hear the story of a man and woman who are lost at sea or killed by Somali pirates while living out their dream to sail the world, some of us privately congratulate ourselves for having the good sense to stay home. It is an article of popular faith that if only we eat our vegetables, exercise regularly and don’t do drugs, that we can somehow arrange to meet Death on our own terms, peaceably in our sleep. But Death is not one who will bargain. Life is different. Life is a fickle beauty to be relentlessly wined and dined, and no man stands a chance of truly winning her heart unless he is willing to risk losing her forever. I for one am in no hurry to rush out to meet Death, but the end comes for us all, so I see no point in altering my course in a vain attempt to hide. It is life that I am at risk of missing, not Death, who has always known where to find me.” -Michael Hurley