Well, here we go again. Another spring is coming. After a horrendous winter I can't wait. What does age have to do with boating? Since I froze my age at 67 and stopped having birthdays, it seems on the inside I haven't changed a bit. But,,, on the outside can this be true? I don't look the same in the mirror.
When we visit Great Escape I feel her tugging at my heart strings like a young puppy pulling on a leash. "Come on,,,lets go! The sea,, and new adventures are waiting for us!!" I guess a good boat never gets old if you take care of her. But does she understand how my joints feel in the morning ?
My "bucket list" is really very short as we've followed the philosophy of an old friend who used to say "memories are better than dreams"
When are you too old to cross Gulf of Mexico alone again and if I did should I hire a captain to help? I DON'T THINK SO!
Can we manage the many locks and dams just to get to the open water of the Gulf again??
When we have the many wonderful memories of places we've been and the experiences that were great; do we really want to expose ourselves to the rigor of another trip ? After all, we can just drive to the Keys or Ft. Myers and probably have as much fun.
Sun room in our new digs.. A Villa !!
No more grass to cut!! No snow shoveling!! No gutter cleaning!! No swimming pool to worry about when we're gone!
new dinning room
new galley
lower level
Our new living room, with a fire in the fireplace, makes me wonder if I really want to travel for months in a boat again . Hummmm??? I guess with the kids gone a villa style of living is a reward of getting older. I will still keep the age frozen at 67 though; and Who Knows What the Future brings ???! Our blog has reached 20,000 hits from all over the world including many places I've barely heard of. Someone in the Ukraine is a consistent follower. My initial expectations have been more than met and we have met many new friends in boating thanks to the blog. Thanks for bearing with me.....Captain Dave
We can hear Great Escape" whispering to us as we visit her to take freezable items off the boat for the winter. She seems to be saying, "you really don't want to sell me do you?" "How about just one more trip south where you'll cruise with porpoises and grey whales instead of jumping carp in the Mississippi!" She doesn't understand how JoAnn and I aren't "spring chickens" anymore. Great Escape is in better condition today than she was the day we bought her and much better equipped for long range cruising!
It's not an easy decision to sell her and the idea of another adventure down the Ole Mississippi is intriguing ! In our following blogs we will play the WHAT IF GAME and plan our next trip in case we haven't sold her by next fall. Kinda like, "salt water here we come!" To see our ad to sell our Bayliner 4788 Pilothouse see the "classified ad" section on RIVERBILL.COM 
Well here she is all winterized, under roof, and put to bed for the winter for the last time if we take her south next fall!
We will really miss the marina life and great care we receive at Port Charles Harbor. This will be our last view as we leave the marina if Great Escape doesn't sell by next fall. All our friends are invited to join us for different segments of the cruise south.
We will pass the arch and down town St. Louis Mo. for the last time on our boat. With many memories of good times we've had on the river on our minds we'll head south.
I've already started a check list for "to do" jobs to complete in the spring like changing fuel filters impellers etc. and making sure all systems are in perfect shape. You don't want to loose power while crossing the Gulf of Mexico! This shouldn't be too hard as we have always given her great care and she's ready. Things like redundancy of instruments with 3 chart plotters 2 VHF radios 2 depth sonars etc. on separate breakers to insure safe carefree cruising. None of the glitzy "one screen" for radar, depth and GPS instruments that leave you in an awful mess when they "shoot craps". 
Our current plan will be to arrive at our sunny destination some where in the Fort Myer Florida Gulf Coast area after several months of leisurely cruising This is a picture of a marina in Punta Gorda that is among the top of the list where "Great Escape" could become our condo, not on but in the water!
