Crew update. Captain’s awesome mom Connie, aka Mission Control.

On Saturday we picked up a new crew member, Asha the deck hand. She was so excited to join us, that she was willing to change plans and planes several times to make it work. She also ran around Nashville looking for my J&J mint waxed floss! Not really, we had other slightly more important items on our list, that she was able to provision. And on Sunday she championed the effort to convince the Kentucky lock master to get us thru the lock in 2 hours instead of 4. Way to go, Asha!

We’d also like to say that Capt. Max’s mom Connie is awesome! Not only did she meet us at two different docks on our first day, bringing us extra groceries, coolers and scuba gear, she is tracking our progress, like a forever concerned parent, and is also trying to figure out how to get VK properly illuminated, when her crew miscalculates and ends up running in the dark again. She ordered for us a light that will mount on the brow of the boat (that’s an official term, folks) with a strength of bazillion candles (that’s actually how the power of the light is measured, though bazillion might not be a real number). Shipment of this MEGA CANDLE went wonky, so it has to be tracked and re-routed to a future destination. Thanks, Mom!

Speaking of running in the dark, your blog writer has developed a couple of minor obsessions: (1) planning our stopping points 2-3 hours ahead, and (2) the depth finder readings. They’re both extremely important and I am not going to let up on annoying everyone on board until someone listens!

In order to pick Asha up at Cuba (not the Latin kind) Landing Marina in a timely manner, we had to get some miles in and we planned to take off at first light. That didn’t happen, because – fog. “When boating, toss the schedule out the window!” I’ve read this mantra in so many posts, blogs and articles, and now I wholeheartedly believe it.

To prevent take off delays on Sunday morning, and since it was my turn to play with greasy parts in the the engine room oven, I chose to learn about oil checks close to midnight on Sat, after a delicious jambalaya, couple glasses of sauvignon blanc, our fist spin around the bay on a dinghy (that’s the little boat you carry around on your big boat) and an evening splash in the bay (with a vest on, of course). There are four dipsticks to check in the engines, plus one in a generator that I didn’t get to do because we run the generator at night and it was too hot. I also had to stick my hand in a couple of strainer baskets (not sure of the proper term), where stuff might collect from the river water that cools the engines. This sure is a dirty job!!

It’s Monday and we’re now on our way to Cairo, not the Egypt kind.