Boating season ended in October in Minnesota, unless you’re one of those die-hards that live on their boat year-round. This option was considered, mainly by Capt. Tana, and only very briefly, since I dug my heels in with “no effing way.” Our compromise was to stay as long as the marina possibly allowed, couple of weeks into October. We turned up the heat; had a few more friends come and see the new digs; even witnessed a snowfall that one Sunday morning, which was very surreal but peaceful and beautiful at the same time.
VK is now on the hard (that’s a real term!), having been emptied of all food and clothing items by us (only forgot to take home the new Instapot toy), as well as winterized (also a real term) by the boat yard. This means that all systems that have a potential to be affected by real winter temperatures, aka freeze, had to be specially treated. I can’t even tell you all that it involved, but if you’ve seen her, you remember all the bathrooms and sinks and that engine room with all it’s various liquid stores! People at the yard said it took forever and we hope that they found everything they needed to find. Fingers crossed until April!
Weird thing happened in the midst of that. Some authority figures showed up at the yard and thought they detected a distress signal coming from VK. Obviously, it was a mistake – she was out of the water by then! Apparently, boats and planes emit a similar sound that can only be differentiated by more special equipment than what these folks initially brought, plus the marina is so close to the airport that the signals got crossed over. They still haven’t figured out where it is coming from, but it warms the heart to know that they take their job very seriously when folks get in trouble!
The winter months are being spent dreaming of the coming season that we will get to enjoy in full. Also pondering all the wonderful new name suggestions that we received from many of you (see below). And, of course, reminiscing over hundreds of photos and videos we took on our maiden voyage from FL, which we will organize into a viewable format one of these days.
ALL THE NAMES…
Alice Gertrude (an homage to the current name, but more gey); Clam Digger; Come Again; Dam Dikes; Dewy Pearl; Diplomatic Immunity; Double Trouble; Eddie’s Inheritance; Good Vibrations; It’s Aboat Time; Knot Vera Straight; Ladies First; Lesbi Honest; Lez Be Zen; Lez Boat; Lez Cruise; Lickety Ship; Лодка Мечты (“Lodka Mechty” Boat of Dream or Dreamboat, in Russian); Miss Fits; Misses Sippi; Mississippi Queens; Nauti By Nature; Ohana (“Family” in Hawaiian); Pangea (working “pan” in); Pearl; Pearl Diver; PIPE DREAM; Queen of Pearls; Rainbow Runner; Reclaiming My Time; S.S. Minnow; Same Time Next Year; Settling Katan; Sparkling Ponies; Sparkling Seahorse; The Gay Agenda; Tidal 9; TK Movin; Tongue & Groove; Venus Envy; Yacht Rockin