Due to technical difficulties, this adventure has been postponed

Our almost four year adventures in wet camping are coming to an end. Mike has not been able to repair the diesel engine, a.k.a. demon spawn. I'm sure a diesel mechanic could waltz in and fix it immediately. The engine has hundreds of dollars in new parts. Mike thinks it getting air in the lines from somewhere. Because of the engine, poverty, and my failing health, we have decided to go back to land. The plan is for Mike to get a full time job with benefits, if they still exist, while we live as simply and cheaply as possible. Going back to land will be an adventure in itself. Our first course of action was to get our driver's licenses. We ventured to our permanent residential address in Green Cove Springs several weeks ago. While expensive, they do have an extraordinary DMV. They were efficient, friendly, and within 45 minutes, we had our two brand new Florida Driver's Licenses. Very cool. Step 2 - get a vehicle. This was more problematic. We needed to sell the boat to get a vehicle. Mike's father, Steve, called on Mike's birthday and offered to give us his Chevy van. It has 250,000 miles on it but is well maintained. Step 2 soon to be completed. Step 3 - sell Sovereign. We will really miss her. She has sheltered us, kept us warm in winter and cool in summer. We have put a lot of work into her. There is so many other things that we would have loved to do for her. When she was surveyed in 2009, her value was $8,000. Since then, Mike has totally rewired the boat with marine grade wire. We've added a new dinghy davits, solar power system, wind turbine power system, bimini top, 9' Avon dingy, outboard motor, fresh water pump, two compasses, GPS, e-perb, and lots of engine parts. Step 4 - Find job(s). The job hunt has started in earnest. Mike has applied for over 800 jobs in the last two weeks. Step 5 - Continue writing. We are still working on the novel and have over 60,000 words at the moment. We also have outlines for three different novellas and a number of short stories. I've started publishing on Yahoo Voices. Mike's short story, Sword of Saladin, will be in a Ray Gun Revival anthology in November. Step 6 - Save money, pay bills, and get healthy. Step 7 - Start the next adventure with lessons learned. We will keep you updated. Thanks all for your support. Cheers, Katie

Writing is Work! And fun!

Quick post! My second story is published. Military sci-fi genre.

http://www.raygunrevival.com/sword-of-saladin-michael-s-roberts/

Writing is Working.

Here is the first short fiction I've had published since about 1995.

http://www.raygunrevival.com/neither-big-nor-easy-michael-s-roberts/

There are two more stories in queue for publication at the same website. I'll post links as they come up. And please, if you can, donate to Ray Gun Revival.

The new outboard saved us again!

Yet another boat dragged anchor into us. That's number five this year. We spotted it before it hit, but it was swinging toward us. I got my ditch kit and hopped in the dinghy. It was about five feet from us when I jammed the little skiff up against its swim ladder and started pushing.

And it worked! The little six-horse Mercury was able to shove the boat--35, maybe 37 feet--well away from us. I pushed it directly away until I felt the anchor dig in again, as far from us as I could get it. Not very far, admittedly, but far enough for safety. For now.

But now we know the dinghy can move our boat if necessary. Since the engine is still not working--the Devil's diesel!--we need that safety margin.

July updates

First the good news. We have a new outboard for the dinghy, a 6-horse Mercury, courtesy of a good friend who is paying me to write a story for him. No more death-trips with the little trolling motor. This simple addition to the boat has dramatically increased both our freedom and our safety. Next step is to find a planing-hull dinghy in the 8-foot range, maybe a nice Caribe 8, since our little flat-bottom Severn is unable to plane.

On the engine front, we still have failure. Two $150 parts later and it still will not start. I am still baffled. I still hate diesels. They are the Devil's motors.

I finally found a method to--in theory--repack the propshaft gland with the boat in the water. It will be scary, since I only have one chance to get it right. We'll have the batteries fully charged when I go for it, in order to have all three bilge pumps at the ready.

We are now completely unemployed and have zero income. I applied for food stamps; no answer yet.

I'll be paid soon for three short stories to be published online by Ray Gun Revival. The three together will pay about enough for one one-backpack trip to the grocery store, but it will get my name out there.

We've made some new cruiser friends out here on the water: Don and Linda on S/V It's Perfect, and Fred and Connie on S/V Tashtego. Don and I befriended Fred and Connie when he and I had to get a rescue party together: a boat had dragged into Tashtego while they were ashore, and Don and I had to use dinghies to shove the boats apart so I could add fenders between them. Again, that little 6-horse Mercury is amazing!

Seven plus months. That is all.0

Beryl

We are prepping for Beryl. It looks like we aren't in any danger. However, Mike has put up some tarps so that we don't have to keep the boat sealed up like a submarine. He is also looking for the appropriate hardware to add another anchor up front. We have water. We won't be able to cook unless we use the Roadpro to warm up food. Wish us luck.