Success is boring. We got up in Coinjock, NC, got ready to travel while eating breakfast and making coffee, started the engines, got underway, drove the boat for about 9 hours, and we parked at a marina in Hampton, VA, for a good night's sleep before we do it all again tomorrow. It may be boring, but thinking that we may realize a goal that just a few days ago seemed nearly impossible has those silly grins pasted on our faces again.
The day wasn't as completely boring as that, but pretty close. There's some excitement simply because there are now just two of us doing what 4 used to do. Granted, we're not standing 4-on/4-off watches around the clock, but we're both driving the boat off and on during a long day. Besides driving, we went through 3 bridges today that had to be moved out of our way, passed through one lock that required us both to handle lines, and navigated through the busy Norfolk area.
There have been minor victories along the way. Chuck suggested that I drive the boat away from the dock today. He told me exactly what to do, what the boat would do, and what I could do if there were any surprises. It went exactly as he described, and I pulled the boat away from the dock for the first time. He also handed me the wheel while we had to wait for bridge openings to just practice driving. I turned the boat in a full a circle while holding the same spot in the canal using only the shift levers. At another bridge, I maneuvered the boat in line behind 4 others and held that position until the bridge opened.
I still monitor the engine room, checking temperatures and pressures every 2 hours at a minimum. On the second or third check of the day, I noticed that the port transmission was running a few degrees hotter than it had been, and the fluid pressure was slightly lower and fluctuating a bit. I told Chuck that we needed to shut the port engine down so that I could check the transmission fluid level and add as needed. Chuck agreed, we shut down the engine, and I serviced it. After restarting the engine and running at speed for a short time, it was clear that the transmission was running cooler and the pressure was stabilized and consistent with what it had been.
If I hadn't learned that problems on a boat don't just go away or fix themselves and that action has to be taken, the transmission symptoms might have been magnified into a trip-ending disaster.
We're now in a slip at the Salt Ponds Marina in Hampton, directly off of the bay, roughly 5 miles north of the Hampton Bay Bridge Tunnel, 80 NM from our destination. If we get an early start tomorrow and have favorable weather throughout the day, we should be in Solomons tomorrow before dark.
Looking back at all we've done to get this far, it's incredible to think that we've almost done it, but I won't stew in that just yet. There's a ways to go, and still lots to do to complete the journey.
I almost dozed off staring at the screen. I'm going to post this and go to bed. Goodnight!
Greg.
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