It's that time again.
By Mike Jastrzebski
Those of you who follow this blog know that Mary and I originally planned to leave Ft. Lauderdale at the same time Christine Kling took off this summer. We made a decision to concentrate on the writing instead of prepping the boat and as a result I published Dog River Blues (A Wes Darling Mystery)
last month. I have also made substantial progress on the rewrite of my next book–but the weather is beginning to cool a little and it's time to think about getting away from the dock.
The biggest obstacle to our taking off this winter is our engine. We have an old Atomic Four that has not run in two years. If the engine starts then we're out of here. There's really no reason it shouldn't start, it has every other time I've tuned it up and cranked it over. Still, we all know that with boats if it can go wrong it will.
If the engine has any major problems we may be stuck here for awhile longer, but it won't stop us from going. Right now we're starting on some other projects. Mary and I made a bimini this past spring and Mary is going to start working on the dodger this week.
It's amazing how much work there is to be done, but we have checked a few items off our list. I'm hoping to finish up the rewrite of the new book by the end of October; my self imposed deadline is November 1st. If the book isn't finished by then it goes back into the drawer until next year.
In the meantime, I'm checking my list, adding a few projects, and trying to decide what projects can wait until we're at anchor somewhere in the Bahamas. We've decided we're not going to let that list delay our departure. (Engine excepted)
Wish us luck–we're going crazy sitting here at the dock.
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