Il Palazzin St. Paul's Bay

... Now, our 23,000 lb 26' Penske truck is in no way designed for mudding, and needless to say, we got stuck! Not my ideal way to start our drive. The guys in the moving company were an odd bunch as well. One guy was a total jerk. He was condescending and just kept asking how it happened, and what was going to happen to his grass. The other guy was incredibly nice, tried to help pull us out, and even offered a number to his towers. Ultimately ...

We left the Peoria city dock at 8:15 this morning and at 8:30 heard an announcement from the USCG stating that the Peoria Lock and Dam (only 2 miles downstream from us) was lowering the wicket dam. At first we thought this to be a pleasant surprise as lowering of the dam means that we would pass through without locking. A call to the lock confirmed that this was indeed the case but that the process would require 4 hours before they would allow passage. So we ...

... and arrived at the Peoria docks at 5:15pm in driving wind and rain. We pulled up behind another sailboat that we saw passing by the day prior. This Canadian couple, Bob and Martha, started from Ontario in July and after the Caribbean, plan to cross the Atlantic to explore the waterways of Europe.

Yesterday's route in the morning hours took us through the most barge traffic that we've dealt with thus far. As an aside, I've learned through the years that Tom does ...

... they were to experience 60 knot winds which is hurricane strength so that's why they had a detour.

All in all I had a fantastic trip and highly recommend a voyage to Alaska. Someday I'd like to take the land and sea trip which is 2 weeks long - perhaps that will be a retirement trip to myself.

Thanks for joining me on my adventures!

This isn't a true travel tale but a great chance to spend some time with our extended family on the Wenzel/Peterson side after we already had a great family gathering on the Nessler/Jehle side of the family this May. It's the first part of this year's annual holiday in the Great Lakes States area. So we've settled down for a change...

We met up in Washington (Illinois) with my sister Ati, her husband ...

Tomorrow at approximately noon US central time, I will fly from Bloomington, IL to Atanta where I will meet my Mother, who will arrive about an hour after me on a flight from where city of residence in Jacksonville, FL. I don't think I can add her flight to the ...

....had a dry run on actually attempting to close it. Don't worry, all safety precautions were observed and no small animals, small children, big children, small adults, really large imaginary animals, or ears of corn from the farmlands across the street were harmed during the performance of this test. It closed the first time! All systems go for carry-on only!

First of all, this is a really confusing and frustrating site to use. I was trying to link this entry to a photo I uploaded. I somehow left this in draft mode. I may just go to a regular blog site. I'm busy getting ready for the actual trip. I don't have time to figure out where everything is on this site. The only difference I ...

... Kirchen, Kapellen und Heiligen-Statuen überall. Laut Statistik sind 98% der Malteser römisch-katholisch. Dieser Umstand ist wohl auch verantwortlich, dass Ehescheidung ist nicht möglich und "oben ohne" baden überall verboten. Komischerweise sind fast alle Kirchen und Ähnliches außen mit Glühbirnen bestückt, so dass man sie abends von weitem sieht. Tagsüber hat es aber doch oft eher etwas von Karussell. Und was ich persönlich total schade finde, ist, dass die meisten Kirchen ...

... many cars in Malta it was today. The north east part of the country where St Paul's Bay (and the air show) were was in total gridlock. And I don't mean a city gridlock I mean a country gridlock. It was shocking and there was absolutely zero parking anywhere. We did manage to find something eventually after around 4 laps of St Paul's Bay and surrounding suburbs. But once we got parked we found a great spot on the water front to enjoy the day's activities. My cousin Lillian ...