Well, that wasn't nearly as painful as it could have been...remove 240 gallons of contaminated gas...replace fuel filters...reload with 240 gallons of gasoline...fire up and good to go...we couldn't get outta AYB fast enough...they towed us to the fuel dock at 1:20... By the time we re-fueled and ran engines...settled the account (no new charges for that fuel fiasco)... Inspite of pouring rain , we left. By the time we got through the bridge at 3 and into the lock, rain had stopped. We motored safely to Hampton VA....Definitely a character marina... Floyd has plans for the Mariners Muesum and we have plans to meet John and Diane (TUTTO BENNE) for the afternoon and evening. Once again, life is good on the TUMBLEWEED!

Lord almighty...8:15 AM And the pumping out of 240 gallons of fuel has begun...mechanic says that'll take a couple of hours, replace the fuel filters, re-fuel with GASOLINE....and we should be good to go! It's raining! So it all sounds good to us! Stay tuned to see how this works!

BTW, Dakota has been a trooper. We think he likes traveling to different places yet having his stuff around him always...Meeting and greeting everyone ...so friendly he's quickly adding to his fan club. We did bring about ten tennis balls with us this time...and so far only one has gone overboard! What a funny look we get on that!

MAY 10....another beautiful day...and no need to start at o'dark thirty....spent a short while cruising to re-set the auto pilot...alerted the dockhand that we were coming in for a pump out and GAS in hopes of making the 10AM bridge opening....well, no pump out (seems that broke yesterday)... And a man from Chicago asking us about a good marina with access to Virginia Beach kept everyone from noticing that we were being fueled with DEISEL ...instead of gas.  Oops!!! We took off....noticed blue smoke coming from side exhaust....under the bridge and into the lock, now both exhausts are smoking....hhhhmmm, fuel in the water.....open the gates we left but didn't get far when port side motor alarm let us know this was serious shit...alerted lock we were returning. They left gate open and assured us there was a place to dock on the other side. It didn't take Floyd a nano-second to figure out what the problem was. A call to TOWBOAT US...to arrange a tow back to the marina....which we never lost sight of....actually not really even a mile away. Because of bridge openings, it would be a little over two hours before he arrived. But once he did...slam bam thank you ma'am....we were under the bridge (lucky us, the bridge was having maintaince issues so police had blocked the road and the bridge was opened without any wait) and back in the spot we left. Less than an hour later heavy rain moved in! HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY....Jack Daniels and wine flowed freely! As we contemplated the ramifications and scenarios for repair. We are more than tired of AYB...and we are positive they will not be happy to see us either.

MAY 9.....Another great Looper Rendezvous .....met some wonderful folks that we hope to play with as we make our way North...they mostly headed that direction and we returned to AYB for that empellor housing repair....serious laundry ...and re-stocking at the local grocery store.... All accomplished with minimal stress. There was a rather long moment of angst when the mechanic discovered that the part they ordered didn't fit....but, miracle of miracles, they located one at the West Marine store and had it installed a couple hours later. We walked a mile to the store and schelped that load back in our handy-dandy wheely cart. Thank goodness for rotisserie chicken and sides...early bedtime and we are outta here tomorrow....pump out, fuel, and auto pilot re-set in the morning.

Uneventful, pleasant ride up to Norfolk...Waterside Marina...close to the Sheraton where we will attend our sixth (and final) Looper Rendezvous. We will meet other loopers also headed north this summer..we hope to play hopscotch with them at marinas along the way. Dakota will make lots of friends...in fact, most will recognize him and completely forget they ever met us!

That little drip around the new raw water empellor is still dripping...but we understand they have ordered the part and will have us scheduled for first thing Saturday morning...sure hope they don't break something in the process. Oh, the joys of boating! We are starting to look at plans and places to visit...woo hoo...let the fun begin....but first a little Looper craziness!

Shoulda guessed that would happen....everything was going so well...according to plan .. We told them Monday early afternoon about that little drip around the impeller they had just replaced....we have also been saying since we arrived that we were leaving on the 3rd....why oh why would you wait until closing time on Friday to send the guy to check it out?? Well, because then you have to order the parts to fix it...and then people can't do the things they need to do.... Though, in  reality, Floyd says we'll be fine. We still plan to motor up the canal into Norfolk and attend the Looper Rendezvous.  Then on Friday when the crazies head North, we'll let them get out of the way and come back here for those repairs. Parts won't need that "overnight shipping"... And we'll be on the schedule first thing Saturday morning....we'll have laundry etc right here....so it could work.....then again???? It is our boating adventure!! At least today the sun is shining....now send some warmer temps!

Another great visit with the Jackson/Derby household....though they did appear a little startled at our  arrival (seems they were expecting us on Wednesday....oops, it's Tuesday). But once we got over the shock of that, things went very well....they fell in love with sweet Dakota....and Hilary fixed gourmet meals and , of course,  awesome desserts ( to hell with that diet).... And she presented us with an absolutely georgeous oil painting she'd done of the Hudson River Valley. ( cause, you may remember they traveled the Hudson River with us five years ago!) So blessed!! Their neighbors, Patrick, Betsy and son Tripp joined us for supper on Wednesday evening.....Dakota won more fans....his club is ever growing. We said goodbye Thursday morning, drove into cool rainy weather...arrived at Atlantic Yacht Basin in time to do major grocery shopping. Today the rain continues...we've just got one thing for the marina to finish...all other things are checked off the list. Weather is suppose to clear tonight and start warming up tomorrow. We are "all systems go" to head into Norfolk on Sunday...spring looper rendezvous begins on Monday.