Later Thursday afternoon, Floyd talked about getting anchor straightened...AGAIN...one of the dock guys helped him try with no success. Then offered to get him same anchor for cheap...and have it here 8ish on Friday morning. Since the chances looked good that we'd have to anchor out in Onancock, we opted to do just that....easy peasy!!! and its so shiny and clean!!! Not to mention straight!!! It just sticks out there...no wonder we manage to clip it exiting the slips....

in the middle of all that anchor straightening, here came a tow to collect the empty barge across the canal. I'll bet it didn't take them 10 minutes to whip in there, get attached and head out. You could tell they had done that before....it was just a little closer than we'd viewed that action ever before. Whew!

Delightful dinghy ride up the creek to the river and around the downtown area....then back to the BARKING DOG for a burger, fries and beer! Everyone slept ggoooooddd!

Today's chores included removing the blue stripe around the fly bridge and replacing it with a black one. Now we are almost matchy-matchy...still have blue and gold in the signage on dinghy and transom...could be our next purchase...but probably not. Temps took a decided turn toward cool today...high is suppose to be only 68... We are hoping the wind dies down on the bay so we can scoot to Deltaville tomorrow ....that's the plan, Sam! Then we're ready to explore places of interest on the Chesapeake Bay. Let the real fun begin!

Tuesday...and we arrived late last night at Sunset Creek Boatyard....stayed on the fuel dock so we could get a pump out before moving into a slip. Nice quiet place in Hampton, VA....John and Diane arrived around two...we dropped the boys off at the museum and went in search of pedicures...and haircut for me. Success!! Diane even managed a Party City for some supplies she needed for later this week. Back to the Old Town area...we managed to help support three establishments...Marker 20 for appetizers and drinks, Conch and Shell for dinner, and then the ice cream shop next door. We may have found a new favorite...Hersey's Ice Cream may have replaced our favorite Kwartha ...but we'll have to return to Canada just to be sure!! The pressure!!

Tropical Storm Anna is blowing up the Chesapeake Bay...so we'll be here for a least another day...could be our chance to visit the local Barking Dog establishment at the end of the creek....burgers and beer!! Dakota and I are hoping for a dinghy ride this afternoon...but first Captain needs a nap....wouldn't want him to get cranky!!!!!

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.