Start Spreading the News

After two days of being at the Great Kills Yacht Club in Staten Island, NY we finally have Internet service. Hi everybody:) Our last two days have been action packed. We started out by waking up at Laura's house at 3:30a.m. on Friday 6/25/16 to get our Uber to the airport. Our flights were uneventful but long. Right before we got to the boat Jeff decided to find somewhere to eat for dinner. We stumbled upon this cute place called Cole's Dockside. It was charming, cottagey full of what appeared to be locals - mostly older people, a little worn and very casual. We loved the place. We got a bottle of campaign to celebrate our arrival to the loop and the beginning of our adventures. Jeff had shrimp Parmesan for dinner and I had a light veggie pasta. All of a sudden we were relaxed and excited about our upcoming life and crazy adventure. From Coles we drove down the street to Great Kills Yacht Club and found our Tidings of Joy waiting for us. We hauled our 5 bags, 2 carryons and my guitar down to the Tidings. We were greeted by boat neighbors who are situated directly behind us. Phil and Pam were very welcoming and asked us a lot of questions about what we were doing and where we were from. After finally getting everything on board we decided to blow off unpacking for the night and really enjoy and take in our very first night of being on our boat on the loop. We of course cracked another bottle of wine and headed up top (see picture below). We were so happy and in disbelief that this is really happening. We were very tired so as it got dark and the wine ran out we headed to bed.

Sunday 6/26/16- Woke up and went out for a good New York bagel. We found a place called Hot Bagels and More. Jeff had the traditional bagel and lox and I had just a bagel and schmeer. It was goooooooooood. After bagels we came back to the boat to make a plan and figure out our day. We unpacked and got somewhat situated. From there we drove to a bike shop on Staten Island. Jeff didn't like the selection there so we went to a second bike shop in New Jersey. Fortunately we were both able to find bikes we liked and got them immediately. Unfortunately our s.u.v. wasn't be enough to hold both bikes so after shoving my bike in Jeff had to leave his behind. From the bike shop we went to Office Depot to get a printer and form there we went to Whole Foods. Now normally I would be elated to be at my precious Whole Foods but this one was different. It was kinda ghetto. In addition it didn't have a lot of the products I love and was looking forward to getting on this coast for the boat. They don't sell beer either. New Jersey law. Thanks Chris Christie. When checking out the cashier never acknowledged me or said one word. She was so slow ringing everything up I thought Jeff was going to blow a gasket. So over an hour and 400 dollars later we finally were walking to the parking lot to head back to the boat. As Jeff was opening the trunk he noticed a huge gash in the panelling. Holy Shit!!! Someone hit and ran our car. This was defiantly not the Whole Foods experience I was accustomed to. We drove back across the bride in lots of traffic and feeling very spent. After unloading the car, opening wine and ordering NY pizza we felt a little better.  Have I mentioned our fresh water pump isn't working and pours water out of the pipes when it is on?

Monday 6/27/16 - Woke up early in order to get ready and have breakfast before the boat mechanic arrived at 9. After looking at the fresh water pump he determined that it's bad and we need a new one. He called the local marine exchange down the street which isn't opened on Mondays. Jeff called West Marine in Jersey who didn't carry the pump. Finally after calling a third place he found the pump and ordered it to be picked up tomorrow. So that means we will not be leaving tomorrow as planned. See why we can't determine hard and fast dates to meet people? So our rental car needs to be returned today after we go back to Jersey to get Jeff's bike. We have another smaller one rented for tomorrow to get the pump from Jersey. In the mean time we haven't showered or been able to brush our teeth since arriving. When we want to flush the toilet one of us has to stand by the breaker panel, turn on the fresh water pump while the other person flushes the toilet. We have a white round bowl situated beneath the pump pipe that is catching the excess run off water. Apparently we can use the yacht club facilities and we both plan on taking a shower today. Highlight of my day!!