June 21, 2010
It's Summertime that's the boat name. It is a 1986 Spindrift 40 Motor Yacht owned by Ron & Karen Parsons. We are currently in Kemah, TX living aboard. We plan on leaving to travel on the boat for at least a couple of years on July 5th, 2010.
We have owned the boat for over 5 years and have been upgrading and maintaining her for our journey, We also run our business of over 20 years from our boat.
Karen plans on making Jewelry while we are cruising and selling it at Fairs & Farmers Markets. She is at a Jewelry making lesson as I write this.
We have rented our house out for 2 years and plan on heading to Galveston and turning east.
Our first stop will be Lake Charles, LA where Ron was raised and his mother & 2 sisters still live. His sister Sarah & brother-in-law John have made arrangements with there friends for Summertime to dock at the Lake Charles Boat Club near Ron's Mom's house. They also have spoken to friends that publish a local weekly magazine to do a story about Summertimes' plans.
When we talk to friends about our plans or of our lack of plans the first question everyone asks is. "Where are you going?" The second on is. "How long are you going for?" Well a member of the boating group we belong to TMCA (Texas Mariners Cruising Association) gave me some good advise on just how to answer these questions. "It's too early to tell."
Thursday before we depart our friends Karen (KK) & Doug plan on having a little going away party by the pool here at Portofino Marina. A Pot Luck Party. So we have to at least leave the slip.
I hope the boat is ready, about all I have left to do is change the engine zincs and scrape the props of any barnacles.
We may go out on Galveston Bay Sunday night for the 4th of July and watch the fireworks, then motor out on to Redfish Island or Noahs Arck depending on the wind direction to anchor over night. Then the next morning head over to Shell Island close to Port Arthur for a over night anchorage brfore arriving in Lake Charles the next day.
