December 22, 2012
We’ve always said that we’d continue to drive back and forth to
Miami until we got tired of it. This summer, we got tired of it. No particular
reason. We sold the condo, sailboat and boat slip!
Our new second home will be a Ranger Tug that we’ll use mostly on
the Chesapeake Bay. Our slip is in the protected West River and the marina is dog
friendly of course. The resident boxer and Valentine and Chelsea Seadog have already had their
first meet and sniff.
Our car trip will now be only an hour and we can spend the rest of
our boating days gunkholing the Chesapeake. (Gunkholing is a boating term referring to a type of
cruising in shallow or shoal water, meandering from place to place,
spending the nights in coves. The term refers to the gunk, or mud, typical of
the creeks, coves, marshes, sloughs, and rivers that are referred to as
gunkholes. While not necessary, gunkholers typically seek out the serenity of
isolated anchorages over the crowds of marinas and popular bays, and a minimal draft is preferred, since
gunkholers tend to go as far up and into the gunkholes as possible, seeking
ever more inaccessible destinations.) Thank
you Wikipedia.
Check it out at: http://www.rangertugs.com/R-29. There’s a
virtual tour screen and a video. Click on the different areas for the full
show. Goofy music included. Boating geeks can click on all the specs. Check out
the fancy giant dog crate also known as the second stateroom. The boat comes
with an official tug horn and Fred intends to add a tug whistle for the
authentic experience.
Construction began outside Seattle on December 18 and she’ll be commissioned in
Kent MD in March. Her name is NUDGE becasue that's what tugs do.
We had no idea that this adventure was in our future. We’re
spending the winter preparing for it and can’t wait to get started.
