Elvis has left the building

We did it! We finally cast off the lines and started our journey!

But first, yesterday. Yesterday was frantic trying to get everything done. We left selling my truck to the last minute. Good decision but it took a lot longer than we expected. We also left filling the propane bottles for right before we left. That ended up being a bad decision. In Texas, propane bottles must be certified every 12 years. Ours were out of date and because we waited to the last minute we had to leave without having two full bottles. The morning was spent with Susan and I putting a new carburetor on the dinghy outboard motor. It purrs like a kitten now. Here's a hint. "Small" engines (weed eaters, lawn mowers, outboard motors) don't like ethanol in their gas. Unfortunately it is very difficult / impossible to find gas that doesn't have ethanol in it. I'm now treating the gas with a Lucas Oil product to protect fuel systems from ethanol. I don't know if it works but I hope it will. We also got the dinghy back up on the davits with its cover and the outboard back up on the rail. Thanks very much to Tori for letting us use her truck yesterday and this morning to do our last errands.

Last night our friends Cindy, Bryan, Tori and Brad threw us a Bon Voyage party that included going out on Austintatious to watch the Kemah Boardwalk firework show. There was some sort of snafu last weekend, the show on July 4th had problems so they had a lot of fireworks left over. They used them up last night. It was a great show. Dinner had a Vietnamese theme (Good Morning Vietnam after all). Bryan said he spent hours rolling the spring rolls but I'm not so sure that's how it was done.Brad made a Igloo water cooler full of Mai Tai's. Everyone contributed, but Susan and I. It was a great evening and a good time was had by all. We had hoped our friends and best brokers ever, Paul and Lisa could have joined us but they had previous commitments. We went by their office this morning and said goodbye.

Today we made the last WalMart run (still in Tori's truck), tried again, unsuccessfully, to get our propane bottles filled and took our last real shower for a while. Then we rolled up our shore power cords, gathered our dock lines and took off. Always there for us, Cindy, Tori, Bryan and Brad helped us cast off. Bryan played some Robin Williams lines right out of Good Morning Vietnam over his loud speaker, remember the first time he was on the air? Gooooood Moooorning Vietnam! Susan had Christopher Cross' Sail Away playing and we pullout out of slip 26, pier 16 for the last time. It was 12:12.

We sailed some once we got out onto Galveston Bay but eventually decided to motor along the Houston Ship Channel to get to our first stopping point. Those tankers are ginormous! It was neat to see the porpoise riding in their bow wakes. We stayed out of the way and made good time. We arrived at Laguna Harbor on the Bolivar Peninsula of Texas right at 6:00. This is a small residential subdivision right off the GIWW that has a place to tie up and get free water and electricity. We plowed the bottom getting here since it was right at low tide but tomorrow when we leave the tide will be in and we'll have a foot and a half more water.

So, for those wondering or interested in our playlist we had for our departure...
The aforementioned Sailing by Christopher Cross, What a Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong, Ride Like the Wind by Christopher Cross, Sail On Sailor by the Beach Boys, Come Sail Away by Styx, Cheeseburger in Paradise by Jimmy Buffett, Two Tickets to Paradise by Eddie Money and Son of a Son of a Sailor by Jimmy Buffett.

What do you think we missed? What should we have included but didn't? Besides Georgia on My Mind, of course.

Thanks to all that have helped with this adventure or wished us well.

Brian