Back-Burner for the Moment ...

I am sorry I haven't had anything to post for awhile. I had hoped to be knee deep in plans for attending the Houseboating Convention in Louisville, KY in March .... but you know .... best laid plans and all that ...

Tom works for the Mortgage Business and if you are aware of the news and the economy recently .... well ... enough said. However .... things do appear to be picking up lately. Interest rates on 30-year mortgages are under 6% now .... so people are calling to refinance ... email tmackinnon@firsthorizon.com if you want to refinance and aid our travel plans! LOL!!

Anyway .... Houseboating plans have been put on the back-burner for the moment. Plus ... Gary called from Germany and invited us to Amsterdam sometime this Spring .... so I have a feeling we will be doing that .... I hope so!! I do like to travel.

We are also pursuing plans to go to Australia for Christmas and the Holidays ... my sister lives in Perth and it has been 5 years .... will be 6 .... since we have seen them. They always came to the US .... now it's time for us to visit her there .... plus ... I have always wanted to go to Australia!

We will try to get some boating in while in Europe and Australia and I will keep posting when we do. We saw The Bucket List ... and we want to Do THINGS!!

Thanks for reading!

Sunday with La and Allen on Lake Lewisville

How Cool!

People have actually emailed me saying that they are wanting to do the same thing! How cool is that? And asking me for advice???

Okay .... the links in my last post to the Houseboating Magazine and to the Houseboating Expo are probably your best resources for now! I don't claim to know anything beyond what it was like to rent a houseboat on Lake Norfolk in North-Central Arkansas.

I will be documenting each step we take .... but the steps may be months apart! Even renting on the off-season was expensive, in my opinion ... so we will be needing to save $$ for each step here. But .... as I find new info and run new searches, I will post things which I find to be of interest or helpful on here.

Thanks for reading and thanks for all the encouragement!

Some Background ....

Some of the people who have read the first post on this blog have asked me exactly where this houseboat idea came from. What? Why?? How????

Here is the background as best I remember it ....

Tom and I had a nice vacation in Cancun this past Summer, but we decided our next vacation needed to be ON the water. So we looked into Windjammer Sailing cruises and ran various searches for barefoot cruises and family cruises, etc. One of the sites had some info on renting a houseboat in Florida for a week or so. So that gave us an idea and we got to thinking about houseboats and houseboating and Tom started running some searches on those topics.

Well ... it turns out that there are a lot of people who "houseboat" just like there are people who "RV". And houseboating has magazines and websites and BLOGS and trips. Tom subscribed to Houseboat Magazine .... http://www.HouseboatMagazine.com and we are reading up on Houseboating and all the joys and issues involved with it.

Tom also learned of something called "The Great Loop" . America’s Great Loop is the continuous waterway that circumnavigates the eastern portion of North America — along the Atlantic Seaboard, across the Great Lakes, through the inland rivers, and around the Gulf of Mexico. It is sometimes referred to as The Great Circle Route. And there are lots of stories and blogs and pics and information online from people who have done or are doing The Great Loop. There are houseboaters and yachters and cruisers and all different kinds of boats and boaters who take this trip. It sounds like an adventure! Here is what Wikipedia says about it .... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_loop

So we got to thinking about getting a houseboat and doing The Great Loop. Maybe looking for a location to call home somewhere along the loop? Who knows? But first I felt it would be a good idea to try a weekend rental .... then maybe a weeklong rental .... test the waters, so to speak. See if Tom and I can live together in such tight conditions and still remain friends.

I also needed to test how I would feel. Would I get seasick? Would I be able to sleep on the boat? During our first weekend on Lake Norfolk in Arkansas I seemed to instantly adapt to being on the water. No problems walking or sleeping or anything. HOWEVER ... once I got off of the boat, I felt like the land was moving ... and I continued to feel that way for several days. I dubbed that feeling "landsickness" and I just ran a search to see if there was such a thing ... and sure enough ... Landsickness . Wow .... I hope I don't get that forever version of landsickness.

Anyway ... by renting and trying different boats, Tom and I can get a feel for what sort of things we would want to have in our own boat. What would be important to us? Where would we need extra room because of our sizes? How many bedrooms would we want?

So this was a start .... and I am planning to blog our way through the whole process.

Next stop: A houseboat Expo in Louisville, KY in March .... http://houseboatexpo.com

First Houseboat Trip ....

On Friday October 12, 2007 .... Tom and I took our first steps towards future houseboat horizons .... we rented a houseboat for 3 days and 3 nights ....

Here are the details and the pics from our first houseboating adventure ...



It was about an 8 hour drive from Lewsiville, TX to Lake Norfolk in Northern Arkansas. The city of Mountain Home is nearby ... and seems to be a very nice city. It is growing rapidly ever since it was called the #1 place to retire by some big magazine in 2003.

The Marina was bigger than I expected .... but then, I had no idea what to expect. We rented from 101 Boat Dock ... http://www.101boatdock.com/index.htm ... as they seemed to have the best prices for Houseboats in Arkansas according to our online research. We rented a 44' boat. It was just Tom and I .... so we didn't need a huge boat. We paid our balance due (cash only) and an employee showed us to our boat. He quickly showed Tom how to operate the generator and the A/C's and how to start the boat. He showed us on the map where we were and some low water spots to avoid .... gave us some advice about where to moor the first night and how to do that ... showed us where the restaurant near the water was located ... and marked spots on the map where we should NOT go. Then he backed us out of the dock and drove us to the buoys and hopped off the back into a waiting boat ... and Tom and I were alone with a 44' houseboat with maybe 1.5 hours of sunlight left.

Here is the basic layout of our houseboat:

Okay .... the bathroom did not look like that ... it was TINY with a tub/shower combo. And the Captain's Stateroom did not look like that ... it was wall-to-wall bed with a little closet to the side ... and the Full Bed looked very small to us! But overall, above is the layout of the boat we had. It was a 20 year old boat and the interior looked much like the interior of a 20 year old RV .... because basically this is just an RV on the water. Which is a pretty nice place to have an RV, in my opinion.

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Night One, Fri:

Tom and I found a spot to drop anchor. It was pretty secluded and fairly shallow ... like 15-20 feet of water. The young man who showed us the boat did not recommend using the anchor .... he wanted us to tie off to trees on land ... but we wanted to stay on the water for the night ... so we dropped anchor and hoped that would work!!

The sun set ... and we breathed a sigh of relief and began to relax. We popped open a couple of beers and Tom made us some sandwiches and we both opened our books and waited for the sun to set. It was QUIET. Very quiet. We hadn't brought any CD's .... although the boat had a CD player and stereo system.

The boat basically drifted around the anchor and seemed to be secured. There was a slight breeze and it was chilly ... which was absolutely wonderful for us! I went up top and read until it was too dark to see. I saw the stars begin to pop out. There weren't any bugs ... which was a nice surprise ... I had expected mosquitoes. I heard geese calling and fish hitting the water. Tom joined me up top with nice glasses of Scotch on the Rocks .... MacAllan Single Malt - 12 yo .... and we got to see STARS!!! We even saw the Milky Way! We haven't seen stars for years. So we sipped scotch and talked and floated and watched stars and it was really nice.

Bedtime ... we decided the Captain's stateroom was too small and closed in so we each picked a bed in the living area and made them up. Tom and I each like our space when sleeping ... and full beds just don't cut it for sharing ... I took the couch at the front of the boat and Tom took the kitchen table area.

I'd like to say I slept like a baby .... but I didn't. I kept hearing the anchor dragging. The wind kicked up. I had visions of us being pushed into the nearby shores or waking up to find the boat in some horrible situation. At one point I woke up and Orion had just recently risen and I could see him out my window. I woke up numerous times and looked for Orion or the Big Dipper ... to be sure we were still situated as we were when we went to bed. We had windows open and it was COLD that night ... but there were blankets and we were comfortably snug.

First Morning, Sat:

One minute it was dark ... the next time I woke up it was bright light and there was a mist hanging over the water. The boat had drifted quite a bit, but we were still good. Tom and I both got to put on our FLEECE!! Yay!! Tom made coffee and cooked bacon and eggs and we watched the sun top the trees to our east, the mist began to fade, and the fish were jumping ... it was so quiet!

We had brought my laptop and a couple of DVD's to watch at night. Tom asked if I had any music on my laptop ... great idea!! I have tons of my faves saved on here ... so I brought up the music player and got that going ... did the dishes ... Tom pulled up the anchor ... and we were off to explore the lake. I took a thermal mug of coffee and my book up top and put my face to the wind and enjoyed being on the water in the sun.

We had read online about a Restaurant on the lake called Keller's Cove and had planned to have one meal there ... so our big plan for the day was to locate that cove and also locate the sandy beach where we were told we could drive the boat right up onto the beach and tie it off on a couple of trees. The lake is long and skinny with lots of coves and inlets. We saw the dam ... and some cliffs and lots of beautiful houses up above the lake. I sat on the top and read and drank coffee .... then water ... then beers. Life is good.

We called the restaurant when we couldn't find it and found out they were not open for lunch ... so we made reservations for dinner ... and located their cove. The Sand Island was just across the lake from them ... so we beached the boat (very gently) on the island and easily tied it off to two trees and had another beer or two ... read, listened to music, relaxed.

Dinner at Keller's Cove was YUMMY. The steaks were awesome ... hand-cut new york strips. The beer was cold. The people were nice. They had to meet us at the dock and drive us up to the restaurant ... it isn't "on" the lake, it is way up a steep hill ... so they will meet boaters and give them a ride up!! We were stuffed by the time we left and opted to walk back to the boat. We were able to beach and tie off the boat w/o trouble. We both felt a lot better about the security of the boat for this night.

Second Night, Sat:

Again the stars were bright and in plenty. It wasn't as chilly, so we needed the A/C and couldn't open the windows. We wished we had brought the Scrabble Board. We watched "Moonstruck" on DVD and drank wine. I think we both slept better because we were less worried about drifting away. I know I did!

Second Morning, Sun:

Once again it seemed to suddenly be light. Not much mist on the lake, but still plenty of jumping fish. Nothing like coffee while watching the water. I had seen a bald eagle on Saturday ... and hoped to see one again today. We also wish we had brought binoculars. And I wish I had taken pics of the sand island, but I didn't.

We headed back up the lake towards 101 Boat Dock. Tom wanted to be sure we could find it again and the plan was to spend our last night moored near there. We had told them we would turn the boat in at 8:00am as I needed to to back home for tutoring by 5:30.

Once again I enjoyed my coffee up on top of the boat. Very relaxing and nice. I read a lot and just enjoyed the feeling of being on the water. I had no trouble adjusting to being on a boat. No problems with seasickness at all. I loved it!

We found the inlet to 101 Boat Dock and then putted around looking for a good place to anchor/tie off. We used a combo of anchoring the front of the boat and tieing off the back. The anchor still pulled some .... but we felt pretty secure. I even napped some on this day ... because I could! It was very warm ... so we had no need for the cans of soup and chili that we brought. We didn't bring enough bread. We didn't bring enough beer. The Scotch was a great idea. We should have brought more ice. The snacks were a good idea. Big bath towels would have been nice, too.

We read and talked and listened to music and relaxed. Watched another movie on the laptop. There was a great sunset and the moon was awesome .... but we couldn't get pics of it. There were clouds, so the stars were partly obscured .... but when they were there, they were bright! We packed up all our stuff before bed. Made sure the dishes were done and the place was clean. Made sure the boat was moored securely for the night. The anchor had pulled a little during the afternoon and evening, but we still felt pretty secure.

During the night the wind picked up and we heard the anchor dragging even more ... yikes. We both kept an eye on things throughout the night. Towards dawn we woke up to thunder and lightening and decided to get up for good. Tom had to get in the water to untie us from land. He made coffee first (what a guy) ... then waded up on shore in the rain and untied us ... pulled up the anchor in the front and we were off.

The 101 folks met us at the buoys and the owner parked the boat like a pro ... something we would have needed lots of practice to do. The owner then opened up the other boats for us to look in. The 60footer was really nice inside ... it was also just barely a year old. It still had that "new boat smell".

It continued to rain as we took all our stuff back to the car and we were both pretty wet by the time we left. All in all ... it was a successful houseboating weekend, I would say.

Next in our sights .... A week long houseboating venture in Florida ... including family and friends ...