Our last post was a couple of months ago or so when we left the boat in Sanford, Florida for the holidays. We flew from Orlando, 20 miles south to Denver to see Zach and Aimee and the girls for Thanksgiving, then on to Minneapolis and ultimately Ely by December 1. The holidays were hectic, mixed with family and friends and a ton of cold and a bunch of hockey, but not much snow for skiing. 5 consecutive days at -30 followed by 3 more a week later. Anyway, our amazing friends, Dan and Barb, drove us to Duluth last Friday and we caught a flight back to Orlando and the boat. We arrived about 2 AM, but the boat was great. Spent Saturday provisioning and then on Sunday Eric and Shawn drove up from St. Petersburg and visited for the day. Monday, MLK day was spent getting things in order. I changed oil and filters and fuel filters on the main engine and the generator. The generator wouldn't start after changing the oil which was strange. I had run it for 15 minutes before to warm the oil and it sort of lugged at start up, and then wouldn't restart after the change. Differential diagnosis was fuel issue vs glow plug. I had pretty good voltage drop with accuating the glow plug, so I decided to go ahead and change the fuel filter. I bled the air from the injectors and it started right up. No reason for that to occur but it did. We had a delay today waiting for a gallon of coolant to show up for the engines. I had ordered it Jan 2, but tracking showed it wouldn't come in until today. When it showed up, we pulled out to the pump out dock, got the septic cleaned out and motored down the St. John's River 10 miles or so and are out on our own again. Things are good. At a quiet anchorage with no one around. The plan is to go on down the river 50 miles or so tomorrow with an early start. We will have the current with us, and even though the river has dropped 4 feet since mid November, the current is still a help. It is supposed to be 27 degrees tomorrow night where we are, but with Minnesota skin, I don't see any issues.
Engine hours 4726.1
GenSet hours 5376.4

"Burntside" in her slip at Sanford

Here you can see the drop in the water level from the high point after Hurricane Irma. Easily down 4 feet.

Our new mascot mounted in the saloon from our friend
Gopher

At anchor tonight. Flat water and 65 degrees on the St. Johns.