The truth, the hull truth, and nothing but the truth.

So I found this amazing boating forum called "The Hull Truth" while searching for solutions to the various problems we have encountered (mostly seeking answers to navigation and plotting questions). The users are incredibly helpful, friendly, and informative and I highly recommend the site. I have 28 years of education/training and a rather broad swath of miscellaneous experience, and yet here I am learning things entirely new to me all day long. By the time we reach Eastport, I should be ready to enroll in a course to obtain my Captain's license! Don't laugh- school is out for the summer and the law firm I worked for laid me off due to Covid. I need to spend that stimulus money aka "Covid Cash" somehow. Other considerations are obtaining my amateur radio operator's license and/or pilot's license. The latter is burdensome, and they call "Ralphie Wheels" "Ralphie Props" now not "Ralphie Wings," so I think it is unlikely this season. I am free until the last week of August for my final semester at Franklin Pierce, following which I will hunker down for a couple of months to study for the bar exam. If you exclude the fact that I may sell my home when I return to NH after this trip, to move back across the country to MT (it took 4 trips with my truck and a 44' trailer to get everything here just a few years ago), where I will need to find a place to live and get set up to finish off my final semester (which can be completed from afar, if so desired), there should be plenty of time for boating entertainment and another degree or license or three!

Coming soon to The Adventure of Ralphs blog: an exclusive interview with Captain Ralph!* Let me know if you have any specific questions. Let's dig deep in an attempt to determine what exactly motivated this man to purchase a Huckins Pilothouse. Tonight, the Captain ate vegetables, so who the hell knows what could happen next. Let's piece this puzzle together.

*Assuming the Captain survives. Confusingly, he seemed concerned that my first instinct as a M.D. was not to rush into the master suite to check his pulse the other day when I thought he slept in until nearly 7am (as it turns out, he was up at 4:45 and out on the back deck having his morning coffee). I correctly informed him that the checking of pulses was the purview of the Anesthesiologist! My role is to dissect his carcass and determine the cause and manner of death. I am glad I learned to process efficiently in residency. He is lucky there will be a "warm body to move the meat" as one of my colleagues used to say (I hope all is well with you Topher!). If I get stuck, I know a trustworthy forensic pathologist in the Tampa area who can make problems go away (Wayne, please keep in touch- just imagine being stuck on a boat alone with your dad for WEEKS... we all have our limits, don't judge!). Does anyone have a chart plotted from Jacksonville to Tampa? I will be calling you Mike and Cathy, as it is clear from the few brief phone calls that you are my people!

Lastly, some photos (courtesy of Mike and Cathy- greatly appreciated, and we extend a genuine thank you!). It isn't easy to get great pictures of your own boat, because it is usually tied to the dock with something in the way. They took these shots as we pulled out of the marina in Jacksonville to start our journey. If you reeeaaallly zoom in, squint your eyes, hold your breath, stand one one foot and look closely, you can hear Dad yelling at me for screwing something up already! I jest... kinda... We are having a great time even while stuck at the dock.