For myself, the first year of our life with the Sue was really one of turmoil - literally, an emotional up and down roller coaster ride culminating with Dad's passing in November, 2006.
Looking back on that first year - it's all kind of a blur for me. I do know that we were only at Anchor Marina for a short time. Keith finally got fed up with grounding the Sue on the couple three times we (or, sometimes, just him) took her out.
I remember taking her out one time where we hit a shoal almost directly under the Queen Isabella Causeway (the bridge that connects Port Isabel with South Padre Island, a lot like the Coronado Bay bridge in San Diego). I remember we radioed BoatUS for help, but ended up cancelling that request when Keith managed to "rock" the Sue loose.
I have to digress here a minute, and do make mention that while we were at Anchor Marina, I do remember spending more time in a room at White Sands than I did on the Sue. One of my hobbies is internet genealogy, which I loved to do, and I could not get a wifi signal on the Sue at that time (eventually, I would get a Cingular wifi flashdrive, but I did not have it yet). When we got off the road for our days off, all I wanted to do was everything that I could not do while working. Oh, I could do it here and there with the little downtime that we had, but it was always interrupted with the work schedule. On our very limited days off, I could do my internet "work" without the interruption of that schedule. So, for a while, I went into the motel while Keith went to the Sue during the day and worked on her "little idiosyncrasies" to transform her into a better looking and more efficient vessel. For a while, Keith stayed at the motel and went to the Sue each morning, returning in the afternoon (or, at least, by dinner time). Eventually, though, he wanted to stay on the boat....and he did so, coming back the next morning to tell me how absolutely wonderful it was with the gentle rocking (I believe he even used the words "like a baby in a cradle").
I knew what all that was about - he wanted us out from under the cost of the motel and staying on the Sue each time we took time off in Port Isabel.
And, that's what it was, time off somewhere other than our work designated "home" base. See, as soon as the Sue was purchased, Keith called our work and changed his home status from "Henderson, Nevada" to "Port Isabel, Texas", while I left my home base in Henderson. So began the battle of "the move".
He was ready to move - a new boat to work on, a new place to live - he was excited over it all. I understood that. I just wasn't ready to make that move. I loved living in Vegas. I loved the hotels, the restaurants, the nighlife (and, yes, the gambling). But, it was also the change itself, and the emotional roller coaster ride from that year. Things were moving fast - and, to me, it was like gaining speed on a downhill. I felt out of control of my own life - my own destiny.
So, during that year - we bought a boat, we moved the boat from one marina to another, we moved from one State to another (not to mention going from a "dry heat" State to a "humid heat" State. My God, it took several years for me to get acclimated to humidity), and at the end of that first year, Dad passed away. I can't say it was a bad year. I can't say it was a good year. It was just a roller coaster ride year.
So, we battled back and forth over my "move" to Port Isabel. Finally, he said he would be flying to Vegas on our next time off (we were now spending all of our time off from work in P.I.) and getting our car (we had been renting a vehicle during out time there) and he wanted to know if he needed to clear out my stuff from our storage unit and move it to Texas, too. Ah, the moment of truth.....was I ready?
After careful thought and consideration, I knew resistance was futile. While he jumped in 100% with the move to P.I. (and the boat), I hesitated. It was time now for me to jump in 100%, too. Even though I was still getting use to the Sue, I loved Port Isabel. My decision? I told him yes, pick up all of our belongings and let's make the move permanent. I can't quite remember why I didn't fly to Vegas with him. I seem to recall him telling me that it wasn't necessary. He was just flying in, renting a U-haul, closing up storage and getting back asap (he was back in 2 days). I also remember that someone needed to stay behind to fire up the truck to keep the batteries from getting too low (our batteries in the truck really sucked at that time, and we needed to idle the truck for about 1/2 hour every couple of days).
So, now, we both pledged our loyalty to the Moonlight Sue. And, even though we had more personal battles between us, more hurdles to jump, more turmoil to sort through in our personal lives - this was one pledge we have never regretted.
So, back to everything about the Sue in that first year. Keith had really had enough after grounding on a shoal at the entrance to the fingers heading back to Anchor Marina. This time the grounding was set, and he had to call in BoatUS to be pulled out. He told them, "Get me over this shoal and I'll take care of the rest". They did and he sailed straight to South Point Marina (on the other side of P.I., near the Swing Bridge) and rented a slip. Problem solved.
After our move to South Point Marina. Click on the pic and you can probably see the tractor/trailer in the parking lot. The back of the Marina Office is the 2-story building on the left, just beyond the entrance to the lift area. Out of picture range to the left of that entrance is the boat barn and the boat yard. The building on the right housed Homeland Insecurity, the shower rooms and the storage lockers.
It was also during this first year that Keith painted the mast and boom with wrinkle black (changing it later on to just a smooth black), and my daughter and grandson came to visit from Colorado. This was our first visit from family (and my second paid vacation ever).
I drove to San Antonio to pick them up at the airport there. The plan was to spend a few days in San Antonio sight-seeing than head on back to P.I. But this was July and the humidity was so high that I would get soaked just standing outside. After a very "soggy" trip to Riverwalk and lunch at Landry's, we decided a nice cool air-conditioned environment was in order. But all we could come up with was a shopping mall. So, we chose the best one - a multi-level huge mall on the west side of San Antonio. We had a great time, too. We shopped, window-shopped, did lunch in the food court and laughed, joked and "played' around. I spent an obscene amount of money, but it was all worth it because we had a ball!
The Lighthouse in Port Isabel
We eventually packed up and made our way to P.I. We got them a room at White Sands (actually, it was more than "a room", it was a bloody suite complete with a separate bedroom, living area and kitchen). I took them all over Port Isabel and South Padre Island (can you say "beach store"? There are eleventy-nine beach stores on the island!). We went to lunch at The Lost Galleon and dinner at Pirate's Landing. And, of course, a day sail on the Moonlight Sue. It was a wonderful visit. I had a great time (and, I think, they did, too). And, as I always do when I have to say goodbye to my children after visiting with them, I got teary-eyed and sad.
My daughter, grandson at Pirate's Landing
After the visit with my daughter and grandson, I kept busy with genealogy. Keith and I also started talking about his plans to change the complete look of Moonlight Sue. When he told me what he was envisioning, I had to admit that it sounded beautiful. So began the year of "The Transformation of the Moonlight Sue".
My grandson doing his best pirate "argh" outside The Lost Galleon after lunch.
