we're back

(Just a reminder....you can see older posts, which go all that way back to August, by going to the bottom of the page). 

After our arrival in Clearwater, Fl, we took a hiatus for Christmas.  Ten days were spent with Ron's Mom & sister and brother-in-law in Little Egg Harbor, NJ, along with fifteen other family members.  While there, we looked at real estate and considered purchasing a home until we found out about their very high taxes. When we returned to Clearwater, we began actively scanning the real estate market.  After 2 weeks, we were ready to give up, when a property came on the market.  We made an offer on Friday, January 13th and it was accepted.   Not only did we buy the house, but all of the furnishings were included in the purchase.  Closing will be in the next few weeks.   We plan to fly home on Thursday to put our place in Illinois on the market.  We will drive back to Florida, bringing some of our belongings.  The last two weeks of March, we will return to Illinois to finish up the move. WHEW!
New house

Duke at home in Dunedin

Why Dunedin?  My BFF Becky moved here 3 years ago, so we had visited the area before.  Crystal Glover, also from Pekin, is the one who told us about the house we purchased.  She will be our neighbor across the street.  Our boat was at the Clearwater Beach Marina for 1 month, but today we moved to Dunedin Marina----much more convenient and it has a better area for Duke. The photo is of our new friend Trinky who accompanied us on the move.

Now that the real estate is taken care of, we will stay at the Dunedin Marina until Mardi Gras.  We will probably head south along the gulf coast at that time.  We have several friends we want to see along the way.  We have thoroughly enjoyed spending time with our friends from Dunedin, Becky Stevenson & Crystal Glover; our neighbors from Illinois, Ken & Sheri Pope, Glenda & Carl from the boat Gold Leaf, Cindy & Steve Stover from Illinois, and Ron's cousin Diane & husband George in Trinity.

Last weekend we helped the crew of Inconceivable celebrate the completion of the loop.  (Liz, Andrew, Paisley, and Sabastian)