Friday, May 9, 2014 – 10:30PM – Leg 26/Day 40 – 37.4 Miles

It was another absolutely perfect day on the bay. I have been sitting out all night enjoying the slight breeze and the evening quiet. I almost forgot to do my log tonight I have been so relaxed.

I crossed into Maryland today so that officially completes half a dozen states in my travels. I am anchored in St. Jerome on the south bay close to a small Marina. It's called Drury's and it's primarily for fisherman. They do have gas and bait, but not a whole lot more. I'm staying here for my first full anchor-out weekend. I've been preparing for this all week, filling up on gas, getting some supplies, and taking inventory to make sure I have enough to last a whole weekend without docking at a Marina. I plan on doing a lot of fishing, a little swimming (water not quite warm enough yet), and a whole lot of reading and relaxing. This will put a test on all my systems to make sure I can go extended times without resupplying. I know on the downward swing once I am on the Mississippi that there are some long stretches with no marinas, so I want to make sure everything is in working order when it gets overused.

Today was also decision day on going into Washington. I've decided against it this go around for two reasons. The first is Katie is meeting me in New York and the sooner I get there, the sooner she will be on board. The second is that this first go around is to complete the voyage, so any side trips will wait until the subsequent trips. I know that may sound counter-intuitive, but I'm not on any schedule and this is the schedule I choose.

I'm going to be crossing over to the east side of the bay after the next leg and by this time next week, I will be close to making the Atlantic trek up the New Jersey shoreline. Depending on how the weather is, I will either be making a run up offshore or scooting back in for the limited ICW they have. I'm going to play that one by ear. But in any case, I will not be doing any major supply refills until I am in Delaware Bay. This will also help on the marina bills as the more I can anchor out, the easier on the pocketbook. I've been a little lax in saving money, but I think it is now time to start working on how cheaply I can do this. Since I plan on trying to make this style of living permanent, I need to get it all in line with my social security checks.

I'm going to sleep outdoors again tonight and will be praying for all the beautiful people I know to be blessed and walking in God's love.