Friday the 13th - an end to the Twilight Zone

If you are into Kabala or Numerology it may be of interest to note that we got into deep engine trouble on 7-7-07 and now are finally out of the Twilight Zone on Friday the 13th - a nice cosmic pairing of lucky/unlucky days depending upon your point of view. Yes, it's true! The engine is working again. An extremely nice and hard-working (and competent) young man named Kevin brought our new 80 zillion dollar gas tank (fabricated by an apparently quite competent but very nasty gent who shall remain nameless for the purposes of this blog) made out of shiny stainless steel. Our Kevin had to go back to his shop to make a connecting part with the guessifications he and Wayne could come up with. When Kevin returned - miracle - the part fit beautifully, the installation was complete, and after 2 gut wrenching crank sessions it finally roared to life! As Sarah would say...wah wah woo wah...OK, we are blissfully thinking we might get underway again tomorrow. In the meantime, we actually READ the engine maintenance manual, learned a lot about the various parts and maintenance schedules, and decided we would both need to become marine diesel maintenance mechanics ( Wayne as primary mechanic and I get to be the first assistant.) It has become painfully clear that this engine, although brand new, needs nothing less than clean fuel and regular maintenance. So we will do this in order to avoid another trip to the Twilight Zone. With a congregation of Harley-riding American Legionnaires not a quarter-mile away listening to live oldies like my fave "Mustang Sally", we are going to enjoy a fun-filled dinner on the boat and sleep a bunch. In a way, no news is good news so our next post may not be for a while. We intend absolutely and without question to head to DeTour village tomorrow. Be on the lookout for Sunday the 15th as this is the beautiful and exciting Catherine Lydia Edgell's birthday. Give her a shout. Better yet, buy her a really nice present. You can find her at: cedgell@umich.edu. Peace out.