Wednesday, April 16, 2014 Portsmouth VA-3rd Night

David got great news first thing this morning.  They are shipping a new transmission!!  Yeah!  It probably won’t get installed until Friday. That's good, they want to travel with us up the Chesapeake.  By the looks of things, we’ll still be in Portsmouth through Sunday because of the weather forecast.  At least it’s suppose to be dry but gusty and in the upper 40’s.  These north winds are just brutal!  Our plan for the day is to hitch a ride with Rita’s cousin Dolly.  She lives in Manassas, VA and is going to drive 4 hours to where we are.   She volunteered to take the four of us anywhere we needed to go by car….so nice of her!  Dolly’s ETA is for 1:30 so that leaves us time to go to Roger Brown’s for lunch with our charts and I-Pads to discuss our next destination.  Rita needs some instruction on the I-Pad with the Active Captain Overlay. 

I got off our boat an hour before high tide because we weren't sure if we’d have exceptionally high water again.  David, Rita, Chuck, and I walked toward the restaurant but since it was still early, we stopped at the corner coffee shop for David.  We all ended up getting hot coffee or tea and sat around and talked for awhile. Then around 11:30 am, we walked a few store fronts up the road to Roger Brown’s.   The hostess gave us a big booth so we could spread our charts out.  We figured if the head winds and waves continue out of the North, we’d only be able to cruise 35 miles.  That will put us at the East River off the Mobjack Bay for our next stop.  While at the restaurant, we got to meet the owner, NFL player, Roger Brown.  He told me he played for the Detroit Lions and the LA Rams. In the BC…Before Cash!!  Ha HA!  He has a great sense of humor.

From there, we shopped at the Dollar General still trying to waste time before Dolly arrives.  This store is very convenient, within walking distance of our boat,  and has canned goods, bread, milk, and eggs…just in case we run out!  Soon it’s approaching 1:30 and we need to head back to our boats to flag Dolly down.  She took us to the Harry Teeter grocery store and then to Wal-Mart. We were also planning on doing dinner with Dolly but now we have time to spare.  So, we got the brilliant idea to go to the movies at the Commodore Theatre. Unfortunately, we missed the afternoon showing of ‘Noah’.  What to do?  Dolly checked online and found a theatre showing ‘Noah’ over in Norfolk and we have time to make it before dinner.  We all went except David.  I think he wanted some solo time because he’s still stressed about his transmission  So, the four of us went….Dolly, Rita, Chuck, and me.   Russell Crowe  and Jennifer Connelly starred in ‘Noah’…it was just okay.   Once back in Dolly’s car, Rita called David to tell him he could start to walk to Lobscouser Restaurant.   He had a table reserved by the time we walked in the door.   It was so nice to spend some time with Rita’s cousin.  They wanted her to stay but she drove the 4 hours back to her house.  

Back to the boat and bed!  The down comforter is so warm and cosy!! I think we’ll be using this comforter for the next week…….:(