December 2012

I have been thinking about how to begin this post as it’s really about my visit to a hardware store.  So, what guy isn’t interested in such a visit?  However, there are hardware stores and there are HARDWARE STORES.  The S.F Travis hardware store in Cocoa Florida isn’t just any hardware store.  It might very well be the  best if not biggest hardware store in the known universe.  And, with NASA so nearby, that’s probably a good thing.  “Harry, hold this, I need to run over to to Travis Hardware to get a nut for the Mars rover.  I’ll be right back.”  Yeah, right…

The store, founded in 1885, has been the go-to place for locals who, as you might imagine if you see their inventory, include folks from NASA and the rest of the “big boys” that work on rocket stuff.  Interestingly, the owner, fourth generation, is a guy named Osborne.  Osborn is a good name. I’m an Osborn in case you didn’t  know.  However, it’s spelled Osborn, without an “e”.

When I was in high school I worked in a hardware store so this sort of business is familiar to me and I never miss an opportunity to visit a hardware store when I can.  However, there was nothing in my experience that prepared me for this place with it’s four floors and multiple buildings.   When you enter the store you see what looks like a typical old-time hardware store with a bunch of guys sitting behind counters waiting on customers.   However, that’s about all that they have in common with a “typical” hardware store.  As I looked around near the front desk, I immediately saw a set of wrenches that you’d never see at a Home Depot.  How about a crescent wrench that’s over four feet long?  They have a whole set.  I asked the owner, Osborne, “so, how many four foot crescent wrenches do you sell in a year?”   His answer…” I sell one to every person who walks through the door that needs one”.    Ok, got it…  hesitation as I processed this.   Another question: “so, what sort of person buys one of these?”.    “guys with really big nuts”.   Check.    No more questions for now.Here we are in Florida and Travis has a large inventory of wood burning stoves.   Huh?  Well, the dust on them suggested that they have been in inventory for some time.   I actually asked the one “lady” at the desk.  “so, I’ll bet that there are plenty of items here that have been here for say, 20 years.”.  She rolled her eyes suggesting that I was way low.  So, I said “50 years?”  Another shrug.  I said, this time with less certainty, “100 years?”.  Her answer… “that’s probably closer and we don’t charge extra for the historic dust”.  There is just so much stuff in that store. Need an empty 50 gal drum, with lid, to mix up some sort of toxic substance?  Rocket fuel perhaps?  Got em… Me, I am more used to the orange “Homer Buckets” that they sell at Home Depot.  No dust on these puppies.  I guess that they are big sellers. All hardware stores have plenty of nuts and bolts.  Not like Travis.  They have literally hundreds, no make that thousands, of bins of every size and description.    And, they have them zinc coated, galvanized, un-coated.   EVERY SIZE.   Need a 3′ long galvanized turnbuckle?  “yeah,we got that.  How about 25?”  And, there is row after row to choose from.  Little stuff, big stuff and lots of it.   Rope?  Have they got rope?  How about a 500′ spool of 3″ nylon rope?  You could tow a barge with this stuff.   And, their customers probably do. Me, I needed a tube of Lubriplate grease to pump into my prop.  They had two kinds of Lubriplate but not the exact type that I needed.   Can you believe it?   They have stuff to build space shuttles but not grease my prop?  I mentioned this to the owner.  “I can’t believe that I need the one item in the world that you don’t have!”.  He sternly, but in a nice way, reminded me that he had two types of Lubriplate and that my problem was that I had a boat and they weren’t a marine store.  I guess that they serve vehicles that run on roads and go into space but not on the water.

So, speaking of water.  I had a productive day yesterday.  I changed the engine oil and filter as well as the two fuel filters.  I also went for swim to change the three zincs on the prop and shaft, something that I had been meaning to for some time but the visibility in the water has not been good enough. Here, the visibility is about 3-4 feet which is pretty good.  And, while the water is in the high 60s, I still needed to suit up as an hour in 69 degree water can get pretty cold.

So, do I look like a mini Jacques Cousteau?  Not bad for a semi-old guy.   Believe it or not, I was able to remove 13 itty-bitty screws and replace all of the parts and I didn’t even drop a single one.   Using a grease gun under water proved to be more challenging than I had anticipated.    Alas, mission accomplished.

After my “swim” we headed into downtown Cocoa and enjoyed a late lunch.  Me, I also had an ice cream cone because I was confident that I had earned it after my aquatic exploits.   Folks question me as to why I don’t hire someone to handle the under water work.  My answer… “I get to have desert!”.   After burning all of those calories I have to put them back and have found that ice cream is the best mechanism that I have been able to come up with.

Cocoa also has a really nice waterfront park, complete with a fountain.   The fountain is one of those where there isn’t a pond under the fountain at all.  The water squirts up through holes in a flat tile base and runs off into a grate at the edge of the fountain.  I was amused by a sign posted near the fountain stating that there was “no diving”.   What’s that all about?   There isn’t a pool under the fountain at all.  It’s just a slab with water squirting out of holes.  Well, they warned you.  NO DIVING into the cement slab.  I guess that the town lawyers made a case that those that needed to be warned were the same folks that watch prime time TV, perhaps not the brightest stars in the galaxy.The downtown streets are very quaint with shops of all sorts to choose from. Cocoa is a really nice city and well worth the visit.   The sign as you enter the waterfront park reminds you to enjoy the holidays.   Bummer about the miss-matched type. Perhaps they should talk to Osborne at Travis Hardware.  I’ll bet that they have a proper “H” in stock.  No, make that 100 in stock. We plan to enjoy yet another day in Cocoa before we head south to Melbourne to the SSCA gam on Wednesday.   Oh yeah, the sun is out and it’s another beautiful day.

It’s Monday morning and the sun isn’t yet up here in Cocoa.  Having said that, I expect that today, like the last few days, will begin with an absolutely wonderful sunrise.  I have to take sunrise photos as it is the only way that Brenda can enjoy them.   She has often said that her natural state is asleep.  Unfortunately, that “natural state” often alludes her until around dawn.   So, photos of the last two sunrises when we were in St Augustine are for Brenda.  If one fab sunrise is good, a second is better. Yesterday we came through Mosquito Bay and area that was just a ditch run through miles and miles of a shallow bay that is rarely more than five feet deep.  Even though there was water all around us the constant threat of running aground kept us on our toes.  After a nearly 50km run for the day we were tired and had certainly had enough.   The wind had also piped up so that we were motoring into it after some motor sailing earlier in the day.  Having to stay in the channel to avoid running aground was made even more fun given the large amount of weekend boat traffic.   Adding an additional bit of tension was the fact that my max prop has been vibrating a bit, something that shouldn’t be happening as I had it rebuilt a few years ago.  I expect that it needs more grease in the hub which I will pump in today.  However, there may be more to it, perhaps the shaft log nuts are loose.  Who knows. Vibration in the running gear is not a good thing as it, if not addressed, can shake other things loose.  Fortunately when this happens, I can put the shift into reverse and then back in forward which smooths things out.  Having said that, it can’t be good for the transmission.

My friend Keith, who has run his boat north and south many times, says that you are really in Florida after you pass St Augustine.  I believe him as while the water temperature, which was stuck in the low 60s for much of our trip south, rose by nearly ten degrees shortly after leaving St Augustine.  While I don’t know if it was just a different weather pattern over the last few days, we are now enjoying our first warm weather (that’s no heat required in the evenings and mornings and shorts during the day) in a long time.   Over the last few months, we have chased the cooler weather and water temperatures south as we progressed along the way.   Warmer is better as I will have to go for a swim today to deal with the prop as well as the shaft and prop zincs that need to be changed.   I am also glad that the water is somewhat clearer,  I expect that the visibility is at least a few feet here, something that we haven’t seen since we entered the ICW.  Tough to handle zincs when you can’t see anything. It’s a good thing that I have the hookah dive compressor as it will take me plenty of time to get all of this done.

Setting aside the drudgery of yesterday’s run, the last few days have been great fun.  In particular, we have watched the scenery change from miles of marsh to a mix of wetlands and residential development.   While it may have happened sooner than I realized, we have now entered an area of mangrove instead of the grasslands that were dominant further north.This was a nice looking lighthouse that we passed on our way past the Ponce De Leon inlet, just south of Daytona beach.  There are plenty of bridges in Florida and the further south we get the more there are.  Within about one mile in South Smyrna we passed five bridges.  To give this some context, in all of Georgia we only went under five.

As we looked behind us, three.  In front, two more.  Love the mosaic work that was on every piling of this bridge. Perhaps it was a plastic stick-on, but I couldn’t get that close to see for sure.  My vote is for something more durable.   This sort of ornamentation wouldn’t hold up well in the north. The attention to detail certainly demonstrates how important the water economy is here in Florida.  “If you like this bridge, you’ll love our city.  Stop and spend money!”  I stopped but didn’t get off of Pandora to spend a dime.  Sorry.We are also in manatee country but have not yet seen one yet.  Given the fact that these gentle creatures don’t swim very fast, it’s amazing that there are any left given the massive amount of boat traffic where they live.   I am told that nearly all of them have nasty scars on their backs from the props of passing boats.   Very sad.

On a lighter note, we had our first dose of Christmas boat parade when we were anchored in New Smyrna.   As we headed toward our destination we passed this boat with a full, and well amplified, band on board.  That and the pirate motif are certainly writing home about, and that’s what I will do.  Or, at least I’ll include photos.   Pretty funny. I wonder if they had life jackets for all on board?  I am trying to imagine how a Coast Guard boarding would go with this group.  “Matey, have yee flotation devices for your crew and wenches?”   So, any votes as to who is the captain?  My vote is for the grumpy guy on the left.  Behind him, head wench?  Well, at least happiest wench. This vessel had everything a pirate could want, even a trusty teddy bear.

We anchored south of New Smyrna and had dinner in the cockpit with some friends, Ginny and Ted off of Firecracker, a sistership to Pandora.  They too are on their first run to the Bahamas.

As the evening progressed, we were passed by boat after boat heading to the start of the parade.  This one, unlit was just a hint as to the extent of the decorations. Later, after dark, all the boats passed us again, ablaze with lights.  And, all this in the company of the Coast Guard, complete with flashing blue lights and a good attempt to show that they too knew how to “deck the hulls”.  I guess this is the one time of year when the rules of the road for vessel lighting are suspended.   It was too dark to get a good photos as the boats paraded by but this will give you a feel for what it looked like.  Well, this is what Santa and Rudolf would have looked like if you had enough to drink, which we did. What was this?  Don’t know, but it was blue. If I recall, the little brown guy on top was Snoopy.
Yes, this was a sport fisherman, complete with outriggers. It was a great show for sure.  I am beginning to get used to this palm tree Christmas thing.   Yes, it’s looking pretty good.  And no Dorothy, we aren’t in Kansas any more.  That’s for sure.