Anam Cara Sail
  • Anam Cara
  • 2023
    • Not April Fools!
  • 2021
    • A Hopeful Spring
    • Feels good to travel!
    • Waterfalls & Summer!
    • Ending & Beginning
  • 2020
    • Surreal Spring
  • 2019
    • July already!
    • Fall Travels
    • Ho Ho Ho!
  • 2018
    • Texas winter to Arizona spring
    • National Parks & California!
    • Midwest Summer
    • End of Year Travels
  • 2017
    • St. Petersburg & Cuba
    • Sweet Home Alabama
    • Spring into Summer
    • Black Hills & Nebraska
    • Colorado
    • New Mexico to Texas
    • Texas
  • 2016
    • Transitions
    • Spring in the Land Yacht
    • Back home in the Midwest
    • Travels to Maine
    • Prince Edward Island
    • Southbound
    • December
  • Cruising 2015
    • St. Petersburg
    • Southbound in Gulf - Northbound in Atlantic
    • Summer in Beaufort
    • September on the road...
    • October on the road...
    • December
  • Cruising 2014
    • Winter in Stuart
    • Key Biscayne to Great Harbour Cay
    • Green Turtle Cay to Cumberland Island
    • Beaufort, South Carolina
    • Land travels
    • Ireland and Scotland
  • Cruising 2013
    • March
    • Cortez, FL to Beaufort, NC
    • Back to Deltaville!
    • Back to Washington DC
    • A Capital 4th!
    • The rest of the summer . . .
    • Heading South
    • Merry Christmas
  • Cruising 2012
    • Winter in Marathon
    • Bahamas
    • Bimini to Exuma
    • Exuma to Abaco
    • Getting home
    • New Bern, NC >
      • New Bern Summer
    • New Bern to Ocracoke
    • Myrtle Beach to Marathon
  • Cruising 2011
    • Cortez to Charlotte Harbor
    • Ft. Lauderdale to St. Augustine
    • The Carolina's
    • Chesapeake
    • Washington DC
    • Deltaville & Solomons Island
    • Hurricane Irene
    • Leaving the Chesapeake
    • The Carolina's
    • Savannah to Marathon
  • Chicago to Florida 2010
    • Cortez
    • Marathon
    • Ft. Pierce & Ft. Lauderdale
    • St. Augustine
    • Charleston to Cumberland Island
    • Beaufort to Charleston
    • Hampton to Beaufort
    • New York to Hampton
    • Hudson River
    • Erie Canal
    • Port Clinton
    • Port Huron
    • Charlevoix to Port Sanilac
    • Manistee to Charlevoix
    • Holland to Manistee
    • St. Joe to Holland
    • Hammond to St. Joe
    • From the Boatyard to the Water
  • Summer 2009 North Channel
  • Summer 2008 Lake Michigan
  • Summer 2007 To Chicago
  • April 2007 Sarasota
  • Buddies for Bob
  • Mike's Motorcycle Journals
    • How it all began
    • 2000 Seattle & Vancouver
    • 2001 Maritime Provinces
    • 2002 Wandering West
    • 2003 Oregon
    • 2004 Bar Harbor, Maine
    • 2005 Blue Ridge Mountains
    • 2006 Alaska
  • Contact Us

HI HO, HI HO, It’s off to work we go!!! 
​After 9 years, Mike and Francie return to school!! 


​Starting on November 6th, we began a new chapter in our travels, volunteering at the Franklin Locks and Recreation Area for the Army Corps of Engineers.  The lock is part of the Okeechobee Waterway that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico.  It is the last lock as a boater is going west.  
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​Our primary responsibility is to teach water safety to grammar school students in Fort Meyers and surrounding towns.  Mike is very grateful for Francie’s primary school experience; Mike has always claimed that the little kids scare him. He has always taught junior high and high school students, but he is adjusting quickly.  We created a program around the Army Corps’ guideline.  Neither one of us knew what to expect, but we have had a good time.  
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​When we are not in schools, we are working in the recreation area.  Greeting people (possible job training for Walmart) talking to visitors about the locks and picking up litter are our duties.  The park is a beautiful place to live.  We see eagles, Florida Sandhill Cranes, and manatees. We are told that we even have a couple of alligators living somewhere on the grounds.  It is certainly easy to get our 10,000 steps in.

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​We have to work 25 hours per week between the two of us for our beautiful site in Volunteer Village.  There are 9 sites; plus one in the recreation area and two on the other side of the river in the RV park.   It has been fun to be part of a community; it has been a long time.
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Our site in Volunteer Village
Christmas week is a monumental time for both of us.  Christmas Eve Mike will celebrate his 70th birthday and 5 days later and Francie will be officially embraced by Medicare. 

This Christmas will be our 9th year of what Mike’s Mother described to people as her “homeless children.”  All of you have been our community as we have moved from place to place.

​We wish you a Merry Christmas and a joyful Holiday Season!

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