Our trip back to OYCM

Rich and Joey turning the Morningstar

We left Palatka to begin our 50 mile trip back to Jacksonville around 11:30 AM on Wednesday.

Joey offered to drive us to Palatka so we wouldn't have to make a trip back to get our car. I was very thankful for the ride and also thankful that Joey would be there to help Rich turn the Morning Star around. I don't know why but when the reality that we were finallly leaving hit me I started to get really nervious. In fact Joey offered to go with Rich and I would just have to drive his $50,000 truck back to Jacksonville. That was not something I wanted to do, so I said a fast prayer, reminded myself of the fact the Lord would be with us and then waved goodby to Joey and our friends at the marina. It only took a few minutes to start to relax once I started to soak up the beauty of the St John's River.

Just minutes into the trip the port engine started to run hot so Rich decided to shut it off and just use the starboard engine. Rich said it probably needed a new thermostat. The drive up the river was truly beautiful.

We were just pasting under the Shands Bridge in Green Cove Springs when we started loosing power on the alternator on the starboard engine. Since we were only running on the starboard engine Rich said he had to keep the batteries up so Rich started the generator.  Rich said it would power the battery charger.  Once he did that it was running fine. In fact with the generator running Rich went down in to the gally and made a pot of coffee which we enjoyed on the bridge. Everything was going great until we got back to the marina and Rich went to back up the boat into our slip and he couldn't get the boat to go in reverse. Rich did not know why this was happening and it made for a very trying dockage. 

Once the Morning Star was safely tied up, Rich went down below to check out what was wrong and found out that we had an electrical fire. It burned up all the wiring, it started burning the fuel filter and burned through the pressure hose,  The water pump was on so once it burned through the water hose the water put the fire out.  We did not see or smell any smoke. The Lord was truly watching over us and we are very grateful.  God's angels were truly with us. While I was up on the bridge singing, "Great is Thy Faithfulness" little did I know our boat was on fire. 

The Lord is so good to us. If I had any idea we had an electrical fire I would have freaked out and maybe jumped overboard. We maybe not, but I would have been calling 911 and the Coast Guard.

So now we are safely back at the OYCM and Rich has a boat to rewire. I don't know what we would have done if Rich was not able to repair the wiring. Rich said it will take him about a week to get all the wiring replaced. The Lord is so faithful and kind to us and we love him with all our hearts.  Be blessed!