I awoke early Monday morning and hopped in the shower but something wasn’t right. I turned to look at the toilet and water was gushing over the edge. I looked for a valve to stop the flow, but there was nothing. I yelled for John - there was no response. I threw some towels down to try to keep the flood water from escaping the bathroom, dove into John's sweatshirt (that was handily lying on the floor if you can believe that) leapt to the dock and ran to the hotel lobby looking for John. I couldn’t find him, so ran to Rick and Jody’s room and told Rick we had kind of an emergency as the water continued flowing at a good volume. Just then, John showed up saying the people in the lobby had seen me running around in a panic (I thought I had been more subtle) and after looking at the situation, decided to turn off the breaker which stopped the water pump for the boat, thereby stopping the flow. After some research we found out that the fill valve had gotten stuck open so clean water just kept flooding in. John was able to get it closed so we could turn on the water and power, but we won’t use that toilet until the valve is replaced.
With that as a start to our day, Jody, Rick and I took an hour and a half walk around the town and lake while John dealt with Skipper Bud’s and trying to locate the needed part etc. We wanted to wait to take off for South Haven until the part was located hoping we could get it fixed ASAP. Upon realizing no part was available, John ordered it to be FedExed overnight and we took off for South Haven.
Cruised in to South Haven around 2:00 then Jody and I walked in to the cute and clean town searching for a place for lunch while Rick and John tied up boat ends. We enjoyed lunch on the deck at Bayou Beach an old docked ferry boat that looked like a party cruiser, with their famous S.H.I.T. – South Haven Ice Tea, but the food was surprisingly fresh and tasty.
Then Jody and I walked downtown while John and Rick took a cab to find provisions with Courtney the cab driver (who they later tipped with a pint of Jack Daniels). While pillow shopping at Walmart, John coaxed Rick into flopping down in the aisle to test them out.
Rick opened a good bottle of Pinot Noir which we enjoyed on the boat. We made it to dinner at 9:30 at the restaurant ‘Taste’ On our walk home, John and I sang Fifteen Miles on the Eerie Canal for Jody and Rick who had apparently missed that tune in Kindergarten Choir. Sal must’ve been a pretty cool mule to inspire a song. We played a game of hearts and Rick’s cards fell out of his hand as he fell asleep sitting up, so we decided to call it a day. Things were getting good.
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