This Is What $1000 Looks Like

I know I said I would keep everyone updated on our adventures but when the adventures are land-based, you kind of feel like you are cheating. We have been very delayed in our cruising due to a exhaust manifold. We found out that the cast iron version that comes with our Perkins engine sloughs off inside the manifold thus eventually clogging the flow of water. After 34 years the clog was at the root of our overheated engine. John would go into the engine room and repair parts and replace parts that he thought were the culprit and then finally when all else was exhausted (no pun intended) he took out the manifold and saw what a mess it was. After a bit of research we found that a replacement would cost $1695....no discounts for us. Then we found one little blurb on a cruiser forum that talked about a marine exhaust manifold company in Alabama by the name of Mesa Exhaust Systems...for $1000 in satinless steel Mark would make to order a new one for us. It took about 3 1/2 weeks plus shipping but lo and behold we went out on Wed and it worked perfectly.. We will resume cruising in the Bay for the summer and mix a few land based adventures...Of course with all the chaos in the world today we know how lucky we are to just be sitting in a slip in Solomons, Maryland...By the way, the pics are from a festival in Baltimore and of course Republicans going to work on their sightseeing bus in Washington DC.......