Living in Limbo

Limbo, Roman Catholic theology notwithstanding, is "an uncertain period of awaiting a decision or resolution; an intermediate state or condition." Yes. That's exactly where we find ourselves at the moment. We have "open" boat projects relating to electrical issues, exterior painting, and interior work on the galley and salon. All are at various stages of completion. A broad goal is to have everything done, and for us to be able to start cruising, by the end of May. But it's a busy boatyard, and when an emergency repair on a commercial barge crops up, workers can get pulled from our projects to work the emergency. And like all improvement projects--whether they involve houses or boats--unexpected issues will crop up and result in the dreaded "project creep." We've already had some experience with this--an unexpected leak of engine coolant, a funky electrical grounding issue in our 24 volt system. Sigh . . . just add those to the "to do" list. 

The Tinnemann's employees work hard, but corporate culture
includes well-deserved "beer on the boss" time on Fridays after work

Despite the uncertainties, things continue to progress. The exterior painting of the hull up to the gunnel was completed on Saturday morning, so Saturday afternoon was moving day--getting us off the floating dry dock and back to our former mooring position on the canal where the remainder of the exterior painting and the interior work can be done.

First step: release water from one side to
better level the dry dock

The floating dry dock angling toward the fairway and the
exit from the boat yard

Another perspective

It was a fascinating process to watch. Every movement was done very slowly and there wasn't a lot of room for maneuvering.

A small push boat is used to help steer the dry dock
into position pointing down the fairway

A tight corner: using a board fender to keep the dry dock from
damaging the barge Fiducie

Finalizing the position in the fairway

Allowing water into the dry dock chambers to sink it
and allow the boat to float off

Towing boat hooked up in front and ready to depart

On the canal and approaching the mooring site

It's great to back on the boat, but it's also difficult because almost everything in the galley was packed away last fall and mostly needs to stay that way. We can only pull out the bare minimum of things to use for cooking and eating, which creates a few inefficiencies. In addition, we can't do a lot of grocery shopping to stock the boat because we need to keep most of our galley and salon cabinets empty in preparation for the upcoming interior work. So, what's the solution? A day away from Maasbracht!

Tinnemann's let us use one of their company trucks for getting around, so on Sunday we headed south for a few hours. Our first stop was the Netherlands American Cemetery, the only American military cemetery in the Netherlands. It is a Second World War military war grave cemetery located near a historic former Roman highway approximately 10 km east of Maastricht. The graves are those of servicemen who died in the battles of 1944 and 1945 in the areas near the eastern Netherlands.

Looking toward the American flag, graves on either side. The cemetery contains more than
8,000 graves

In the opposite direction is the memorial tower, which contains
a small chapel

Two walls flanking a reflecting pool contain the names of over
1,700 missing American service personnel

Our second stop of the day was the medieval town of Valkenburg aan de Geul (Valkenburg on the Geul, a small river.) We came for lunch and a quick stroll around the town, but we really need to get an earlier start on the touring day and come back to explore its famous mines and caves, some of which date back to Roman times. The cavern system has been used extensively for shelter in wartime in various eras. 

A beautiful Sunday, and a favorite pastime in Valkenburg is
eating and drinking at the numerous cafes and restaurants

What is a medieval town without castle ruins? A castle first
appeared on this site in the 1100's. The only castle in the Netherlands
built on a hill, these ruins are from the 14th C version of the castle

As part of the 2020 Liberation Day commemorations, the town
posted WWII photos at the sites where the photos were
originally taken

View down the Geul River toward the Kasteel Den Halder, a castle from
the 17th C (now privately owned)

Temptation personified: a steady stream of ice cream cones
was spotted coming from this shop. When we were on the Great Loop
cruise we often sought out local ice cream. A great tradition
deserves to be revisited, so . . . 

. . .Voila! It was delicious!

The weather the past two days hasn't allowed for any additional painting to be done on the boat, and with tomorrow (April 27) being a national holiday  (King's Day) here in the Netherlands, there won't be any work getting done tomorrow. So we will just have to seek out something holiday-like to do.