12 January - day #41. Ice dancing. I don't know what else to call it. That's what I'm doing as I raise and clean our mud-encased anchor chain. The hoses' overspray is freezing the second it hits the deck. Thus my feet are doing a jig to a melody only they can hear. Because sleeping well at anchor means putting out a lot of chain, I'm now paying the price by having to clean each inch of it. The good news is we're on the way south once again--cold weather be damned. We drop the hook off the quaint little town of Palata about noon. Ashore we enjoy its pretty historic district and then marvel at all the shuttered downtown buildings. Back aboard and continuing south we settle for the night at the state park on the north end of Murphy Island. This marks the halfway point down the St. Johns River. Today's picture looks like a lot of laundry got away. In reality it's the extent that many folks are going to keep their plants warm in these very chilly nights. At a the free, state park dock on Murphy Island. 35nm today and 886nm total. DBH
