Christmas Eve....Christmas Day. 2016

 We anchored behind Drigger Island...Saw a big gator on our way in..

 Jim spotted this big one swimming.

 I like these turtles...

An Osprey having lunch

 This is a Great Blue Heron....it stands about 5' tall

 Back through the canal

 Here is another big one....got to be at least 12'-13'

The Elusive Limpkin....Diane's favorite bird.

 How about this guy....look at the size of the mouth.

 Jim got a charge out of the way this big one was sunning.

 

 This one is not as big as the others...but still could do damage.

 another good sized gator

 Now here is one that would make you want to jump right in the water and go swimming...LOL

Same gator...different view...just look at those teeth.  We see so many people on pontoon boats just jump in the water ....I don't think we would....not after seeing so many big ones.

We got to our anchorage around noon...these two were checking each other out....decided not to sit around all afternoon so headed to the ramp and pulled out.....a great 2 days on the water and lots of big gators.  MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Christmas on the St Johns River.

Once on the water...we headed up river and took a side channel.We were surprised at how many big gators we saw.

 and another....

 Blue Heron

 another very big one.

this one was a bit smaller....maybe 7-8 feet.

 I guess this turtle doesnt realize that gators eat them...but this gator is only about 5-6 feet and the turtle is pretty big.

 This one may be 8 feet.

 

 

Only part of this one is out of the water...cannot see much of it's tail...but it is big.

We anchored at Drigger Island for the night....

The new look

All the chrome came with the front end that Jim picked up.

 He did a nice paint job.

 It doesn't look much different than before from this angle.

 The front end is all Hudson.....

 Chrome on the hood....fenders...and on the sides is "Hudson"

 I didn't think I would like all the chrome...but it really does look good...some of it needs to be re-chromed and Jim found a place that can do it....but for now we'll leave it like it is.

 Even looks good under the hood

 The new "medalion"...now he wont have to put a sign on the roof saying "this is not a Mercury"...

  

 our old car ('49 Hudson)  and the new car ('57 Chevy) 

We use these as daily drivers.....even tow a little camper with them.

This was taken on the Skyline Drive. 

Jim has no problem driving out through a field...of course we've been here before so he knows the lay of the land.

the nice thing about old cars....Jim can fix them

The Hudson has towed this camper over 11,000 miles.....Michigan, NY,VT,NH and places in between. It was a great trip...In MI we even woke up with frost on the Hudson...
We traveled the Skyline Drive....35 mph uphill and downhill and around the peaks....it runs into the Blue Ridge Parkway...45 mph...lots of pull offs on both roads for the views.

time for paint

Jim had to wipe the whole car down with "Prep-All". It removes grease and finger prints.

This is a very tiring job...you have to keep up a constant sweep....back and forth...to make sure every inch is covered. Holding that position can be tough on your back and shoulders.

 How do you like the mask...When we built the garage it was for our tractor..we were going to have a Needle Palm business. We built it with a roll up door at each end so you could drive in and out the other side...also makes for a nice breeze.

 We left a section at the top open ...Jim screened it to keep birds out but they worked one end open...every now and then he finds a Carolina Wren nest in his shelves.

 looking pretty good...

 still wet so pretty shiny....time for a break...

 washing up the white wall tires....

 now it is ready for head lights....turn signals...bumper and trim

I kinda like it like this.....starting to look more satin than shiny.

body work and getting ready for paint

it takes a lot of time to get the body work done right....you do it over and over

 covering and taping everything that isn't going to be painted.

 backed it outside so everything that was repaired would be visible....natural sunlight is best for spotting dents

 after spending time looking it over......

 it was brought inside...sanded

 after sanding it had primer paint on it....Jim then backed it out into the shade and spent hours sanding with fine grit paper to get all the rough spots off.

 Back inside ....wheels covered...

and the whole car had to be wiped down with a solution to get all the finger prints and grease off.

this is weeks of work....he has about 400 hrs in it now.