To and Fro - A last round of good-byes
Harmonie
Don and Anne Myers
Fri 9 Nov 2007 03:56
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39:16.799N 76:34.883W
We arrived in Baltimore at the Anchorage Marina
(first picture) on September 26, and left exactly six weeks later
after much preparation work and a last round of good-byes.
Squeezed into that six weeks was a trip to the
Annapolis boat show where many dollars were spent on good stuff like a new
dinghy to replace the one that self destructed in the middle of Long Island
Sound and a satellite phone, which will allow us to communicate via email
anytime, anywhere. We bought lots of other good stuff too, but
nothing as glamorous as the satellite phone or the dinghy. I'm not
sure either is really glamorous, but both are more fun than the fancy safety
flares and the like that we bought for the 'grab bag' [non-boater
translation: the bag off-shore sailors keep handy for 'grabbing' on the way
to their life raft in times of trouble]. Nice to have stuff, but hopefully
never used.
Lots of visits were squeezed into the six weeks
starting with a trip to Hobe Sound, Florida to see Don's mom and her friend Fred
(second picture). It seems silly to say since we are retired, but our trip
to Florida was like a vacation, a much needed vacation. Yup, a vacation
from retirement. How much better can life be? We had a great time
with Claire and Fred and tried not to do anything even remotely boat related (we
did walk on the beach one day though...but didn't see any boats so it doesn't
count).
As I have mentioned before, my niece Tracy lives
near Baltimore and we got to see lots of her, which was great. We traded
dinner for a personal training session (Tracy's profession) and she was kind
enough not to laugh at my inability to do even one traditional-type
sit-up. No wonder all of her clients adore her. Tracy's entire
family (my sister Harriet, her husband Donald, my niece Becky, her husband Pete,
and surprise! their new baby Robbie - our first great nephew) came down
for a weekend in October. This was Robbie's first road trip and he seemed
to fare just fine, even on the boat (pictures 3 and 4).
We drove home and managed to see just about all of
my family and many of our friends at lunches, dinners and parties - all
crammed into one week. Pictures 5 and 6 show my brothers and father and my
mom. Sorry, no pictures of friends...we were too busy talking (oh
yeah, and maybe a few drinks here and there too) to think about the
camera. It was great to see everyone and catch up as much as
possible. I'm sure everyone enjoyed Don's Hewitt health
insurance saga. If you haven't already heard it, just give us a call when
you have some time to kill and you can relive the agony with
Don.
Our townhouse, or as Don likes to call it, 'the
expensive storage unit', was just fine in our absence. We felt like it was
a tremendous waste of space since we had to walk so far to get from the kitchen
to the bedroom, and we noticed that it was filled with a lot of stuff we forgot
we had. We fear it will seem even bigger in 18 months.
Last, but definitely not least, our friends Betty
and Jim drove all the way from Alabama to be the last ones (along with Tracy) to
see us off (picture 7). They braved the cold with us this past weekend in
Baltimore and we did our best to practice 'moderation' (Jim's middle
name: James Moderation Slowe).
So, after six weeks of paperwork (not the least of
which was health insurance related) boat work, boat cleaning, buying stuff and
visiting, we are officially ready for the big trip. Walmart is
particularly happy with us. In one fine afternoon at a Baltimore area
Walmart Super Center, we filled three shopping carts with food staples (like
chocolate and stuff to make cookies - essentials like that) and bathroom
necessities (like 48 rolls of Charmin toilet paper - who can live without
it?). Having never purchased such a large quantity of food and bathroom
supplies before, we weren't entirely sure how to go about it.
So, we opted for the fill, pay and load method - as I filled each cart, Don
took it through the register, paid for it, and loaded it into the
car. All in all, this method worked well for me. After this
experience I wonder how my mother ever survived buying groceries for two adults
and seven kids every week. She used to fill, pay and load two carts at a
time, with no Don to help. Ugh. Picture 8 shows our Walmart 'haul'
taking up every possible space in the boat entryway, kitchen, office and dining
area.
Our plan is to make our way down the Chesapeake,
and arrive in Norfolk on Saturday, 11/10. There we will make our final buy
of produce and pick up our volunteer crew member on Sunday. Bill Maloney
has agreed to join us for the Norfolk to St. Thomas leg. Thank
God. This means three people will share 24-hour watch instead of two
and there will be two non-seasick type men on board instead of just one.
Hopefully, if we deliver him back to her in one piece and in working order,
Kathie will forgive us for taking Bill away from not only his 60th birthday
celebration, but their traditional Thanksgiving family extravaganza dinner as
well. We'll be leaving Norfolk Monday, 11/12, weather permitting.
Then it's 10 days, or possibly more depending on the wind, to St.
Thomas. Yes, we will be traveling through part of the famed Bermuda
triangle. We hope not to become part of the legend.
I think we are finally ready.
Anne
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