To and Fro - A last round of good-byes

Harmonie
Don and Anne Myers
Fri 9 Nov 2007 03:56
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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