Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Heading South

After a week of packing boxes and suitcases, Sue and I enjoyed the Grand River Yacht Club Commodore's Ball on Saturday, November 21st.  With our last Ohio recreational activity behind us, we got up early Sunday morning and packed the car.  The dingy had been loaded with an anchor, power cords, dock lines, etc., a few days before.  My beautiful daughter Kimberly came over to help winterize the water pipes in the house; and, of course, to say goodbye.



We carried our complaining cat Lucy to the car, and we left Painesville at the the crack of 10:00 am. 




 We drove 6.5 hours to Wytheville, Virginia the first day, and 11.5 hours to Melbourne, Florida on day two.  Except for a steady rain during most of our time in North Carolina, the drive was pretty easy. Perhaps the highlight of the drive was passing our good friends Lee and Betty Booth, who were driving their coach to Arcadia, Florida for the winter.  We enjoyed the horn honking and waving so much that after we pulled into a rest area for a quick restroom break, we were able to then pass noisily by again.  Lucy was very good, spending most of the day sleeping in her cage or on Sue's lap.  It took about 30 minutes for us to get to our room each evening, probably because we packed so light.



After only a 2.5 hour drive we arrived at the Glades Boat Storage Yard on Tuesday the 24th at 10:30.  Happily, she was sitting in the work yard adorned by a clean coat of black bottom paint.  John had finished sanding and painting on schedule.  Sue opened up the boat, held her breath and rushed in and out of Passage, removing the dozen formaldahyde bags that successfully kept the interior clean and mildew free.



Passage's decks sport an ugly coat of green and black, so our first job will be to take our four bottles of Soft Scrub with bleach and get to work.  Wednesday will be a fun day!