Here I sit...

...on the boat at the marina (no, we have not yet left the dock), waiting for Wayne to finish working on the generator - an unplanned-for repair that's eaten up hours of precious time - so I can go down and get everything organized, which will probably take all day. Meanwhile, all I can do is look around at the mess and wonder what the heck I'm going to do with all this stuff. Trying to anticipate everything we could possibly need for the next four months and then trying to pare it all down to absolute essentials has been mind-boggling. Remember, we’ve never done a trip anything like this before. Sure, there will be stores along the way, and we'll be picking up provisions as we go, but I want to be well-prepared and don't like having to buy stuff we already have at home.

Another challenge has been clothing: we need to pack for all kinds of weather as well as all sorts of activities (hiking, general sight-seeing, dinners out with friends along the way, maybe a show in New York, etc.). In the interest of time, I packed the clothes for both of us. Wayne will have a fit when he sees how many I brought, but hey, did I mention the laundry thing? I don't want to spend any more time than necessary sitting in a laundromat, and you can be sure that's not even a blip on his radar.

So why haven't we left yet when we were supposed to have left Friday, Sunday, Tuesday? Boat stuff. Electronic stuff. And I-don't-know-what-all stuff. Maybe Wayne will fill you in later, if he ever reaches a point when there's nothing else to do but write about the trials and tribulations of commissioning a boat. Bet you can hardly wait for that, huh?

Mom came into town Sunday morning since we thought Sunday would be the day she'd be driving us back up to Bayfield. We went to the hospital to visit Brian, then had lunch at Amy and Michael's with them and Amy's parents, who were in town visiting from Michigan. We also got together with Joey. I talked to a frantic Wayne that afternoon and told him hey, it's ok, no rush. Originally, Mom had a very small window of time when she could drive us up because she was expecting company this week, but because of Brian's illness (and the possibility that he would be having surgery this week) she cancelled her company and her schedule was freed up. 

Long story short: We finally got up here about 6:00 last night (Tuesday). The up side to the delay is that I got everything done at home that I needed to and more: made and froze two batches of soup, a batch of white chili, two meatloaves, and lots of brown and wild rice for the trip, and cleaned the house from top to bottom (it's a great stress-reliever). Most of all, though, I had some quality time with Mom before the trip.

We had hoped to leave late today, anchor at Stockton Island for the night, and continue on to Houghton in the morning. There's another couple two boats over from us, Rachael and Claus, who, coincidentally (if you believe in coincidences), just happen to be making the same trip we are, only they plan to be gone 14 months and their final destination is the Bahamas. They're weeks farther behind on their departure than we are, and now we're neck and neck. I spoke to Rachael this morning and found out they have the same plans for today as we do, so I made them a friendly wager: whoever gets to Houghton last has the other couple over for drinks the first opportunity we have.

The vision of ice cold rum and Diet Cokes dissolved when I got back to the boat and heard Wayne mumbling something about us being lucky if we're able to leave in a week.

Stay tuned...