Day 282, Year 8: Trip to Hyannis
Date: Monday, August 12, 2013
Weather: Mix of Partly Cloudy and Overcast Skies, Sprinkles
Location: Eel Pond, Woods Hole, Massachusetts
Dealing with all the ‘stuff’ we have had in storage for ten years is a huge job, and one that could have been avoided had I not been so stubborn. I was adamant that things had to be kept, and now I’m having to deal with that decision. Here are some examples. Mark had many suits, some of which had hardly ever been worn. Now those suits have been in storage for ten years and he certainly doesn’t need them anymore. But in our search of consignment shops for resale of used clothing, we are finding none that will take men’s clothing. Now we know those suits will go to Goodwill. Women’s clothing can be put on consignment, but the only shop I can find here on the Cape requires an appointment (the soonest opening on August 31st) and only eleven items can be taken from one appointment time. Then you have to wait another month for another appointment time. This takes a lot of patience and time for not much return. Today we were trying to find a home for two huge boxes of broadcast journalism books that belong to Mark. We tried used book stores in New Hampshire and no one wants them, but we thought possibly Tim’s Used Books in Hyannis might take them. But no. The advice was, “Sometimes you just have to throw old books away. Take them to the dump.” Yuck. I hate doing that, but it looks like that is the only alternative as I’m not sure that even the public library will take these books—too specialized. The same book shop in Hyannis did take some of my old education books, but the total take was $8.00—not enough to pay for the gas to drive to Hyannis. I’ve searched and searched for possible consignment shops for a bedroom set that we have tried in vain to sell on Craig’s List. I am persistent and I think I have possibly found a furniture consignment shop half-way between here and Boston that might take the set. It is painfully obvious that none of this stuff should ever have been put in storage. It should have been sold or given away when we moved aboard the boat. But it wasn’t and I couldn’t, so we will now deal with it the best that we can. The bottom line is that we are spending almost $500 to move this ‘stuff’ from New Hampshire to the Cape just so we can slowly throw it away. Mark’s idea of having someone come to the storage unit in New Hampshire and just take everything to the dump for us is probably the sanest idea, but I just can’t do it. So on goes the saga. The big move will happen on Tuesday, August 20. Then at least the ‘stuff’ will be close-by so it is easier to deal with.
We have heard from some good sailing friends in the past couple of days. Ed and Lynne of Constance, who crossed the Indian Ocean with us, are currently traveling in a small camper van out West. They emailed from Spokane, Washington, and were headed to Idaho to meet up with good friends of theirs that we met in Thailand. Lynne remembered that we once built a cabin in the mountains of Idaho and she was curious about where it was. Their friends have a family cabin on Lake Couer d’Alene. This is a sixty mile-long lake running north to south and our cabin was about twenty-five miles from the southern tip of the lake. So they will be in the right area. Then we got a call from Chris and Geoff of Shambala. These are sailing friends from Australia that we met in South Africa and whom we saw while we were in South Carolina. They have since sailed to the Bahamas and to Cuba and are now in Washington, DC, headed for Canada. We hope to see them on their way north or on their way back south to North Carolina where they will winter the boat. We sure miss our cruising friends and relish every opportunity to see them.
Tomorrow is a special Camp Oma day. Sam, Jonah, and I have looked forward to exploring the mudflats adjacent to the Cape Cod Museum of Natural History for most of the summer. Tomorrow is the day. The program is called Mudflat Mania! and we will become the ‘maniacs.’ Tomorrow night’s log should be full of fun things we discover in that mud.
