Day 76, Year 8: Day of Decisions
Date: Friday, January 18, 2013
Weather: Mostly Sunny but Cool with High Temp in the 50’s
Location: Lightkeepers Marina in Coquina Harbor, Little River, SC
We got no snow last night, but the weather did turn much cooler. It doesn’t feel like winter to us–more like late fall in New England. But that is cold enough! We both worked on our computers today, and Mark was on the phone a great deal of the time. I worked on getting Year 1 photos named and uploaded to the website and Mark work on his consulting job. He also talked with the city clerk in Concord, New Hampshire, and she assured us that although we must vote there, we cannot get a car registered without proof of current residence. If we lived in a homeless shelter, we could get a license, but living on a boat doesn’t count. Mark put up a good, logical argument, but to no avail. So we have decided not to buy a car until we get back up north and can establish residency in Massachusetts. That decision led to another. We decided that we will fly to Florida to visit with Mark’s family, so we booked our flights. We will fly down on February 7 and return on February 18. Mark then called West Marine in Falmouth to check on the possibility of returning to work there in the spring. They will need him starting in May, so we decided that he will fly to Boston for his mid-April check-up and when he returns, we will start our trek north. At this point the tentative decision is to retrace our trip south. We will head from here to Norfolk via the Intracoastal, sail up through the Chesapeake to the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, and then on through the Delaware Bay to Cape May. We will go off shore from there to Woods Hole. If the weather is really settled, we might go outside all the way from here, but we will make that decision when the time comes. It was truly a day of decisions. It is always good to have a plan and now we have one.
Lynda and Lee dropped by today to talk about our little voyage next weekend. We are going about 10 miles up the waterway to the Grand Dunes Marina Inn for an outing with the Power Squadron. Lee and Lynda are going with us on Windbird and we will attend the luncheon and dock party (weather permitting), spend the night, and return home the next day. My sister Patsy and her husband Joe will drive up and join us for lunch. The weather should be a tad warmer by next weekend, so it will be a fun winter outing. We talked with our daughter Heather via Skype video this afternoon and got to watch Oliver at play. He is becoming extremely mobile, crawling very fast and pulling up to a standing position. It won’t be long before he is walking. Heather and Jed are preparing for Sam’s birthday party tomorrow. I just can’t believe that ‘grand one’ will really be six years old. It seems just like yesterday that we flew home from New Zealand for his birth.
