Day 354, Year 9: Heading South Tomorrow
Date: Friday, October 10, 2014
Weather: Mix of Sun and Clouds, High in the Low 60’s F–Felt Great in the Sun
Location: Quissett Harbor, Falmouth, Massachusetts
I think I could write an entire book about my emotions on the day before heading out for new horizons. During our circumnavigation, no matter where we were in the world, when it was time to leave I was always filled with emotion and not wanting to move on. But as soon as we would get underway, I was quickly looking forward to the journey and the new location. The apprehension about leaving is even stronger when we are leaving family. We have been here with Heather, Jed, and boys continuously since May of 2013—that’s a year and a half of watching grandsons grow. We have loved every minute of it and our bonds have grown tighter with each day, but the thought of another cold New England winter is just enough to nudge us away. We’re hoping Heather, Jed, and boys will be able to come see us this winter in some warmer place, but we assured the boys that just as the birds and the whales so south for the winter and return, Windbird will do the same. Parting was not easy, but after a lot of hugs and kisses, Heather drove us out to Quissett Harbor and we headed out to Windbird. The weather forecast for tomorrow is not great—rain, rain, rain, and cooler temperatures. But the rain should stop by evening. Cold, rainy nights are much more miserable than cold, rainy days, so we’ll hope that part of the forecast holds true. I will be sending my logs via Ham radio for the next few days, so hopefully we’ve not forgotten how to do this. We think we have found the problem with our radio connection, but just in case, don’t panic if a log does not appear. If that happens, the most likely cause will be a technical difficulty. But we’ll certainly be in touch when we reach Chesapeake City on Monday night.
To back track just a bit, we had a lovely morning with Sam, Jonah, and Oliver. When they spend the night on Windbird without mommy and daddy, I get the joy of having Ollie sleep with me in the aft cabin. Lucky me. We get to snuggle all night. And this morning, very early, Sam and Jonah came in to snuggle with Oliver as well. They made an Ollie sandwich with Sam on one side and Jonah on the other. It was a fun way to start the morning. Then we played Legos, had breakfast, and headed to shore in the dinghy minus the motor. Sam rowed us over and we flipped the dinghy on the beach so I could clean the bottom. The bottom paint we used last fall has worked great. The only place there were barnacles was where the paint had been scraped off. There was a bit of a green algae in some spots, but that scrubbed off easily with a brush, so now all is clean. After cleaning the dinghy, we returned to Windbird for lunch and for the trial of raising Windbird on to the deck. That also worked smoothly, so we felt like we could head into town. Heather and Jed came to retrieve their boys and Mark and I went to storage to get the last few items we want to take south with us. Then we went to Heather and Jed’s for dinner. I had offered to make salmon cakes since I needed to make some to take on the trip with us as well. Heather picked kale from the garden and fixed that. We had a delightful meal and then said those ‘not so easy’ goodbyes.
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| 141010 Day 354 Cape Cod, USA–Last Day in Quissett Harbor |
