Fall in New England – dan
It’s a magical time in the land of steady habits. The time when leaves go psychedelic and the people start mixing summer clothes with winter things; sandals, shorts and a jacket are not an unusual ensemble. Susan and I both have more clothes then Gypsy has room for so today we took a serious look at our wardrobes, pondering what to take and what to leave behind. We’ll need some warm things for the start of our trip when it could be wet as well as cold. After that it will be all shorts & sandals until we reach New Zealand although a light jacket or fleece might come in handy in the highlands of Guatemala. It’s interesting to see what has been making the cut and what’s being left behind. One thing I noticed during this process is that I have more underwear than Susan but I must admit, hers are much more interesting. Quantity never trumps quality.
We ordered a bunch of spare parts last week and good old Spicer’s Marina really did well by us, shaving a thousand dollars off the discount marine price for a backup autopilot. I got a call from Mystic Stainless that our security grates are ready; I’m excited to see how they came out. We’re still waiting for our canvas worker to finish up the last few jobs for us. Susan’s house closes this Tuesday and we still have tons of stuff to move onto the boat. Right now it’s all in boxes along our dock.
Our friends on Right’s of Man are considering joining the NARC Rally (North American Rally to the Caribbean) and asked us if we wanted to join too. Although we can see that the rally offers some benefits we’re not really the cruise-in-mass type of people. We had been planning on buddy boating with them to Bermuda but if they end up joining NARC we’ll wish them the best of luck and hope to see them in Bermuda.
Our target date for departure has been November 1st but we’ll actually be watching the weather very closely starting October 25th and leave with the first good weather window after that date. Several friends have expressed interest on seeing us off on the date of our departure but we don’t think that is a good idea. Actually the vision of us departing with a group of close friends waving bon voyage from the dock in very beautiful but the reality is that we need to be ready to leave on such short notice we won’t be able to wait for well wishers. So dear friends, feel free to stop by the marina any time during the next couple of weeks or if you’re more adventurous, meet us in Bermuda.
27 days...till November 1st, 21 days till October 25th our earliest possible departure date...
