It’s been a busy few weeks since our last update, but we’ve crossed a number of milestones toward our goal. Now, we’re finally on our way . . . to Rochester, NY. You may think that doesn’t sound like a cruising destination for folks who said they were going to start sailing in the Chesapeake, and you’d be right. We’re headed there by car, while we wait for the boat to go back in the water, but more about that later.
The last weeks for Cathy at work saw her continuing to transition responsibilities to others and document as much as possible for her eventual replacement. It was a daunting task. You start to realize how much you just “know” about what you do, how much is instinct because you know your people and your customers, and how hard it is to communicate it all. Also, it was heartbreaking to say goodbye to so many co-workers who she will no longer see every day, but all the expressions of appreciation made it feel that she had made a difference. Of course, the good-byes weren’t without a sense of humor. Such as the bottle of vitamin C presented to us to prevent “scurvy”. The final event was after work on April 24th, her last day. David joined her co-workers in an after-work get-together on an outdoor patio at Mi Rancho on a beautiful afternoon in Germantown. It was a nice ending.
The same day Cathy stopped working, as part of the Boy Scout Troop 1577 Court of Honor, a surprise recognition was planned to honor David’s service to Troop 1577 and its Venture Crew. Cathy was watching the clock a bit as the day wound down to ensure we could make it from Germantown MD to Herndon VA so that David would be there on time. He knew about a Crew Meeting, but was unaware of the planned presentation. It was a bit of a surprise when both Cathy and David were recognized (the Venture Crew are older scouts and obviously sneakier), and the number of crew members who came was a tribute in itself. (They are busy young adults, especially this time of year.) The surprises didn’t end there. Two nights later, 2 crew members who are now freshmen in college at UVA called to express their appreciation for our (and especially David’s) mentoring them as they led the crew. A particular bond was formed with each of them, when on 2 different outings, we had to have each of them transported to the emergency room. One by Med-Evac helicopter. It could be suggested that maybe our leaving was a good thing for the crew.
David continued to busy himself with a myriad of preparations for leaving our permanent address and preparing the boat for our cruise.
The boat preparations involved more trips to deliver “stuff” that we think we need on board and to search for a wet slip for the month of May. We found what we were looking for at Hospitality Harbor, which is right next door to Spring Cove Marina, where the boat is on the hard now. Although Spring Cove is a beautiful marina, the Memorial Day weekend was going to be problematic for them to accommodate us in a slip (due to previous reservations), and it was pricier than Hospitality Harbor. (We are on a budget, you know.) However, being on a budget didn’t stop David from making additional purchases for the boat. As we mentioned earlier, we had already upgraded the existing Delta anchor and rode, positioning us well for routine anchoring. However, we knew we needed a storm anchor, which David found on-line at Riverside Marine. It is a Fortress FX-37, which is highly rated for holding, is supposed to be 2 sizes bigger than our boat requires, and is easy to stow below decks (specifically under our berth with the accompanying 350 feet of ¾” rode). NOW, maybe we’ll sleep when we’re at anchor, even in high winds. The other purchase for the boat was an LED masthead light, purchased from First Star. Although pricier than an incandescent bulb, the LED’s require much less power and are longer lasting. This, hopefully, will mean fewer trips up the mast to replace the light. Although, we will have to make at least one trip up there to change the bulb . . . We were thrown one curve in our schedule when the marina told us that the boat directly behind us wanted to wait until after May 7th to be put in the water. How flexible were we? We decided that our schedule wasn’t that tight and that this would be a good opportunity to see our son, grandson, and David’s family in Rochester. So, since we had no place to sleep for a week, we will be freeloading visiting with family instead. (Hence, the trip to Rochester.)
With Cathy’s job ending, there was no longer a need for 2 cars, so David prepared his beloved convertible for sale. It sold the first day after the ad ran in the Washington Post, but he was glad it went to a good home. However, later events may be a sign that we sold the wrong car.
The rest of the time was spent in move preparations: packing, cleaning out, address changes, and setting up automatic payments to reduce the amount of snail mail requiring any action. We took 2 trips to Bonnie and Troy’s house with a loaded car to reduce the number of boxes being handled by the movers, especially the fragile items. We were convinced we had easily reduced the remaining load to the 30 box estimate we had originally given the movers. When the final tally was taken, there were 67 boxes on moving day. I guess we should cross move estimators off the list of possible second careers. After a marathon packing session on Wednesday till early Thursday morning, move day went relatively uneventfully.
In the middle of moving, Cathy made time for the last transition she had to make, which was to ensure her responsibilities for an ecumenical Works Sunday event were covered. This required her to interrupt the packing activities on Tuesday / Wednesday to complete a website maintenance handbook (for the organization’s website, which she created and maintained) and to train a new committee member to make the updates. After a training session on Wednesday, both Cathy and her replacement were feeling a lot better about the success of the transition. However, Cathy is feeling pretty good in her ability to continue be a backup webmaster. With new cell phone connection software from Verizon, we were genuinely surprised at the speed of the connection, making it appear to be a viable option for getting on-line with regularity.
With all of the packing and moving completed, we returned from Jarratt to enjoy a relaxing lunch with some friends, and then back to our apartment with only an aero bed and a TV (still hooked up to DirecTV for 2 more days). Since we now had nothing but time on our hands, we had agreed to join the United Christian Parish (UCP) Youth Group for a lock-in, which included Cosmic Bowling. Once again, we were pleasantly surprised with a ‘look back” slide presentation that the DCE had prepared, and by the presence of several parents and adult leaders who joined us for the first hour of the lock-in to send us off. The rest of the night was spent playing Ligretto and Sardines, making lunches for a community building event, eating pizza, “flocking” houses to raise money for a Rwandan medical student, enjoying a goodbye cake, leaving our handprints on the wall, and, of course, bowling. (We won’t go into our bowling scores . . .) We even managed to get about 5 hours sleep, although we were dragging the next day.
Instead of crashing the next morning, we decided (?) to make another run to the boat with the final load of “stuff”, and then rush back to ready the apartment for its final inspection. (Cathy slept all the way there; David all the way back.) We happened to discover that Spring Cove was hosting a barbecue lunch for its slipholders. So we enjoyed our only meal of the day there. Back at the apartment, we hurriedly loaded the car (again) for the trip to Rochester and cleaned in preparation for the walkthrough. We completed the inspection tour by 3pm and then finally could relax.
There was one last good-bye when we arrived at church the next morning. During the Joys and Concerns section of the service, our pastor recognized the contributions to the youth group and other church ministries and gave us a small candle (representing the light of Christ) to take with us on our journey.
So, we’re on our way to Rochester, by way of Bethlehem, PA where David’s sister, Diane, and her roommate, Pam live. We thought this would be a simple ending to this April month-end update, but life isn’t that cooperative. After a quick stop for gas and a bite to eat in Frederick, MD, our reliable Malibu that had carried Cathy back and forth to work uneventfully for 3 years, wouldn’t start. We ended up getting a jump start to get it going, and then replaced the battery at Sam’s Club, which was right next door. We were doubtful that this was the root cause of the problem, but felt it was the best we could do on a Sunday afternoon. We started up the road again and made it as far as Kutztown PA on I-78, when all of a sudden, David realized he had no power as we climbed the hill toward the Kutztown exit. He quickly pulled off the road, and we sat in the car swaying as trucks raced by waiting for a tow truck to arrive. His sister, Diane, was on her way, too, to pick us up. Now the car is sitting at a Chevy dealer in Kutztown and we are safe in Bethlehem, PA. It will be interesting to see what tomorrow will bring. Maybe we did sell the wrong car . . .
The last weeks for Cathy at work saw her continuing to transition responsibilities to others and document as much as possible for her eventual replacement. It was a daunting task. You start to realize how much you just “know” about what you do, how much is instinct because you know your people and your customers, and how hard it is to communicate it all. Also, it was heartbreaking to say goodbye to so many co-workers who she will no longer see every day, but all the expressions of appreciation made it feel that she had made a difference. Of course, the good-byes weren’t without a sense of humor. Such as the bottle of vitamin C presented to us to prevent “scurvy”. The final event was after work on April 24th, her last day. David joined her co-workers in an after-work get-together on an outdoor patio at Mi Rancho on a beautiful afternoon in Germantown. It was a nice ending.
The same day Cathy stopped working, as part of the Boy Scout Troop 1577 Court of Honor, a surprise recognition was planned to honor David’s service to Troop 1577 and its Venture Crew. Cathy was watching the clock a bit as the day wound down to ensure we could make it from Germantown MD to Herndon VA so that David would be there on time. He knew about a Crew Meeting, but was unaware of the planned presentation. It was a bit of a surprise when both Cathy and David were recognized (the Venture Crew are older scouts and obviously sneakier), and the number of crew members who came was a tribute in itself. (They are busy young adults, especially this time of year.) The surprises didn’t end there. Two nights later, 2 crew members who are now freshmen in college at UVA called to express their appreciation for our (and especially David’s) mentoring them as they led the crew. A particular bond was formed with each of them, when on 2 different outings, we had to have each of them transported to the emergency room. One by Med-Evac helicopter. It could be suggested that maybe our leaving was a good thing for the crew.
David continued to busy himself with a myriad of preparations for leaving our permanent address and preparing the boat for our cruise.
The boat preparations involved more trips to deliver “stuff” that we think we need on board and to search for a wet slip for the month of May. We found what we were looking for at Hospitality Harbor, which is right next door to Spring Cove Marina, where the boat is on the hard now. Although Spring Cove is a beautiful marina, the Memorial Day weekend was going to be problematic for them to accommodate us in a slip (due to previous reservations), and it was pricier than Hospitality Harbor. (We are on a budget, you know.) However, being on a budget didn’t stop David from making additional purchases for the boat. As we mentioned earlier, we had already upgraded the existing Delta anchor and rode, positioning us well for routine anchoring. However, we knew we needed a storm anchor, which David found on-line at Riverside Marine. It is a Fortress FX-37, which is highly rated for holding, is supposed to be 2 sizes bigger than our boat requires, and is easy to stow below decks (specifically under our berth with the accompanying 350 feet of ¾” rode). NOW, maybe we’ll sleep when we’re at anchor, even in high winds. The other purchase for the boat was an LED masthead light, purchased from First Star. Although pricier than an incandescent bulb, the LED’s require much less power and are longer lasting. This, hopefully, will mean fewer trips up the mast to replace the light. Although, we will have to make at least one trip up there to change the bulb . . . We were thrown one curve in our schedule when the marina told us that the boat directly behind us wanted to wait until after May 7th to be put in the water. How flexible were we? We decided that our schedule wasn’t that tight and that this would be a good opportunity to see our son, grandson, and David’s family in Rochester. So, since we had no place to sleep for a week, we will be freeloading visiting with family instead. (Hence, the trip to Rochester.)
With Cathy’s job ending, there was no longer a need for 2 cars, so David prepared his beloved convertible for sale. It sold the first day after the ad ran in the Washington Post, but he was glad it went to a good home. However, later events may be a sign that we sold the wrong car.
The rest of the time was spent in move preparations: packing, cleaning out, address changes, and setting up automatic payments to reduce the amount of snail mail requiring any action. We took 2 trips to Bonnie and Troy’s house with a loaded car to reduce the number of boxes being handled by the movers, especially the fragile items. We were convinced we had easily reduced the remaining load to the 30 box estimate we had originally given the movers. When the final tally was taken, there were 67 boxes on moving day. I guess we should cross move estimators off the list of possible second careers. After a marathon packing session on Wednesday till early Thursday morning, move day went relatively uneventfully.
In the middle of moving, Cathy made time for the last transition she had to make, which was to ensure her responsibilities for an ecumenical Works Sunday event were covered. This required her to interrupt the packing activities on Tuesday / Wednesday to complete a website maintenance handbook (for the organization’s website, which she created and maintained) and to train a new committee member to make the updates. After a training session on Wednesday, both Cathy and her replacement were feeling a lot better about the success of the transition. However, Cathy is feeling pretty good in her ability to continue be a backup webmaster. With new cell phone connection software from Verizon, we were genuinely surprised at the speed of the connection, making it appear to be a viable option for getting on-line with regularity.
With all of the packing and moving completed, we returned from Jarratt to enjoy a relaxing lunch with some friends, and then back to our apartment with only an aero bed and a TV (still hooked up to DirecTV for 2 more days). Since we now had nothing but time on our hands, we had agreed to join the United Christian Parish (UCP) Youth Group for a lock-in, which included Cosmic Bowling. Once again, we were pleasantly surprised with a ‘look back” slide presentation that the DCE had prepared, and by the presence of several parents and adult leaders who joined us for the first hour of the lock-in to send us off. The rest of the night was spent playing Ligretto and Sardines, making lunches for a community building event, eating pizza, “flocking” houses to raise money for a Rwandan medical student, enjoying a goodbye cake, leaving our handprints on the wall, and, of course, bowling. (We won’t go into our bowling scores . . .) We even managed to get about 5 hours sleep, although we were dragging the next day.
Instead of crashing the next morning, we decided (?) to make another run to the boat with the final load of “stuff”, and then rush back to ready the apartment for its final inspection. (Cathy slept all the way there; David all the way back.) We happened to discover that Spring Cove was hosting a barbecue lunch for its slipholders. So we enjoyed our only meal of the day there. Back at the apartment, we hurriedly loaded the car (again) for the trip to Rochester and cleaned in preparation for the walkthrough. We completed the inspection tour by 3pm and then finally could relax.
There was one last good-bye when we arrived at church the next morning. During the Joys and Concerns section of the service, our pastor recognized the contributions to the youth group and other church ministries and gave us a small candle (representing the light of Christ) to take with us on our journey.
So, we’re on our way to Rochester, by way of Bethlehem, PA where David’s sister, Diane, and her roommate, Pam live. We thought this would be a simple ending to this April month-end update, but life isn’t that cooperative. After a quick stop for gas and a bite to eat in Frederick, MD, our reliable Malibu that had carried Cathy back and forth to work uneventfully for 3 years, wouldn’t start. We ended up getting a jump start to get it going, and then replaced the battery at Sam’s Club, which was right next door. We were doubtful that this was the root cause of the problem, but felt it was the best we could do on a Sunday afternoon. We started up the road again and made it as far as Kutztown PA on I-78, when all of a sudden, David realized he had no power as we climbed the hill toward the Kutztown exit. He quickly pulled off the road, and we sat in the car swaying as trucks raced by waiting for a tow truck to arrive. His sister, Diane, was on her way, too, to pick us up. Now the car is sitting at a Chevy dealer in Kutztown and we are safe in Bethlehem, PA. It will be interesting to see what tomorrow will bring. Maybe we did sell the wrong car . . .
