Preparations

We are at D minus 2--sort of. The last minute preparations are immense and exhausting. The labor is not that physical. The trial is mostly mental. There are so many piles going in so many directions. We are fearful of loosing something vital in all of the chaos. There are so many little parts that are not replacable-- the chuck on the drill or handle on the windless. It's all quite nerve wracking.

I sold the Saturn yesterday to our friend Tom Waters. Jan plans to sell the Pontiac tomorrow to other friends Barbara and Rick Carr. This will be the first time in our adult lives without ready access to "wheels."

The clothes have to be packed. I was surprised to find that ALL of my casual clothes could fit into one large bag and all of my underwear into a smaller bag. Both are water tight thanks to Charlie Mitchell and South Texas Canvas.

All of our books including Bible, trashy novels, and navigation tables can go into 2 Wal-Mart water tight boxes. Crucial documents and checks can all go into a large Zip Lock bag. Every thing else can go into a box for storage.

Today the absolutely, very last, adjustments were made to the anchor system. The dingy motor went onto the stern rail and the dingy was hoisted onto the foredeck. John Files was a great help with the above. Charlie Mitchell came out and fitted a clever mesh work that turns the pilot berths into closets. He helped Jan get started lashing on the weather lee clothes.

The weather window (so called) remains confused. It seems as if a large Pacific front is due in Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday. It is supposed to blow at 20, 45 or 60 knots depending on who you listen to. Ideally we want to jump on the back side of a large front and ride it all the way to Florida. Whether this works out is a daily adjustment.