Day 2: November 17, 2008

Port: HHN in Deale, Maryland (38.79N / 76.53W)

Weather: Don’t have the full forecast from the day, but let me tell you…. It was COLD! It started out sunny this morning and slightly breezy. The sun was warm when the wind slowed. As the day progressed, the sky became cloudy and the wind picked up, turning colder. In the evening, it became crisp and cold, with no breeze, but a slight drizzle. The predictions are that we could get some snow!

Hello Everyone!!!! It is day 2 of officially living on the boat. A few days ago, in the pouring rain, we officially moved out of our house, into the truck, and made it to the boat. Slowly, and between down pours, we managed to get our things to the boat and start moving in. The trip has officially begun! Plus, we can’t go back now because Pat’s already moved in! Ha Ha.

We spent much of yesterday with family, saying goodbyes and eating some wonderful food. Thank you all! We planned on today being the day to wrap up the last minute details that we hadn’t gotten to as of yet, so this morning, it was coffee and straight to work. Mom and I worked on putting up the picture frames of Emily, Patty (our dear friend we lost back in August of last year), and the poem “The Ship” (a beautiful poem about a ship leaving the horizon and out of sight, but never really gone). Dad worked on shelving for their cabinets, and we worked on storing the last of our things. Dad went up the mast today and installed a new steaming light, the last of the necessary items before we could leave. Our man-overboard system is almost completely installed, left to finish later because of the cold temperatures and lack of motivation to stand up there freezing. We said goodbye to some good friends of ours from the marina, Danny and Sharon, today as well. We will dearly miss everyone we are leaving behind, but do know… we will return… someday. J

The plan was to leave out early tomorrow morning, but after hearing about the weather for tomorrow, I think we will have a day of rest and relaxation, something we have lacked recently.

Good weather and happy sailing!