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Limerence Update #48Trip to the States –
Part II
San
Diego to Milwaukee And
Fort Lauderdale
Our weeks in
San Diego were a whirlwind of visits and reunions, wrapped around Doctor’s
appointments and examinations. After submitting to tests and the poking and prodding of
numerous physicians, we were deemed healthy enough to continue our travels outside of the
United States. Friends Larry and Julie Barnett treated us to dinner in their beautiful
home as we wrapped up our social calendar! We relaxed in our final days in California by
hiking around the San Diego Wild Animal Park and visiting with our close friends, Buzz and
Maureen Hatheway. The Hatheways graciously loaned us their home for three weeks while off
on a cruise around Cape Horn. They returned several days before we left San Diego. Buzz
and Maureen preferred seeing the "Horn" from the comfort of a cruise ship, as
opposed to the cockpit of a small sailboat. In the eighties, the Hatheway’s made an
eight-year circumnavigation of the Earth, a feat that still amazes and astounds us. They
missed Cape Horn, thus the recent cruise.
We watched
America turn from a golden balmy countryside, to bleak and barren snow covered fields as
we flew from the west coast to the mid-west. . . Milwaukee Wisconsin. We circled a
partially frozen Lake Michigan shoreline and landed feeling temperatures in the
“teens” with an impressive wind chill. Time to dig out the sweaters and jackets
we had retrieved from our storage unit in San Diego. By evening we were in Mequon in the
lovely home of our kids, Scott and Barb Allen. Grandson Nicholas entertained us and we
took over carpooling Nick to school and back. The energy required of Scott and Barb to run
their house, jobs, work related travel and child care, made us appreciate their youth. How
do they do it all without naps? We saved a couple of days to move into the guest room of
our dear friends, Dick and Kathy Osborne and luxuriate in the comforts of their downtown
condominium. Dick recently retired and we gabbed for hours about what and where we want to
be in the future years.
Our thin blood was in shock when we left Milwaukee and made the last leg of our trip, Fort Lauderdale Florida. We met there with Jake Decker and his special girlfriend, Robin Schuette. We think Fort Lauderdale is entertaining with a beautiful beach and plenty of sensational people watching. Jason and Deb Allen drove over from Fort Myers for a family reunion and to meet Robin. Family visits, and checking out the marinas and boat services for this coming summer, filled out the week. We took an afternoon to stop in the offices of Seven Seas Cruising Association. SSCA is a resource for cruisers in many ways, especially by publishing a monthly newsletter containing information supplied by cruisers. We met with Dockwise Yacht Transport and took care of details for the shipping of Limerence to Spain in August. Dockwise uses a system of lowering the inner deck of their ships so to float on/off the yachts. When you are in the assigned berth, a scuba-diver chains the yacht in place. After the deck rises, yachts are secured and welded in place. Some people are permitted to cross the Atlantic with their boat, and we are on the "request" list.
Soon it was
February 12th, time to return to Limerence waiting in Colon Panama. We are
connecting with old pals many of whom we met in Mexico two years ago. We’ll be busy
over the next weeks trying to lose the danged twelve pounds each we picked up in the
States, and organizing ourselves to get moving again on Limerence. We expect to head north
toward Florida by the first of April. From the looks of the marina, we will be traveling
with a fleet of companions! Doug and
Judy |
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