After a week of dragging our feet at the Devereaux's (you guys make it soooooo easy to stay!), we finally timed our departure from Minnesota to maximize use of our rental car -- the goal is to visit Michelle in Ohio, Sheila in Louisville, Craig in Savannah, and arrive in Green Cove Springs FL on October 12, the day they will move Maja from long-term storage to the work yard.
Whew!
Even after 4 days to prepare at Devereaux's, we still managed to leave 3 things behind -- our fleece jackets in the dryer (hopefully, we won't need them until we see James at Christmas), prescription meds that were accidentally thrown away (BIG SHOUT OUT TO RENEE for that dumpster diving), and, oh yeah, the boat keys. WTF. Honestly, we didn't even think about the boat keys until the moment the ladder was propped alongside the boat and we were starting up! Fortunately, Dan used his Leatherman to pick the lock, and we had a spare set inside the boat.
Just gotta laugh.
Day 1 of our 4-day car rental took us to Loveland, Ohio, where we arrived at Michelles' new apt at 12:30 a.m. (sorry about that MQK!). Long 11 hr drive, made longer by the Indianapolis road construction.
October 8
Day 2 of our return was spent in Loveland. They were having a summer bike/band/food festival that Michelle had a hand in organizing so we had to be there. The weather couldn't have been nicer - just perfect for unpacking the bike and using part of Loveland's great trail system. They had music in the park and food tasting at the local restaurants. Go visit Loveland! It's a very cute place!
Dan and Molly on bike path
MQK directing traffic
Sunday, October 9.
We were slow to leave Loveland for Louisville. We went out to breakfast and walked around downtown, mindful that this may be our last trip here. After the wedding in May, Michelle will be leaving Loveland to join Craig wherever he is stationed after his current training ends (fingers crossed for Italy or Germany!).
Fortunately, we had a short, 2-hr drive to Louisville. We spent the evening with Sheila, stayed up late drinking wine and talking about trips we'd take if we owned an RV!
Monday, October 10
Day 3 of car rental journey: 10hr trek thru the Smokey Mountains of KY and TN, into NC, SC, and finally GA. Destination: Savannah. This will be out last visit to Craig's apt in the historic district ... a place we've called our 'Savannah Spot" for 2 years. The movers come on Wednesday and Craig will be off to Ft Benning, GA.
We arrived late, but not too late to catch the 2nd half of the Sunday night football and drink beer with Craig. We kept him up late ... and we stayed up later still watching his HUGE flat-screen TV. (it may sound like we are TV addicts ... and I get that ... but we look at it more like TV deprived. we so seldom are in places where we can watch TV whenever we want).
Tuesday, October 11.
Day 4. Our last day with a car! Another bittersweet moment! But, we're in Savannah, so we spent the whole day on foot. We walked from Craig's apt, to the venues for their wedding. We toured the Massey School where the ceremony will be held at Calhoun Square. Massie School opened in 1856 as Savannah’s first free public school, ten years before there was a state charter for public education.
We spent a lot of time checking out the Liberty Street mansion where we will stay over the wedding weekend. It's going to be a great spot for a gathering of family and friends.
We would have walked over to Vics (reception location), but time was running short. and we've been to Vic's several times. Instead, we went to the grocery store and back to Craig's to make meat loaf for dinner!
Wednesday, October 12
Today's the day! Up at the crack of dawn to get the rental car back to Green Cove Springs by 10:30.
In the end, we couldn't bear to be w/o a car with the boat projects ahead of us, so we re-rented the same car for another week. Thank you Avis!
There she sits ...
We were able to get onboard Maja in the storage area -- and at first pass, and first whiff, she weathered the 4-months on the hard quite well. No water leakage. Just a few ants. A little damp from humidity. No horrible odors. The refrigerator works. All the electronics turned on. All in all, a good report card.
They were not able to move the boat over to the work yard as promised, so we could not stay on Maja overnight. Ahhhhh shucks ... I guess we'll have to stay in a hotel after all! Even though we were prepared to sleep aboard, when it came time to chose a hotel for the night, we slowly upgraded our options until we were signing for a room at the Marriott with king bed and spa! Throw in some champagne and pizza delivery, and we were in heaven for the night!
Life is good.
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