Journey to Done Dreamin' South

March 31, 2012 - After very little sleep, and struggling to dig the cat out from under the bed, we hit the road at about 9AM - right on schedule.  Crossing the border presented no issues at all.  In fact, we were very surprised the a minivan loaded almost to the roof with boxes of stuff demanded so little attention from the US authorities.  The only thing he asked about was if we were bringing in any food items!!

We stopped for the night about 100 miles shy of the half way point, somewhere in Ohio.  As Michael was checking out the next morning, the lady wished him a 'safe trip home'.  He nearly replied ' I'm not going home, I'm going to Alabama'.  But before the words were out of his mouth, he realized he was going home!  It's all still a bit surreal.


April 1, 2012 - We got to Goose Pond Colony Marina early Sunday evening, and only unloaded what we needed for the night.  We were tired after a long day of driving, and really just wanted to get into the boat and settle in for the night, so we stopped in town long enough to buy what we needed for breakfast, and a pizza for supper.  After we had eaten we started to put away the few things we brought on board for the night, and  began to settle in.




Edee (the cat) weathered the trip extremely well, but we sensed that she was just as happy as we were to get out of the car and be able to explore her new home.  She wandered forward to aft (that's front to back for you landlubbers) and up and down the few steps we have onto the aft deck.  We continued putting a few things away, opening and closing cupboard doors, and chatting to each other as we did so.  Then we heard Edee meow - not a common sound from her.  It was definitely an 'I have a problem' kind of meow, but not very loud at all. We dropped what we were doing and began calling, but she went quiet.  We raced outside, getting more and more frantic by the minute.  It was very dark, and we were very tired, and became convinced that our poor little cat had fallen overboard within a few hours of getting here.

But I decided that I wasn't going to give in that easily, and went back to where we were when we first heard her cry.  And there it was again - very faint this time.  I opened one of the cupboards Michael has been putting things into, and there she was, looking a little indignant but otherwise unharmed.  She walked past me with her tail up, and gave me a look as if to say 'So you finally decided to come back and let me out'.  She's a little more cautious about open cupboards now!


April 2 & 3, 2012 - The past two days have been spent mostly cleaning and unpacking all those boxes we worked so hard to fill and pack into the van.  Of course, we have brought way too much stuff - especially kitchenware.  So we have had another purge, and the local charity has benefited from our miscalculation.