THE FINAL DAYS / January 22, 2016

I have to back up a little here.  The last days to cast off were so hectic!  Oh. my. gosh. Had to get rid of a car.  Get our mail forwarded to Mike's office, so his CFO could take care of any emergencies.  Luckily I pay most bills on line, so that was covered. Provisioning drove me crazy!  Food to take, clothes to take.  We have limited space so you had to plan, load, take off, re-load.  Then I finally said what the heck...we are not going to be in the middle of the ocean!  I can buy what I need when we are docked at marinas, or ship home if I don't need.  So once I made that decision, it was quite a bit less stressful. But I still had a hard time sleeping those last few days. The anticipation was killing me, we just needed to GO!

A friend of ours had a friend that comes down here every winter from Michigan and needed a place to stay for a few months. So we met Leah, she was perfect and she loved cats.  We were worried what to do with our sweet Missy. 

Leah sent this of Missy on our bed.

Before we left, a friend of ours Bill Fisher, who is also planning on doing the Loop when he retires, stopped by with a bottle of champagne and a gift card to West Marine; which we have nick-named Tiffany's.  If you are a boater then you know what I mean.  Unfortunately, Tiffany's, oops, West Marine is sometimes  the only place you can find what you need.  I have to fess up tho, I stole that name from my friend Bonnee and her husband Casey.  But it's perfect. 

Bill took this photo of us the day before we left.
He said we were his heros.