Time to Move On

It is hard for me to believe that it has been a week since I got home from the delivery. There has been so much going on, that the time has just slipped by. My honey-dew list is now longer than it was when we arrived here a month ago.

A Magothy River Sunset, courtesy of our friend Dave.

Our good friends Tracie and Don from Trenton, showed up on Tuesday to surprise us, and what a great surprise it was. We have known them for quite a few years, and we have always enjoyed their company. They drove us all over the Annapolis area, to all the chandlers, and we had dinner in the old part of town before relaxing with a few sun-downers back on Vita in the evening.

Wednesday, we headed down to Annapolis again, and some friends got us into the boat show during setup day. They were helping out with a booth for the show, and managed to get us some passes. We had to temporarily change our names, but it was nice to talk to some of the vendors one to one. It is amazing how differently the conversation goes when you are another vendor, vice a customer. 

Thursday we took the day off to rest, and get some boat chores done. AKA, clean up the mess from two days of neglect... 

Friday we went to the boat show. Walked 2 km to the bus stop, took the local bus downtown, and spent the day checking out the show as customers. All, in the rain of course... Our new foulies (foul weather gear), worked awesome, but my deck shoes with drain holes did not. Well, that's not exactly true, they worked the way they are supposed to, draining water, but they couldn't keep the water out. We spent about $1000.00, ouch, and almost all of it was impulse buying. Sure, the items were on our list, but not the must buy today list. We bought the sailing kit for our Walker Bay dinghy, Serena bought a new Tilley hat, and a pile of other little things. The prices and opportunity just couldn't be passed up. We were really surprised to see low prices at the show. At the Toronto show there are no real deals, everything is just conveniently located in one place. At the Annapolis show, there were good deals, and everyone was co-located. Score...

On the weekend we hid from the rain. Except Sunday, where we walked 4 km for some cases of water and some groceries. It was nice to kick back, practice my guitar, chat with our friend Dave, watch a movie, and just chill-ax. We did miss our friends Joel and Lynette on Saturday, at the show, unfortunately, but some of our gear didn't make it out of the show Friday, unscathed. My shoes were soaked.

Then Monday we took the bus back to the show, and spent the day walking around town, enjoying the sunshine, and the beauty of the Annapolis downtown. Went aboard some boats, and watched the tear down of the show from Pusser's balcony drinking painkillers, which to the uninitiated, have a crap load of rum in them. Whoosh.. Helped a friend tear down their booth and then headed to dinner with friends before catching a ride back to the boat. Sun-downers with Tracie and Don, and poured into bed.

 Crazy Carib drinker.

Cool watching the docks and boats being displaced. The whole operation took less than two hours.

The highlights of the show were talking to some of our heroes. Bob Bitchin and his wife Judy were there promoting their new rag(magazine). I met Yves Gelinas, inventor of the Cape Horn wind vane, maker of the movie Jean-Du-Sud, and affectionly known as the naked french guy, in my house. Our friend Wally Moran was there, with his faithful sidekick Aduana. We chatted with Liza Copeland, famous sailor and author, And of course Norm, from the Online Rope Store. Norm's rope is less expensive than anyone else's, and usually less than half the price of any West Marine product. Every rope on our boat came from his store, I just hope he doesn't decide to retire anytime soon.

Boat show over, friends gone home, its time to move on. It is a very hard thing to do. Magothy Marina has been a wonderful home. Its clean, quiet, and friendly. The staff is doing an incredible job keeping this place so homey. And of course there is the people. Everyone has been so nice to us, helping Serena when I was gone, with offers of rides, information, and just friendly conversation. Our friend Dave will be missed more than he could know. If I meet anymore people like him on this trip, I may have to start liking the human race again, and I am not sure I am ready for that.