Soooo – here we are in October, on the hard in Muskegon MI. NOT part of the original plan. Whaaaat? A brief recap….
In prepping to leave the end of July (plan A), we made a round of goodbyes and completed checkups with our family doc, dentist, and optometrist, where – surprise! – Fred was notified that he needed cataract surgery. Since we both needed to have confidence in his eyesight during the trip, we looked for doctors in Annapolis (which is where we were slated to be in October), but just happened across a new guy in TC, who turned out to be connected to some friends. If you are looking for a new eye surgeon, please check out Pothoff Surgery and Eye Care on Garfield Rd. Dr. Pothoff was awesome and was able to complete both of Fred’s eyes by the end of August! Our departure date had now slipped to Labor Day weekend (plan B), but we felt we still had time to make the Annapolis boat show by Oct. 1. No house sale yet, but lots of showings, so we kept moving forward.
After (another) round of goodbye dinners and get-togethers, we hurriedly held an estate sale in mid-August so we would be ready to go as soon as Fred’s eyes were healed and the house sold. We had already packed the “keepers” away, but it was crazy how much stuff still remained. OMG – I have no idea how we would have managed the sale without the help of many good friends. With Barb’s input, Kelly’s management (literally, for days) and assistance from Gerri, Jim, Carol, Jan, Sara and Doug, we managed to clean out most of the house and garage over the weekend. Many, many thanks to you all! We also got Ritual loaded up, and finally launched in Charlevoix the end of August, after much work on the hard over the summer. Things were really falling into place and we were excited!! We sailed Ritual to Traverse City and spent the first week of September at Clinch Marina, in anticipation of final provisioning and (more) goodbyes.
Up to this point, we had been optimistically moving forward, but reality began to sink in as we watched the September weather begin to deteriorate, and (to our disbelief) the house was still not sold. We reluctantly began considering plan C, since we were now feeling really pressed to make our boat show timeline. Besides, with the house not sold, we would not be able to complete the boat show purchases necessary for the offshore trip south in November. We decided to head for Lake St. Clair, and if things did not “line up” by then, we could leave the boat there for the winter, and spend some time with my mom in Muskegon until Spring.
After we mulled that plan over for a few days, plan D was hatched. If we moved the boat to Torreson’s in Muskegon, it would be 10 minutes away, whereas St. Clair Shores would entail a 5 hour drive. Lake Michigan had a great weather window forecast, so we headed out of Gr. Traverse Bay on Sept. 8th, feeling a bit defeated, but at least moving.
Sailing Ritual 