I woke up at dawn. We weren't set up to make coffee yet, so the morning was started with a cold cola. It was a nice cool dry morning, with few clouds in the sky. The barometer had gone up a bit over night.
My cel phone rang with a call from my ex-wife, Susan, at 0730, with my 4yr old son, Greg, crying for his dad. Greg started to calm down as I told him about Colancer, and that there was even a little child sized berth with his name on it in the walk through back to the aft quarters, and that he could come visit us soon. Susan asked me how soon I thought we might get done with the boat in a boat yard, so Greg could come down and join us aboard again. She'd asked if I'd take him with me two weeks ago when we'd left New Jersey. I had explained that we'd probably have to spend some time living on the hard in a boatyard, and it would be tough enough with the older boys, Peter and Nicolai. On this morning I explained that instead the boat was good enough shape we wouldn't be taking her for a haul out. I'd had to make a run back to North Carolina in a week or so anyway, and I could pick Greg up from New Jersey at that time.
We ate leftover pizza for breakfast before getting ready to head out for the day. Our first task was to find storage for Venture, our 22' McGregor, and her trailer. As I walked past the marina office the manager knocked on the window and I stepped inside. He wanted to remind me that we needed to get our trailer out of the parking lot, and mentioned that there was a McGregor dealer less than a mile down the highway where I could probably take it. I thanked him very much for the referal.
We would have missed the place if the marina manager hadn't told me where to look for it. I met the owner, Lance, and he was happy to meet some folks with a obviously well used old McGregor. He indicated that we were very welcome to not only store the boat there, but work on it and come and go as we pleased. Lance gave me the combination to the lock on the gate and exchanged cel phone numbers with each other.
We parked Venture in a back corner of the yard, then drove up the highway to find a bank for some cash. I tookk the crew out to McDonalds for lunch before returning to pay Lance for my first month in his yard. We then drove back up the highway for a tour of our new neighborhood. Stir Fri and I scrubbed the van clean at a car wash, and he got directions from another patron there to find the local Super Wal-Mart.
We spent $400 at WalMart, in two shopping carts. There was a boating season close-out, with neoprene life vests at $15 each. I bought a whole stack. We looked at flat screen tvs and I forgot to buy a microwave. The bread, corn chips, and ramen noodles were forgotten waiting at the end of the belt when we went through check out.
It was a warm afternoon when we finaly returned to the boat. We unloaded groceries, unloaded more boxes of books and clothes, and bicycles from the van. We filled the water tanks and got the refrigerator cleaned out, running, and stocked.
Jaima and Mark, our neighbors with the smaller steel ketch two slips down came by, as I had invited them yesterday to tour Colancer. They were very impressed with the condition of our purchase, but more so with size of her, and all the stowage space. They agreed that it was indeed a gift from God for our family.
Jaima took the opportunity to invite us to join them at their local church. I thanked her very much, feeling already that I wanted to go to church and show my thanks for this gift we had recieved.
I fired off the propane grill on the aft rail to cook up some Joe chicken. By the time we pulled it off it was mostly burned. We threw most of it to the fish.
We went to bed early, exhausted.