Almost Ready

Thanks to all the well-wishers who read the article in the Daily Journal and sent us messages. We appreciated your kind thoughts. And thanks to Annette Jones and the Daily Journal for a fine job.

Who knew it got so cold in Georgia? The days have been spring-like, but last night it dropped into the low 30's, and that's cold on the water. We have a small heater on board that we fired up this morning to take the chill off.

Our trip from Greenwood to Savannah took only three hours. The air travel was uneventful, except for having to horse four big suitcases and some very heavy carry-ons, loaded with lots of books. One thing all cruisers seem to have in common is being voracious readers. We do have a television on board, but we don't seem to watch too much TV. (Except for the Colts and the IU basketball game yesterday. A sad loss for the Colts and another great win for the Hoosiers.)

We have spent the last few days "provisioning." That basically means going to WalMart and Sam's Club to stock up on everything you think you might need on a two-week trip down the IntraCoastal Waterway. We will probably have access to stores from time to time, but you never know for sure. Even when we are docked at a marina (rather than anchoring out), we may not be within walking distance of a grocery. Some marinas have loaner cars, some don't.

We are hoping to leave Ft. McAllister early Wednesday morning. We will turn in the rental car tomorrow (Tuesday) afternoon, then make our final preparations for casting off. There is a lot to do, not the least of which is studying the charts, , testing the engines, topping off the diesel and water supplies, and making sure everything on board is tied down or stowed so it won't come crashing down if we encounter turbulence from a passing speedboat or high winds

If all goes well, we can make about 50 miles a day. I haven't figured out how long it will take to get to Miami averaging 50 miles a day. I don't want to know. We'll get there when we get there. That's the point of this adventure...we're not on a schedule. When we find an interesting place where we want to linger on the way South, that's what we'll do. Cumberland Island is one such place. On the way north, when we were on a schedule, we passed by Cumberland Island and saw wild horses from a distance. This time, I'd like to anchor out nearby and hike through that wilderness, and maybe take some pictures of those horses to post on this website.

Phil and I have been married for 38 years. We have lived in Greenwood most of our lives and have raised two children. As we move into retirement, we have chosen an unusual path. We are embarking on an adventure into the unknown.

We have much to learn. We'll do our best to describe for you what it's like to start from scratch, moving onto a 36' catamaran sailboat with hardly any boating experience, but lots of enthusiasm. We'll share our triumphs and our failures. I promise only that we'll try to be honest and accurate in our descriptions.

Margaret McGovern