The trip begins - mid-Oct. 2010

OK, another trip, another blog. We hope... The trip is well under way at this point, and we've published a host of pictures, but some of them need some explanation. And we might just have some thoughts to share that don't need pictures. Thus another attempt at blog about our travels.

We're hardly experts at cruising, but we do have one trip down the ICW behind us. And that helped us decide what to take and what to leave. Well... somewhat. Here we are packing up for the next-to-last trip to the boat before we leave. Paperwork... the trip down the ICW is basically paperwork-free, but not the crossing into the Bahamas and then back into the US. And, of course, we have all of the usual bill paying, account watching, and tax paying issues to deal with. It all goes into our office on the boat.

Chris sewed up covers for the many bits of canvas to keep the rain off us while we're under way, and to keep the sun off us at anchor. And off these flaps and panels need to be rolled up and stowed away on the boat. So out came the sewing machine!

And then, of course, all of the supplies need to get to boat somehow. It's amazing how much we packed into our X3, and it's still not the last load to go the boat.

One With The Wind spent the summer at Herrington Harbour North marina, in Deale, MD, on Maryland's western shore, south of Annapolis. We arrived there at the end of last year's trip, thought we'd do some cleanup work, put OWTW back in the water and... "life is what happens while you're busy making other plans".

In the end, we hired Phipps Boatworks to refinish much of the teak "brightwork" and we waxed up the hull ourselves. It was a relief to have this work behind us and to have a bright and shiny OWTW waiting for us in the marina's storage yard. After all of that, we finally launched OWTW. After that, it was time to check out the engine and all the repairs done to the engine over the summer.

After a round of packing the boat and working on last minute wiring issues ("Open wide!"), we collected a rental car for the last trip to Deale, and then headed back to Skippack. We were able to get a small SUV from Enterprise, which made "the last load" much easier to deliver. All the stuff that filled the Jeep in a "cheese box" sub-compact? I don't think so!

It was the third week of October by the time we returned to the boat, unloaded the Jeep, and stowed it on the boat. I was feeling nervous about the weather and the general lateness of the season. Last year, we'd been underway for almost two weeks by now, and here we were, still getting ready to leave. Nonetheless, three days later, on 28 October, we untied our dock lines and headed south again.