We are close to moving on.  Just a few last minute details.  Dottie and Ritchie have been a great help to us.  They recently sold their boat and are moving to a motor home they will live in until they head back up to Maine for the summer. It took them only about 3 hours to move everything off their boat. We are in awe of them. It would take us more time than that to set fire to everything on our boat. They left their car at the marina for us to use in case we needed it, which of course we did.  They also took Tristan and Tessa with them to their daughter Aubrey’s bookstore in Flagler Beach.  That gave Dan and I some time to ourselves to finish last minute things and head to Mezzaluna’s for pizza.  Don, on Overindulgence, also offered to help us out if we needed to run some errands.  As anxious as we are to leave here to head to the Bahamas, we will miss this community here.

Palm Coast Marina is becoming our “Hotel California”, You can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave.  We are finishing up mounting the solar panels.  We went to Jacksonville and sold our Expedition and we sold our jeep to Tim the wildlife officer, or “The Nature Guy” as the kids call him.   We are carless now which our daughter cannot understand.  “We don’t have a car anymore?  That is so stupid.” 

We almost hit a major trip canceller the other day.  In casual conversation in the West Marine store, Dan just happened to mention that he wanted to get a small back up inverter in case something happened to the one we had on the boat.  When we were trying to decide which one to get based on the wattage, I realized that it wouldn’t work for my hairdryer.  At this point in the trip he decides to inform me that I can’t use my hair dryer on our CURRENT inverter.  Since we’ve been on shore power and since I take a shower and dry my hair at the marina shower, the lack of my ability to use a blow dryer on our boat has never come up.  I know we’ve had this discussion before and I know I made it clear that I never intended to go two years without drying my hair and why are we having this conversation now in the West Marine after I have quit my job and sold my house and car? 

He replies, “I thought you knew.” No I didn’t know and I don’t intend to know that.  I am not a high maintenance person but I am simply not living two years of my life with wet hair.  No way.  I am not the air dry, hair dry person.  That is a whole nother persona.  It’s like when the vaccination records were lost for my daughter Tessa, the state of North Carolina was trying to make her get vaccinated again. When I said no, the option was given to me that I could “refuse on the grounds of religious reasons.” I’m like, are you crazy?  I am not a religious protester!  I would have to take on a whole new persona.  I would have to stop shaving my legs and start wearing long skirts and Birkenstocks and probably NOT USE A HAIR DRYER!!! 

In light of the current consequences we spent the next hour scouring the city until we found an 800 watt hair dryer.  The trip was back on.

When we toured Cape Canaveral earlier this month, our tour guide mentioned the launch of Themis and how we could contact our senator to try and get VIP tickets.  We didn’t think we would be here that long, but as we got closer to the launch date and realized we were still going to be in Florida, we decided to give it a try.  I talked to Mark Pendleton at Senator Elizabeth Dole’s office. He wasn’t aware of any VIP tickets nor was he sure how to go about finding out, but he promised to check into it and let us know.  We figured that was the end of it, but he called me the next day with all the information. Mark called on the 13th and said we had the VIP tickets to the launch and also tickets to a cocktail reception where we could mingle with all the people who had built, designed, and were responsible for the launch. 

The night before the launch we feasted on jumbo shrimp, free drinks and appetizers while we mingled with the engineers and scientists from Berkeley. This was actually interesting. You could feel their excitement and nervousness as Themis was originally supposed to have launched in October 2006 but was cancelled due to workmanship problems. There was a lot riding on the launch the next day.

The launch itself was amazing.  They took us on a bus from the main center to the launch site.  It was windy and cold (of course), but they had a tent set up for us, free drinks and hamburgers and hotdogs for a dollar.  We endured the wind and cold for about and hour.  Then six minutes before launch it was called off due to high wind.  It was rescheduled for the next day.  The next day, we again drove to Cape Canaveral, got on the bus to the launch site, again had hamburgers and drinks, AGAIN it was cold but less windy.  This time we had a launch.  It was amazing.  As the rocket goes up, these 6 fuel tanks burned through their fuel and then dropped off where presumably they would land harmlessly in the ocean.   The very ocean we would be crossing to the Bahamas.  I am sure the odds of being on a sailboat and being hit by falling fuel tanks is miniscule, but still, they do land somewhere.   If you are ever in Florida and have a chance to see a launch it is well worth it.  And do call your senator for tickets.  We are very grateful Mark Pendleton for really helping us out.  It is something none of us will forget.