It has been an interesting – and at times, difficult – few days. Note – I’m surely not complaining, as difficult doesn’t equal bad – just difficult…

It all started on Friday – my last day of work. After nearly 16 years at Diageo, it was pretty difficult to walk away. Lots of mixed emotions. While I know I’m doing the right thing for my family and me – it was hard to take that final step away from my ‘comfortable’ life.

Saturday was busy – final preparations on the boat. Nothing major, just a ton of last minute jobs. All was going well for a Sunday AM departure until we re-checked the marine forecast. Small craft advisories with a lot of wind and waves in our face the entire trip to Wilmette – where we were planning to spend the night and meet with many of our friends. After a near-sleepless night with big winds in our marina, we awoke to no change in the forecast. We had to make the hard decision to stay-put and cancel our get-together. Bummer… but, the right call – as we will always put our safety and wellbeing ahead of our planned schedule.

On the positive side, Sunday was a great day – we took Willie on a long walk to the beach and let him play with his friend Rosie (and our friends Spencer and Martha).

We got an early start on Monday – leaving the marina at 6 AM, allowing us to view the sunrise over Lake Michigan. It was spectacular – definitely worth the early rise. We had a very calm, flat, and enjoyable (although a bit chilly) ride to Belmont Harbor in Chicago. The highlight was seeing our neighbors Bob and Laura waving a big red flag for us as we passed by Wilmette Harbor – it was great to see them. We picked up a mooring In Belmont harbor for the night – and were in bed by 7:30 (I was probably asleep within 2 min).

Tuesday morning, we had another tough decision. We were about 15 miles from Crowley’s boat yard where we had our mast taken down. The forecast was iffy – not great in the morning (rough, following seas), but set to deteriorate significantly over the next two days (winds up to 30 kts, 8-12 ft waves, etc). We decided to leave at daybreak and had a bumpy ride to Calumet harbor on the south side of Chicago. While it was a more exciting ride than we would have liked, we all made it in one piece (the girls slept through most of it). Pulling into the marina, we had our first encounter with a barge. We had to pass in front of one as we tried to dock (I have to say ‘tried’ as I came in a bit too fast after motoring in front of the barge and had to do a ‘redo’). Oh well… based on the reaction of the guys on the dock, we weren’t the first boat to have an issue here. Anyway – the rest of the day went well. The mast came down without a hitch and Lucy, Sally, Julie and I did a good job packing up the mast for its trip down to Mobile. Heidi did a good job keeping Willie calm (he had a tough morning – as he’s still getting used to the sounds and vibrations of the engines). It is now dark and raining, and we are spending the night at Crowley’s. Unless the Lake Michigan marine forecast changes significantly, we’re going to head down the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal vs heading back out to the lake to go through downtown Chicago as we had hoped. We’ll see (here’s hoping for better weather).

Anyway – that’s all for now – 5 busy days. Not all easy – but all good days.