All Packed and Loaded

(This is our last update before leaving town! Click here to see what this blog is all about.)

It's finally time! The last few days have been a whirlwind of preparation.  We've had to prepare the house, and ourselves, for this time away and make time for some skiing and farewell parties with friends!

Read on to hear how we prepared for a three-month sailing trip in the Pacific.




PACKING
Our renters arrived Thr. the 7th so we decided we needed to be pretty much packed by then.  Our 2nd guest bedroom was full of stuff which eventually made it into four large duffels each weighing about 35 lbs and two largish shoulder bags.  It seems like a lot of stuff when all we're going to wear most of the time is shorts and a t-shirt!

One bag has all our snorkeling gear, wetsuits and self-inflating life vests with safety harnesses.  Another has all the stuff we've been asked to bring down to the boat plus quite a bit of food which we didn't think we might find in Panama.

The other two bags hold all of our personal clothing, dop kits, medicines, shoes (boat shoes, sandals, and another pair).  We've also packed our Kendle, iPad and one of our iPhones.

GUESTS/RENTERS ARRIVE
On the 7th Chuck and Jeanette arrived from Michigan.  We spent two nights and one day with them at our house getting them settled in and familiar with all the systems.  They will stay until mid-April and take care of our cat, Samantha, who will be upset that we did not bring her on this boat trip after she had so many trips to Mystique in the Bahamas.

Chuck and Jeanette are big skiers, and he and I had volunteered together last year as Copper Mountain Ambassadors so had known each other.  Just as we were driving out of Frisco this morning and headed up to the tunnel on I-70 we looked back to see a big storm coming in - it's supposed to dump 5-10" of snow which is BADLY needed.  We hope the skiing improves while we're gone!

BON VOYAGE PARTY
We were treated to a wonderful "Super Bowl Bon Voyage" during the Super Bowl at the Jenkins' house by a great group of friends and wanna-be crew on our trip. We enjoyed mango margaritas, piña coladas, chili, soup, many great entrees, a cake labeled "Sail on, Sail on Sailors", and were plied with great messages and presents for our trip. Thank you all for a great send-off!