Preparing to Leave Washington, NC

Higher Ground reached Washington on Friday April 24th. Then Kaye picked up Reg Holden and me to take us back to Tarboro to finish the final steps of preparing the house for sale and to get another car load of supplies and personal items to bring onto the boat. Saturday April 25th we hosted a "Bon Voyage" and our 40th Wedding Anniversary "Open House" at the boat on the Washington City Docks. We hosted some Rocky Mount Power Squadron members including the Paynes, Bosharts, Bocks, and our Tarboro friends the Newsoms. Chris Payne performed a Vessel Safety Check to make sure my boat and dinghy were safe and ready.





Sunday was another loading day, but it had an unusual twist! As I was opening up the pilothouse door sliding windows for air flow the port side door window fell out on the side deck of the boat and into the water. Feeling adventuresome I donned my swim suit, brand new snorkle mask, snorkle, and fins and attempted to dive down in about 10 feet of dark cold Tar River water to rescue my window. Two dives to the bottom yielded nothing but the realization that there are big 12"+ rocks down below and that I am not able to hold my breath very long any more (particularly in cold water.) So the Dockmaster gave us the name of a professional diver, "Catfish" Younce who lives in Belhaven. He came in an hour and after hooking up to his "pro" equipment he came up with not a window but critical parts of our window (the top latch and bottom frame). Apparently the tempered glass shattered when it hit the rocks 10 feet down. The Holy Spirit works in marvelous ways because a couple hours later Kaye was talking to a lady, Brandi, on our dock and whose husband, Randy, works for a glass local company. By Monday afternoon, he had come out, measured the door glass door, cut and polished a piece of tinted glass and installed it in our door. Problem solved, although my wallet was a little lighter.





We finished our final house closing tasks on Monday April 27th. We loaded the van with boxes and with the generous help of Cathy Payne headed to the boat about 1630. After several trips from the van to the boat we had all our possessions loaded but not put away. Boxes filled the guest cabin bed and the main salon. The engine room was full of spares and tools. The boat was now at least two inches lower in the water. Cathy wished us safe travels and drove the van back to our house leaving us to our re-packing. Thanks to her for helping us get the van back home in our drive way and thanks to all that offered to help in any way they could. Tuesday April 28th, was a beautiful warm North Carolina day. After a quick cleaning outside and a picture with the Rocky Mount Power Squadron Burgee and America's Great Loop Cruising Association Burgee, at 1100 we removed the power cord, loosened the lines, and turned east to start our adventure.

Kendall