Durham, NC to New Bern, NC - June 2001

Thursday, May 24

Adrian's last day at work, and the children's last day of school, including Luke's kindergarten graduation ceremony and class picnic.

Tuesday, May 29

Angie's last day of work is a whirlwind morning, followed by a send-off lunch at a Greek restaurant, Spartacus, in Durham. Angie's colleagues, knowing her fondness for caffeine, present her with a 12 volt coffeemaker. (Ahh, now if only there were 12-volt cappuccino machines. . .)

We bring 20 boxes (!) of books (our van looks like a suburban lowrider) to Jo and Barry's house. Jo and Barry graciously help us cart them in and then feed us tacos (one of our favorite foods.) We can't stay long, though, because someone is coming to buy the children's bunk beds, so the kids end up sleeping on the floor tonight. Adrian and I sold our bed last week; we've been sleeping on a futon.

Wednesday, May 30

Friends at our church have a farewell dinner for us. We had a great time seeing everyone, and brought a map so that folks could see where we thought we might go. Parting from a community is incredibly difficult; we have made so many friends at Holy Infant, and in the Triangle area, and it was very hard to pull away from all these friendships. Some of the Mother's Morning Out crowd: Lea, Anne, Betsy, Angie, Debi, Nadia, Katherine. (Two little ones snuck in the photo, too!) We've known each other for quite awhile: watched each other's children, been "soccer moms" together, done the carpool and the pool. . . Despite their busy lives, they pulled this potluck together. We've recently, and quite unexpectedly, lost a wonderful woman out of our circle, and I think we've all been reminded of the treasures that our friendships are.

"Bon Voyage - Good Luck - We'll miss you" is written across the top of the cake. After the potluck, we eat the cake, but I had to get a picture. The decorator did a great job on it. We get back home by 9pm, to meet other potential furniture buyers. We sell our TV, VCR, and a dresser. Our speakers and stereo are sent away, too.

Thursday, May 31 - closing day

We were still moving out on the day of our closing. There are no pictures, because our camera is packed away somewhere, and, besides, we didn't have the time or the gumption to go dig it out. We are storing our "must keeps" in a 5x10 trailer, but when we carry out a couple pieces of furniture Adrian looks at them dubiously and says, "It'll take a miracle." (They don't fit, and are sold along with the futon.) We also called several friends at the last minute with the plea, "Would you mind keeping something for us?"

At the end of the day, the house closing check isn't ready yet and, frankly, neither are we. Since the buyers have said that it's not a problem to stay, we snooze on the floor tonight. Another wrinkle - I've forgotten a file. I know exactly where it is, too; in the trailer, in our gray filing cabinet. Unfortunately, we'll have to unpack half of the trailer in order to reach it!

Friday, June 1

We wake up early to a gray sky. It's supposed to rain later today, so first thing we do is unpack the trailer to get that file. While putting it all back, we pack more efficiently, so Angie pulls a couple items from the "to go" pile and Adrian pushes them into the trailer.

Finally, the trailer and van are loaded. (We look like the Beverly Hillbillies.) A friend takes our bags of extra food, as well as Luke's Hot Wheel tracks (just wouldn't fit in the trailer, and Luke was a good sport about letting his friend Ben use them for awhile) and an incredibly large fish ("Flounder" of the Little Mermaid) that we used as a TV seat. After another run to the thrift store, we have a last lunch (and a cup of coffee) at Fowler's, then go to pick up our house check.

We're delayed a bit at the lawyer's office, but then it's off to the bank! We decide to go to the on-site IBM bank, since we have something to return to one of Adrian's colleagues, but we have a difficult time getting inside. Adrian, on leave now for two days, is no longer in the employee database! (This is somewhat of a psychological blow; 10+ years of employment wiped out with a delete key.) Adrian must find an employee to accompany him while in the building. At 3:30pm on a Friday, IBM looks rather like a ghost town, but Tom comes to the rescue and walks us to the bank.

We zoom home while the rain begins to pour. We grab the rest of the food in the 'frig and close the house. The kids will be riding with Angie in the BMW; Adrian will drive the van with the trailer, but when Adrian tries to start it -- "CLICK, CLICK" - the battery is dead. So, it's pouring down rain, our raincoats are packed who knows where, but we have umbrellas and jumper cables. Jumping a car in the pouring, driving rain is not fun. "This is CRUISING!" Angie yells to Adrian.

Finally, we get the trailer hooked to the van, and say a temporary good-bye to our house of 10 years. (We have to come back next week to get some more stuff out of our shed.) We head out into Triangle rush-hour traffic on a rainy Friday, but before we even get onto I-40 a little voice peeps from the backseat, "Mommy, I have to go potty."

Rain, I-40 rush hour traffic, towing a trailer - all these are pretty stressful, but we get the trailer to Lou's farm without incident. We make our destination, Northwest Creek Marina, sometime about 11pm, exhausted, with rain falling heavily. We take the kids and essentials, and hurry to our warm and dry boat to sleep.

Saturday, June 2 to Saturday, June 16

The next week is a blur of boxes. There's stuff everywhere, and it wearying to have to move a box to get to another box (or anything, for that matter.) We struggle to find storage for it all. (We're suffering from the "Incredible Shrinking Boat Syndrome" which goes away as soon as we want to leave our slip. Then we wonder why we got such a big boat.) We have heard of families that cruise on boats just 30-feet long, and actually, just a few slips down from us in the marina, a family of five, with a 9-month old, lives on a 37-footer.

By the end of these two weeks, we're feeling pretty relaxed and Canto is starting to feel like home. With our boat organized, we're now getting the itch to start travelling!