It’s A Done Deal!

After 6 weeks at Winter Harbor Marina, we finally sold our boat to Cindy Jones. Cindy is from Alaska and will rename our boat, “Wasilla”, which is the town in Alaska where she spent the last 30 years. If you spell it backwards it is “all i saw” and I thought that was a perfect name! The closing was over in a few minutes with a couple of initials and after all was said and done, we were now considered really homeless! We took Cindy down to the boat and explained everything from the stern to the bow, one step at a time. Cindy even brought a tape recorder with her so she could bring it back and use it as reference later on. We then helped Cindy bring her boat to her home about one hour away and one lock away. I could tell Warren had a hard time letting go of the keys and letting someone else pilot his boat, but it wasn’t his anymore and he had to let go. Cindy sat in the captain’s chair and pulled away from the dock at Winter Harbor and handled it like a pro. We pulled up to Lock 23 and Cindy pulled in while Warren and I grabbed the lines and showed her the way to handle going through locks. No problem for Cindy. She lives with her sister, Ann and brother in law, Steve, at the River Edge Mansion, a B&B on the Erie Canal near Brewerton. We threw the lines to Steve and the painters who were working on the house and tied the lines for the last time to the dock beside their home.

Warren is a perfectionist when it comes to tying the lines, but once it was at their dock, I said to Warren quietly, “Warren, it is not your place to continue this procedure, it is Cindy’s boat now”. He agreed and looked very sad to walk away leaving the lines without his fancy loops. We were a little emotional, since it was our first boat and our home for the last year. We had a lot of happy memories aboard Pepi. I must say that the boat looks beautiful docked along side the canal. It is a perfect match for the scenery of this area, since the interior was designed after the Erie Canal rental boats. Steve and Cindy showed us around the B&B, which is beautiful and full of antiques. Cindy can look out of the huge windows of the mansion and see the boat from inside the house. After the 5 minute tour, we got a ride back to the marina to start our trip down south. I’m sure Warren will keep in touch with Cindy, just in case she has any questions about the boat just like Brad Indicott, the builder, did with us. Brad was a wealth of information and who knew the boat better.. than the builder himself. He never hesitated to answer Warren’s emails or phone calls no matter how ridiculous or trivial the questions might have been. I hope Cindy will feel free to call us or Brad with any questions she may have.

We rented a van and headed to Florida with our 10 boxes of stuff. We were taken back at the price of a one-way rental to Florida. A mere $3,300. We thought gas prices were ridiculous but car rentals are the “icing on the cake”! We debated about buying a car, but we didn’t know what to do with it once we didn’t need it anymore. We just accepted the cost and tried not to think about it.

Leaving the marina, we headed south but still waiting to hear from Reuben Trane to let us know where we were going. We thought it was going to be in Miami Beach and then he changed his mind and told us a spot in Key Largo, but now he is going to let us stay in a place in South Beach. This is a family owned condo that is vacant. It will be a nice change from a 40’ boat tied to a dock. We will be in a one bedroom condo near the beach. We can take a long shower, sit upright while watching t.v., have a washer/dryer and of course a/c when it gets hot and muggy! Warren will have to drag me out, I may never want to leave.

Our new boat has a reserved spot on a ship coming over from China at the end of August. The trip should take about a month unless more delays happen to pop up. Reuben is hoping to show the boat at the Ft. Lauderdale Boat Show in October, so Warren and I will be on land for the next few months.

One Done Deal, One Deal To Go!