the night before.

well, we FINALLY get to leave hampton in the morning for the ICW.  tom and i have been antsy to leave.  we've been holding still too long.  i am still +/- about the buddy boating thing but well, there it is - it is what it is.  i would be lying if i said i was thrilled about it but, well, i am anti-social to begin with anyway.  ok, not THAT anti-social - just picky.  the past few days, we have gotten to know some of our companions for this voyage.  or at least, tom has gotten to know some of them as  i have just been holed up in the boat trying to get some work done as i can see that it's going to be tough maintaining the same standard of work in the next six weeks.  oh well... it's hard to learn how to chill out when one is old and set in one's ways.  either way, i just want to get going and the time has finally come.  it's the night before.

it is also halloween and amongst our SAIL ralliers, there is one boat with a 7-year-old and we all got an email the night before to prepare something for young connor so that he could trick or treat on the dock among the boats and not miss out. walking down the dock this early evening, i saw someone carving out a pumpkin, too.  some folks actually brought costumes!  but tom and i are such party poopers - no costumes for us.  heck, i don't even put costumes on consuelo!  in any case, connor did not leave our boat empty handed.  he looked pretty good actually - really cool mask. 

so, here is our SAIL rally leadership:  1) wally, our captain james tiberius kirk, the cowboy fearless leader; 2) mark, who is mr. spock, combination navigator/science officer/voice of reason in a time of madness; and 3) tom, who is scotty, troubleshooter extraordinaire and tech support.  there was an emergency meeting tonight on our boat because the weather is looking like crap for late tomorrow so they want to get all the ducklings herded into the dismal swamp en masse where it will be protected if we get a blow.  anyway, that is the short version of the plan.  bottom line:  we leave tomorrow as planned.  i'm glad that i have the day off from work and that work ran out tonight so i won't be tempted to work deep into the night or look for work tomorrow like i always do on my official days off from work.  i've got a lot of reading to do (charts and guides and what-nots) along the way.  i am going to miss the money sigh... but i am excited :)