Getting Away

Getting away is great but the logistics can be a challenge.
After enjoying a beautiful Christmas season in San Diego, we focused our attention on the details of packing, moving and preparing for our first cruise. One complication arose when we received our final documents from Cunard Line and learned that we needed a Brazilian visa or we would be denied boarding the Queen Mary 2 in Fort Lauderdale. This typically requires fifteen days lead time and we couldn’t even apply until we received our new passports which were in the process of being renewed. By the time we got our passports, we had run out of time which necessitated an unplanned drive to Washington, DC where we were assured we could get our visas in two days time. So, the packers came the 27th, the movers on the 28th, furniture sale took place the 29th and we left San Diego December 30th.
After a stop in Phoenix to visit Julie & Doug and drop off the convertible they will be babysitting for a year, we headed north to pick up Interstate 40. All went well until a sign alerted us that I-40 was closed, due to drifting snow, from Albuquerque to the Texas border. (We learned later that some people were stranded on that stretch of road for two days.) We took a right and headed down to I-10 (losing about 5 hours time) and a more southerly route. This detour required that we drive fourteen hours each of the next two days, and nine hours the third day, in order to get to Virginia on the 2nd and submit our visa applications to the Embassy on the 3rd. This would allow two days and we could pick up our visas on Friday the 5th and begin our drive to Florida to begin our cruise on the 10th.
One of our 14-hour days was the 31st. (Knowing we would be on the road, we had celebrated New Year’s Eve early with a nice dinner at a favorite restaurant in San Diego, and we were glad we had). That night, we arrived at our destination - Odessa, Texas - at 9:45 pm. The restaurant connected to the hotel was just closing but they allowed us to order and have it delivered to our room. Needless to say, it was not a great meal and it arrived a bit cool since the delivery boy had to go outside in 20 degree windy weather to bring it to us (we didn’t tell him that he forgot the salads). The bottle of wine we brought with us helped a lot to warm and cheer us as we proposed a toast to the new year and our upcoming adventure.
The good news is that we got to Virginia on time, submitted our applications on time and an added bonus was that we obtained our visas the next day. We had a wonderful visit with our friends Sondra and Dan in McLean and another nice stop at Lake of the Woods to reconnect with other good friends Marilyn & Bill.
We’re now visiting with our friend Judy Bacon in Nokomis, Florida where we’ve finished getting organized for our cruise and are visiting with other long-time friends. Tonight we’ll go to one of our favorite spots in Venice, T. J. Carneys, to hear our buddy Bud Leeds and his group play some Dixieland music and get up to date on the last three years of activities. Tomorrow morning we’ll drive across the state to Ft. Lauderdale to board the QM2 for our 26-day cruise, around the Horn, and ending in San Francisco on 4 February. In between, we’ll visit Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Montevideo, Uruguay; Valparaiso, Chile; and Acapulco, Mexico.

Meet Tammy Traveller (once a lonely gingerbread cookie left over from Christmas). She left her home in downtown San Diego (where she's been living with the Snure family) to see the world. She wanted to experience what other cookies have been telling her about for years. She hoped to meet up with other adopted orphan gingerpeople along the way and hear their stories.

So far she's met up with Ginger Slevecove(upper left photo) who has been traveling Route 66 with her adopted parents, Beth and Joe. Looks like they are making sure she stays nice and warm. In the photo you can see that she has stopped at an Indian Reservation.

And there's Biker Girl (other two photos) shown with her adopted parents, Margi & Sondra, on their bike when they made a stop in North Carolina. She's certainly dressed for the occasion and having a real adventure

So let's all say bon voyage to Tammy, Ginger and Biker Girl and wish them safe and happy travels, and hope that they meet with other adopted Gingers along the way.

4/23/07 Well, looks like they've met up with another Ginger who is vacationing in Mexico (see the two photos at the top of this page). Must be a nude beach because Ginger doesn't appear to be wearing anything. Ahhh, the innocence of these ginger people!

The beginning of our odyssey

Odyssey: Any long series of wanderings and adventures.

A long Greek epic poem attributed to Homer, describing the ten years of wandering of Odysseus after the Trojan War and his final return home.

We were winging our way across the Atlantic in July 1992, from our home in London, to Phoenix where Doug would officially retire from a thirty-one-year career with Honeywell. Our conversation dwelt on two subjects: What would we name our Crealock 37-foot cutter waiting for us in ClearLake, Texas? and What would be the nature of our "odyssey" for the next few years of living aboard and cruising? Just like that - the name for our boat!

While Odysseus reached his home in Ithaca ten years after he "retired" from the field of battle in Troy, we are still roaming fourteen years later. Perhaps for us home will be like Jimmy Buffet's description of Margaritaville . . . "You'll know where it is when you get there."

We will miss our dear friends of the past three years in San Diego, and our Little Italy neighborhood, but go forward in anticipation of meeting still more wonderful people - as has been our good fortune in our past travels. In fact, half of the year we plan to visit with family and friends in the U. S., Canada, France and Mexico. We start the year aboard the Queen Mary 2 for a 26-day cruise from Ft. Lauderdale to San Francisco (around the Horn) and end the year

with a 126-day cruise around the world, aboard the tramp freighter Rickmers Jakarta, departing from and returning to Houston. That should bring us back to San Diego in about one year.

For now, we’re looking forward to a beautiful Christmas season here in San Diego. In the midst of the holidays, we’re organizing things to begin a more nomadic life. We’ve contracted with a mail forwarding service, scheduled the packers and movers, and arranged for the sale of some furniture pieces. We’ve put all 250 music cd’s into our i-pod, accumulated a few books we’ve been waiting to read, decided which clothes to take for a year and put together a small file box of essential paperwork (enough to do the taxes in April). We’re getting together with friends to say our farewells for a year and temporarily severing ties with our volunteer organizations (Doug with the USS Midway Aircraft Carrier Museum and Rebecca with TACO – Third Avenue Charitable Organization).

So, stay tuned to this blog site for further updates on our odyssey of the places we visit and the people we meet.

Doug and Rebecca