Operation Get the Hell Out of Texas

We had a week between my last day at work and flying back to Houston for the last time. Had a couple hundred things to do, get, pack or whatever. We got a slow start, with nothing but a three hour nap to show on that first Saturday, but that worked out since we spent much of Saturday night at Emergency with Chelsea and her friend. It kept building as our flight approached, with Thursday and especially Friday pretty frantic. We’ve never both been away from the house for more than a week and a half, so there was a lot to arrange and schedule. And we needed to pack for more than three weeks, covering hot in Houston, cold on the water, and everything between. Plus a load of boat stuff. Almost 150 pounds of checked bags, and easily another 75 pounds in carry on.

We’ve been in Houston for a couple days now. Even though we've been busy, our list is longer now than when we got here. We keep thinking of new things. We're north of Houston now picking up the dinghy and outboard we had delivered to Heather’s sister’s so we could get the sale prices (thanks guys!). We'll assemble the tender and try it out this afternoon.

To expedite our departure I’ve started another list of things that need to be done, but we can leave Houston without starting.

Chelsea is OK

Well, that didn't take long. Per the title of this post, Chelsea is OK, but she was in a four-car accident Saturday night. She was a little sore in multiple places yesterday morning, and already had an appointment to see a doctor later today, so they can see if there is anything to be concerned about.

It was on a freeway off-ramp, and doesn't appear to have been anywhere near full freeway speeds, but nonetheless her passenger may require some delicate surgery.

It was near ASU, and apparently there was a lot of Homecoming traffic. The offramp was backed up almost to the freeway. Chelsea was stopped, waiting for the light. Apparently the girl who hit her was trying to get directions from her phone and did not get that the offramp was nearly full until too late, although she must have slowed some. She rear ended Chelsea, who in turn bumped into the car in front of her. While everyone else seems to be OK other than sore, with bumps and bruises, Chelsea's passenger has some eye damage that may require surgery. We'll know more in a few days.

Heather was also rear ended not that long ago (at very slow speed) by a distracted driver looking at his phone instead of driving his truck. Distracted driving seems to be the new impaired driving.

So my last day with Boeing was last Friday, the day before Chelsea's accident. I'll take this as another reminder to use our time well. Be safe out there.

What About the Kids?

By popular demand, an update on the kids. To be fair, we would not be doing this without the support of Chelsea and Madison. They are both working very hard at school, and each will be graduating with a degree in the next six months or so. Even when I was thinking of retiring in March the timing was tight for the girls, but they have been very flexible and understanding with their parents effectively running off the join the circus.

Madi is due to graduate in December with a double major in Japanese and English. A week after graduating she heads back to Japan for a few weeks to visit friends and tour the country. She'll be moving to the SF bay area in January, and finally be back in the same place as her boyfriend Koji. She'll get a job, hopefully using her Japanese skills, but her (at least) part time job will be studying for the Japanese Language Proficiency Test late next year.

Chelsea is studying criminal justice, with a special interest in solitary confinement. She should graduate with a masters degree in May. Soon after the voluntary layoff discussions started she expressed interest in staying on for a doctorate. This may, weirdly enough, work out well for everyone. Next year we will hand the house over to Chelsea for a few years to manage. Hopefully with roommates her housing expenses should be minimal, and she can keep the dogs and cats without moving. By the time she finishes up a doctorate the house should be pretty much paid off, and we have a few years to get the house in shape to sell, rent, or whatever.

In the mean time I think we're going to move all our stuff into the garage, but it remains to be seen if this is physically possible. We've been purging a lot of the crap we've collected in the 25 years since we last moved, but there's still a lot to go through.

One big change is getting four of the five cars we currently have off our books. The convertible we'll sell (since we already have another soft-top). Through a complicated series of negotiations and compromises, Chelsea will take Madi's 2004 Prius, Madi will take Heather's 2007 Prius, and one of Heather's students will fix up Chelsea's old Camry and they'll split the proceeds from selling it. This leaves us with only the Land Cruiser for when we're in town (and to insure).

US Sailboat Show in Annapolis

Well, we finished out the boat show for this year without too much fiscal pain (except for the dinghy and motor). It was rainy on Saturday, but that kept the crowds down. It cleared on Sunday but was very windy. Most things were 10 to 20% off for the show.

We picked up an offshore life vest with a built in harness for Heather, and a couple of separate harnesses for the coastal vests we already have. We needed a third tether for George when he helps us after Christmas, so we ended up getting a double in case someone needs to go forward on the boat in bad weather. We picked up a chart kit for New Orleans to Florida, the new Southern guide book which only just came out, and a couple more books on anchoring and weather. Heather got a cap with the boat name and a whale tail graphic embroidered, and also a handful of stocking stuffer sized/priced items.

We managed to go the entire show without setting foot on a boat. It just didn't feel like something fun now that we have our own. We did look at a lot of dingies and motors. This is a critical decision because the dingy is your car to get from your house to wherever you want to go (if your house isn't parked at a marina). After all the looking we ended up cheaping out on a PVC dingy for the next year or so until we are in Florida next year. By then we should know better what we want and need, and be in the best place to buy it. For a motor we ended up with a 5hp propane model, which sounds good and I hope works out. I think we're going to try and have them delivered to Heather's sister Holly's house in Houston.

We met last night with Jeff and Jean from Two Can Sail for some pointers on the journey from Houston to Tampa. They have been a great resource, from planning, buying and surveying the boat, and now getting started. Highly recommended!

Next year we should attend the show with our boat here in Annapolis. Headed back to Arizona this afternoon.

What Kind of Boat?

The boat that we bought is a Beneteau 411 monohull sloop with two cabins, made in 1998. The line drawing at top represents our boat, down to the shoal draft keel. We struggled for a long time with this decision, with us thinking that certain things might be appealing, but ultimately rejecting most of them. I even took a boat buying class with John Kretschmer, who gave a pretty evenhanded review of the kind of boats available, but as a professional had needs that differed from those of a newly retired couple that didn’t have enough years left to ever become that kind of blue water sailor.

While most sailors might view the following statement as an insult, I mean it as a compliment. The Beneteau 411 is the Toyota Camry of 40 foot sailboats. More than a thousand were made, which makes it one of the highest production sailboats of this size ever, believe it or not. It's comfortable and functional, not luxurious or showy. It benefits from more recent design changes, but is the victim of others, such as hull shape, which is a little flatter than we would like.

It has an aft cockpit with a sugar scoop stern, which make getting on and off the boat easier. It has an aft cabin for guests  to port under the cockpit which is nice, then immediately forward of that is a small day head (bathroom), then the nav station, then a settee which is opposite the dining area. Aft of the dining area is the galley (or kitchen). Moving forward is our cabin, which has a pullman bunk to starboard. Forward of the cabin isthe second head, which uses the triangular space well, but won't be usable when underway in any kind of seas. This will be our (very) tiny home, for as long as it’s fun.

What happened to leaving work next year?

We had talked quite a bit about me retiring early next year, since Heather has been semi-retired for about a year and a half. The soonest I was eligible for full retirement was March 1st. As luck would have it, a voluntary layoff came thru for my organization. It sounds weird, but it's a way for big companies to help folks out the door without getting sued as much.

Since they were willing to give me 6 months pay to leave 4 months sooner than I had planned, I bit. The date the company established for me is two weeks from today, the 21st of October. Three weeks after that will be the longest I've been without a job since I was 13. This really works out for the best, because it's going to take us more time than I thought to get the boat to Florida. It's a big step, but this is as good a time and way as we were going to get. I'm sure there will be some bumps, but the thought of not going now, while we're both still pretty healthy, scares me more.