Travels of Geo Nova: May 2014

From the land of warmth and green to the land of cold and brown.

Well where do we begin. Our journey from FL. is complete. We are saddened to leave Geo Nova behind but look forward to our new adventures in our Airstream.

I guess we should back up a bit and fill you in on all that has taken place. Once we put he boat up for sale we had to keep it ship shape for showing it. After 3 weeks a man came and looked at her. It didn't pan out. (thank goodness because Diana didn't like him) 2 weeks later our broker called all excited. He had a call from 2 couples, one from the mid west and one from the DC area. The couple from the DC area saw the information about Geo Nova on the web site and fell in love with her. We scheduled a showing and the broker said he wanted us on the boat for it. When they walked up the dock we knew before they even got on the boat they would buy her. Pat and Patti were shown the boat. Diana made lunch for everyone. We talked with them about Geo Nova. They said it was on their bucket list to go cruising. When they asked why we were selling we explained it was on our bucket list to go RVing. We had bought an Airstream and next winter we were going to start land cruising. They laughed and said take care of the Airstream because when they get through ocean cruising that's what they plan to do next. We signed papers and the next step was to have the boat surveyed. It's like a house inspection. The date was made for April 28th. The surveyor went up the mast in the lockers and all through the boat. Since she was in the water we had to go to the marina next door and have her hauled so the bottom could be inspected. Then it was out in the river going back and forth taking sails out and checking the engine. Once back at the dock the surveyor told us about a few minor things that needed attention. Pat said I’d take care of everything. With that said the paperwork and banking work was completed on May 6th. Pat and Patti became the new owners of the boat.

Over the past couple of months since making the decision to sell the boat we investigated RV's of all types including trailers, buses and 5th wheels. We made the choice to go with an Airstream trailer. We were at the right place and right time. A 2012 used 30 ft long trailer, only used 4 times, came on the market so we bought it. Part of the deal was the company would store the trailer until next December and deliver it to the park we wanted it at. A win win situation for us. We then started to look at the type of vehicle we would need to tow the Airstream and found out the Sequoia wouldn't cut the mustard. We'll again a deal was presented to us so we drove back to Maine in our new Ford diesel 250 truck. Thank goodness we bought it. We used it to transport all of the stuff on the boat we could use on the trailer to the trailer. Then we filled the bed with everything that was left to go back to Maine. Even the back seat was full!

We left Titusville on May 6th and headed to Savannah to spend a couple of days with David's brother Mike and wife Carol. From there we went to Durham NC and looked up old friends of Diana's, Marg and Dave. Diana and Marg used to work together in the lab at the old Watts hospital back in the 70's. Boy has Durham changed. The hospital is now a math and science school for high school students in the state. We took a walk through the Duke gardens. Diana got to add 3 new birds to her life list that we saw at the pond in the gardens. From here we drove to NJ to see David's aunt Irma and Uncle Lou. We had a wonderful dinner and shared our stories with them. When Lou found out we joined the Airstream club and if we do a caravan with them we will need a CB radio. Well thanks to Lou we have one. He gave us one he had. From NJ it was back to Maine but with a stop in Sterling MA to see Diana’s dad who is 90. His roommate had a mother’s day lunch ready and dad had a mother’s day cake (from the store) for Diana. With a stop at the grocery store in NH we were ready for the Camp. The stop at the grocery store was unnecessary because Tatiana and West were kind enough to provision for a meal upon reentry I know it’s a home but we will always call it the Camp. After unloading only a few things we made dinner and relaxed.

The next day was in the 80’s so we got the truck unloaded then got outside work done. David put on his wet suit and we got the dock in! During the afternoon he went to the clinic to get our mail and wine!

It’s cold today, in the 50’s so we are working inside getting everything unpacked, going through 2 boxes of mail and just cleaning up.

We will work on getting things squared away here in Maine for the next several weeks then off to California to visit Zach and Diana’s sister. David will reenter the real world on June 17^th when he reports to work at Down Maine Veterinary Clinic.

All and all it was a fun winter with lots of bird watching, hiking, bike riding and visiting with new and old friends.

We hope to have an additional posting when we get back from California.