Days Events:
Wx - in Harrisonburg, 80/60, whereas in Florence, AL 92/74 with sun and light winds.
Travel - left the Doubletree Inn in Harrisonburg, VA at 0740, traveled 638 miles to home, Florence, AL, in 10.3 hrs; followed I-81 to Knoxville, TN, where I-40 took over through Knoxville, then I-75 to Chattanooga, TN where we changed to I-24, and then onto US 72 all the way home. Heavy traffic as soon as we connected to I-40 on the east side of Knoxville and was heavy until we left I-24 just west of Chattanooga. Stopped twice at McDonalds for coffee/lunch - when got gas at a Chevron outside Chattanooga, the bathrooms were definitely not up to the standard of McDonalds and from now on we will use theirs when we grab a drink, etc.
The wx was quite variable, from fog to mist to rain to cloudy to sunny when we finally crossed into AL.
Admirals Desk:
Last port of call for this year. Today we drove from the Doubletree Inn to Doubletree Lane. We are home!! And we're happy to be home. Our outbound trip took 193 days, return 18 hrs.!
Another long travel day. Wind and waves irrelevant!. But unlike Doc's Aweigh, we had to stop somewhere for a pit stop!! McDonald's became our stop of choice. Clean, very good covid compliance, and easy. I wouldn't recommend gas stations for anything but gas.
Our house is neater and cleaner than when we left. 😘😘😘 to Dana and Chris for being our site managers. They took on a bigger job than we imagined. Especially the pool! Whodathunk it would drain itself!? Also, many compliments to our housekeeper Joni, chief of lawn service Garry, and our two landscape guys Oswald and Nicio. And to everyone that kept track of us on the blog, thank you!! We never felt alone.
You know you've been gone a while when:
- you can't remember where the light switches are (ours have never made sense, probably a man decision)
- you nearly yank the drawers and doors out of their fittings because they don't have catches to secure them in rough water
-you use only tiny bits of toilet paper
- think can I use the oven, the microwave and/or the cook top without throwing a breaker
- realize you can use more than 1glass/day as we have a dishwasher not named Marg. A real beer glass and a stemmed wine glass!!
We look forward to having Porter home. Every house needs a dog.
It's time to say goodnight.
Horizon Marina contact - Carol sent us photos of the hull and it looks quite good after being power washed; will have to defer to Jason the hull/deck/fiberglass expert re needing painting, etc.
Home - as Marg has noted, we are both glad to be back and are most appreciative of all the care provided to the house/yard by Chris and Dana in particular. We are disappointed the USPS was unable to forward all our mail to the company we selected, despite completing all the paperwork which they accepted -- only a few items were sent, and it doesn't make sense which ones they chose. For now, we will notify them to resume deliveries again; and put our contract with SBI in Florida on hold until we resume the Loop next May.
We are also grateful to all our friends for following us, supporting us, sending us humorous emails, and generally just being there. It helped keep us 'connected' to the world, family, friends. Especially during this Covid crisis, since our contact with Loopers was considerably less than normal.
Now, we have to unpack and reacquaint ourselves with the house -- it is amazing how much we have forgotten! Also, we have no hot water! The on-demand unit is not working, even though there is power to the receptacle. Will have to call them in the a.m.
Comments:
Anne & Terry - 12 Sep 2020: WELCOME HOME!!! -- Janice - 12 Sep 2020 | 06:38 No place like home. Welcome back, I know you’ll enjoy all those little things we take for granted in our homes. Small space living can do that to us.
Dave N - 12 Sep 2020: Glad you are back safe and sound. Great trip for sure and look forward to seeing you next spring when you come back to pick up your boat. Hopefully Covid-19 will be wound down enough we can get together and have dinner when you return.
Dd - 13 Sep 2020: Cool!!!
Jack - 13 Sep 2020: Welcome Home!
Tom - 13 Sep 2020: Thanks for the memories & so glad you two made it home safe and sound. Hopefully Porter doesn't lick all the skin off your faces when he see's you after 6 months away !
Susie and Jim R. - 15 Sep 2020: Welcome home. What a great trip for all of us! Thanks for taking the time each day to keep us "in the loop"