She's home!

Monday morning arrived early, and Rick was
right on time for the 8:00am launch. He delivered
Kantiya to River Forest Marina, which is right
next door to Turkey Creek, our neighborhood. 

The boys in the boatyard quickly went to work, setting the
straps on Kantiya to safely lift her off the semi trailer.

Off she goes to the dry dock!

The 'boy' in the shoulder strap harness was wearing
the controls to the travel lift.  He was operating the
joy stick like he was playing a video game moving
our 20 thousand pound boat through the lot!

And down she goes for her final splash! We left
her in the sling and followed Rick home so that
we could deposit the boom and mast in the
driveway next door.  We want to re wire it all,
add led lights, a new masthead kit, weather
station, windex, spreader lights, radar, etc.

Next off the truck was the boom.

Lord, don't let it fall and go BOOM!

Jerry got Lavern's forklift from the
barn to offload the mast from the trailer.

All the neighbors came out to offer their moral support
as she was swung in to place.  Ed made a quick run home
for more saw horses so she would be adequately supported.

With the mast and boom safely offloaded, Ed
gave us a golf cart ride back to the marina to
pick up Kantiya and motor her home.

Lucille (the Perkins 4108 diesel engine) fired right up, and
it was exciting to be at the helm again to drive her home!

It seemed as if much of the neighborhood was out to watch us
pull her in to our dock.  It required a three point turn in our
canal, which we have never done. I chickened out and I
asked Len to take the wheel! He follows Capn's orders, lol.

He made a perfect turn around, and gently slid her in front of
the Hatteras and along side our dock, where the neighbors were
there to catch the lines.  It was a happy, happy moment!

Our closest friends and neighbors were all there,
snapping photos and cheering.  Handshakes and
hugs were all around.  Shirley and John gave us a
bottle of bubbly to welcome Kantiya home, and to
 'officially' welcome us to the neighborhood for good!

Three years of planning and dreaming, and a long distance
relationship to China and back- WE DID IT!!!
Man, it feels good to finally be HOME <3

G'nite, y'all!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Willis is three down, six to go. Dern cat.

Image
If cats have nine lives, Willis has now burned through three of them. The first one was when he went overboard on Marquesa several years ago.  I think that mishap took years off my own life, and landed me with a broken toe in the ER. In my haste to 'save' him, I dove overboard but got my toe hung up on the life lines. Geesh. Last Christmas, he had an encounter with a cotton mouth, the day after I left for Japan to spend Christmas with Ellie.  That was a scary one...he was lucky he didn't burn through all the remaining eight lives with that one. Now, here we are again, at the vet with a nasty, oozing, abscess on his right side.  There is one puncture wound, not two.  Yet, the vet is certain it was something venomous that nailed him once more.  When I took him to the vet on Saturday to have his wound looked at, there was a distinctive lump, the skin was blackened, and you could see one puncture and an abrasion. On Saturday, he tried to behave him...
Read more

School's Out For Summer!

Image
There is no doubt that teaching psychology to my Chinese babies was one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences of my life.  Their dedication and diligence to their academic pursuits is a bar set so high, that my American friends and family find my stories hard to believe.  All of that pressure to succeed comes with a price, however, and I felt part of my calling to China was to temper those unrealistically high expectations set by their teachers, families, and their very culture.  There is so much more to defining a person than one's GPA, transcripts, or from where they receive their diploma.  When learning is no longer FUN, there is a problem.  If I did anything right, it was to teach dem Chinese babies that it's okay to be silly and to have fun.  Life is too precious to be so serious and stressed out all the time!  Never let anyone or anything steal your joy and zest for life 😁...remember, you only get one go around. In moving back t...
Read more

The best laid plans

Image
Good morning!  We had a leisurely morning aboard Kantiya.  The Dismal Swamp Lock didn't open until 8:30am, so we enjoyed coffee and breakfast, and I checked email and worked on the blog some. The main salon is my 'office' on board- it works out fine :) The best laid plans, well.... are just that.  As we passed the 'road sign' for the Dismal Swamp it said the canal was open, but the lock was closed.  Knowing it was nearly 7:30pm and the last lock through was at 3:30pm, I figured," ok, it's closed- for the day".  I even remarked to Len that it looked like the kind of sign at a bar, that you can change from 'closed' to 'open'. Well, this morning, a man paddles by in a canoe, and Len thought, "That must be the guy changing the sign." Ah, no. I pulled off the dock at 8:00am for the short two mile jaunt to the lock.  At about one half mile out, I hail the lock on the VHF to request the 8:30 scheduled opening. I was politely ...
Read more