We made it!

Chuck and I pulled out of Hampton at 0600 Tuesday morning and parked Branwen at her new home in Solomons, MD, at 1600.  We had an uneventful - thankfully - run up the Chesapeake with 2 to 4 foot seas and the wind from our stern.  We averaged a little better than 8 knots for the final leg.

Approaching the slip at Calvert Marina on Tuesday, June 30th

Again, there was no parade, no crowd to share the celebration, no band to meet us, but it didn't matter.  Chuck and I had been quietly celebrating since entering familiar waters north of the Potomac, and there were folks waiting for us at the slip as we pulled in.  My wife, Mary, and her brother, who just happened to be in town for a meeting, were there, and someone Chuck and I work with came to see us pull in and to give Chuck a ride home.  That saved Mary and me a short trip in the wrong direction, and I appreciated it very much.

Tied up in her new home at Calvert Marina, MD.

But we couldn't just jump off the boat into our cars and head home like we all wanted to, because after such a long trip there was a lot to do to put the boat away in the slip the first time.  Chuck and I had to pack our personal gear, but I also had to get the laundry and perishable food off the boat.  Mary brought coolers with ice and helped empty the frig and freezer while Chuck and I packed and secured the boat in the slip.

It didn't take that long to get everything packed up, loaded in the car, and then on our way home.  After getting home and unpacking, I relaxed, putting the boat completely out of my mind for a short while, even though I could still feel the earth rocking beneath me as though I was still on the boat.  I got a great night's sleep that wasn't interrupted by the constant barrage of thoughts about what I had to do next to keep the boat and the crew going or what might go wrong next that I should prepare for.

Thoroughly rested, I woke up in the morning with a mental list of chores I needed to do: go back to the boat to collect some personal items I'd forgotten, set some switches appropriately for being in the slip that I'd neglected to check, order supplies for periodic maintenance that had to be done, review lessons learned and determine what needed to be repaired, replaced, or eliminated, make sure she was still where we left her, etc., etc., . . .

It's all part of the joy of being a boat owner.  From The Wind In The Willows by Kenneth Grahame:

"Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing — absolutely nothing — half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats. Simply messing... about in boats — or with boats. In or out of 'em, it doesn't matter. Nothing seems really to matter, that's the charm of it. Whether you get away, or whether you don't; whether you arrive at your destination or whether you reach somewhere else, or whether you never get anywhere at all, you're always busy, and you never do anything in particular; and when you've done it there's always something else to do, and you can do it if you like, but you'd much better not."

Over the next few days I'll go through the photos from the trip that I wasn't able to post while we were on the boat and weave them together into a post that describes highlights I'd either forgotten about or skipped because a picture was needed.  Check back this weekend, and I'll have it done.

And that'll be it.  The delivery is done, so there won't be any more to say about it.  I'll continue to chronicle Branwen's adventures in my own blog, but I doubt that'll be interesting to most who followed the delivery crew.  Thanks for checking in along the way, caring about us, and pulling for a successful conclusion.  We appreciated your support.

Greg.