Getting close now

Well, less than a week to go now before we depart Denver on the 1300 mile journey to Anacortes, Washington state, where the boat is located. We have been frantically working on the house as it goes on the market the day we leave. As usual everything is being done at the last minute. Katya is staying at a friends house tonight which has given us some time to get more done. The house is in chaos. Carpet has been taken up. New floors being laid, sanded, re sanded - oh the dust - varnished, re varnished, sealed. Outside windows have been painted and a thousand other jobs to get the house in a presentable and ship shape condition for being sold.

Spoke to Roger today and he is getting ready to fly out to Seattle on Wednesday. I think he has about a 15 hour journey, from London that is. We are all very excited about seeing grandpa and Katya especially. It has been a long time since we spent a few weeks together.

We are taking Luda, our border terrier, along with us on the trip. It is the first time she has been on Sarita although she has been on Zinita, our old boat in Australia. We have purchased a very fetching orange life jacket, complete with carrying handle, for the trip. we will have to get into a routine of taking her onshore first thing in the morning and last thing at night with walks in the day to ensure that there are no nasty surprises awaiting us in the mornings.

Sandy and Steve are leaving on the same day with their trip being punctuated with stops at various hot springs and no doubt some other types of watering holes. All being well we should be meeting them on the 9th.

Steve, having an endless amount of friends around the globe, has been using his magic to connect us with some interesting sounding people including an "old salt" who lives on Lopez island in the San Juans and will be a wealth of knowledge for our journey, as he has cruised the area for many years. I am sure that Steve and Sandy will be making many new friends over the coming weeks!

Well - its Jude's birthday tomorrow - 28, again. So my love and best wishes to my dear wife. What a star she is.