Saturday, January 9, 2010

Saying Good-Bye

Saying good-bye to Port St Joe friends.


There is a saying among boaties that the two happiest days of your life are: the day you buy your boat and the day you sell your boat.

We were sad to say goodbye to 'Pearl' after living aboard for ten months and having travelled so far but at the same time it was great to have a tidy conclusion to the journey, with the sale of the boat.

And after a month at Port St Joe Marina in the Florida Panhandle we were sad to say goodbye to so many good friends including: the Great Loopers who have travelled with us along the way, the boat club members who shared their Christmas and New Year celebrations with us, the marina staff who took a personal interest in our trials and tribulations, to the folk at Holy Trinity Church who were so welcoming and particularly to Bob and Doris who adopted us as family.

We now have just the right amount of time to make a trip across the States on Amtrak. Over the final ten days we will take the train from Jacksonville, Florida to Washington,DC and on to Chicago where we will stay with SERVAS friends. From there we will travel across the States to Los Angeles. We will stay there, also with a SERVAS friend, before boarding a plane for home. We expect to touch down in Christchurch, New Zealand on 19 January 2010, exactly a year out from our departure.

Thank you to all the people who have followed this blog. The blog has hardly done justice to the fantastic trip that we have made but we are glad to have been able to share a few of our experiences with others.

Love and best wishes,
Phillippa, John, Alice and Lloyd
ashbeys@hotmail.com