Bon Voyage & Boat Blessing

Last Saturday (8/28) our Episcopal church family had a bon voyage party on the Ohio River at Belmont, WV and featured both our church priests blessing our boat for a safe journey and still happily married when the trip was over. I had hoped that they would have included something about no mechanical issues but didn't happen.



After Sunday services a couple of the ladies accompanied us on the 4 hour trip back to our yacht club. This was a new adventure for both of them which included a lock down and we were very happy they went with us. We are now down to less than 3 weeks before embarking on our adventure and are getting very excited as well as feeling like we are on a bicycle going down hill and can't keep up with the pedals. So many little things left to do such as figuring out what clothes to take and food as well as making sure we have all the final boat items completed.

Almost Ready

Quest is now in the water as of a week ago Friday which was more or less a little bit of a scare. Our yacht club owns a short tractor much like what is used to haul moble homes which is used to put most boats on trailers in the water. However, due to the weight of the Quest, we also use a large wrecker which is attached to the short truck as well as the trailer under the boat. This method has been used very successfully for several launchings without too much grief but this time the trip down the ramp was very exciting to say the least. I was at the helm in order to start the engines on launch when the caravan started down the ramp. It seems that the wrecker was geared a little higher than the one normally used and since the GPS wasn't on I can only guess that the speed was FAST. Although I did not soil any clothing during the experience .......

Well, now we need to finish a few more items before our scheduled departure of 9/18. Ricki finished her last day at work last Friday so as soon as we ship the last of the grandkids who have been visiting this week and next home, we can really make some headway on our projects. We are looking forward to the trip and all the folks we will be cruising with at one time or another. As you read other blogs it seems like meeting other loopers is one of the more enjoyable parts of the experience.