Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Last post in the U.S.
Too much to do (freaking out a little) - Sorry. See you in Australia in a few weeks.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Backup plans
With all the things I'm trying to juggle at the moment it's reassuring to have a backup plan. Instead of flying four flights on two airlines to get to Canberra, shipping a crate full of stuff and trying to get the boat and other things sold in the next week, maybe it will be better to think outside the box. One day soon, Matt and I will figure out how to start this thing - Then I can just take everything with me.
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Airplanes and boats
Today was the last time I'll get to an EAA Chapter 1114 meeting for a while (yes, EAA - Not AA).
The meetings start with breakfast and I'm normally too late to take advantage of the food but I got up extra early this morning. The weather was beautiful (if a bit gusty) and the turnout was better than normal. I wasn't able to stay for the official meeting after breakfast but Kent (the chapter president) convinced me to stay for the beginning. It turns out the first order of business was a goodbye for me. They presented me with some nice gifts (more on those later, possibly) and thanked me for my volunteerism and sent me on my way. They're a great bunch of people and I'm going to miss seeing them regularly, but I'm sure I haven't seen the last of a few of them.
It was a little difficult to leave Cox Field in the middle of a meeting, but it was maybe even more emotional because of where I was headed - I was off to meet two guys who had flown down from Massachusetts to buy my boat. I've been told that I tend toward the pessimistic, but I didn't really believe these guys were serious until I saw them in the big yellow rental truck. The plan was to load the boat and trailer INTO the box truck for the drive back to MA.
We met at the Mobil station in Wilsonville and they followed me over to the boat. I pulled the boat out of the storage place to give them a lesson in rigging it. I got the rig all set up and they took careful pictures for future reference. I was surprised that I was really totally alright with selling the boat to them. Maybe I'm just that ready to go. It was certainly a relief knowing that I was getting it sold with 12 days to spare before my departure.
Then Paul told me he had changed his mind.
Anybody wanna buy a boat?
The meetings start with breakfast and I'm normally too late to take advantage of the food but I got up extra early this morning. The weather was beautiful (if a bit gusty) and the turnout was better than normal. I wasn't able to stay for the official meeting after breakfast but Kent (the chapter president) convinced me to stay for the beginning. It turns out the first order of business was a goodbye for me. They presented me with some nice gifts (more on those later, possibly) and thanked me for my volunteerism and sent me on my way. They're a great bunch of people and I'm going to miss seeing them regularly, but I'm sure I haven't seen the last of a few of them.
It was a little difficult to leave Cox Field in the middle of a meeting, but it was maybe even more emotional because of where I was headed - I was off to meet two guys who had flown down from Massachusetts to buy my boat. I've been told that I tend toward the pessimistic, but I didn't really believe these guys were serious until I saw them in the big yellow rental truck. The plan was to load the boat and trailer INTO the box truck for the drive back to MA.
We met at the Mobil station in Wilsonville and they followed me over to the boat. I pulled the boat out of the storage place to give them a lesson in rigging it. I got the rig all set up and they took careful pictures for future reference. I was surprised that I was really totally alright with selling the boat to them. Maybe I'm just that ready to go. It was certainly a relief knowing that I was getting it sold with 12 days to spare before my departure.
Then Paul told me he had changed his mind.
Anybody wanna buy a boat?
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Two more weeks...
During our long separations, we've been keeping touch on Skype. Once in a while (like last night) my computer refuses to cooperate and we miss our appointment to see each other. Those are the longest days.
Monday, February 14, 2011
Tickets
It's official - I'm leaving North Carolina on Thursday morning, March 3. I'll be arriving in Sydney on the 5th of March in time for lunch (Yay!).
I'm flying two airlines, which can be a gotcha if flights are delayed on the first airline (Delta) but I've scheduled a layover in LA that should be long enough to catch up if there are problems with the first two legs of the flight - Delta has several LA bound flights after mine that will arrive in time for my Trans-Pacific flights.
I'm flying two airlines, which can be a gotcha if flights are delayed on the first airline (Delta) but I've scheduled a layover in LA that should be long enough to catch up if there are problems with the first two legs of the flight - Delta has several LA bound flights after mine that will arrive in time for my Trans-Pacific flights.
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