Cheryl's Notes:

We woke up Friday morning excited about getting home. We headed north into Adams Creek and when we hit the Neuse River, we both sighed. We were now in our own backyard. Our friend Paul, called and said that he was going to take off work early. We were not allowed to dock until he was there. There was no wind on the Neuse, so we took our time motoring up the river. We finally pulled into the dock about 3:15 p.m. Everyone was waiting to help us with dock lines and we landed smoothly. We were so excited to see all of our friends. Our immediate dock neighbors, Paul and Denise we on hand. The marina crew of Dawn, Bud and Clancy greeted us and Mark and Mariam from Delphys. Paul wanted to hear all of our stories before everyone else, so we went out to dinner with he and Denise. Poor Paul was so glad to see us that he got all "choked" up. But that story is for another time. Last night we were able to help Paul celebrate his birthday.

We have since been busy cleaning six months worth of dirt out of the boat. The wind picked up on Saturday and hasn't let up since, so the outside chores have been put on hold. One of us has to go up the mast to fix three different problems. Our anchor light is burning out and needs to be replaced. The anemometer is reporting wind speed correctly, but not wind direction, so we need to check to see if it has something wrapped around it. And, the TV antenna might be loose because our reception is bad when the wind blows.

I was able to drive a car for the first time in six months, and it came with a sense of independence. While we love cruising, it is good to be back to a land base. We now have three weeks to get everything clean and stored for the summer. We will be heading north to Minnesota around May 13. We have a college graduation (Brianna), and a high school graduation (Matthew) to attend. Then there is Megan's wedding to finalize details for. I have already missed so much of the process that I need to be there for the final rush.

John's Notes:

The Leprechaun has landed. Finally. It was a long trip that was everything we imagined and more. In some instances, much more.

As Cheryl said, we have been really busy almost from the moment we landed. Dinners, birthdays, the annual marina breakfast Saturday morning. You name it, we are involved in it. Almost daily we run into someone who hasn't seen us in months and wants to hear all about the "adventure." The stories don't change, just those listening. It's all good, though. We might not have gotten to do everything that we wanted to but we did a lot.

It has been 21 months since we left Bayfield. Leprechaun has safely transported us over 7,100 nautical miles. That's a lot of water under our keel. It's been quite an adventure so far. We are, however, looking forward to getting back to Minnesota and seeing friends and family.

Cheryl is going out with the girls tonight. Dawn, our assistant dock master is celebrating her birthday so a few of the liveaboard girls are taking her out to dinner. Not sure that I want to be anywhere near this crew. I have already warned several of the participants that Cheryl somehow always seems to attract the guy with the biggest "butt crack." Only time will tell.

Thursday we are having bottom work done. Kirk, the guy who does the work for us, is in for a real challenge. At a dollar a minute plus air, I'm sure he will find a way to get it clean again.

We do make progress every day. We have to have the boat in tip top shape before we leave. The boat has to be ready to survive severe weather while we are gone (as in hurricane). It's lucky for us that our neighbors are also liveaboards and can sort of look out for Leprechaun while we are gone. Definitely gives us an edge over other boat owners who are gone for an extended period of time.

Now that we are back, and our life is a little less challenging and interesting, we will probably not post as often as we have in the past. Anyone who wants is welcome to follow along but our adventures this summer will probably be of more interest to close friends and family as we get people graduated and married off.

It's surprising how many people have been following our travels. I never thought that all that many people would be interested in following our travels. Just goes to show how much I know. If you found our stories interesting or amusing, great. We tried very hard to tell the truth as to what it is really like on a daily basis. For sure, we have had several misadventures but we learned a lot from them. Hopefully, it might help a few future cruisers avoid some of our mistakes. All that means really is that the next trip we will make a whole catalog of new mistakes. There is no end to the possibilities.