Sunday, June 19 "Love is a wonderful thing". I just got through listening to that great song by the Isley Brothers. I love what they used to call "Soul Music". When I play bass, that is the style I like to play. The smooth sound of a tube Ampeg amp, flat wound strings, and groove. No slap bass for me. I'm a psychedelic Dave Gilmour, Pink Floyd kind of guitar player, but on bass, I love Soul. Think "Time is Tight" by Booker T and the MGs. Ah, that's wonderful.

Ok, now. Where are we? We are very close and we expect arrival tomorrow!! We are 64 miles from our "Initial Approach Fix" at Egg Island,, and it is 1915 in the evening as I write. We are sailing and have been all day and since I wrote to you last night. We are rested and fully recovered from our little tour of combat the other night. Today was a completely different day. It was as pretty a day as you could wish for. The sea was nice long rolling swells giving the boat a gentle little shove in the right direction almost as if surfing, but much more subtle. Great ride. The sun was shining, and for the first time in a long time, Elisabeth and I sat together outside in normal clothes, not our foul weather gear.

The wind is light, but moving us along well. It is forecast to go away completely (heard that before?), but now we are within motoring range, ad we will not hesitate. We have calculated our critical speed to be 4 knots to get us to the harbor before dark tomorrow. If the speed drops, then we motorsail. That is when the sails and the engoine are both working to get a good speed, but it reallt does wonders to conserve fuel.

What about the engine, you might ask. (At least those of you who remember that the engine had an alarm go off the other day.) There is no problem, and the engine is healthy. It was what I had hoped regarding the Volvo "brain" getting confused about the Smart Voltage regulator. Healthy engine. What a relief.

So, this is day 35. No sight of any land for over a month, and now we are looking at arrival. 35 days. That's huge. Many different emotions. But I don't want to get ahead of myself. We are still at sea, and we must complete the trip before we can reflect on it, eh? I think so.

Jan, your friend will have no problem in Majuro. There are modern supermarkets there, and the one called Payless has a really great young man named Drew who will make special orders for you if he doesn't have what you might want. Good helpful guy. Majuro is an interesting anf funky little place. We spent three off seasons ther, and met many great people, some who were passing through, and a number who settled there long ago. We left with a number of lifetime friendships, and that is truly special. Gluten free is easy there, I'm sure.

Ok all, thank you for being here. It has been very special having you with us on this trip. It is as if we can feel you cheering for when the times are tough and celebrating when they are good. We love you for it. We will talk more tomorrow. Be Excellent to Each Other! Rod and Elisabeth,

"Your Rock and Roll Argonauts" "Les Pirates d'Honneur"