Literally! Kingfisher had her 2nd safe, uneventful truck ride to the Pacific Northwest. We were watching weather since last April looking for a weather window to sail her up but the few times the window appeared either crew wasn't available or we had long term plans. Both Jerry and I realized the clock was ticking and we didn't want to miss another season in the Northwest on Kingfisher. So we bit the bullet and decided to truck her in the winter so we could have her ready to sail in the springtime.

We were quite surprised to find the cost of trucking had almost doubled in the last 3 years but we were determined to make it happen. As a result we decided to pack and unpack her ourself. Besides wrapping everything and stowing it in the boat his included fully winterizing her in the event the trucker gets stopped because of snow or ice. Winterizing means emptying all the water out of the boat and replacing it with antifreeze (propylene glycol). Easy enough to add, a lot slower to flush out. We haven't packed up a boat ourselves since 1997 and it is amazing how much work it is! We couldn't have gotten this done without Rolfe's help.

Once she arrived we spent the better part of 8 days putting her back together. We stayed in a great little VRBO. Unfortunately the hot water in the shower was acting up and no matter how hard everyone tried they couldn't figure out the problem. We were so lucky to have close friends living nearby who kept inviting us over for showers and hot tubbing. This made it all doable.

The first 2 days in WA were a shock to our systems. The weather was in the high 30s, low 40s and we just couldn't get ourselves started as the work ahead of us was daunting and it was cold. Fortunately our friend Brad was there pushing us on and it really helped us get a jump on things. Moving inside the boat was difficult as everything we own that is boat related was in there, what a mess.

When the day came to put the mast back into the boat we were actually ready and watched the crane lift it up and put it in without incident. Phew, another big hurdle behind us. Now all we need to do is get her back in the water.