Cheryl's Notes:

The last two weeks have been a whirlwind. We had to sort through and empty the house. This process included having a garage sale to get rid of as much as possible. The balance went to Goodwill. John ended up on a first name basis with some of the workers. It was down to the wire, but the last of the furniture left the house on Saturday afternoon. That night we had nothing left but an air mattress bed and a television that was being picked up on Sunday. Thank you Jan, for leaving it until the end of the Vikings game. John appreciated that.

We closed on the house on Monday morning (Sept. 22). For the first time in thirty years, I do not own a home. Of course, I also don't have a mortgage hanging over my head. It felt strange, but we moved into a king size spa suite at a local hotel close to the main office. I now had a three block commute to work, instead of three miles. My final weeks at work were just as crazy. Our vice-president, Jodi, took the whole department out for dinner where we traded stories about how things have changed in thirty years. The company held a cake reception for me, and then a happy hour after work. I think that I have been lucky enough to work for one of the greatest companies in Minnesota. To thank them, I agreed to work through Wednesday to tie up some loose ends. On Wednesday, I handed over the baton to Kay and then left the office for the last time. It was a very bittersweet moment. I am really looking forward to this new chapter in my life, but it is hard to leave behind all of the friends that I have made in the last thirty-one years. Thanks to all of my co-workers for their support during my tenure, and for their good wishes for my new adventures.

We were going to make one last trip up to our home marina in Bayfield, WI, but found ourselves exhausted and anxious to move forward. Our sailing friends had already given us an incredible send off and I am sure that they will understand. We set off Thursday morning and headed east on 94 towards Chicago. We called it a day at the very south end of Chicago, and got a room for the night. It is now Friday afternoon, and we have landed in Cleveland at my sister's house. We our going to spend the weekend with them before heading farther east. The coast of North Carolina is getting hit with bad weather right now, so we are in no hurry. For the first time in my life, I don't have to be anywhere by a certain time or have any deadlines hanging over my head. It feels good.

John's Notes:

I had intended to make a blog entry last night but was too busy entering more items in my catalog of reasons why we are retiring in New Bern, North Carolina. By the time I'm finished it will be bigger than a copy of the Brothers Grimm fairy tales.

People who live in Chicago just have to be plain nuts. This is not an exaggeration, we are driving through a construction zone that is at least 35 miles long. There are signs everywhere that indicate that the speed limit is 45mph and that it is "camera" enforced with a minimum fine of $375. So here we are with both cars hugging the shoulder in the right lane being forced to go 55-60mph or be run off the road completely. Cars and trucks are passing us doing 70-75mph. I see another sign that warns me that if I hit a construction worker it's going to cost me a $10,000 fine and 6 months in jail. So much for driving close to the shoulder. I'll just let some 18-wheeler run me over and end my misery. When we get to our hotel we are totally exhausted. Today, I see another construction zone sign in Indiana that indicates that the fine for exceeding the speed limit is $1000 and reckless driving will cost you $10,000 and 18 months in jail. Maybe we should start making payments and be ahead of the game just in case we get stopped.

We were going to make our way east via Bayfield but decided against it. Most of our sailing friends will be there this weekend preparing their boats for haul out and I just couldn't face the prospect of telling the story of our trip to the east coast over and over. I figured that out after going to lunch in the last week with Mike Berke and David Kleinfehn. Multiply that by about 100 and you get the idea.

We may be jobless but not exactly homeless. Cheryl has just forgotten that she now owns a home with the worlds biggest back yard. The way things are going, we may not be kidding about working as a checker at Food Lion or being a bartender. I know it doesn't have anything to do with sailing but it's hard not to make a comment about the country's current financial meltdown. With the evaporated equity in our house and the losses incurred by our 401k and IRA, we have lost almost 10 years from our cruising kitty. But as David K pointed out this week, it's only a loss if you sell. I'm just wondering if I will live long enough to see some of my stocks and funds come back to the levels they were last year. For sure we aren't going to see any appreciation in our real estate holdings. What a time to be a buyer. A buyer of anything. Houses, boats, cars, you name it. Just makes me mad that we and most of the people we know have to incur losses for which we had nothing to do with. I must have missed the lessons in college where you learned to make mortgages to people without employment or income verification. Does anyone remember when we were young and wanted to buy something. We had to go to the dreaded bank with our hat in our hand and beg for a loan. We didn't have any choice. They had all the money. Or how about buying your first house. Filing our stacks of paperwork, waiting weeks to find out if you had been approved. We were definitely born years to soon.

Ok enough editorializing. We are retired and are going to make the most of it. We just need to get to New Bern and begin putting the boat back in livable shape.