It's been a busy and productive two months, and we've made quite a few friends here, but it's time to head north. Today I saw two high-altitude flights of ducks winging their way north and took it as a good omen. Then it started to rain again. Oh well.

We'll be working on some photo pages of Olympia to add to our main website, and we've taken photos of new friends too. Some we'll see again on the Baja Ha-ha in the fall.

Among our accomplishments during our stay is that we now have cruising health insurance, so we can drop that expensive COBRA. In our second venture in buying our own insurance, we learned that even if they cover you, they exclude anything that your medical record says you might need. I could go on a real rant about insurance, but then I'd never get this posted.

We also took a couple of amateur radio exams: John now has his general's license and I have my technician's. And we took an art class for fun. And we refinished the brightwork and polished the brass for no fun at all—but it looks good.

We'll be anchoring out on our way to Richmond, BC, and the Sceptre Marine boatyard. Feel free to email us anyway. We'll pick up our mail whenever we can connect.