Countdown begins....

My sister in law called me this morning to tell me that it was snowing in Louisiana! With a few clicks, I had weather.com open and sure enough, a winter storm was crossing right through the middle of Mandeville! Glad we aren't there right now! LOL

The autopilot arrived Monday and it is HUGE! So we'll have to mail it down to ourselves. We have a LOT to mail to ourselves when we get down there. It's an awesome autopilot though and Brett is really excited about it. Our boat is really well balanced so he thinks the smaller size won't be a problem at all. The autopilot will save us from constant driving at the helm, 24 hrs a day. We can read a book on watch or run down into the cabin for a cup of coffee. We can change sails and adjust lines. It will be WONDERFUL!

We are so excited to be so close in returning to our boat life. We've been blessed while back in Oregon but we are both much happier on the boat. We feel prepared and armed with most of the equipment we needed to feel safe crossing the Gulf. There are a few things still left to get and we still need to haul out but we are so close to being ready. We have prepared and even over-prepared and feel confident Benevolence is nearly ready to safely take us anywhere in the world.

We are trying to decide on electronic charts for the laptop vs a chartplotter to go along with the standard paper charts but haven't made up our minds yet. Each have their own pros and cons.Brett's foul weather gear was old and torn in many spots and also about three sizes too big. For Christmas, I bought Brett offshore, Henri Lloyd foul weather gear off of Ebay (yes, EBAY). I received the coat and it is perfect! He LOVES it. The bibs are on their way, too. Each of them were 20% of the price of new ones. I seem to (most of the time) have a knack for finding great deals for the boat stuff.

We are having to bring Benny back to the boat with us as we couldn't find a home for him. It is scary to think about the long day of flying from here to Louisiana with him. I take him into the vet to get the paperwork next week. I am more worried about the flights with him than anything else right now. He did well on the boat so we'll adjust our cruising plans to accomodate him so he is comfortable and happy.

I have been listening to podcasts from Furled Sails again this week. They are intereviews of sailors and I can't believe the enormous amount of knowledge I've gained from listening to these interviews. They are inspiring and I can now relate to some of the stories after living aboard and traveling on the waterway.

We are in count down mode till we get back to our dream. Brett is working nearly every day and I am trying to organize last minute details. We have to plan a way to mail all of our gear back, pack very little with us on the plane ride back and figure out storage for the few possessions we kept that are staying in Oregon. We are also needing to coordinate our haulout with a surveyor which will be tricky.

We kick ourselves for getting our plane tickets already- With Benny, we much rather would have rented a car and driven back down than take him on a plane. We wouldn't have had to worry about mailing all our equipment either.

We didn't save the amount of money we wanted to save but we have made progress by huge leaps and bounds with more equipment and with paying down bills.

We've always been blessed and know that God is taking care of us and offering this amazing opportunity to us right now. I just need to be better about trusting in Him to guide us through.