Each Fall Jack Robert 37VT17 gets decommissioned, hauled from the water, placed on a cradle and shrink wrapped essentially putting him to “sleep” for the winter. He is in the boat yard near his home waters of Lake Pepin on the Mississippi in Minnesota. My wife Dee and I mourn the passing of another boating season dreading the long time it will be before the next season starts. We have packed up all the boat stuff into storage tubs and put the tubs up in the attic to sit there until the next season when we drag them out to load back up on the tug to make it home again.
The mourning lasts until after the holidays and then the dreams start. Today, the temperature in our home town is a balmy -22 degrees and you would think we would be hunkered down to try and stay warm, You would be wrong. We are dreaming about the next season. This is the time we go through the tubs pulling out what didn’t use and inventorying the things we want to keep on board. We are purchasing the things that have to be replenished and working up our project plans for system upgrades and repairs. Funny but when we are dreaming about our next season we don’t seem to notice the cold.
This year is a particularly special year as we both retire April 1st and we are making plans to begin our first extended cruise. In September we start on the loop following the inland waterways. I blame Dave and Bicki for this as they have encouraged us at every gathering we have shared, every email sent and every blog entry they have made during their own cruise. We finally believe there is never any perfect time, there is only now. So, now it shall be.
