Ready for the Chesapeake Bay!

Janet and I arrived yesterday in Norfolk to finish the Great Loop! It was a beautiful day (and so is this morning!). This map is something I did for a slide presentation for our 5th-grade class during the final few days of school. You can see how short the distance is between my starting point in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay, and where I wrote "NOW" at the bottom of the Chesapeake. After nearly the entire Loop, there's just a few "inches" to go!

We did have some problems getting things going here at the boat; the batteries were dead, and there were no electrical hook-ups near my berth. The service guy came out and we tried everything to get a hook-up to work using extension cords, but I just wasn't getting electricity. I finally had to resort to using the generator to charge the batteries, while we drove to find some lunch. When we returned, the batteries were fine and we started Breaking Away and moved her to an outside berth (where George and I spent our final night here on May 7) and plugged in.

But then we had to do a major refrigerator/freezer cleaning because the service guys a few weeks ago closed the doors I had left propped open, and the inside was completely covered with mold. Janet was a scrubbing trooper, and when that was clean we did our grocery shopping. There actually was a lot to put away and clean up, like making the beds, vacuuming, wiping counters, unpacking, etc. At about 9:30 we finally felt done for the night, and watched an episode of Six Feet Under that we brought along (we're hooked on it; we're up to the end of Season 3).

Today we hope to drive into Norfolk for some touring, and then will have lunch with Janet's friends, the Rechichars. We will probably stay here one more night before heading up the York River.

During the month I was in Monroe, OH, Janet decided to retire. It was completely unexpected prior to about mid-April when the school district made a severance offer. She had planned all along to work five more years. But after much thinking and consideration and agony, she decided to retire a few weeks ago, just two weeks before the end of the school year.

Word got out slowly, but a few students caught wind of it and here is a picture on the last day of school as they bade her farewell. All the teachers stopped by for hugs and extending jealousy and best wishes. Janet was LOVED by one and all.

As the students leave on their final day, the school has a tradition of the entire staff coming out to wave goodbye. It was a special, heart-felt goodbye for Janet of course. They set up their music equipment and blasted out "School's out for summer, school's out FOREVER!" We all sang those last three words with emphasis for Janet!

Here we are waving as the buses departed. (Janet's leg is in a boot because she had a foot surgery on May 12 to scrape away spurs and arthritic growth).

We then spent the next day and a half clearing out her classroom. One does build up lots of "stuff" after 25 years of teaching.

A couple weekends ago, we drove about 100 miles into southern Indiana to the historic canal town of Metamora. We had arranged to meet up with a Hawthorne High School friend, Chris Higgins, who was visiting from California. We had a fabulous day of memories and catching up on 40 years, and here's a picture of Janet and me in front of an old canal boat. The canal from here to Cincinnati was used between 1838 and about 1900, and now 14 miles have been restored. But the entire town seems like it's been preserved from that era, so it was a cool tourist attraction.

I will keep posting here over the final few weeks. We plan to be in Washington, D.C. on July 16 for a big Happy Hour party with my Capitol buddies and another high school friend, Jim Swaboda and his wife Eileen! See ya!