I dreamed a dream..Les Miserables

As D-Day draws nearer, or in this case, TBB-Day, I have more and more dreams about the voyage.  I figure my subconscious mind must be trying to analyze all the information, concerns, worries and possibilities of this trip.  I guess I still have not come to terms with all the dangers and safety concerns I have.  I wake up in the middle of the night thinking about how we will and how we should handle the situations that will arise.  Now that there is no sailing gear how will our already weakened bodies handle being wet?  How will we handle the salt sores?  What happens if we have one of the storms that the Tonga area had last week?  How will our little open boat handle 30 to 40 foot waves?  Just last week that area had two storms (did you check the website www.passagemaker.com?) with waves around 54 feet!  Wow…anyway, just some of the thoughts that have been entering my mind as of late…

 

Speaking of excitement, last week we had a senior housing apartment building catch on fire.  We had to help evacuate, transport  and take care of around 40 residents while the Spring Valley Fire Department put out the fire and got the residents out of the building.  Boy, do we have wonderful emergency services around this area.  The ambulance, the fire department, Red Cross and emergency management worked together and were able to take care of everyone in a very short time.  We housed the residents at the community center until they were able to go back into the building or had other housing arrangements.  Some residents will be out for some time as the elevator has to be completely rebuilt.  Luckily, no one was injured and it was amazing to see so many people working so well together with one common goal.  I believe all these people are the true heroes in this world!

 

One thing all of you should know is that weather is a BIG topic here in Minnesota.  So I have to touch on that topic…SPRING IS HERE!  To commemorate the equinox I took a noon sighting with my sextant.  If any of you know how to use a sextant you will know that on the spring equinox the sun is directly on the equator and the numbers/reading on the sextant are exactly our latitude—which means not having to do calculations!  The easiest reading I have EVER taken! 

 

Now that the weather has become nicer my thoughts are turning to riding my Yamaha 850.  Time to clean out the pipes, change the oil, dust her off and get out on the road.  I have seen other motorcyclist hitting the road and I am getting the itch. 

 

Pete