Back in Wisconsin

We left Panama City, FL Thursday the 13th about mid-day instead of the 9am start we’d planned. Too many details to go into but the bottom line is we had to change rental cars and the one we changed to, a Pontiac Grand Prix, had two screws in one of the rear tires and we had to get that repaired before we could take off. Never a dull moment, right?

The rest of the day went smoothly. The weather was great for driving; hit rush hour traffic in Birmingham, Alabama but we still made pretty good time. We stopped for the night at Clarksville, TN (about 30 min. north of Nashville) still in our shorts from the warm weather we left behind. I was pretty excited to be able to sleep in a real bed and take a shower without flip-flops for the first time since September (it’s the little things you know!)

We got a much earlier start on Friday am. We heard there was snow and ice predicted for the next day in Illinois so we were very glad we left when we did. We got to Milwaukee by early evening and had a pizza with our son, Eric. We picked up the rest of the mail forwarded to him and headed north to Green Bay, arriving about 9 pm .

It was so strange to drive through our neighborhood with the snow and holiday lights. I felt like we were in some kind of a time warp since it was late summer when we left and we never got to see the fall leaves and the start of winter. Thankfully it wasn’t artic cold, only about 14 degrees!

Our house looked HUGE to me compared to our boat accommodations. It felt really good to be home but I didn’t kiss my dishwasher like I’d heard of some women doing! I was pretty excited to do laundry the next day without plugging it with 5 or 6 quarters though. I think Paul’s a little worried he won’t get me back on the boat after living in luxury for a few weeks.

We were happy to see Christmas cards, letters and pictures from a lot of you – thank you so much! Please don’t delete us from your card list for next year but we’re going to send our love and best wishes through this blog this year. So, pay attention now – here’s your “card”:

We wish you a very “MERRY CHRISTMAS” and may the peace and joy that can only come from the blessed Christ Child be with you all as you sail gently into the new year.

This will probably be the last blog entry for quite some time as we didn’t continue our internet connection at the house during our trip. Please check back in January for more “Loop” adventures on the “Restless Wind”!

Here’s Paul and Santa the day before we left Florida. Bye for now - Paul and Emy