Key West farewell

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Sad to say, we spent our final days in Key West. (at least with our current planning). The Wednesday before we left, our wonderful Key West friends gathered at Dante’s and Schooners Wharf to share a good-bye beverage and maybe a laugh or two.

Already making plans to return (without Grateful Red) we received invitations to stay with several of these friends next January or February. We ended the day prior to our departure at la Trattoria, one of our favorite restaurants and of course had to stop at Virgilio’s for one last fancy martini. Our plan was to sail out the next day when the remainder of our sail crew arrived. (Other Crew: Niki, friends Matt, Lisa & Joe.)

Weather was beautiful during our last stay and the only thing missing was the wind direction that would allow us to actually sail out of the harbor. As we motored away, friends gathered and waved from the fuel dock and off we went…to our next adventure.

 

Add your name and pic to “Followers”

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As you can see on the left side of the blog, we have a feature that shows who follows the Gratefulred Blog. So far, only 4. We would love to see you up there, and with a picture attached.

Tonight, Ken and I are “testing” some Freeze Dried meals in preparation for the food menu of the crossing. Mountain House pro-pak’s are what we purchased. Check out the website.www.mountainhouse.com We have to try, Chicken teriyaki with rice, lasagna with meat sause, beef stew, pasta primavera, rice & chicken and sure to be a favorite, beef stroganoff with noodles! Yummmmm!

Wrekers Race 2009

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This past weekend, Bob Connors, Ken and I participating in our last Wreckers Race with Grateful Red. Happy to say, Grateful Red placed 2nd out of 15! All that fine tuning! We went to the skippers meeting the night before and checked out our competition, and yes, had a few…

Never sure who all will show up to actually sail with us, we responded to a request from a couple looking to crew. After their passing our “test”, (can you drink rum/coke?, do you like strawberry daiquiris?…and maybe some sailing experience) they decided it would be fun to sail with us. Little did we know, Cherie writes columns for Sailing magazines and writes a weekly column in her local newspaper. Wreckers race was outstanding with the all-point spinnaker and several gybes, we crossed the finish line with our wigs on. Cherie also has a blog you should check out that has some incriminating photos of our day… http://www.wherescherie.com/

The long weekend itself was bittersweet with only one or two more visits before the boat leaves to start the journey up the East Coast of Florida and beyond. The trailer is almost empty and our plans are set for a going away happy hour at the Conch Harbor Tiki hut March 11th. It will be sad to leave as we have made many friends and lasting sailing relationships. But, the adventure must continue.