Winter Visit Home

I just bought our airline tickets home, and I hope we won't be too late to say goodbye to Tom and Paula. We are flying out of Quito, Ecuador on Nov. 17 and will return on Jan. 12. I originally had us coming home Nov. 10, but David needed a cushion in case all of our Sidewinder bottom work took a bit longer than planned. We are going to Ecuador because there is a marina there where you can haul out the boat, live aboard, and work on it yourself, if desired. That is very unusual and perfect for what we need to do. Goody! I get to learn how to patch blisters and paint the bottom! Whooopeee.

There is a couple, David and Cherly, who are working on their boat, Soggy Paws, right now who have been really helpful by way of the single-sideband when we ran into saltwater in the engine problems. We hope to get some expert assistance and knowledge about engine stuff, bottom work, and traveling in Peru. We have not heard from Richard and Virginia yet, so we are on hold doing stuff until we know when they need us. Here is our airline schedule; Jane has offered to pick us up, so I hope that works. We will pick up the car and drive on down your way.

LACSA airlines Nov. 17 Flt # 604 Arriving LAX 10:11 PM
Jan. 12 Flt #641 Leaving LAX 12:30 AM Arriving Quito 1:30 PM

This reality makes me very excited already. We are hoping to go to the ranch for Thanksgiving and be around home for Christmas. Mom's memorial is Dec. 28, and we are also hoping that Casey will be in the area for that.

Now that we know where we are flying from and what we want to accomplish, we will help Richard and Virginia go through the Panama Canal, say good-bye with big sighs, and re-provision Sidewinder to make her way to Ecuador. We will stop at a few places in the outer west area of Panama on our way, but we will try to make our way down as fast as possible. We want to be in the marina at Bahia Salina by the beginning of October. My next task on this computer is to try to line up our stay in that marina. Wish me luck.