Sept 23 So this was the day we had to get all our stuff together, because we were leaving early--or relatively early the next day,  The plan was we needed to get everything together and fisnish packing so that by the time we went to bed, we would be ready to leave in the morning. The the phone rang, our across the street neighbor wanted to share with me that one of our sprinkler heads had disintegrated and we had a geyser in the front yard. Meaning I needed to somehow deal with the lawn sprinkler because when one sprinkler blows out, there isn't enough pressure to run the other sprinkler heads in that zone.

And did I mention that I was trying to eat the fridge out of food so we wouldn't be leaving any fresh meats or good leftovers for the 6 weeks we would be away. And so we had pretty well accomplished all that and planned on going out to dinner that night.
So I dug through my sprinkler parts and found an old sprinkler that would work, and installed it, only to discover that it was not going back and forth, it really just sprayed. (crap).

And so after dinner (at the Moose hall) we went home and to bed.  And then, at about 2:30 AM I woke with the distinct belief that the ship sailed on Sunday--I MEAN, DON'T THEY ALWAYS? That meant that we had to get to Tampa first thing Saturday to catch the plane to Seattle, there wouldn't be time to rent the car we planned to take to the airport--and so we'd have to leave my car for 6 weeks at the Tampa Airport! So lights on at 2:30 AM to check all the paperwork--only to find this was a false alarm, the ship was scheduled to sail on Monday, everything was fine--except we were awake and had a difficult time getting back to sleep.

Sept 24 After a not all that good night of trying to sleep, it was time to be up. And so we were, up and at 'em.  We got the laundry in the washer, and picked up the rental car,  I managed to stop at Lowes for a sprinkler on the way home. On the TV news we hear that Rt 75 was closed in both directions, a gasoline tanker had run off the road and spilled fuel all over the highway. That would be a major setback for us. Well alls well that ends well.  We got the rental car packed, I replaced the sprinkler, finally we were ready (after turning off the hot water and unplugging the TVs and computers) finally we set out.

The highway was clear--the actual spill occurred in Northport, not Sarasota as the news seemed to indicate. The drive up to Tampa was uneventful, and we easily found the hotel we had made reservations for. It was one of those places that looked really nice in the photos, but was not exactly as shown. It was pretty tired over all, and very busy with customers who I thought might have been there for a wedding. Lots of loud laughter late into the night. We did, however, discover the Bahama Mama restaurant next door, which was very popular, had lots of young men and women who were hooking up before our eyes, Great band and lots of good food and drinks. But because we had an early flight out in the AM we went back to the hotel room about 10. Later--around 3AM--the place finally shut down and there was a noisy crowd in the parking lot outside our window for the next maybe 20 minutes. Then it was silent.

Sept 25 We needed to be at the airport 2 hours before our 9:30 AM flight. But that said, we left the hotel around 7:30 and got to the airport about 7:45, dropped off Sandra with the luggage and then I returned the car. We were pretty well through the TSA by 8, and managed to get a really nice breakfast and then board the plane at 8:55. Sandra discovered that with her folding cane she could get priority boarding and so we enjoyed getting on early--which was a huge help since we had 5 carry on bags (2 back packs, 2 carry sacks, and a computer case with both of our computers inside.
Tampa to Denver, and then Denver to Seattle (2 bags of peanuts and three Sprites and beautiful views out the windows of the plane) Around 3 PM west coast time we were in the hotel. I had a chance to jump in the pool, but suddenly lots of small people jumped in with me, and so I exited quickly.

The long and short of this day was we were tired from two nights of not much sleep, and no lunch. But we did enjoy a restaurant suggested by the hotel--Sharp's Roasthouse--which provided us a roast beef sandwich and a couple of drinks for just over $100.  Well, Seattle is a city, and in New York we'd have been really lucky to spend only $100, it just seemed expensive after Florida prices. Gas here is $2.85 for regular, we just paid $2.02 in Venice this week, so you can see the difference. So it's about 8 PM here and we are in bed (It's Midnight our time) so good night ladies.

Once we are on the ship and settled I'll start adding photos to show what we've been up to.

Sept 21, Today Sandra and I sat on our kitchen stools and had lunch. Our conversation came around to since wee would be away, how would we be able to vote in the November election? We had requested absentee ballots weeks ago, but nothing in the mail so far. Our plan was that our gardener Chris was going handle the mail for the first 3 weeks, and then the post office would hold our mail after that.  The ballots (we thought) would arrive during that first cycle and Chris could mail them to us. But the ship line told us on the phone that there was no way they could deal with mail coming to the ship in Australia.

There was a story in the paper that the ballots would be mailed on Saturday to those who had requested them, and so we thought--maybe--if we drove to the County building, we could get an early copy.  (That's so unlikely that we were certain we were wasting our time, but armed with our usual youthful exuberance, we set off to joust with the windmills of the county). Well, in we went to the voting office, and there were no other citizens in there, just us and the workers. We explained our situation (out of the country for 6 weeks, missing all the dates to vote etc.) and it was as if the clouds opened and a ray of sunshine struck us--"sure", they said, "we'll print ballots for you and you can vote today!" And they couldn't thank us enough for making the request, since they expected more like us and needed to figure out how they would handle folks who wandered in needing this service. They told us we were No 1 and No 2 to vote in the 2016 election in Sarasota County, Fl. You could have knocked me over with a feather.

Sept 22 The big day is getting closer and my excitement is growing.  Lots to remember, lots to do, we're pretty well packed. I think we've done enough traveling so it should be easy from here on. On the real estate front, I had a closing today and need to submit my check to my broker for him to take his share and give me the rest. I'll do that around 5 as he would rather meet me at his house which is basically through our backyard.  My customer, Mark Thompson was really easy to deal with and is quite the gentleman, if they were all like that I probably would never retire. (but they're not). Now I'm just juggling computers and memory sticks so I'll have my stuff with me. And I'm wondering about the weather in all the different locales we'll visit--I'm packing shorts and jeans and short sleeved shirts and long sleeves and sweaters and jackets, lots of layers since today is the first day of Autumn here and the first day of spring there.

September 19, a day after our 45th anniversary, and the packing begins in earnest, Sandra is off to the local jeweler to pick up a beaded necklace that she's had for years but that came all unstrung just last week, She thought she would restring it herself until she realized that there is a knot after each bead. Dane is tasked with trips to the attic for suitcases, backpacks and the like, then there's the printing out of our boarding passes and cabin identifiers. It's hard to pack for all the different weather zones we'll pass through, Seattle and Vancouver will likely be chilly, Hawaii will be warm, then the various islands may be warm or maybe not exactly warm, Sydney will be cool in October, Melbourne and Tasmania cooler still and then New Zealand will warm up a bit, until we finally come back to Florida in November.

Yesterday (Sept 18) was our anniversary, and we celebrated it with a great dinner at the Wine Bistro (near the Tom Adams bridge) and we were joined by Larry and Susan Smart, our former next-door neighbors who now live in a beautiful condo, they moved from a 3 BR house with the idea of simplifying their lives. When I think about it, I still badger the lawn guy and the gardener and the pool guy and the gal who pressure-washes the place--Larry says he did the math and it was worth the monthly fee to not have to chase Florida workers to find out why they hadn't come this week...

The night before (Sept 17) we had enjoyed LaStanza with another couple, Jean and Barrie Youngblut, It was their anniversary too (49 years for them). To commemorate, I had balloons made that said married 94 years.  People asked about that and we told them--they are married 49 years and we are married 45, that's 94.  One bonus we have, this week is a restaurant promotion week here in town called Let's Eat, Englewood, All the restaurants have special prix fix menus to show off their specials, it played right into our hands. Last year they called it "Let's Eat Englewood", I prefer it with the comma. We are planning to try one more called Farlow's later in the week, More on that later.