As our friends know, we closed on the purchase of Sojourner, accepted an offer on our house –and celebrated Carolyn’s 65th birthday– all within about a 36-hour period in mid May, 2008. By early June, we were madly selling, giving away, and packing for storage various of our worldly belongings from the house AND trying to figure what and how much we might be able to move to the boat.
Loaded and ready to leave for the boat
From 4000 sq. ft. to 400???
The original plan was to move the boat to Lake Barkley KY so we would have the summer to practice all aspects of boating and to hone our skills at such things as docking, undocking, anchoring, and the like . One of our smartest moves was to engage SEASENSE to accompany us on our first voyage on Sojourner, a trip down the Mississippi, up the Ohio river and across the Cumberland river to Green Turtle Bay Marina in Grand Rivers KY (Land Between the Lakes). Capts. Patti Moore and Carol Cuddyer agreed to provide “on your own boat” orientation and instruction for this “Rollin’ Down the River: Rivers #1″ trip. The first attempt to begin that adventure was in early June, 2008. So, while Carolyn continued her responsibilities as Acting Dean in the College of Law, already retired Susan rented an SUV to haul “stuff” to the boat and was to get everything ready for Carolyn’s and the SEASENSE captains’ arrival two days before our scheduled departure from Port Charles Marina in St. Charles, just north of St. Louis MO. She was so intent and focused on getting the boat ready that she neglected to pay much attention to the weather reports. A call from the SEASENSE captains suggesting the trip might have to be postponed came as quite a surprise and is testimony to our naivete at the time. Capts. Patti and Carol were right on target: serious flooding far north of Missouri was rapidly creating a crisis further down the Mississippi, and the river was actually closed to all boat traffic just 2 days before we were scheduled to depart. Our Rivers #1 trip was postponed for what turned out to be over a month, and we got our first very important lesson about the crucial role weather plays in boating. 
For more pix of this first, if unsuccessful, effort to get underway, check out the “#1 Preparing to Cruise” set via the ”more photos” at the bottom of the Flickr Photo box or simply, click here.
Posted by Sojourner KY 
