The Grand Reunion
If you have followed our other posts you know that we rushed up the coast of Brazil and skipped the Caribbean almost completely. We were trying to get Calypso to the BVIs in time for Maite and I to make it to our daughter's graduation in Tuscaloosa at the University of Alabama. We pulled into Road Town, Tortola on April 22 and settled into Nanny Kay for some warranty work and a general boat cleaning before we flew home on April 28.
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| The "Scrum" From left Tyler, Nala, Tucker, Lilly (not shown as she is behind Jax), Jax and Meika |
Maite headed to UT Knoxville to help pack up Benjamin (our youngest) after his freshman year, while I went west to San Diego to pick up our two retrievers, a black lab named Nala and a Golden named Tyler. After deciding that it would be unfair to subject them to the long trip up from Buenos Aires, it was a real problem to find someone to take care of them. Who better than my own mother, Sue! We had left our SUV in San Diego with her and our four legged family when we left for Buenos Aires for the last time and she had taken great care of them. She had just lost one of her two pups, so having the activity around I think helped everybody. My mom will be 83 in November and I was a bit concerned about my over enthusiastic golden knocking her down. But my brother Murray who lives just a mile away with three dogs of his own, was there to help if there was a problem. What I knew but hadn't put together was that my dogs will do anything for food, so mom had them eating out of her hand (figuratively and literally) in no time. It was tradition for my brother and mom to take the dogs for a morning walk every Saturday and Sunday so when it was time to go walking they now had a "scrum".
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Crater National Monument
(east of Flagstaff, AZ) |
Tyler had somehow convinced my mom that he required two meals a day instead of the one we fed him, so he gained about 12 pounds while we were gone. So my return meant diet time for Tyler! I also had some time to spend with my brother, Murray, and his family, Cassie, Clayton and Diane. That time always seems too short. My mom decided that she wanted to drive back to Tuscaloosa with me for Meredith's graduation so we were off within a few days, but I had convinced Murray, Cassie and Clayton to come to the BVIs and spend a week on our boat at the end of the month.
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Welcome to a a corner in Winslow, Arizona
but no fine sites to see |
The trip back was about 1800 miles, so we had a few stops along the way. I had the opportunity to visit Crater National Monument in Arizona where a massive meteor struck the Earth about 50,000 years ago leaving a half mile wide crater. I also had the experience of really standing on a Corner in Winslow Arizona. It wasn't much to be honest.
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| Our oldest Greg seen here while President of KA |
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| The Crew in Tuscaloosa. Ed, Greg, Ben, Meredith, Maite and Sue |
We stopped by Memphis to pick up my oldest son Greg at his University of Memphis fraternity house (KA) and within three days we were all back together in Tuscaloosa. Meredith's graduation was like most, somewhat bittersweet. Saying goodbye to friends she had known for four years, and moving on to next steps.
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2014 Graduation Ceremony
Left to Right: Ed, Ben, Sue, Greg, Meredith, Maite |
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| A proud Grandma |
It was also time for us to reflect on having a daughter that was a college graduate in Engineering. My mom was always good to provide perspective saying, "you think that's tough try having a son who is retired!" Point taken. After all the ceremonies and farewells we packed up and headed for our condo in Palm Coast Florida to "stage which is to prepare for the next leg of our trip. Greg had to return to Memphis, so we had our two dogs, Meredith's Golden, Tucker, and the four of us to get to the BVIs.
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| Ben and Meredith with Nala, Tyler and Tucker |
We had great concern in transporting our animals on the airline and decided to drive to Miami where we could get a nonstop flight to St. Thomas. From there we had to struggle getting them imported into the British Virgins. The dogs had to be brought over by ferry in their crates and then examined by a Road Town veterinarian before being released. This proved to be relatively easy once we had sent them all the appropriate papers. The animals had to have full vaccinations, rabies titers, an international ID chip and they must have been examined and cleared by a vet in the U.S. within 30 days of travel. Kind of a hassle, but after all they were family. Lots of moving parts, but things flowed pretty smoothly and we arrived in St. Thomas on May 12. We then caught the ferry over to Nanny Kay in Tortola where the boat had been getting warranty work completed. By the 18th Sue, Murray, Cassie and Clayton joined us. Our crew was complete and the grand reunion aboard Calypso had been accomplished. We had eight people, three dogs and a week to explore the Virgin Islands aboard Calypso. It was a bit tight, but very doable.
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Our Family at the Bitter End Yacht Club Virgin Gorda, BVI
from left: Meredith, Cassie, Ed, Sue, Maite, Murray, Clayton and Ben |
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