Wow...where to begin. It's taken a long time to get to this point, but I guess if you want to hear about all that, then the history page is what you're looking for. I guess I'll pick it up from there. After much preparation, the day finally came to move the boat down to Orange Beach, Alabama...my home for the next 3 months (but if you want to hear more about that, then the plan page is what you're looking for. ok...back to this page). As luck would have it the transport took place on Friday the 13th. Wonderful. The trip down ended up being much more pleasant than we'd thought it might be...we were able to drive nearly 65mph even pulling the 4500lbs worth of boat. Dad drove most of the way, so I was able to sleep a good bit.

When I finally woke up somewhere past Montgomery I think it actually hit me that this was happening. I feel like I've been talking about it for 10 years, and I guess that after talking about it for so long, I had lost sight of what it actually meant. It kinda freaked me out that I got butterflies, but it was really exciting to realize that I have absolutely no clue what the next 6 months will have in store for me. Trying to take it one step at a time, I started to try and figure out exactly how we were going to 'step the mast' (translation- stand up the long tall verticle thingy and attach it to the center of the boat) and get the boat in the water. This was something that I'd kinda worried about for the last week or two because of the lack of options that I had. Bear Point Marina (my home...er...neighborhood) doesn't have a boat ramp, so I had to find somewhere else to splash the boat.

Pirate's Cove looked to be the easiest, since they're within eyesight of Bear Point, had a boat ramp and even a travel-lift (the big crane thing with straps that could lift the boat off the trailer if we decided we couldn't get it in the water just using the ramp). After numerous phone calls to Pirate's Cove, I finally talked to a guy on Tuesday who said that we were welcome to come down and use the ramp and all, but if they were closed, then there wouldn't be anybody to help us step the mast. A quick inquiry into their business hours revealed that they're only open 9-4 Tuesday through Friday, as long as it's not raining. Oh, and because of some Pineapple thing (I'll have to figure it out later) it'd been raining for the last 2 weeks and the forecast is rain for another 4 or 5 days. Hmm. I know dad's been working out, and we all know that I'm just naturally buff, but I'm afraid you could double our manpower and still have a time getting that mast up. We needed them to be open.

So, I was trying to be pretty optimistic when we didn't see a drop of rain the whole trip down. Sure enough, when we pulled in, there was activity in the boat yard. Sweet. We parked & walked around to the yard office to see if there was anybody that could help us, and got a little more than we bargained for. I met my first two boat characters (I have a feeling that these are two of many to come). The first was an older fellow that couldn't have had more beard if he tried. I mean he had grey hair covering every possible inch of his face. Turns out he's a shipwright that is lobbying for the mass return of large shoal draft boats that draw under a foot (translation- boats that don't stick down in the water more than 12 inches). Apparently that's the way that they did it in the 1850's and all the boats built today are completely wrong. Who knew. Oh, then he called me a consumer. I couldn't figure out whether or not I should have felt offended. Oh well. Ok, so that's the first character.

I can't tell you how happy I was to see this next guy. Todd is his name, and I kid you not he's a human crane. He had to be well over 7 feet tall. This whole mast stepping business wasn't looking to tough all of the sudden. Contrary to my experience with this place over the phone, the people, Todd especially, were as nice as we could have possibly imagined. It took me about 15 minutes to get the standing rigging (all the wires that keep the mast vertical) set up, and then Todd worked his magic. Normally, when stepping a mast, you have to have one person pushing it up from the back of the boat, and one person at the front of the boat pulling a line attached to the top. I was the second guy, but by the time I got to the front of the boat to start pulling, I turned around and the thing was already straight up in the air. I liked to fell out. It couldn't have been better...10 minutes later the boat was in the water and me & dad were in the resturant getting a burger.

Ok, so I haven't mentioned the resturant until now, but it can't go unmentioned. This place is rumored to have been where Jimmy Buffett wrote "Cheeseburger in Paradise." I seriously don't think it's true, but I wouldn't be surprised. If you come down and visit me, I'll have to take you there, because words just can't explain this place. Enter character number 3. Larry. (oh, and from here on out, don't expect me to keep up with the number of each new person I meet. thanks) He's the guy that runs the resturant, and I tell ya, it wouldn't be the same without him. This fella has no inner dialogue. He'll tell ya exactly what he's thinking without skipping a beat. Knowing this, I knew that when dad ordered his burger without a bun, we were in for a treat. He railed on dad for a while about how Dr. Adkins died from a heart attack and was 200lbs overweight. It only got better from there, and by the time the conversation switched to how I wanted my burger, half the place had given us their diet tips. (In case you're wondering, Larry's answer is to 'just work your ass off').

Wow...this is long. Ok, so the trip across the water to Bear Point was rather uneventful, and by the time that dad made it all the way around in the truck, I had already picked out a slip for my boat and begun getting situated. It was only then that it began to sprinkle.