Journey to Jerry

So many things have happened.

Mel apologizes for not posting much until now, but she and Greg have been busy pulling off a logistical feat of epic proportions. Since March they have sold the house they built, packed it up, sold/gave away their furniture and bulky belongings, sold two electric cars, arranged for Allie’s car to be delivered to her in college in Connecticut this Fall, flew to MO and then pickled a Cessna for storage, pickled a truck for storage, bought a boat, organized their remaining belongings to either store or put on the boat, said goodbye to Omaha friends and colleagues, made multiple trips from their new home base in Missouri with Greg’s family to Omaha so Mel could wrap up her work, spent two weeks in Norway on a previously planned vacation, packed boat stuff into a Uhaul, drove said Uhaul 1300 miles over two days to south Florida, unloaded Uhaul, stowed Uhaul contents in a tiny floating home, exchanged Uhaul for rental car, made 13 trips to 10 different stores to outfit the boat; worked with the awesome Michelle Ropiza’s numerous boat expert friends to build & install new storage cabinets, replace a barnacle-clogged air con unit, detail the boat, touch up our sails, and rig our mainsail with our reefing system of choice; worked with the spectacular Noble Captain Richard for a few days to remind us how to outfit, sail, maneuver, and dock the boat; and finally welcomed Allie and her boyfriend Anthony onboard for the rest of the summer.

The 20% of people reading this who made it to the end of that sentence, thanks! Go have a rest. You deserve it.

As the Burnetts made their way to Jerry, Mel could tell she was getting closer to the sea, as the weather was increasingly intrusive. The skies opened up on them and followed them the entire way from Missouri to Florida, to the point that they had to “heave to” their Uhaul in Memphis for a bit to avoid flash floods. Good practice. Nevertheless, Mel is very much looking forward to having to pay attention to such things as the tides and the phases of the moon.  For the last eight years, the only season she paid attention to was “insurance company formulary change season,” when she and her office staff donned their foulies (otherwise known as Cover My Meds) and weathered the storms of insurance fuckery by drowning the medical directors with 1000-word appeal letters.  Mel would much rather battle a storm at sea than deal with the medical insurance industry anymore.  Fair winds, assholes.

This post is long, as Mel has some blogging to get out of her system! She will attempt to post more frequently in order to keep her friends and family updated. A request has been made by her neurology office staff and nurses to video blog. We shall see. Mel is not a selfie-taker and the video format is a bit too unforgiving regarding her hair. If she vlogs, you will find out what she means. Her hair is best understood as an alien creature reaching across the space-time continuum to perch on her head. You cannot predict its behavior by applying the natural laws of our universe. It might break the internet, much like her hair threatens to break this new-to-her gadget on the boat called a “water gulper”.  Mel will explain what that is later, once she is able to stop laughing every time it runs.

Where are we right now, July 11, during Mel’s 3-8PM watch?  Captain Greg, First Mate Mel, Mate Allie, and Swab Anthony are on their first offshore since acquiring The Intrepid Jerry, riding the powerful Gulf Stream up to Ocracoke. Because what do the Burnetts do just 10 days after stepping foot on their new boat? Go on a 3-day, 600 nm offshore of course! Mel is exploring the numerous digital options to record our route and will get back to you when she figures out the easiest way to post such things.

After the exhausting chaos of the last few months, it is nice to be reminded why we are doing this. At the moment, even though she is motorsailing, Mel is writing this blog draft on her phone and marveling at how deeply blue the Atlantic waters are offshore. Last night they had their first spectacular offshore sunset, visible as Mel hovered over Insta-pot chicken in the galley, and this morning she saw her first dolphin and just about peed herself with glee.

New euphemism: “Glee” is the stuff that comes out of middle-aged women when they laugh. This is in comparison to what comes out when they sneeze. That of course is called, “Snee.”

More insights on boat prep, shaking off our rust, and Ocracoke to come! Welcome aboard!