On the return trip, we stopped in Austin and met with a dozen friends who had also worked in Saudi with us, and now returned to the central Texas area. From there, we visited other friends in Mississippi, and then traveled to the Albany NY area for a surprise anniversary party for Sue’s sister and brother-in-law before returning to reboard Dory.

When we returned, Dory was still unpainted, as there had been too much rain for her hull to dry enough for the sandblasting and repainting.

That gave us the opportunity that every cruiser loves . . . the chance to live on the hard for a few weeks. The deck of your boat is 10 feet above the ground, the boat seems precariously balanced, there is no running water, and you can’t use the onboard head (toilet).

Your access is via an extension ladder. Since we had boarded our dog Sandy, we had to get him on board when we picked him up. That was interesting … we constructed a 20 foot ramp for him to climb up.

Those midnight trips to the marina rest rooms were even worse!

Even though we had air conditioning installed, we couldn’t use it, because it requires sea water for cooling.

Finally, the weather allowed the sandblasting and painting, and the paint dried enough to put her back in the water. We relaunched Dory on Friday, October 18th, coincidentally one year to the day from when we’d finished the last of the projects and launched on our cruise the year before.

All in all, a very enjoyable first year living and cruising full time aboard Dory!