Getting ready for retirement

Moving from the Middle East was a necessary step in early retirement. The first step was to recruit some help for packing all our stuff. We found a ready supply of labor.

Once everything was packed, it needed to be hauled away. Our first efforts ran into some problems... First, we got the cart before the horse...

Then we determined that we had a capacity problem . . .

But we soon got everything fixed, and we were off and running!

(Getting all this stuff on the boat was a bit of a challenge.)

Murphy's Law of Airlines

At about 6pm on the evening we were to leave Saudi, the airline called to confirm that we were scheduled for that night's flight. We said we were, and reminded the clerk that we had reservations for our dog, Sandy. The airline clerk said he didn't show that as a confirmed reservation, and it would have to be worked out with the cargo office -- which was closed for the day.

Of course, this led to ranting and raving, but the matter was resolved by our travel agent, although we wound up paying almost double what we'd been told it would cost. It was "take it or leave it" at the airport, so we paid, and hoped to get a refund after we got back (scilicet, "fat chance").

Stopover in Amsterdam

To break the trip a bit, we made a brief stop in Amsterdam. We were just a bit too early for the tulips, but we did see some cheese being made (below).

Back in the USA

Shortly after we arrived back in the US, Bill's brother David came to visit (and loan us a car). Our friends Seth and Carolyn invited us to a "welcome home" dinner together with Gord and Suzanne, who had dropped anchor near us while returning to Ontario from a cruise in the Bahamas. (Gord and Suzanne also had us aboard their sailboat Camelot II the previous day for some delicious home made pizza and key lime pie.

Below: David and Seth finish up some task or another before dinner.

A couple of weeks after our return, our son Bill joined us, and we drove to North Carolina to visit family and for the wedding of David's son, Chris.