So tomorrow for sure we will leave! It has been hard to tear ourselves away. We have had such a wonderful time.
We met Dave and his family, who took us on our first sailboat race on Wednesday. Dave is an enthusiastic, creative, brilliant entrepreneur who makes money helping amateurs develop apps through some ingenious business plan that starts by giving away free software! His son Austin is a great sailor and plans to attend the Maritime Academy when he finishes high school. His daughter Page is a tri-athlete. Dave likes us because he thinks Cool Change is beautiful and someday he wants to take off and sail away too.
Dave and Rick
Dave and his son Austin, racing
Watching the first class of race boats start
We met Peter and Lorene, who are strolling down the coast at a slower pace than even we are. He is an Hungarian immigrant who worked his way up from janitor at a large San Francisco hotel to vp, then retired and started his own very successful olive oil business by planting the trees himself on a very limited number of acres and then developing a high end market by making his olive oil hard to get! We have had a ball with them.
Peter and Lorene, with Cindy
Our in-laws Larry and Jane were incredibly gracious during our stay in their town, showing us the sights and lending us their sit-on-top kayaks for a nice little paddle around the Monterey Bay Aquarium.
Cindy, Larry and Rick
Click on the link below to watch a short video Rick took of a cute little otter we met while kayaking:
We walked a lot, had wonderful weather, enjoyed the farmers market, went to Fisherman’s Wharf and the Cannery, had dinner out and on the boat, stayed at the Monterey Yacht Club dock and later at a slip in the harbor, and just found ourselves busy and loving it the whole time.
Rick and Mr. Shake at Fisherman’s Wharf
Rick also managed to install a wifi booster that has been a dream. We had it sent to Larry and Jane, who then brought it to us. Now we can use local free wifi much more efficiently, allowing me to post this without using up expensive cellular connections!
So if we can manage it, we will finally cast off the dock lines tomorrow morning for our first overnight, heading either to Morro Bay or San Luis Obispo, whichever has room. The weather should cooperate. Follow us on our tracker. It should take about 20 to 24 hours.