REALITY...PART DEU!

"All dressed up...and nowhere to go!" Hurricane Sandy has forced us to hit the "pause" button for 3+ days as we watched the wind slowly increase as high as 60 knots and tidal surge raise Magic far above the level of our bulkhead dock. We were extremely lucky and as far as we can tell, there was no damage to either the house or boat.  As I sit here on Tuesday morning the wind is still pretty strong and there are occasional bands of rain, but we can hopefully resume our trip preparations. Our hearts and prayers go out to the millions in the NE who are without power and have lost property and loved ones. Kind of brings everything into perspective...

REALITY SETS IN!

Jeeze...didn't even get a full day to enjoy my new-found life of leisure! Diane (Madam Admiral!) cracked the whip and had me working on "honey do's" right away. No rest for this retired pilot! Spent well over 2 hours at the top of my mast replacing the TV antennae, changing blocks for my spare halyard and unsuccessfully  trying to change the VHF antennae (whole other story!). Thank God I don't need my family jewels anymore because after hanging from my bosn's chair for so long...they don't exist anymore!! Diane did a great job assisting from the deck as we ran parts up and down...including a can of wasp killer when I discovered a large number of those nasty winged devils had taken up residence at the top of the mast! Nary a sting!
  Just 11 days to go! Couple of doctor appointments and a zillion boat jobs to tackle and we're off!

FINAL FLIGHT

My awesome crew!

Thanks Wayne...one of AA's best

water cannon salute at DCA

Wow! I think I'm retired! Flew my last trip as a pilot with American Airlines late last week. An absolutely fabulous experience. I had one of my very favorite flying partners with me in the cockpit. Given the opportunity to have just about any Captain I wanted with me on my last fight, CA Wayne Deer was already scheduled to fly with me and I couldn't have asked for better company! He and I have flown together since 1998 and have shared some interesting, fun times for almost 15 years...you'll have to ask him! I was also honored to have a superb group of Flight Attendants who were icing on the cake. Mare, Carolyn, Jeri, and Gina represent the best of their profession and along with Wayne put their heads together to ensure my last flight was memorable! I held it together right up until our taxi into the gate at the DCA airport when I saw two firetrucks awaiting us with the traditional water cannon salute for pilots on their last flight. My thanks to all who made this memorable event happen. My crew ROCKED! Now, it's time to go sailing!!!

FINAL PREPARATIONS!

Contrary to the header on our blog site, I haven't quite retired from American Airlines yet....but I'm just about next! One more trip in mid-October piloting one of our silver jets around the skies of the US and while I'm excited about what happens next, it's also beginning to sink in that in less than a week, I'll be making my last landing at the controls of an AA jet. I think it will be an emotional moment...I just hope I don't screw it up!

Magic has been hauled, bottom painted, hull waxed (my awesome First Mate washed, waxed and polished the entire boat by herself!) and put back into the water. As you can see from the photo, Diane left the sanding and painting up to the Captain...Admiral's perogitive! Cobb's Marina in Norfolk did it's usual superb job and I thank all the folks there for taking care of us. The boat is now back at our backyard dock and work continues. It seems like as every "to do" item is checked off the list, five more appear! Kind of like climbing up a sand dune!! We'll never get everything done, but both the boat and us will be ready to depart for points south the first week of November. Can't wait to share our experiences with you so bookmark this blog and visit often!