This morning before it was light, Suzanne, Melissa, and Richard set out from Holyoke, and I in Deep River got ready to leave Warren’s dock. By 0730 the boat was tied alongside the Deep River town float, and by 0830, just after high tide, the boat was on the trailer in the parking lot. It was a nice ride home, looking at all the brilliant fall foliage, and now here I am, again on dry land. It still feels like it’s moving – as it turned out, until today I was on either the boat or a floating dock, ever since that initial launch in the middle of September. A little disorienting, to now be so still, and the motion-sensing parts of my brain are taking care of that nicely!

This haul-out plan was made about three weeks ago, and it couldn’t have turned out more perfectly. The weather was reasonable, mild with not much wind, and last night was comfortable in the 50s. Now late in the day, a front is passing by, and tomorrow’s high will be in the 50s, with quite a bit of wind and a nighttime low that makes you worry about outdoor plants. Three days from now, the beginning of a substantial nor’easter is forecast, that is expected to go on for days. I could not be more thoroughly pleased to have made it home before all of that.

There is more to say about the rig, another of the lovely creeks, and general boat fun. For now it’s nice to get a bit of rest. The boat, outside my window, has an interesting tea-colored stain on the forward part of the keel, from resting in the mud at that friendly dock whenever the tide went particularly low. I look at that stain and think: “Hey, that trip really happened!”