Final entry

Herein lies the final entry into the weblog of Liberty Call II. We have posted almost 390 entries during our four years of cruising the Pacific Coast, but now the deal is done, Liberty Call II has new owner, and we are settling into our new home. The house will keep us busy through the winter, after which time we will resume some traveling. We already have made our reservations to go to Antiqua, Guatemala, with Dave and Merry of AirOps and Gary and Judiee of Reverie during Semana Santa (Holy Week) next April. I may start a new blog once we start traveling again, but for now, I don't think the ventures of fixing up our home will be of much interest to anyone but us.

The final leg of our journey home was tough. We stayed on I-10 all the way from Phoenix here. We drove more than 600 miles the first day and stopped in Van Horn, Texas, home of Chuy's Restaurant which John Madden has made famous. The football announcer is famous for not taking planes and only driving between games on his bus. He first stopped at Chuy's in 1988, had the pollo picado (chicken cooked with onions, tomatoes and peppers) and loved it. (I tried the dish but thought that Ron's chicken enchiladas were much better, more flavorful.)

Our second day was more interesting as we had already gone another 600 miles around Houston when I started looking for hotels. None were to be found. All were booked with people who had been displaced by hurricane Ike. I must have called more than 25 hotels between Houston and Beaumont and could find nothing. (By the way, my source of hotels was our little Garmin Nuvi 200, which provides names, addresses and, most importantly, phone numbers of the nearest hotels. Bless that little device.) We finally found the Crown Motel, which was likely built sometime in the 1930s or 1940s on the side of the old Highway 90. We paid $45 (cash only) and knew it would be an interesting place when we saw a couple of pickup trucks with guys hanging out in the courtyard. Our next door neighbor wore the shortest, tightest blue jean shorts I've ever seen and silver 4-inch round earrings. Someone on her cell phone was yelling at her.

When we got into our room, we were struck by the smell of stale smoke. An awful, horrible stench. We didn't dare walk with bare feet on the stained rug. We just fell into bed, very tired after almost 800 miles on the road. I put some scented hand lotion on and held my hand close to my nose to help abate the smell. We got up early and left. There was no coffee pot, and the refrigerator had been stolen. The cleanliness of the McDonald's was welcome.

The third day found us home and unloading all our belongings that had been on Liberty Call II and in storage units. We think we see a garage sale in our near future.

We are so fortunate to have had our time on the water. We had some great times and made some wonderful friends. LCII is also fortunate is have found such good owners. They are really excited about owning her and plan to take very good care of her.

So if you ever find yourself in Pass Christian, Miss, about an hour east of New Orleans on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, stop by 129 Elva Drive. Our home should be ready for visitors sometime in November.

Life is good. Very, very good, indeed.