2024 CDT - The Months Before

Runningbird Retired; Wingman's Trip to the BVIs; and Belize

Peggy and I had decided to go on a mission trip with our church to Belize in April. It would be for two weeks including the week of Spring Break. While she would have been able to get the week of the break off, they would not extend the absence to cover the second week. So, she did the only sensible thing and gave her notice for retirement and thus it started in early January.

In late 2023 I had visited NoCal to see my roommate and some old work friends and SoCal so see grade school friends during Octoberfest. One of my old classmates, Terry, had shared with me about his adventures sailing in various parts of the world on catamaran sailboats and it sounded wonderful. He asked if I had any interest in crewing with him and I instantly said "sure"! I had once chartered a monohull sailboat with a couple of work friends and their mates back in the early 90s and had a blast. We had spent a week in the BVIs out of Tortola. First off, I never imagined Terry was actually serious about me joining him and, I had an ongoing health issue that had me feeling a bit apprehensive about going anywhere out of the US.

42' Catamaran "Witchery" at the harbor in Tortola, BVI.

In early February Terry texted me and asked again if I was still interested in sailing and that he planned to go in a couple of weeks, also to the BVIs out of Tortola. Again, I was interested but I was still very tentative about going but would let him know in a few days. February 7th I had an appointment for a check up with my oncologist and it went fairly well. I asked the doc what he thought about me going on the trip and his response was, "you're crazy if you don't". When I got home I updated Peggy on my appointment details and then asked her what she thought about my going on the 2-week sailing trip. Her reply was the same, "you're crazy if you don't". That afternoon I texted Terry and made the commitment. He was also looking for a fourth person so I connected him with my brother who was just about to retire and had sailed before. That night I had my plane ticket and 10 days later I met my older brother Peter, Terry, and another classmate Glenn in Charlotte, NC. From there we all boarded a flight to St. Thomas and then took a ferry to Tortola. Terry was an excellent captain and our 42' catamaran "Witchery" was an awesome, comfortable vessel. We had a beautiful couple of weeks of total relaxation, adventure, warm weather and casual sailing. Yep, I would have been crazy to not have gone!

(L-R) My brother Peter, Capt. Terry, (me), and Glenn getting the ball rolling at the "Soggy Dollar" in the BVIs.

A couple weeks later Peggy and I boarded an Alaska Air direct flight to Belize City along with several others from our church (Mt. Si Lutheran) and Sammamish Hills Lutheran Church. We spent one week in the small village of Succutz, Belize not far from the Guatemala border. We worked with both an elementary school and a high school on several projects and met several wonderful people of all ages. While there we were also able to tour the ancient Mayan ruins. From there we took a short flight to San Pedro Island, Belize. There we worked with another mission elementary school and a shelter and still had time for some snorkel diving. It would be a complete other story to dive into the details of this trip but leave it to say it was fantastic, enlightening, and rewarding.

(Left to right; top to bottom) The Men's bunkhouse at the school in Succotz, Belize; Peggy at a kid's camp; Peggy at the Mayan ruins Zunantunich; Chapel time at school on San Pedro Island; Peggy left her artistic mark on the school wall; Peggy on the dock on San Pedro Island Belize.

Back home and in the garage, the saw horses were out as a make-shift table and the preparations were fully underway for loading up the truck, trailer, and Runningbird's backpack for her continuation of the Continental Divide Trail (CDT) starting at the Mexico/New Mexico border. We had three days from returning from Belize to CDT launch and while there was an amazing amount to do, all went well and fairly stress-free.

My friend Jim who lives up in the Okanagan had taken care of Beau for us while we were in Belize and brought him back down to North Bend for us the day after our return. The second day we were home we were able to visit Peggy's mom in Seattle for a bit and say goodbye. The third day most of the kids and all the grandkids came over to visit and Patrick made pizzas. It was a great gathering to update them on our recent trips and to say good-bye to them. We were also able to get everything packed, loaded, and taken care of (I think) for an on-time departure.

And so the next adventure begins.