he said...she said chronicles chapter 2

Ann lay flat on her back on the cool concrete. She didn't even realize she was adjacent to the dumpsters. 

"Trying to get my land legs back," she said without opening her eyes. She heard Josh come out of the men's room. The priority after pulling in was to find a toilet that stayed still while you did what needed to be done. 

It had been a long night for both of them. They had waited for the best weather they thought they'd see based on the 10 day forecast. It started out all right, but had deteriorated in the middle of the first night. 

Mackinaw Island would be 48 hours if they could head straight there, but between the wind and the seas on Lake Michigan, straight there was not an option. 

The weather in the fall was far from steady, with fronts being impacted from every direction, the Jet Stream, Pacific storms, Atlantic storms. All of it reeking havoc on voyage planning. 

When they left Racine, Josh had intended to cross the lake and wait for the Easterly wind shift to head north on, but in the middle of the night, they'd decided to tack on Ann's watch. Josh was groggy with sleep and he hadn't explained his plan clearly. Ann didn't want to wait until he was in a deeper sleep and had thought it wise to tack early rather than risk getting too close to the coast. 

It was beautiful sailing when Josh came back on watch. He didn't think much of having tacked to Starboard, that is until Ann was deep asleep and he wind was building. The only item on his checklist that didn't have a mark next to it was "run the feeding lines". A lot of good it would do at this point though, he wasn't going to wake Ann and have her sit at the helm while he went out on a rolling deck at night to reef he main. 

How many times, and from how many sources, did he need to hear, "reef early", "if there's a chance the wind might build overnight, reef while it's still light out"? 

He furled in half the jib. It helped, but not enough. They were still overpowered. Nothing made that more apparent than when Ann came out for her watch. It was 1 AM and it was clear that she was in no condition to pay attention to what the boat was doing. 

"You feeling alright?" He ask, knowing the answer, but trying more to judge her spirits by the response. 

A silent look before positioning herself with her head over the leeward lifeline was not the answer he was hoping for. After her prayer to Poseidon was over, Josh told her to go lay back down. 

"Can I lay out here?" The cool moving air of the cockpit must have felt better than below deck. All of the hatches and portlights had been closed up tight since waves we occasionally breaking over the bow. 

"Of course. Can I get you anything?" 

"Mmmm, no. It won't stay down anyway" 

That was enough to solidify the decision to head for closest protected waters. According to the chart plotter, that would be Sheboygan, WI. Josh kicked himself having not shared his plan to stay closer to the Michigan side of the lake. They could have been in white Lake or Pentwater instead of back on the same shore they'd left about 12 hours prior. 

He knew it was the right thing to do though. He was going to be standing watch until they got there and it was the closest port. He plotted the course, then pulled up the harbor in his reference books and on the computer to study the entrance and find somewhere to stop or drop the anchor. 

The last 3 hours, he ran the engine, the waves had continued to build and with the job furled the rest of the way in, and a full main still flying, he wasn't making very quick progress and he knew he needed to get there and get the boat stopped before he'd get his first mate back to a human like state.

It was a little before nine on Friday morning when they approached the breakwall lighthouse. A race committee boat had sped out past them and there were small sails converging at the mouth of the marina they were going to be pulling into. They were agile and appeared to be well driven, though after the long night, Josh wished they'd have allowed for a little more maneuvering room at the harbor mouth. 

Ann pulled the boat quietly into the slip as Josh stepped onto the dock with the bow line. They had made it through their first night at sea. 

The waves were going to continue to build all day, but should start to subside overnight and into Saturday as the wind shifted to the East. That sealed it. They'd stay the night. 

The night had been almost as rough on Interlude as it had been on them. The Lazy Jacks separated from the boom in two places and the slug attached to the head of the mainsail had chaffed through on the aluminum headboard. 

After taking care of the necessities at the marina, they got to work fixing the main and the lazy jacks. The little leaks that dipped when it rained, let a little more water in the decks are awash, so cushions were pulled out in the sun to dry. 

A gentleman was preparing a rigid hull inflatable in the next slip to go out. 

"What's with the small boats out there?" Josh asked. He assumed, rightly, that this man had something to do with the racing. 

The man hopped back into the dock and walked over to introduce himself. "My name's Bernard. There are two things happening." He was quite excited to explain that we had happened into both the Women's match racing series and the blind sailing world championships. (You read that right.)

Bernard was a part of the organization that ranked the sailors vision for the system of determining fairness. He invited us to a cookout that evening at the yacht club adjacent to the marina before leaving to go watch the racing. 

All the necessary tasks completed as best the could be, Josh and Ann collapsed onto the dinette berth. It had been about four hours before he felt her move. He was in the same position he landed in when he later down and his body scolded him for that. 

Ann was on deck staying quiet as a mouse thinking he was still asleep. If I don't get up, I won't sleep tonight he thought. He wasn't sure that was true, he might have been able to sleep through the night. It had been a long time since he'd pulled an all nighter, much less one where he had to prop himself so he would crash across the cockpit at the odd roll. 

He got up. Surprisingly those four hours did a lot to help the recovery. 

"Wonder what time they start serving over there," he said motioning behind her to the yacht club. 

Ann was afraid she'd woken him when she got up. "Probably before too long." 

They made themselves presentable to the outside world, landers don't understand life on a boat. 

It was a cool evening. The Worlds Largest Grill from Johnsonville was cooking up burgers and brats. There was a beer truck. A band was setting up under a large tent. Josh had eaten a sandwich before they'd left the boat, but he had a night of Ann's brat all the same. They each had a beer and shared some idle chat with strangers around one of the tables. 

Josh was getting antsy. The band was tuning up and it was getting a little load for his tastes. He wanted to find Bernard again though and thank him for inviting them. He saw him in line for a beer and tapped him on the shoulder. 

Bernard introduced them to Walt, the skipper of Team USA 1 in the blind world championships. It was an honor to meet someone who was able to not only sail without sight, but do it competitively. Josh had raced in the past. He knew that it was important to use every sense while at the helm, but trying to imagine doing it without what he considered the primary sense, seemed to almost be beyond possibility. Yet here was a successful skipper of a crew who did it. 

They had beers to deliver back to the rest of the crew, so as they made their way through the crowd, Josh and Ann made their way to the edge of the gathering and decided to take a stroll through the town. 

There wasn't much happening for a Friday night. The town was mostly quiet save for a few restaurants and bars that were doing brisk business. 

They returned to the boat and settled in. Someone at the yacht club had mentioned fireworks and they listened to them as they watched a little television before bed. Josh was the first one asleep.

***

Not only was Ann's stomach filled with anxiety, it was also feeling the effects of the building waves. She offered to take the first watch, knowing that before too long she'd need to be horizontal to sleep some of it off. After a few hours of rolling side to side in the cockpit and a few granola bars in, she had her first encounter with the beast commonly named seasickness. 

Below deck after the first watch and every watch after that was absolute torture. The dim red light casting an eerie glow over everything, rendering them a mute crimson color, did little to ease her discomfort. As soon as she could extricate herself from her life jacket, she pulled the covers up around her neck, barely taking a moment to peel off socks and pants before falling into a deep slumber. They had left the salon berth intact for sleeping underway, easing the pitching by sleeping in the center portion of the boat. It didn't hurt that both she and Josh wedged themselves into the corner of the berth, keeping them stationary for the 4 hours they allowed themselves to rest. 

The remainder of the night followed like that. Wake, totter against the rocking of the waves into clothes and lifejacket, and climb the precariously swaying companionway into the cockpit for the next watch. Mostly Ann read, strummed her ukulele, and listened to podcasts through headphones. She'd snack and every few hours, lean over the railing to empty her stomach of their contents. The night seems worse than the day. The velvety blackness of the sky rendering the horizon obsolete, it felt like falling down a hole. There was nothing on which to fix her gaze that was stationary.

The decision to head to shore was made when they both were too battered to carry on. Unfortunately, the seasickness had rendered Ann's stomach empty and her body too weak to even try to stay upright. The sleep on her off watch time had been taking longer to achieve and she was exhausted. While Josh, the saint that he is, steered a course for Sheboygan, Ann could do little but fall asleep in the cockpit, drained of all her energy and gumption. Once they arrived in the harbor, the waves were blocked enough that she could steer while Josh jumped to the dock to tie up. They took stock of the damage below deck (because with waves beating you continuously for hours you're bound to have some collateral damage in the way of things having fallen off of or into places they don't belong). The offender this go round was a bottle of balsamic vinegar, spilled across the stove top and down the front of the oven to the cabin sole. The odor, sharp and overpowering, clung to everything it had touched. After sopping up the mess and arranging the damp items sodden with lake water that snuck into the nooks and crannies of the interior of the boat, and making a few repairs of things that came loose during the windswept night, they crashed. Four hours of hard sleep for both of them came in almost an instant. 

Ann woke first and took snacks and her kindle on deck to stretch out and hopefully allow Josh more sleep. A full belly and sleep had done wonders for her morale. Shortly thereafter, Josh woke and they brushed teeth (a personal hygiene habit that often gets overlooked on long hauls) and combed hair, etc before joining the real world. 

A fellow dock mate they had encountered earlier had mentioned a cookout at the yacht club next door that was accompanying the races that weekend, one being the world blind championship sailboat races and one the international women's match racing. They couldn't resist the chance to rub elbows with some heavy hitters in the world of sailing and support the local sailing programs. Beer and brats never tasted so good. They ran into Bernard, the dock mate who encouraged them to join in on the festivities that evening.  Bernard was also the sight classifier for the blind racers. He was with the skipper for the American team who couldn't have been nicer or accommodating to their many questions and curiosities. After visiting for a few minutes, they let him get back to his crew. Not knowing anyone there, they decided to get a bit further afield of the marina and yacht club and wandered into the twilight doused downtown. 

The stores were mostly shut up tight for the evening but several restaurants were filled with hungry patrons enjoying the company of family and friends. They wandered back and tucked in for the night, listening to the fireworks being let off on the breakwater outside. 

and now, something completely different...new series! he said...she said

Hello internet and real friends! Just a quick check in and a new post. We are well on our way, as you can see by the map tab at the top of our page. As you may have guessed, we have had lots of hands-free and minds-free time, plenty of hours to wax poetic about our journey. As a result, we have decided to start a new series that will be strictly narrative about our travels written from both perspectives. And did I mention it'll be in third person? Ha! Hopefully you guys won't find it tiresome. The plan is to keep it going until at least NYC. From there we'll reassess, as we will have our munchkin back on board and our free time will not be quite so free anymore. For now, enjoy.

Chapter 1 of the he said...she said chronicles.

Thursday, September 22nd, 2016 at 12:15 PM, the autumnal equinox, they slipped the dock lines for the final time from Reefpoint Marina. Some good friends helped push them off from the fuel dock and they motored out of the Root River for the final time.

Fishermen were busy trying to catch the salmon as they were returning to the river signaling the end of summer and the start of fall.

Josh and Ann waited an extra day for some weather to pass through before taking off. The winds were favorable today though. They were out of the South and were pushing Interlude along nicely on gentle waves. The sun was trying to burn through the clouds, but not quite succeeding. The crew was expecting the wind to back out of the North the evening. The plan was to get some distance east before that happened. According to the weather charts, it looked like the Michigan coast would be more favorable.

Ann and Josh were both nervous that morning. They'd done Lake Michigan, it is not that. But leaving the marina this time signals the transition from what they'd known to the new.

Change is a scary thing and it has stopped more than its share of people from following their dreams. Casting off the dock lines and sailing off into the unknown. We're here. We're "out there". Leaving port is the baby step. The start of a journey of a thousand miles.

***

A sense of trepidation filled her belly. Mind racing, she mentally ticked off the laundry list of items to be stowed, organized and gathered. Ann was sure it was as good as it could be, but that didn't stop her from worrying. It always seemed she'd forget something. Hopefully it would be something they could live without on this first leg. 

When their friends, Pat and Dave waved a final goodbye from the fuel dock as they motored away, she couldn't help but feel the shift. After sitting at the dock in Racine for the past 6 weeks she and her boys had developed a routine, a delicate balanced dance of regularity. Naps, meals, errands, bathing and bedtime were all nestled into the 12.5 hours of waking time each day. And now they were finally throwing it out on its head. 

The Last Ride

One of the last things on the "before we leave" list was to drop the car off at Ann's sister's house so it can make its way south to my parent's for storage. It seemed like an arduous task. The timing of trains to get back to Wisconsin meant that I would have to leave before sunrise and spend about four hours between trains waiting. I have a few books I'm working on on the Kindle, so I figured I'd make some good progress on those.


That's not quite what happened.


The drive down was uneventful. It took me pat O'Hare where I used to sit in the airline clubs eating breakfast before flying off to my next job site. I was able to catch my future brother in law before he left for work and say another goodbye. Then a great friend of mine was able to meet me for coffee before he started his day and we got to hang out for a while as he showed me his work.


For lunch, I wasn't far away, so I walked down to my Alma Mater and got a sandwich from Fontano's, my favorite lunch spot for 3 years of college. I stopped in and saw the adviser of the Veterans in Engineering group that helped me get through undergrad as a non-traditional student. The campus was alive with everyone passing between classes.


I walked past a few places where we had good times with good friends. The condo that Ann's cousin had in the city. The towers that our friends used to live in at the end of the tracks.


The train station had the distinct Chicago aroma of Garrett's Popcorn. It's a smell that both airports had (though it was a copycat in Midway). It always signaled the end of a trip and the return home.


The Metra line that would take me through the last leg held even more memories. I used to run along these tracks down Ravenswood for years. It took me past the Beat Buy I worked at while going to school, my first job in the city. Of course, my old stop in Rogers Park, a block from our condo that is now home to someone else.


The next leg was my old commute. The same route I took for years as I started my career. A line that holds memories of train crawls and laughing with friends on the way home from work. 


Past Wilmette where I helped my old boss rebuild the home he's raising his family in now.


Ravinia Park, where we spent many evenings on the lawn sitting with friends watching movies while the orchestra played the score. Listening to concerts that were highlighted by the company we were in. Sitting in the reserved seats so Ann could achieve her goal of seeing James Taylor live.


Past my first "home" in the Chicago area, the Recruit Training Command at Great Lakes. The place that transformed me from a dirty nasty civilian into a proper Sailor. And next door, the Veteran's hospital that treats the problems that came from that.


Past the boat yard that we first saw Interlude in all those years ago and where we returned later to buy her and store her for 2 seasons.


The Waukegan Station power plant is easily visible from the train. The 4 DSI silos that were part of a project I was involved with from the initial conception phase. I was there when the first loads of material were delivered to them while the cold Lake Michigan wind ripped through the air.


This was supposed to be another chore to accomplish. Another thing that had to be done to help us get where we're going. It turned into a trip down memory lane. A reminder of all the steps that have been taken along the long path to where we are now. A beautiful book end to our time in our old Sweet Home, Chicago.

Final Preparations

 As we are making final preparations this week to get underway I can't help but reflect on all of the work that has gone into getting us this far. Just since we have been back in Racine, here is a partial list of the work that we completed. (And keep in mind that this is addition to keeping a 2 year old human alive who has no fear of any of the hazards whether natural or man made that lie in his path daily.)

• Removed, washed, and reattached all of the lifeline netting
• Buff and wax the cabin top and gunwales.
• Restitched selected sections of the bimini and dodger
• Fixed the wiring on mast
• Installed the masthead fitting that a previous boat yard had lost
• Rebedded several more deck fittings to try to eliminate leaks
• Removed a section of the headliner in the V-Berth and painted the ceiling
• Retaped all the standing rigging
• Replaced the second butterfly hatch window
• Polished the stainless deck fittings
• Cut and installed the V-berth mattress topper
• Cleaned the bilge
• Cleaned and rebuilt the grill
• Pulled and removed the frozen plug for the holding tank pump out fitting
• Cleaned the water tanks
• Rebuilt and tuned the carburetor on the dinghy outboard
• Pulled the Quarter berth supports out and raised the whole thing 3 1/2”
• Installed new battery boxes and 4 new Trojan T-105 batterie

on fits and starts.

Where to begin. I suppose the beginning is fine. It certainly gives the clearest picture of how we ended up here. And by here, I mean Racine.

We left on the night of August 10. Just Josh and myself after a long few days of preparing. We had been been home for a few days after Josh's brother's wedding and left Fozel there with my mom and Josh's parents to care for and meet up with us in Michigan. The plan had been simple. Josh and i would go up to the boat, stow all the gear we still had to drag from the condo, make some last minute adjustments, and of course, actually launch the boat. We were really hustling. But Sara and Allen came up on Tuesday and after Interlude was splashed, it all sort of happened. I should have been worried about the amount of time it took for Josh to get the engine going, but I figured, "hey, it's been up all winter, I wouldn't like to be forced to start after enduring that winter weather either." The truth is that I had enough to focus on. In any case, we both sort of ignored it.

Fast-foward to Thursday. We successfully motor sailed across the lake. We did some sailing but used the engine for more than half. It wasn't perfect wind conditions, but nothing terrible. And all was calm. We stood our watches, we slept, we ate protein bars and listened to podcasts between scanning the horizon and checking the autopilot and AIS system. We arrived safely in Muskegon around noon. Paul and Ginger met us shortly thereafter with Fozel. We hooked up to shore power, we stowed the sails and all our stuff and then we departed for the afternoon. Nothing was amiss.

Friday morning we decided to move marinas. We had been at Pointe Marine. It was fine. Sparse and they told us not to drink the spigot water. Whatever. Fine. But it was further from where Ginger and Paul would be camping that night than we'd like, so we were lucky enough to secure space at the dock at the campground. Turns out if you're camping there, you are eligible to tie up a boat at their dock, free of charge. It was buggy and didn't have any hook ups, but for one night, we didn't care!

We stayed one mosquito filled night then untied and set off to get a bit of diesel before leaving for Mackinaw. That's when we had a bit of trouble. The engine was less than thrilled to start. It was like it didn't even want to turn over. Okay. Whatever. It started.

After 6 hours of Fozel napping (um, I'm thinking that may be a seasickness symptom?) and us making very little headway north on our sail to Mackinaw, we gave up. We started the reluctant engine and pulled into White Lake, the next stop up the coast. We opted to anchor for the very first time, which was successful. It was extremely protected waters and there was no chop. I had some trouble getting the stove started so cold dinner it was. We sat in the cockpit and snuggled. It was a nice calm night.

I should also mention we didn't run any electronics that night. So it was a mystery why the battery bank was showing such low voltage. Luckily, after some coaxing and using a battery jumper box (a box you plug in that would be able to jump your car battery in an emergency) it started. It was problematic enough to give us both pause. So, it being a Sunday, of course nothing was open in the sleepy little town of Whitehall on White Lake. We motored over to South Shore Marina. Whitehall is part adorable little Michigan town, part sleazy town. The hotels were either sky high or super sketchy. Ginger and Paul stayed there that night in a $60/night hell hole. Oh well. 

So Paul and Josh got to work while Fozel and Ginger and I found a laundry mat, food, and a park. We killed a few hours while the did some trouble shooting. They thought it was the alternator and swapped out the faulty one with the extra we had and tried to take it to an Auto Zone to have it tested. No go. They were no help. We did get the name of a marine guy who would be open on Monday and might take a look. Cool. We stayed at the marina Sunday night then called the guy, dropped off the alternator and wasted the rest of the day. He told us it would be ready the next morning. We moved to a marina closer to the hotel, had the best ice cream bar of my life, and went out for pizza where Fozel met his first girlfriend, Brooklyn. She was a cute little 8 year old who allowed him to play with her giant fire engine. 

The next phase of the plan was to leave Fozel with grandma and poppa and sail to the next port, Pentwater, where they'd meet us with the fixed alternator, have dinner, then sail on to Detroit. I would sail with Josh until that point and then I'd drive back to our parents' to celebrate Fozel's birthday and then he and I would fly to meet Josh, who would be to Buffalo New York by then. So, Tuesday morning, we did it. We headed out, and made it to Pentwater. This town is much cuter but they charge an exorbitant amount to tie up for a few hours to go ashore to have dinner. It was like $16 for 3 hours. I'm sorry but, huh??

All goes well and we sail off from Pentwater around 9 and start standing watches pretty much right away. 3 hours on--scanning the horizon, hand steering, listening to podcasts, etc. Then three hours of rest. I have a hard time sleeping such short stints but it worked. We drank lots of water and ate too many protein bars. Around 11 am, the watch was changing. Josh thought we should fire up the engine to charge the batteries. It didn't work. Around this time the wind was dying and we were being bit by flies every 5 minutes. Oh, and did I mention we were in the middle of the lake? Equidistant from Sturgeon Bay, WI and Traverse City, MI. 

And then we broke. It had been a grueling week. New places, strange sleeping hours, stressful situations. We decided to take a step back. We would sail to Sturgeon Bay, take a few days to wait out the coming weather, and sail back to Racine. And here we are. We're calling it our shakedown cruise and regrouping. There were a few projects we had delayed and are now working on. We are here in Racine for the next month and will reassess at that point. We hope to try again this fall, but if not, we will try again in the spring. Everything is fluid at this point. We're just trying to move forward and know that shaking it off is the best way. I'm having a hard time not thinking of it as a failure, but if cruising was easy, everyone would do it.

duffle bag full of drugs

When you hear the phrase "duffle bag full of drugs" an image comes to mind. A blockbuster movie with Denzel Washington flying through the air whilst shooting a gun or perhaps a headline on the city paper front page complete with a mugshot of some less than thrilled person staring down the camera. It's certainly not what I expected to be posting about but here it is. 

I was tasked with putting together our kit and let me tell you, I was nervous. With a plan as open ended as ours, I wanted to cover all my bases. So, I started with Google. Bayview Yacht Club, Riparia, and Practical Sailor were beyond helpful. And then I contacted some of our medical friends (shout out to Brandon G!) for more on the ground personal advice. After that, I made an exhaustive list of meds and supplies. It was a mere 150 items. You know, nothing big (gulp!). There exist some ready-made kits, but the the best and most comprehensive run in the $1000 range--way more than we wanted to spend at this time. So I set about organizing the comprehensive list I had and trimming it down. Ultimately we ended up forgoing things like sutures because for at least the next few years we won't be more than a few days from civilization and super glue and steri strips ought to do it until we can get to an emergency room. 

I ended up with 15 categories of supplies. They range from first aid (including rubbing alcohol, cotton swabs, and tongue depressors) to cough/cold/flu. Once I had my final list of must-haves, I started price checking. I looked on amazon, target, cvs, walgreens, and wal-mart. I priced everything and bought from the least expensive vendor. Once we purchased and received all our items, I took them by category and bagged them up in gallon bags. If an item had specific usage instructions on the box, I cut it off and included it in the gallon bag. Each bag had a paper printout of the contents of said bag. Some of the categories were so exhaustive, we had to divide them into multiple bags, each labeled with contents. 

Once all the bags were packed, we strategically packed them into a duffle since that's about the only bag we could actually fit everything into! 

And that's about it. We have our comprehensive list to resupply from and will continue to monitor our usage and reassess what has been/is being used and decide what needs added or subtracted. We also have a very small kit (about the size of an average hard back book) that has our most frequently used items at close hand (pepto, nose spray, tylenol, tums, bandaids).

off at last

It's been at least 15 years, probably closer to 20, since I first dreamed of living on a sailboat and cruising the world. A lot has happened in the ensuing years, but the time has finally arrived!

We left Pugh Marina on Wednesday night around 10:30 PM. Many people asked us why we were taking an all night trip across Lake Michigan for our first passage. The reasoning is pretty straight forward. We are en route to Muskegon, MI. It's about 70 miles across the lake and we planned on making 5.5-6 mph, so it will take us about 12 per the plan to get there. Allowing for some contingencies, and some buffer, if we want to get in with good light, we needed to leave and sail all night.

I'll be honest with you, tonight was not the ideal sailing conditions that we would have liked, so we are using the auxiliary diesel to help us along a bit. But as I sit here in the glow of the instruments listening to the diesel hum, I can't help but feel at ease. This is where I was meant to be. I have my beautiful wife resting down below and we are meeting my parents in Michigan to pick up the boy. Life doesn't get any better.

It has been a long road to get here and we wouldn't have been able to without all of the love and support from all of our friends and family. The list is too long, but a few people do deserve special mentions for the extra help they gave us over the last month to help get us that last inch. My mom and dad and Ann's mom watched the boy for a couple of weeks so that we could get the condo renter ready. Sara and Allen drove up to Racine on their day off to help us rig sails and get some last minute provisions. They are also helping to shuttle our car back to our parents house for safe keeping.

To anyone who is dreaming of going cruising, just remember that there is always going to be something to try to stop you. If this is your dream, go for it! It's far from easy, but the best things in life are worth working for and sacrificing for.

One more note about leaving what has been our summer home for the last several years, the crew at Pugh Marina also deserve an honorable mention. I cannot recommend their services enough. Bill is a fair man and Stevie D can work miracles. We will also miss all of our friends at Reefpoint Marina. It was our second home for several years and the friends we made there felt like family.