Okay, it’s been a couple of weeks since my last entry, and now the true purpose can be revealed! haaha There might have been a few clues previously, but as it was to be a surprise I couldn’t say too much incase I let the “cat out of the bag”. I did get off the boat, just after Tropical Storm Cindy, and before Hurricane Dennis. I made it up to New Orleans, and after checking into the hotel I went round to the airport where I got a ticket to Grand Rapids for the following day. Dazzle had already flown into Michigan that afternoon, and the plan was that we would surprise her parents with a visit. Dazzle’s mom, Cheryl, had been planning a surprise party for her husband, Roger’s 60th birthday and us being there would have been another surprise. Unfortunately Cheryl had to go into hospital, so the party was cancelled. But with a little help from one of Dazzle’s brothers, we managed to finagle a small family get-together in Cheryls hotel room! We spent a few days in Michigan, visiting, shopping and going places, before flying out on the tuesday to Colorado. We got picked up at the airport in Colorado Springs, (all except one bag that was left in Chicago) and taken to where we were staying. What with us having to reschedule our holiday (we were planning to do it in September) during the peak season we decided to try and cut the costs a little by staying in a cabin at a camp ground. The cabin was great, and the camp ground ran by a lovely family who were very welcoming and helpful. We got re-aquainted with old friends and made some new ones too. We visited our land a lot, and got a few things organised. We now have an address, a drive-way and a master plan! We spent time talking to some builders and got a good plan now on how we are going to move forward with building things on our land and moving over to Colorado. Dazzle had a bit of a working holiday, making some contacts with work prospects for when we move over, but we did some fun things too, like test driving a Hummer and a new Land Rover LR3 (though it’ll always be a “Discovery” to me! haaha). Dazzle’s other brother, John, joined us in Colorado for a few days, and he and I made it to the top of our mountain one evening. 55 minutes to get up to the top, and 10 minutes to get down (and we have the scrapes and bruises to prove it!) While we were away galavanting around the US, hurricane Dennis paid a visit to the gulf of mexico. One of the results of Dennis was that the Thunderhorse platform, where the boat had been working, was left listing at 20 degrees. It has now been righted, but as there has to be a lot of remedial work and investigations, the Perseus was released from it’s work there. I got an email to give me warning that the crew-change would be coming forward ready for an earlier than planned departure for the UK. Faced with the probability of flying back home, just to have to turn round and get back to the boat, at the end of our holiday I came straight back to the boat. Good for the “tax days”, good for the extra days but bad because of less time with Dazzle 🙁 🙁 and no puppies for over three months. 🙁
