Again

Saturday, March 27, 2010.  Two days ago, we started our second European odyssey.  This time with a bigger boat and a dog instead of a cat.  The cat was easier. 

As we walked away, leaving Yogi-dog locked in his kennel and in the good hands of TSA personnel before being placed in the competent care of Scandinavian Airlines, we heard our doggie’s hysterical screams echoing throughout Chicago’s O’Hare airport.  Thirteen hours later, when he was delivered to us in Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport, his high-pitched yelping reverberated all around Schiphol’s baggage claim area.  At least he is consistent.   He is none the worse for wear and now is enthusiastically inhaling the odors of The Netherlands. 

We, too, are fine except for an advanced case of jet lag which should be gone in a few days.  Old we may be, but even after a relatively sleepless night in an airplane seat, Dwight was able to drive over 200 kilometers, from Amsterdam to Groningen to inspect our new-used boat before the boatyard closed for the weekend.  He was the one with the foresight to buy a European chip for our car’s GPS and who insisted on packing it in a corner of one of our suitcases.  To anyone who scoffs at technology and feels that map reading is good enough……well, why not join us here in the 21st century, it’s easier.

The boat is still out of  the water but will be floating sometime next week.  In the meantime, we are shopping for furnishings, like docking lines, life jackets, fire extinguishers, dishes, pots and pans, blankets for chilly nights and transportation for the days after we return our rental car.  With a little help from friends and the GPS, we managed to find two bicycles at a price we can afford: 25 euros each.  They are older, like us, but still functional….like us?

Here, in The Netherlands, everyone rides bicycles.  Everyone!  Except for the major highways, there are more bicycles on the streets than cars.  Oh boy, are we going to get in shape.   We will have to find a large basket to carry dog and/or groceries.

Until the boat is in the water, we are staying in a Bed & Breakfast we found on the internet before we left home.  Sometimes booking things on the internet leads to a few surprises, like we kinda’ weren’t told that the B&B was right next door to an odiferous dairy.  However, there are compensations.  The dairy isn’t large--only about 120 cows; we are out in the country; there are two friendly carrot-loving horses in the back yard that snort loudly scaring Yogi into barking; the price is right; it is quiet; our landlady is sweet and isn’t getting her knickers in a twist over the dog and she serves a generous breakfast.   Who cares if there are a few spider-web garlands drooping from our bedroom ceiling or if the toilet maybe could flush a little better or that the bath towels are small and rough enough to raise welts or that the stairs are so steep we have to go down backwards while clutching the banister with one hand and carrying the dog with the other because he refuses to navigate its slippery treads.   Sigh.

Our new boat, Orca, will suit us to a tee.  Old?  Yes,  Beat up?  No.  Well, there are a few spots that I will fix before Orca goes into the water.  The boat is steel and it looks like someone got a little to close to a dock on occasion.  Just a couple of dings at the water line that should have some rust inhibitor applied and then the paint repaired.  Not too bad,  I can do that.  Dwight did a great job choosing the boat.  He fell in love with it the minute he saw it and I can’t say that I blame him.  It is a nice boat with a great layout.  Not just comfortable for us but also for any guests we may have, and we will enjoy making it ours and traveling in it unless the engine gets sick or the refrigerator stops working or…..or…..or.  

The Netherlands is what I thought it would be….neat and clean, flat and crowded.  The people are friendly, polite (even when driving) and multi-lingual, which is nice for those of us whose Dutch language skills are non-existent.  I predict that we will have trouble with this language.  We know some words already: “dank u wel” (thank you); “alstublieft” (please); “sorry, I don’t speak Dutch” (sorry, I don’t speak Dutch) and the most important one for shoppers, “kringloops“ (a ubiquitous second-hand store all over The Netherlands).  That will have to carry us for awhile until we can wrap our little brains around all the gargling, guttural sounds of  the language.           

And then what happens………………………….

A New Boat Card - Arizona 2010

It's important, when cruising, to have a boat card.  Like an old fashioned calling card, it is given to other cruisers you meet as an introduction.  We have quite a collection gathered from other cruisers, both when we were sailing aboard We Three, our sailboat, and when we were cruising around France and Belgium in Chapter III, our canal boat. 

It's a pleasure to go through the cards we've saved, remembering this person or that one, where you met them, what kind of boat they had.  It's always surprising to us just how many memories a small card will bring back, especially when the card has a picture of the boat folks.  "Oh" we think, "We remember those nice people, we met them in that rough anchorage." or  "Remember, we had coffee with them that cold, drizzly morning."

So we've put our pictures on our new Orca card and, maybe someday, a cruiser will be looking through their saved cards and think to themselves: "I remember that boat and those two impossibly old people with their funny looking little dog. Wonder whatever happened to them?"