Coasting

For now the better part of valor has dictated daysails up the Wisconsin coast, the last stop being Kewaunee, a port town that has lost its reason for being. The crumbling waterfront has been given over to marinas catering to fishermen and restaurants whose version of seafood is fried. The quaint downtown features a mix of small business hanging on my the merest of threads and a few hopeful art galleries. Artists seem to find niches of existence in the midst of decay.

Lacking appropriate dockage, Whisper spent a night rolling in the outer harbor, the mouth open to a swell making in from the SE. Lightning, big winds and torrential rain made for a restless night. But the forecast is for a strong SW wind, 4 -6 ft seas subsiding late......The time has come to put Wisconsin in our wake. All of the good-byes, farewells, best wishes have been said. Sadness will give way to exhilartion when Whisper takes the bone in her teeth.

With Iron Mike (the windvane) steering I will happily scatter tools about the cabin as I tick off projects from the list, making Whisper ready for sea (or lake, as the case may be). Day by day the dust and detritus, mental and physical, of a landlocked existence give way to the cleansing breath of possibilities.