Though we didn’t go in the water until November 7, got moving November 8, and didn’t hit “no socks required” temperatures until November 16, we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to park the boat for a week to drive north to see family for my favorite holiday of the year. My brother and his family were hosting Thanksgiving at their house in Connecticut . Our daughter was taking the train out from NYC for the day, my parents were driving down from Middlebury. The only people missing were our son, Julian, and his girlfriend. What’s 600+ miles one direction in the scheme of things?

We found a slip, rented a car, and started north.

Why a week? Time with family for sure, but northeast corridor Thanksgiving traffic is definitely a consideration. We’ve spent hours stuck on 95 in post-Thanksgiving Sunday traffic before and have zero desire to repeat the experience. By getting north of NYC on Monday and driving south on Friday, we hoped we’d be in the clear. Pretty much it worked as hoped!

Saturday night, after 6 hours on the road with a brief stop to grab a couple of things out of our van (parked for the winter in Deltaville), found us with friends just north of Deltaville. Despite their more-than-full house, they eagerly extended an invite when we let them know our plans.

Sunday , after a stop to get a few forgotten things out of Calypso, the drive continued. We arrived at Bee’s place in Brooklyn right at sunset after a trip that went smoothly until the last 9 miles, which took us 1.5 hours. Thank you NYC traffic! Who could have guessed it would be a madhouse at 4 pm on a Sunday . . .

Monday morning was spent helping Bee with a few things, then we hit the road yet again. Middlebury, VT, was the destination, where my parents live. Over the next 36 hours, we helped them with some computer stuff, some proofreading. Got fed well (of course). Just generally spent some good quality time just the 4 of us. When we woke up on Tuesday, it was 10 degrees.

Wednesday morning there was snow.

Wednesday of Thanksgiving week found us in the car once again, this time southbound for Connecticut. For the next 40 hours we were in the middle of amazing family time. We caught up on everyone’s news, laughed a lot, walked on the beach. Of course we ate too much on Thanksgiving, but isn’t that part of the fun?

Friday morning, we hit the road at 5:20 am. There was almost no traffic on the George Washington Bridge. A stretch of the Jersey Turnpike was completely free of any other car. Of course, 95 south around Springfield, VA, was stop and go. But largely, our timing was perfect. 640 miles in 11 hours, door to door. Including a stop for fresh shrimp.

Which brings us to Saturday. We’ve reprovisioned, returned the rental car. Paid for the slip. Checked weather incessantly. Current plans are to head down the ICW tomorrow with an eye to going offshore from the Cape Fear River to Jacksonville, Florida, starting on Tuesday.

You can always follow along here!