Robert R. Payette

We’ve been here in Florida now a week and a day…having arrived July 17th with bag, baggage, three cats and one Spaniel to our new town-house digs. Moving doesn’t change a lot of things….you still cook, clean, establish new routines, meet new people and catch-up with old friends but this has been an exciting and unusually hectic period in our lives. Alice has been doing a lot of the grunt work and organizing the kitchen stuff, clothes and other high effort, low-reward things that just need doing. I can retreat to my computer and pay bills, organize our life digitally and do some cooking….but I know who’s making that all possible, for sure!

A main reason for our deciding to move South was my health, which is not great. Here I’m very close to the Veterans Administration clinic in Viera and I spent a good part of yesterday there doing orientation along with some blood work. I’ll meet my primary care team the first week of August. Here in Titus Village it’s a joy to wake up early (5:30-6:00ish) and walk Kincaid in this wonderful urban environment. Rural life has its charms, but walking down a 500 foot gravel driveway to an unimproved country road gets old quick when your legs don’t work as good as they used to!
A few days back we spent some time at the local Brevard County Tax Collectors office(s) where we registered the car here in Florida and obtained Florida drivers licenses. Joanna seems to be settling in nicely with her new position in Merritt Island….it’s not perfect, nor her first choice, but it’s a starting point from which to build.
We thought we might have an issue with the holding tanks on the rig, and to be sure things were running clear we brought the rig to Manatee Hammock this morning where we pumped out, did a black-water rinse and then topped off our fuel on the way back to Christmas. All systems are go . The Hammock sure looks different in the summer than in the “high tourist” season of January thru March! Now it’s all local Floridian’s whereas in the winter tourist season it’s totally filled with folks from the Northeast, Michigan and Canada.
My only regret is we didn’t make this move a long time ago, as both Alice and myself are in hog heaven here in Titusville. If you have been thinking about a major move, but have been afraid to do it……just do it. Life’s not a rehearsal as they say.

Sailing Vessel Promise, Tartan 28 Sloop

So, here we are on July 5^th, 2012, ten days out and counting from our 07/15 permanent departure from what’s been our home for what – 67 years? That’s 67 years in Connecticut, only 10 of which have been here in Preston.  Our daughter Joanna is flying in from our new digs in Titusville on the 13^th (she’ll be following our motor-home in the Prius to our new home) and we’ll have another adult within shouting distance for the three cats and her dog Kincaid the Cavalier on the 1300 mile trip.  All of our “must keep” stuff is at the town-house in Titusville, and we’re only bringing the remnants that we’ve used to live here for the last month or so.  They’ll be a fairly large pickup from Goodwill Industries after we’ve cleared on the 15^th.

We have several different lists going, some of which are time sensitive.  The newspaper subscriptions have been converted to all digital or canceled, the propane and oil service contracts have been discontinued, the change of address’s have been processed for the most part.  We have new checks with our new address in Florida (for mail use: P.O. Box 1055, Titusville Fl 30781) and for e-mail r.payette2@gmail.com and for telephone 860.460.7945. )  Lose the CT landline telephone #, and we will not have a “house land line” in Florida.  All cellular, all digital, all the time J.

It seems weird doing a final packing for the motor-home.  Normally we’re packing for a trip, either a camping weekend with the Club or a winter hiatus for three to four months.  It feels different to be actually leaving, like breaking camp at a place you know you’re not liable to be back to anytime soon.

We (Alice and I) were talking about our feelings on this move on our way back from Wal-mart this morning.  It wouldn’t be human if you didn’t have mixed feelings about moving away from family and friends, even if it’s just a reversal of snow-birding and we fully expect to come back to the Northeast periodically to touch base with everyone.  The analogy I gave Alice is this: Many years ago, when we had our sailboat Promise, we both noted that many people rarely left the dock.  If the weather was in the least suspect, if there was a risk of it getting a bit uncomfortable, many people spent the entire weekend at the dock.  They’d BBQ and drink and party…and rarely leave their comfort zone and go to sea.  We were very active in the New London Power Squadron, and I taught boating safety and was a Squadron Commander, but we loved sailing Promise when it was hard, when it wasn’t a milk run so to speak.  She was a Tartan 28 sloop, built strong, and capable of handling more than I could probably sail her into.  And, when we’re talking around the campfire it’s not about the milk-runs but the exciting runs, the sails where the weather was nasty and the conditions tested you….where ball bearings are blowing out of traveler fittings because of wind pressure and you can’t hear each other talking because of that wind….  They call it sailing, and that’s what we’re doing now.  We’re leaving the safety of shore and heading into the wind.  Luckily we’re secured with good equipment and jack-lines but we’re doing it, and it’s going to be an exciting ride!