Now, eight years later, we are thrilled when we meet new people who haven’t heard about our ICW trip. If our daughters and their husbands are around, they roll their eyes up into their heads and back away saying, “Oh no, not this again.” Our three daughters had all pitched in to make this a great trip. Mary Lou oversaw the care of my mother and watched over our house and mail. I sent all my photos and CDs to Patti Ann who made a wonderful slide presentation with a beach music background that we treasure. Meanwhile, when we returned, Colleen presented us with a fabulous pictorial journal with all the emails that I had sent. These are the same people who didn’t want us to go!
What do they say on that commercial–priceless? It cost us about $4500 just for the gasoline. There were many dockage fees, close to $500 in assorted boat repairs, the costs for inns and marina lodgings along the way, etc. But the scenery—the many unique bays, sounds, rivers and channels that make up the ICW, the people we met, the happy hours, the wildlife, but mostly the freedom–yes, priceless. Now when we sit out on our back deck, we feel like we’ve been out there. We enjoy our 20 ft. boat when we fish on Shinnecock Bay, go through the inlet to the ocean on a good day, and quite often we reminisce about our ICW “dream come true.” We make sure we’re back in time for happy hour.
