Wilco picked us up at Charles De Gaulle and drove us to Rabelo. The weather had turned dreary and overcast. It was as if we were being told it was time to leave. After all, our other home was in Southern California. The temperature was 80, the skies were clear, and we were looking forward to seeing our family and friends. It had been four months since we had last seen them. Now that we had spent six months on Rabelo, remember we went back for a short visit two months into our little foray, we knew exactly the changes we wanted to make.
There was just one problem. I needed to rob a bank to pay for all the modifications. Given all the negative aspects of bank robbery, especially the jail time, I came up with the brilliant idea of selling one of our sons. Unfortunately, Lisa instantly exercised her veto powers. She’s always taken the more traditional approach to these sorts of things while I prefer the practical approach. I’ll let you figure that one out on your own.
During our ride back to Rabelo Lisa announced that she needed a bathroom. Being the dutiful husband that I am, I instantly went into search mode. As we drove through this small village I spotted a convenient public facility. It was right off the main street, there was plenty of parking close by, and there was even a ring in case you needed to tie up your horse. Unfortunately, Lisa wasn’t overly enthusiastic about using the facility the city government saw fit to provide the local towns people. I even offered my beloved wife ten bucks so we wouldn’t have to look any further. Alas, I wasn’t able to close the deal. She can be very stubborn when she makes up her mind. I was terribly disappointed. I even had the camera ready to go. Eventually we found another bathroom that wasn’t nearly as convenient, though it did offer a bit more privacy.
The past six months have been an incredible adventure. We will miss Rabelo and Captain Wilco while we are home. There is plenty of work planned for our winter layover, and I’ll keep you updated on the progress. I’ll also do a couple of blogs covering some of our other adventures. Hopefully I can find pictures of our trip to south Australia where we dove with the Great White Sharks, or Cocos Island where dove with the schooling Hammerhead sharks. Before we took up barging Lisa and I owned a large sailboat that covered over 65,000 miles in the Pacific. Needless to say I have plenty of adventures to write about. Unfortunately, most of our pictures were taken before digital was popular, so I’ll have to see if I can get them converted to digital format.
No matter what happens, it will be May 9th before you know it, and we will back on our big beautiful barge with plenty of adventures to follow.
-Tom Miller
Author of “The Wave” – a Chuck Palmer Adventure novel
MAR
About the Author:
Tom Miller graduated from the University of Southern California with a Bachelor of Science in Geology. He is a consummate adventurer with over 1,000 dives as a recreational scuba diver, and an avid sailor who has traveled 65,000 miles throughout the Pacific including the Hawaiian Islands. Miller has also cruised the canals of Europe on his canal barge and given numerous lectures on cruising the canals of Europe, as well as sailing in the South Pacific. Piloting is also an interest of Miller's, and He has completed over 1,000 hours flying everything from small Cessnas to Lear jets.