To Boston, MA

Considering we were flying on the Friday before Labor Day, it was a pleasant flight, even the ATL transfer. Southerners know that even if you die and go to Hell, you still have to go through Atlanta. We lucked into booking this cruise when ACL started offering free airfare, a discount, and a free stay at the Four Seasons Hotel (which was running $1,200-$2,000/night with free American buffet breakfast, brief coach tour and transfer to the ship and luggage tranferred to our cabin.

This trip was booked well in advance of our June-August six week, 1,700 water miles Great Lakes-Inland Rivers segment on Cat O' Mine. After our wreck in Nashville while trailering home, we arranged to have the damaged boat and trailer towed professionally back to Pensacola for repairs. Alhough that cost of $4,500 not covered by the insurance, it would have been more expensive and frustrating trying to manage out of state repairs long distance by shops we did not know or trust. Around here it takes six weeks to get repairs scheduled anyway. So we have a haulout scheduled Sept 15 on our return.
The logistics are complex because the deepest boat gouge may penetrate a sponson, so we can't launch it at a ramp then get it travel lifted onto jack stands. Oh well, it will all work out. Two couples were killed in two other wrecks on I-65 in that same area on that same day, so we feel blessed and are thankful for everyone's prayers.

USAA (47 year member) was very generous in their ACV of the totaled 2019 F250 Lariet, which we replaced with a new 2024 F350 deisel with three miles on it. Since 2026 trucks are coming in daily, we got a $10,000 discount on it, which more than paid for an 8 year/75,000 mile Ford bumper to bumper warranty and prepaid maintanence and a bed cover and running boards. The 20,000 pound conventional towing rating with towing pkg is more than enough, even for a TC255.Read more