3/23/18 – 3/25/18: We left New Bern feeling good about our decision to bring Shanti there, but now it was time to return home. It was getting close to the expected birth of our grandchild, and we also had to get prepared for the continuation of our sailing journey. But before we left North Carolina, we stopped by Charlotte to spend a weekend with Kate’s brother and family.

We have seen Rob, Amy, Jake, and Kali many times over the past several years, but only when they’ve come to visit family here in the Midwest. Kate had not been to Charlotte for about 10 years, so we were looking forward to the visit. We arrived on Friday afternoon and got settled in. Jake and Kali were at a swim meet, so the four of us had a nice meal of shish-kabobs and just talked for the evening.

Jake and Kali’s swim meet was an entire weekend event. We were able to see Jake swim multiple events on both Saturday and Sunday. Kali had an injured arm so she wasn’t swimming in this meet, although she still participated as a manager and cheered for her teammates (yes, for her brother, too).

While it was a short visit, it was nice to spend some time with them. Lucky for us (but maybe not so much for Rob & Amy), New Bern is only a 4 hour drive from Charlotte. We are hopeful another visit with them won’t be such a long time away.

Charlotte also marks the end of our road trip. We’ve been to a lot of places of the past several months and have been able to visit our family and friends that we don’t get to see very often. But now it’s time to get back, start preparing for the continuation of our sailing journey, and welcome our granddaughter to the world!

Pics of Charlotte