In October, we took a short trip back to Minnesota to visit family and friends. We celebrated Debby's mom's 81st birthday. It was a wonderful time to be in Minnesota, with the leaves starting to turn color. We had every sort of weather, from temperatures in the 80s to the 20s, with a sprinkling of snow too. We headed back to Viriginia to get the boat and ourselves ready for another offshore voyage to the eastern Caribbean. We planned to start looking for a good weather window after November 1, when the hurricane season is winding down.