Legitimacy & Sightseeing

We decided to do two things today:

1. Use our own common area access ramp
2. Go around the lake to where Kathleen's parents live

We've become confident in our abilities to make an attempt at using our neighborhood's access ramp. We'd asked to use the one next to us because ours was very narrow and curvy and their's, being at the top of the cove, wasn't as gunky. When the boat was delivered, the pollen was so thick on the water we were coated with it getting out. And then there's Kathleen and snakes. It's a lot easier getting the boat to the access ramp because it's almost all downhill.

We push off and make it to the open water without any problem. Woo-hoo! The wind was kicking up fairly heavy chop. On the way out, we stayed close to the shore, went out past the condos, and all the way around to the cove where her parents have lake view property. She was thrilled to see their house and even happier when she saw her parents on their front porch. Even though the cove isn't very wide here, because their place is up on the hill across the street, they're small to us and I'm sure we're small to them. We kept going to the end of their cove before doing a U-ee. We saw them again on the way back. This was probably our best run of the day. The water was calmer here and we were rowing into the wind. That meant the water was being pushed away from us - with the even strokes we were pulling, it felt like we were flyin'.

Her parent's live a mile from us as the crow flies. On the water, it turns out to be about 3K meters. With the out and back, I think we rowed about 3.75 miles. This time Kathleen worked on keeping her elbows down. I was trying to keep my hands down on the drive so that the hatchet would go too deep in the water. Unfortunately, I sometimes misjudged, went too low, and had the hatchet skim over the water instead. Oops!

With the rather choppy water, and various passing boats, we didn't push it like yesterday. We headed back into our cove and navigated the twists pretty well. Just to get to the end and realize ... dang! we had to do a corkscrew turn. I'm last in the shell when we leave and first out when we return. With Kathleen's knee, we minimize the uncertainty when she gets in and out. At the other access ramp, we had to worry about the dock on one side, a short concrete wall on the other, and wind & waves (if any) pushing us as we tried to back in. Here, we've got less along the shore, but also less space to do the U-ee. I'm sure we look funny as I try to maneuver us around. One of the neighbors is giving us good-natured grief as I'm finishing off the job. Whatever! Now, we're legimate - we should be okay going in and out of here.

Oh, I forgot to mention ... I'm trying to get the shell into the water by myself now. Put the bow in, bring the dolly up close to the water, lift the stern and bring it around without banging any grapple rock on the shore - just in case Kathleen can't make it any time. This goes well, I get the oars in the oarlocks and everything. Everything is peachy until we get going in the open water. Kathleen ain't happy. Something doesn't feel right. Then she notices that one oarlock is facing the wrong direction. I goofed! First time since our first outing on our own. We aren't using the proper boat terminology all of the time. When we put the oars in, we are always saying "red on the right." The oars have green and red 'buttons'. These are the doo-dad's that keep the oars butted up against the oarlocks. When I put them in, I had them reversed. After the third one went in, I realized my mistake and had to switch them around. I must have rushed on one of Kathleen's. Sure enough, I had the oarlock turned the wrong way!

Kathleen says ...
Mike is an excellent and very strong rower. He has a very calm demeanor to my over exuberant one! We have loads of heated discussions as well as tons of fun while on the lake! I continue to tell him that one's voice does carry on the water (people on shore can hear you) especially when one is "a cussin!"

Heave Ho

Late start but good day on the lake. Kathleen asks the yacht owners about their length - it's 40 ft. Not seen it off their dock yet. We had good long runs. I am just going to have to figure out proper breathing timing. Kathleen long swims at the YMCA have her better conditioned than I.

Kathleen ended up wearing socks and putting a small thin towel around an oar to help with her blisters. Until we get some direct instruction, we'll have to review videos on YouTube. This is the best one I've found so far. I wish there was one with a top or front view to demonstrate elbow and wrist movement too. I'm going to encourage her to call the guy we bought the boat from. The Catawba Yacht Club rowing weekend isn't for a month yet.

One more thing: Kathleen is really nervous about falling into the water. She's rather skittish when jet ski's or boats are around. What she's really worried about is snakes. It doesn't help that a small protruding bit of land in the middle of the lake is called Snake Island. Thanks a lot, folks.

Cleanup Day

This morning is a clean up of the common area - infringing on the plan of rowing every day over the long weekend. I go help out. The pre-work meeting revolves around usual homeowner's association blues. Being half democrat half libertarian, I'm of two minds on the discussion points. The association president comments "oh, is that you walking with that boat?" Her husband teases saying she should have really drawn out, and emphasized, the 'yuuuuuuuu.'

After much spraying of weeds and clearing of brush, we're done ... and so is the opportunity to row today. It's too late to get started and still making to church. I always have to go early to practice for cantoring.

It's a bummer. Being cloudy and cool would have been a nice change from yesterday and what's expected for the rest of the weekend. As Kathleen and I are chatting about the chatting, it starts to rain pretty good. Ha-ha, would that have been interesting if we'd been on the way, trying to put in, or on the water!

Instead, I finally catch up on these blog posts. No more posting about something a week ago as if it were a week ago. No more counting of the outing number either - that was getting tiresome.

(May 23) Outing #6

On this Friday, May 23, I manage to stop working midafternoon. Well, late afternoon - I'd targeted 3pm but went until 4pm. We head off again in anticipation of checking out the rumored yacht. The cheapskate in me is also happy because trip #6 puts us into the cost pay-off territory for the lake's yearly boat fee versus per-use fee. We've got the hang of getting shell off the back porch and onto the dolly. I'm ready to donkey it in no time.

We get out on the water smoothly and the water is really calm. Sweet. Temperatures are the highest we've experienced yet. It's not long before we're sweating like crazy. We head directly to the headwater cove. And Kathleen's right. The "yacht" is at the house by the turn into the cove. I don't know what qualifies a boat as a yacht, but this is big. It's long, it's kinda high, and it has one of those rotating thingies on top - a yacht in my book. We see that various folks are coming by, in their boats, to take a look. The owners have people with them but they're not on the water. We keep going.

We're taking it easy. Kathleen, having read the printout of the NY Times article, linked to from the rowingmasters Yahoo group, is reinforcing "slow and easy." I'm listening and, for the most part, paying attention.

Kathleen has a hard time with keeping her grip on the oar handles. They keep slipping in her sweaty hands. I remind her she's not supposed to be gripping them hard. She has more trouble, in general, when she's not. She's got the blisters to show for it.

On this outing, I tucker out first. Calling out the count is tiresome. Kathleen gives that a try. This gives us a new opportunity to "discuss" what where doing. She was complaining about my count not always being in synch with what I'm doing. I let her know that her count isn't steady and that she can't call 'catch' to try to shorten up my stroke. Fun, fun. I remind her that the bow seat is supposed to be the more adaptable rower who matches the person in the stroke seat. "What seats are you talking about?" she says. Luckily, she has to keep her hands on her oars or I'da been konked in the head.

We wrap it up short this time. Long days, trip to Pittsburgh, not enough sleep - taken a toll. As I'm walking the shell back, a guy in the neighbor drives up and stops. He'd love to go out with me to give it a try. He's #2 on our list now, after my boss. I tell him we're still learning but that I'll call him soon.

Big news on the lake

Kathleen goes to the Moss Lake office by the public access. I ask her to get the story about the "danger" buoy we see at the turn into the nearby cove we are using for our jaunts. As a man-made reservoir, nobody cleaned up the area before flooding. Supposedly, there's a crane down there somewhere. At nearby Lake Norman, there are bunches of houses and other stuff underwater. This buoy marks rocks of some sort. We'll find out when the inevitable drought hits and the water level goes down.

But the big news and the office is the 45' boat/yacht someone brought in that day on an 18-wheeler. Folks are wondering where those folks live. Kathleen thinks it's the recent buyers of a house in the neighboring neighborhood. She eagerly awaits the weekend to go check it out.

N.B. I'm leaving out the part where the old guy on staff hits on her. She's very vivacious. And a healthcare professional with that care-giver personality. She attracts all types. Luckily, she picked me for the second trip to the altar.

Almost Caught Up

I've been trying to keep a sequential order to these posts even if the chronology is out of synch with reality. I'm almost caught up now; but not quite.

Beyond Donkeydom?

The setup with the dolly has improved. It's not taking so long to get started. It's easier during the transportation. But I tell ya, it's a hard push/pull back with tired legs. There's gotta be a better way.

All of my jury rigging schemes are gonna be $100 - $200. Why not re-assess something that's built for what I need? Emails exchanged. Yes! They do have a hitch attachment. $130. Ouch! Thunk, thunk, thunk. What to do?

(May 18) Outing #5

On Sunday, May 18, we're in no rush. I had more beers that usual. Saturday night's DVD, No Reservations, started late (hence 2 before) and was interrupted several times so it ran longer than usual (hence 3 during). Hmmm. New aerobic exercise isn't going to help reduce the belly if the caloric intake doesn't decrease.

We get out smoothly. It's actually windier than the day before, but we venture forth - gotta get a handle on whether we can handle it or not. ;-)

With the lesson learned from the day before, I'm not pushing so hard with my legs on the drive. We get into a routine quickly and are back and forth in the new cove. The cove is the headwater for the lake. Buffalo Creek comes in here. On one turn, I'm thinking we're doing fine but all of a sudden ... whoops! There's the sandbar right on us. "Stop thinking! Keep oaring right" Kathleen hollers. Fortunately, it's not rocks and we aren't bow in like we were in outing #2. Our right side oars a digging into the sand as we keep moving around but we get re-oriented and are back out into deeper water in no time. Back to back-and-forth and back-and-forth. It's very pretty back here. Steep hills with big houses built up high and nice roofed docks, lake walls, sitting areas, etc.

Kathleen has choice words for the jet ski riders that zoom past us. We discover that their wakes really aren't a problem for us. Boat wakes are much more noticable. We just have to make sure the jet skiers don't run into us.

As we are moving along, Kathleen and I "discuss" the synchronization of our strokes. I think our height difference is a factor. I'm six inches taller. It seems like my stroke will swing across a wider angle since I can reach farther on the catch and extend farther on the release. My efforts to use twigs to show this, after we're done, don't impress Kathleen much. Maybe I am full of sh*t.

After a better day, we return and have another smooth entry into the access ramp. We realize we don't have to be weenies about the wind. It won't deter us again. Woo-hoo! Now storms are still a different matter.

(May 17) Outing #4

We begin Saturday, May 17, with high anticipation. The last row was so much better than previous ones; we think we might get the hang of it yet! The temperature is a bit cooler.

The transportation setup doesn't start so well. How come this ding-dang dolly can't seem to stay horizontal with the shell on it? The thing keeps angling down and the boat tilts - all while I'm trying to secure the ding-dang straps. I say several bad words. It takes me a little while to realize I have the dolly too far towards the stern and the shell is narrowing rapidly. Duh! Triangle + parallel tracks = "unstable situation" to paraphrase a Greek grad student colleague. I shift the dolly to the middle and try to remember the position with respect to the rigging so I don't do this again. Finally, I'm off to the lake.

We're hitting the water a little later than usual. It's windy. The chop isn't too bad. We got our routine started the usual way - first one, then the other, then both together. But, in no time, we're having "disagreements." "Easy" she says, "Stop strong arming it." I'm not using my arms at all - trying to use proper technique. After a while, I realize she means that I'm driving too hard. As we pick up speed, I'm driving harder with my legs to keep increasing our speed. I'm counting out loud but only on the return leading up to a simultaneous catch (when both our oars go in the water to propel us forward). Since I'm "driving" harder and faster, she's getting pulled along and is having a hard time getting her oars out of the water on the release (when we've finished, turn the oar 90 degrees, and get them up above the water).

I slow down on the drive and we do much better. We are puttering into a different cove on this outing. It's wide and long and rather sheltered from the wind. This works out really well. We can go longer without having to turn around and are getting the hang of looking behind us a making adjustments as the cove makes its slight curves. My legs are a bit tired. We go back and forth a few times and turn back to the access ramp. We even make it to the ramp without bumping into the dock or having to make several attempts to "back in." Whew!

Mother's Day

No rowing on Mother's Day. We were doing a lunch-brunch with Kathleen's parents. We don't have a routine yet for getting going early and getting back before noon. We'll need to get one by the time it really gets hot. The weather didn't look so good in the afternoon. Wouldn't have mattered anyway. Ate like a pig.

(May 10) Outing #3

We skipped the Friday afternoon jaunt due to breezy conditions at the house. I went down to the lake, about 6pm, after finishing work to find that the water wasn't choppy like we feared. Bummer - a missed opportunity

Saturday morning, May 10, we start prepping around 10am. Beautiful day. I hoof it with the shell. Kathleen drives. We get in and push off from the access ramp with no excitement. Woo-hoo! Out on the water, we're doing our back and forth between points. After some individual rowing while the other stabilizes, we try to do it like we're supposed to: both rowing together.

Rowing together ends up going pretty well! We putter back and forth. It's a bit breezy but we realize that we just need to go into or with the wind. I'm working on getting the hang of turning the boat in several different ways. Once, my slow turn is too slow; I switch to the "turn on a dime" technique and then we power out of one tight situation without a problem.

Kathleen and I are much happier. It takes our technique getting sloppy before we realize we've been on the water for almost two hours. We head back in. Getting back to the access ramp ain't so pretty. After we're finally in, a different set of neighbors coming out to their dock, and tease us. Since neither of us got hurt or were too mad at the other, we can laugh.

Rigging options

Bill takes a look at my setup and suggests several options. He has ideas for testing them with whatever lumber we have lying around. Clearly, he's an experimentalist while I'm more of a theoretical kinda guy. The suggestion that catches my fancy involves using these garden hand carts to hook to the tractor and support the front part of the shell. A pair of somethings would connect the cart to the dolly we have. Several even have a section in their back side which would work for the prow (or stern) of the shell.

This sounds promising. The carts are typically around, or under, $100. I'm also looking at sturdier options besides the aluminum conduit for the connectors: aluminium angles, squares, even barn door runners. The wheel dolly at the back has to be, at least, at the halfway point - 12 ft from the point. Preferably, the length will be longer so that the back end doesn't get too close to the ground.

After some thinking (remember the theoretician bent?), I conclude that the hand cart will pivot some. On a turn, the point of the boat will swing back or forth across the cart. Not so good. Back to Bill's perspective, this would take experimentation.

I'm rethinking the jury rigged approach. Why not get something built for this - like this? Email sent to ask about their width because the picture implies "boat wide" not "rowing shell wide."

Rigging a trailer?

The push/pull process for the shell and dolly combo works pretty well, but Kathleen's knee has a real hard time with the walk. As we prepare to leave the access ramp from Outing #2, we're talking with the neighbor there and she says her son asked the day before "why don't they use a John Deere?" Why, exactly! I hadn't thought about a motorized solution. Since the boat has some cracks in it, we get patching instructions from Dick Fuller. We got no Evercoat Formula 27 on hand on a Sunday, May 4. We decide to pass on the lake and instead I think of ways to rig a trailer.

I'm measuring and drawing and thinking and measuring and drawing again and again. I'm looking at the dolly, the lawn tractor, and this bucket-like contraption that latches on to the back end of the tractor. Then I head off to Lowe's to see what I can scope out.

After several hours, and assistance from two employees, I come away with a bunch of nuts & bolts, mutiple lengths of conduit, compression joints, squared steel, right angle brackets, and door brackets. What a get-up!





That black plastic trunk wouldn't be part of the get-up. I was just using it as a stand. I'd also cut the square steel or get a smaller piece to span those other brackets on the tractor.

However, as I use the coupling joint to put the aluminum pipes together, one 10 ft and one 5 ft length for each side, I realize .... Mega-bummer, this is too flimsy. So, what to do? Call in the big guns! 1-800-Kathleen's-Dad, the master rigger. Or is that Key Grip in the movies?

Moss Lake

If anyone is interested, here's Google's satellite view of the lake. Buffalo Creek, the head of the lake, is up at the top. The dam is at the bottom. This looks like last year, or the year before, when the water level was way down. Drought is still on us for groundwater but the reservoir water levels are back up to full again. The brochure at the King's Mountain site has the lake at 1660 acres and averaging 50 feet deep.

We live in one of the neighborhoods at the top right. Kathleen's parents have a lake view on a wider cove top center. One day, we'll visit them at their across-the-street neighbor via the water.

(May 3) Outing #2

After sleeping in like normal, and coffee ingestion has produced desired effect, we start out again. This time we shift the dolly back a bit so that I can stand straighter and the other end doesn't come so close to scraping the ground. It's a bit heavier to lift but actually more comfortable. On the uphill, Kathleen grabs onto a rigger and pulls too. Well, first time she pushed - which includes a downward component to the force vector. She changes her position after my outcry.

We get to the access ramp. This time, being wiser, we point the bow of the point towards the lake (!) not the cove. We get the oars into the oarlocks properly this time - oarlocks pointing to the rower's feet. And, most importantly for me, my hunch about the previously incorrect orientation of the sliding seat contraption is spot on. Now, my calves don't hang up on the durn thing when my legs are fully extended.

We're a little shaky getting started but we are soon going out into more open water on the very first attempt. Water is calmer. We talk through which two points, near our cove, that we want to go back and forth between and we starting working on our turning technique. We're improved enough to give us confidence. We head out with our "my turn, your turn" strategy for getting the hang of it. Kathleen does good. I'm doing better than before. My left hand is still does whatever it wants. We go back and forth a bunch of times and are actually enjoying ourselves.

It's quite fun to be so close to the water. Temperatures are pleasant and the clouds keep heat and glare down. We go beyond one of our endpoints on some of our passes; uneventfully, until the wind picks up suddenly. Now, we're back to struggling to go forward. We can't manage to turn around properly and keep getting pushed towards the shore. Our attempts to turn here don't get us far. Finally, we're almost on small rocks that line a transition boundary between neighborhoods. We're "discussing" whether to go for a dock and grab on. When Kathleen's end starts bouncing on the rocks, that settles it. I get out. (N.B. Kathleen's end is the front of the boat. So, we weren't having much luck pointing ourselves in the right direction.) I re-orient us to point outwards and get us away from the rocks. We take our time to settle down and get re-focused. I get back in the boat and we power ourselves straight out into the lake in no time. We go straight into the wind and don't try to turn until we're way out and have plenty of room to have the wind help blow us back towards our cove.

Back in the saddle, we go back and forth several more times before deciding to turn in. We head back to the access ramp. We try to go in forward but drift into the dock and Kathleen's oars start getting hung up. I "push" us in reverse out. We decide to go in backwards. We turn and reverse to get back in. I imagine Carl laughing his head off if he saw us. Kathleen checks her watch. We've been on the water for over two hours.

Much happier, we arrive home, get the shell upside down onto the saw horses, and discover small cracks on the bottom near the front. Bah-buh-bump-bump!

Time ordering of Posts

Hmmmm. Blogger seems to remember when I "drafted" the post and keeps that date when published. Because I drafted a bunch out of sequence, "Dolly and Life Vests" appears after "(May 2) Outing #1" instead of before. Bummer. I guess I won't be doing that anymore.

Dolly and Life Vests

The carting experience was more than enough to convince me that we needed a shell dolly for transportation back and forth from house to lake/dock. Even if we figured out how to keep the shell at the dock on the weekend, we wouldn't leave it there all the time. So, at least one round trip would be needed each week.

We also weren't quite comfortable going out on the lake without a life preserver of some sort. I knew that not all state regulations applied to non-powered boats but we sure as heck didn't want to be out in the middle of the lake and get tipped by the wake of some moron. Not knowing what we were doing, we decided to pass on a Sunday (Apr 27) outing and researched logistics instead.

After some surfing, I settled on a small boat dolly and pair of life vests sold by Chesapeake Rowing. We paid extra for them to arrive before the following weekend.

I also went to Lowe's to figure out a system for storing the boat suspended from the ceiling in our garage. At 24 feet long, I only have one option for the hanging to avoid lights, garage door openers, etc. But this is better than having the thing sitting out on our back porch all the time! The porch is the same width at it's max. To walk around the end by the door, the bow of the boat sticks off a bit.



The white thing on the spa is the stroke (stern) seat drop-in. It has the seat on runners and allows the shell to be set up as a single as well as a double. The oars are also on top but hard to see. They are about 8 foot long hatchet-style carbon oars - really very light.

(May 2) Outing #1

All week, I'm not getting any work done in the evening because I'm checking out rowing information - getting psyched for the first outing on our own. With the high price of gas, I'm working from home on Friday's now. I decide to stop early so we can possibly get three trips over the weekend. We discuss what we are going to do on the water: relax and communicate are at the top of the list, safety is there too. We also decide that one would stabilize while the other rowed.



Come Friday, Kathleen is a bit nervous. Not about the rowing but the lifting, moving, and transportation of the boat. She's worried I'm going to move too fast and, with her knee problems, she won't be able to react. My motto becomes "tell me what to do." First time flipping, moving the shell, and putting it on the dolly results in several choice words but we do fine. I head off pulling from the front with the shell strapped at the midway point onto the dolly. Kathleen keeps on eye on the back end to make sure I don't drag it on humps in the road. She pushes when we're going up the hills. We are the spectacle of the neighborhood. Roughly 0.75 miles later, we are at the boat ramp repeating the process as we get the boat into the water. Which direction do those darn oarlocks go??

Kathleen gets in the boat first and I'm next. We stay dry. Woo-hoo! We get started. Staying balanced in the thing is a bear. Moving it where we want to go is too. Much to our chagrin, we are going back into the cove and constantly bumping into docks. One of our neighbors in a fishing boat is very sympathetic. He says it's actually quite windy and choppy out. When we get stuck, I end up "pushing" us in reverse to get us out of a corner.

We must have made some kind of forward progress but, honestly, I'm having a hard time remembering it. I figure out how to keep my oars on the water and stabilize the boat. Kathleen, in the bow seat, does pretty well getting into the motion. I, in the stroke seat, feel completely discombobulated. I was able to do something during the mini-lesson, but today ... nada. I can barely get left over right during the drive. (That's left hand over right when sliding back and pulling the oars to go forward. The oars are long enough to bump the handles together if you don't do this.) I can't figure out what's wrong but everything about the stroke feels uncomfortable.

[No pictures on the water. No one to take them. Won't take good camera on the boat yet.]

We go out to the entrance of the cove. Turn around somehow and head back in. It's bumper cars with docks again. Everything is exhausting. I'm messing up so badly, I'm pretty short with Kathleen. We don't end up staying out for more than an hour. We have difficulties but do the "push" to get back to the dock and exit the shell less gracefully than entering. However, we're still dry above the thighs.

After the walk/haul home, Kathleen says she would close her eyes to focus. We chit-chat with the next door neighbors. Kathleen turns in. I try to watch a DVD. Fiftenn minutes into it, I'm snoring so loudly Kathleen wonders what's wrong. She wakes me, I admit defeat, I come to bed.

Delivery (look back)

April 26: Dick Fuller, of Row Charlotte, delivered the Sea Shell to us. I took a number of pictures to steal all his trade secrets for transportation. Well, okay, I took pictures to remember his setup: straps, angles, resting points, material, etc. Hopefully, we'll get into this and want to transport our shell somewhere for variety, fun, and rowing with others.


It's 0.5 miles from our house to the neighborhood lake access - downhill going, uphill returning. We drove it down and Dick and I carried it back to see how it was and avoid hoisting and securing the boat on the roof of his van. It wasn't as bad as I thought. However Kathleen and I would never be able to do it.

We fastened the riggers and I went out first for the mini-lesson. The cove is very narrow and twisty. It was tough getting in and out. Ain't no way we gonna manage it in the beginning. Fortunately, I noticed our neighboring neighborhood's lake access is at the head of our cove. Time to beg a favor until we learn to steer!


Dick gave both of us a quick orientation. Kathleen said she got into a good rhythm by closer eyes. I didn't do as well. Even though I knew what I was supposed to do, I could never get my left arm/wrist to do it very well. However, when Dick got going, the boat was movin'! Here's Kathleen returning.

Decision Point

Kathleen and I changed our minds about sculling and decided to take the plunge. Instead of getting lessons and working out logistics of boat storage and getting the darn thing into the water from our high dock, we decided just to buy the discounted SeaShell from Row Charlotte. So far so good, we definitely have more motivation now. Significant sunk costs have a way of quickening the heart of a tightwad like me.

With the purchase, we are finally compliant with the ding-dang neighborhood home owners association. For some reason, they don't like people having docks without having boats. We didn't know this at the time we plopped down money to get in on a dock construction effort. Two neighbors were keen on getting docks and thought about getting a bunch built to fill out the common area for the neighborhood. We jumped on board. Two years waiting for them to be built and a year after that, we discover the "rule."

Our annoyance was overcome by K's getting psyched about sculling after reading Laraine Mestman's profile in More mag's, June (?) 2007 issue. I warmed up to it after googling and discovering the rowing world. The idea faded as the summer turned into fall. It re-emerged with the spring. I've had a tough time being disciplined and restarting my running habit. We both want to do something new together. Everything came together and we took the plunge.

Hopefully, we won't need too much marital counseling to make this work in a double. ;-)