With the new boat waiting for us 500 miles to the east in Stavanger, Norway, the next challenge is the move from Madrone to Oso. That one is easily solved – since we’re American, that means a road trip!
Angie reserved a small cargo van, and then found a marina with suitable van parking nearby in Almosund, just north of Gothenburg, Sweden. For the two weeks before arriving, we spent a few hours each day emptying and cleaning lockers, and then loading the contents into moving boxes. Before long, every horizontal surface aboard the boat was covered in boxes – only gentle downwind sailing allowed!
Once safely tied up at the marina, it was time to get to work. After picking up the rental van in the early afternoon, we worked until late, late at night loading boxes. Well past midnight, nearly everything we own had been removed from Madrone.
Early the next morning, we headed north to Norway then west to Stavanger. We had two options for the drive – the highway along the south coast or what looked like a winding path through the interior mountains. We of course chose the mountain route – it turned out to be a beautiful drive, but not one we’d like to repeat in a fully loaded van. Our progress was slowed by multiple stops to let the brakes cool down after smoking from the steep grades, and also by the sheep that decided to nap on the sun-warmed pavement of the single lane road.
Compared to traveling by sailboat, it was a fast trip. Which gave us more time to repeat the process, unloading everything from the van and onto Oso.
