mvalwayshome

August 2012 – The kernel is now sprouting…

One morning my dear husband comes out of the bedroom ready to go to work, he says… “You know, weight is important. We cannot load down the boat or it’ll negatively influence the fuel mileage.”

“You cannot take any plants since weight is an issue”.
“Would you rather take your LazyBoy or my Fig Tree?”
“Let’s take a couple of your plants. Wonder if your Daughter will take any of them?”
“I know, I will ask her to BabySit my plants for 5 – 25 years!” hahahaha “Not likely that they will live out the first year. You know our daughter does not have a green thumb.”

“We need a fly bridge.” My dear husband frowns. I continue quickly adding, “So we can store all of our fishing gear. Crab pots, nets. Do we need different fishing poles for salt water fishing versus river fresh water fishing?”
“I have no idea”, says my dear husband. But his frown is gone and he is thinking. 😉
“You know” He starts to say as we are looking at the grey clouds and slight breeze in the back yard, “this is the kind of weather we will have almost all the time.”
“Humid, wet?”
“Yea”
“You are right. Then we can come back to AZ after all of our adventures to dry out.” He smiles.

What size of boat do you want to live in? I was trading emails with savy boaters who asked: are you looking for a camping trip for 1 year? OR a live aboard for longer? That will also make a difference. Don’t forget the washer/dryer!! or room for one. A matter of space.

SMITTEN – in the beginning will tell you how we got to this point. Please read if you are interested in just how did this idea come about.

I have purchased a poster sized Loop map for our family room wall.  It looks great!  Makes me yearn to get ready and hit the road!

We tease each other about living so close in a boat!!  That is why we should have a “fly bridge” so that we can put some vertical space between us!!  How funny we are both excited about this, right?!  Beats sitting around in retirement and doing nothing.  This idea is actually the first time Wayne has been excited about retirement.  2 years. Keep the house – rent it out?  Sell the house – use the money.

Either way we will have to find a place to store some of our stuff.  There will be stuff we don’t want to get rid of because of sentimental reasons. Because we don’t know how long we really will be boating.  Because … we just don’t throw away stuff willy-nilly.  Giving a bunch to GoodWill or selling it will be ok.  Still…. a big transition.  Me? I think I am in that sell the house camp.  But, don’t know if that will be feasible depending on the economy, etc.

just what kind of stuff would we want to store anyway?  Books? furniture? papers? photos?  tools? nicknacks?