It's been a long, long time since our last post to this blog - almost 3 years to be precise. Lots has happened in that time, and I'll do my best to give you the condensed version here.
In January 2014 I went back to work in Toronto, with the primary goal of topping up the cruising fund. That meant finding and furnishing an apartment in Toronto, putting the boat away for an extended period, and settling into our first Canadian winter in several years.
November 2014 saw the addition of a new fur baby to our family. His name is Kokomo, and he's now two years old and still growing!! He loves being on the boat, and spends hours just watching all the activity going on around him.
There were lots of summer weekends spent on the Trojan on Georgian Bay, but we finally sold her this summer past to a very enthusiastic new owner who we're sure will take good care of her. This summer also marked Michael's 70th birthday, and daughter Sam and I managed to pull off the ultimate surprise...she came from Vancouver, he didn't know, and we 'ran into her' at an interactive theater event that one of her friends was acting in. It was a great evening, and a super surprise. A dual celebration with his family also celebrated his mother's 95th birthday! Good genes in that family!
So there we were in the fall of 2016. We'd been back in Toronto for nearly 3 years, and decided that it was time to go again...to get back to the life we love so much. Time to run away and join the circus - that floating circus of free spirits and freedom seekers, nomads and vagabonds, gypsies and adventurers. And of course, a wannabe pirate or two.
By the time my contract ended mid November, we were mostly ready to go, with just a few things to resolve before we could go. And by the 21st, we had the car loaded up with what we were keeping, Kokomo was wedged into a safe little space in the back seat, and we were on the road south.
We hit a detour around Pittsburgh, then heavy traffic around Charlotte NC. The roads were getting busier and busier as we approached (US) Thanksgiving weekend, so we decided to get off I26/95 and take a secondary, less busy route 301. The roads were mostly deserted but well maintained. We traveled through rural South Carolina and found some clearly abandoned villages falling into ruin, through cotton fields in Georgia, and into northern Florida - home to cattle ranches and horse farms. Kokie was a champion, venturing out of the car at rest stops (with harness and leash) and adapting to new hotel rooms every night. We got to Grove City Motel in Englewood FL on Thanksgiving afternoon, where we stayed for several days to give us an opportunity to clean inside the boat before we moved aboard.
And then the work really began. The bottom needed scraping, sanding and painting prior to launch, along with a dozen other critical jobs. It's not easy living on a boat that's out of the water, without running water, but we had power, and the showers and washrooms were close by, so we managed. We went into the water last Friday, and have continued with the long list of jobs that need doing before we can head out any distance.
We had originally planned to install solar panels here before we set out, but in talking to our friend and author Ed Robinson aboard Leap of Faith, we heard of a very talented young man in Boot Key on the east side of Florida who does amazing work. We've decided that Michael does not need to become a solar expert, and we will engage young Alex to do the work for us.
The weather has been lovely (if a bit cold at night lately), but the days are generally warm. Kokie has settled in nicely, and I feel like I never left, which brings us just about up to date.
No comments:
Post a Comment