You've Got Good Karma!

It has been a lovely winter in Fort Pierce FL! The weather has been comfortable, in the 70s with a few days in the 80s just to remind you that you are in Florida. Bright sunshine, friendly people. What more could anyone want?

As you know I don’t normally write very often during the winter or during a season when we stay put for the most part. Not much changes. Katherine is working. Business is good with a new contract for outplacement work fully in place and clients coming at a regular pace. Kermit works on the boat. There is always something to repair.

We had wonderful visits from Kevin and Vicki Hoffman and Tom and Char Houser along with their friends Mike and Donna from Buffalo.

We saw Michael and Judy Hechtkopf, and Darrell and Lisa Grob from Why Knot as both were passing through. Dick and Dee Shephard came down from Vero Beach a few times. We traded visits with Paul and Maeo Bates. We went to Sebring for a weekend and they came here. We had lunch with Ed and Katrina Vidal in Fort Lauderdale for a long postponed catch up. Many lunches, dinner and boat rides with Bunny and Evan Evans. Jim and Joy as we passed through Savannah. 

The kids visited the week between Christmas and New Year’s. Gosh, I love and miss those kids!! We stayed in a nice little hotel down the road and watched the water go by. Every holiday should be so much fun! “Shut the f*&% up” will go down in history as the Burik / Ruegamer family slogan.

Probably more that I am forgetting but all in all it has been a wonderful season!

Repairs this season included the following

•  Bottom job with new bottom paint and clean up down there
• The darn door handle fell of the refrigerate Replaced the entire front isinglass panel
• Ice maker needed to be fixed again
• The dinghy motor has been resuscitated – the old girl won’t die – 30 years and going strong
• Kermit completely waxed the entire boat top to bottom
• New screens on the portals to prevent leaking

We revel in what we what we’ve done:

• We’ve lived on the boat for about 5 years on and off (mostly on). We defied the odds makes and have not yet killed each other.
• We did away with all our worldly possessions (except our most precious).
• We are accomplished boaters now. Even Bunny and Evan say so which is the highest compliment!
• Kermit can fix almost anything. And if he can’t fix it he can find the part or negotiate the fix for the lowest cost on the water. Guaranteed. That is no small feat, believe me.
• We can work on the work. We don’t desks or four walls to get anything done.
• We traveled beyond the sight of land without a twinge of concern.
• We can anchor like pros and prefer to anchor over marina
•  Locks are no big deal
• We survived a huge 12 hour storm in the Bahamas and living to laugh about it

We have been to places we never imagined. Favorites include:

• Treasure Cay in the Abacos
• Hawks Cay in Marathon
• Everglade City and that great tour with Peggy and Jimmy of Alligator Alley - everyone should get within six feet of several sunning alligators once in their life!
• Pensacola – particularly that sweet anchorage Charlie found for us
• Entering Chicago - spectacular way to come home
• Entering NY Harbor by boat and maneuvering around the ferries
• The entire Hudson River – not to be missed. I plan to go back by car because there is so much to explore. 
• The Erie Canal and the Illinois River in the early morning with mist on the water and frost on the cushins
• Fern at Hoppy’s – the unique people that are so different from land lubbers
• Fort Pierce is the best marina in the whole world – bar none Too many places to list here

We’ve seen spectacular, unimaginable things:

• That great white shark swimming beside us between NYC and Atlantic City 3 to 5 miles out in the middle of the ocean. It had to be at least 15 to 18 feet long. I wish I had the nerve to reach for the camera but I was transfixed by the site of that huge fin protruding from the water just 10 feet from our boat. 






• Docking in 6 to 8 foot tides with cross currents in Charleston – used to freak us out but now we take for granted. Especially that time Kermit put this 50' Good Karma smack between two multi-million dollar boats in a space only 55' long. Marvelous. 

• All those dead boats. There is a coffee table book in there somewhere.
• Ospreys and their adorable little babies at eye level on the ICW
• Sunsets and sunrises take your breath away, especially while at anchor

Almost five years on-board life with no house, no stuff (ok a little). Just the boat, the water, Jack the cat, Rusty the dog and each other. A little bit of heaven.

IT’S TIME FOR A CHANGE!

So what is next? 

WE SOLD THE BOAT!!

On a sort of a whim we talked to a broker about Good Karma. He said he knew a couple who was interested in this exact boat to do the loop in the fall of 2017. We talked to him on a Thursday. On Saturday he called saying a nice couple from Amarillo TX was flying in three days later to tour the boat. They fell in love with Good Karma! They made us an offer we couldn’t refuse.

It all happened so fast!

The three inspectors found only minor issues (including that refrigerator door handle!) that have all been handled. We closed today. This is NOT an April Fools Joke!!

They say the best days of a boaters life is the day they buy the boat and the day they sell it. I disagree. This is a sad day. One part of our life is ending. We have to figure out the next stage. What will we do next?

First we have to deliver Good Karma to Houston TX! Isn’t that cool? The new owners are giving us the gift of one more adventure on Good Karma before we say good bye to our home and friend.

We leave on Tuesday April 4. The trip is broken up as follows: 

• Ft. Pierce to Stuart FL across Florida to Ft. Myers
• Ft. Myers to Clearwater
• Clearwater (or Tarpon Springs) to Apalachicola FL
• Along the Gulf of Mexico to Mobile
• Then to New Orleans 
• Then to Galveston through the western Intercostal Waterway

This is a total of about 1200 miles. We hope to complete the trip in about 2 weeks or so.

We have plenty of people to visit. Babik’s in Ft. Myers area, Bill and Sarah Vellucci and the Hechters in Sarasota / Tampa area, potato salad hidden in the bottom of salads in Tarpon Springs, Charlie and Mary in Fairhope / Mobile, and Joy and Rick Preble in Houston. Mark you calendars. We will be there in the next two weeks!!

Unrolling the whole thing

Selling Good Karma means we are homeless. Our home in Canton is leased. We thought we could do something completely different for a year. We just signed a lease on an apartment in Cleveland right on the water at Quay 55. We are very excited to watch sunrises on Lake Erie from the comfort of a REAL BED! We look forward to multi-ply toilet paper!!! And TV! Kermit looks forward to sitting in a chair watching more than 2 channels of TV for a while.

Ah, the simple things in life.

We want to attend the theatre, travel, see some sporting events and more important spend some good time with friends and family.

We will travel, something we couldn’t afford while living on the boat. We want to tour the western National Parks, go to Alaska (by boat of course – but not a cruise ship – ICK!), Europe and other parts unknown. Our last neighbor here in Ft. Pierce is hooking us up with a trawler rental for the inside passage in Alaska / Canada for next May. Sounds like fun!

Rolling around in the back of our heads is something much bigger. We are thinking of the next boat already. The new Good Karma will be capable of traveling 3000 miles non-stop across the open ocean. Can you guess what we are thinking?

In the meantime, we promise to stay in touch! After all, YOU’VE GOT GOOD KARMA!