Let me bring you up to date on our current situation.
We spend our youth dreaming about what we will be when we
grow up. Time passes and we get caught up in the day to day activities that
substitute for dreams. One day you look up and wonder what happened. It doesn’t
have to be that way.
Kermit and I have had bucket lists for
years. It was a tradition my parents set. I watched them learn to fly
airplanes, ride motorcycles, and travel the Oregon Trail – great role models
for a life well lived. Kermit and I created our own lists filled with travel,
some personal development and lots of cool activities. Yet life kept getting in
the way of acting on our bucket list dreams.
When our dear friend, Jim Slanker, died suddenly at 60 years old in
2010 we decided we didn’t want to leave anything on the table any more. Life is
too short.
We tackled a big bucket list item in 2012 and 2013 with The Great Loop, a 14 month 7400 mile circumnavigation of the
eastern part of the United States in our 36 foot power boat. The beginning of this blog documents that trip. We met great
people, saw parts of the country we never saw before and savored the adventure.
It was wonderful; just the two of us with our 13 year old black Lab Rusty.
When we returned to our home in Canton OH that fall we felt out
of place. We rattled around the house like a couple of marbles in a shoebox. We
returned to our normal life – work, recreational boating, and great friends –
but we felt a yearning for the simplicity of our traveling life. The “stuff” in
our home and the day to day rat race felt overwhelming.
I am not sure when we made an actual decision. I think it
was at Christmas 2013. In a quiet moment during those holidays, Kermit and I
looked at each other and at the same time we both said, “Let’s get back on the
water.” And so the decision was made to simplify our lives and move on to our
boat! Easy to say but harder to put the plan into action. We were trading a
3000 square foot home on three quarters of an acre for a 650 square foot boat.
The ramifications were immense.
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| New Good Karma |
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| The interior is sunny |
Buying the right boat. Our old boat was too small for long term
living. Kermit spent hours every day searching for the right boat. We looked at
dozens. Finally in May 2014 we found the new Good Karma, a 2001 4450 Cruisers
Aft Cabin Express Cruiser in Saugatuck MI. This boat has twin diesel engines, a
requirement for long distance long term cruising plus a diesel generator and
all the mechanical extras we need for safe boating. Of course Kermit wanted all
new electronics – GPS, radar, radios and auto pilot. He says it is for safety.
I know better!
Rearranging finances and work: It was necessary to organize our
work and personal finances to allow flexibility. Kermit spent months sending
“take us off your list” notes to every catalog and flyer we received. He
converted all of our bills to electronic payment. He signed us up for a mail
system in Florida that allows us to choose whether any given piece of mail will
be sent to us, destroyed or opened for further action, all for a very
reasonable fee.
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| A favorite chair at Marissa's now |
I took a long look at my business, The Interview Doctor, to
find ways to cluster speaking engagements and client work into one week of each
month to accommodate travel. I jammed as many face to face meetings into my
schedule as possible before we left.
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| Empty (almost) master bedroom |
Closing up the house was the hardest part. We had a lot of
stuff. Our daughter took a chair, some dressers, her bed and my favorite hand
knotted Oriental rug. Our son took his bed, a few dressers and side tables, and
a bunch of kitchen items. The other son took our favorite comfy chair. We
decided to keep the two leather sofas. After all someday we plan to return to
land and couches are expensive!
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| Our favorite rug at Marissa's apartment in St. Louis |
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| The couches and that rug stay in the house |
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| Our kitchen table repurposed at Natalie's house |
A friend took the kitchen and dining room tables and all the
living room side tables for her kids. We watched them load everything into a
truck then savored the pictures of our furniture in their new homes. Another
friend loaded up our bedroom furniture.
The rest went to ReStore and Salvation Army.
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| More stuff to Salvation Army |
Each time a truck pulled away a little piece of my heart
chipped away. This was not easy. Kermit and I remember where and when we were
when we acquired each piece. Our house was beautiful but it was not our life.
Our kids and our life together means so much more than things.
We cleaned out closets and emptied boxes. It seemed endless.
I sent at least 4000 photos and a dozen VHS tapes to a scanning service. Anything
not tacked down was fair game to be sold on eBay.
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| Haven't seen this floor in years |
We decided to rent the house instead of selling it. We love
the house and the neighborhood and besides we were not ready to cut our ties
completely. Kermit found a realtor who specialized in corporate rentals. A new
family with two kids a dog and a cat moved in over Labor Day 2015. They are building a coy pond in the backyard and already installed a movie projection system in the basement movie room. I think they are serious.
Everything we wanted to keep would have to fit into that
closet under the basement stairs. In went tubs with important stuff, then the
pictures on the wall, each lovingly wrapped in paper and labeled. The
KitchenAid mixer is tucked next to Kermit’s tuxedo.
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| Kermit packing my trunk |
It took forever to sift through clothes. Only enough to fit
in two 30 inch wide closets. No space for anything we don’t wear regularly. That
“capsule wardrobe” idea is the way to go.
Moving on to the boat: We finally moved on to the boat at the end
of July, about a month later than planned. We haule
d box after box, truckloads
of only the most important stuff needed to live for the next five years or so
on the boat. We found a place for everything or it went to the Sandusky
Goodwill.
Rusty is not making the trip with us. Actually he is. Rusty died April 1 2014. We stowed his ashes in the boat because you know Rusty loved to travel!
Jack the cat made his first trip to the boat in July before
the final move. Jack is an indoor cat, a 16 year old Siamese. I wasn’t leaving
him behind. Turns out Jack is a natural boater; he seems to love exploring the
boat. He follows the sun spots all day long. He is so much friendlier and cooperative than he was in the big house. Perhaps he was perpetually angry with us because we left him behind? To top it off, we even found a litter system that
doesn’t smell! |
| Sayin goodbye to the house |
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| Exhausted with an empty house, looking towards the future |
It was hardest to say goodbye to friends for the winter season. We celebrated a LOT with dinners, boat rides and weekends at the Bay and Kelley's Island. We will be back but change is always tough.
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| Celebrating with the Housers, Stiebers and Hoffmans |
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| Saying goodbye to the foxes in our yard |
We are now full time boat sojourners. We will spend the
winter in Florida, the summers on Lake Erie and the spring and fall traveling
from one place to another. We imagine adventures with old and new friends,
beautiful sunsets and quiet anchorages.
Some people think we are crazy. “How can you leave that
house” and “I could never do that” really reflect the person saying it.
Everyone has their own reality. For us, this change felt natural and right. We
will live simply taking each day as it comes – a full life’s journey!
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| Kermit, Shirley, Tony and Katherine in Detroit |
We are leaving on Sunday September 20. Our departure arrangements are a little goofy. Katherine is leaving on Saturday 9/19 to drive to Verona NY for a speaking engagement on Sunday. She will meet up with the boat later in the week. Kermit is leaving on Sunday with a boatload of crew. Paul Bates is occupying the 3rd cabin. He wants to travel through the Welland Canal (and perhaps further!). In the V-berth are Tony and Shirley, our down under looper friends from Headquarters, flagged out of New Zealand. They crossed their wake in Holland MI earlier this summer. They will join us to NYC. We are traveling with Bill and Eve Gribble on Just BilEve. They are taking their boat to Miami FL for the Miami Boat Show. They will use their boat to demonstrate their awesome product, PlasTeak.
Safe travels fellow Venetians. I will read and watch your adventures so that one day I might be able to travel like you two!
ReplyDeleteSafe travels fellow Venetians. I will read and watch your adventures so that one day I might be able to travel like you two!
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