I've been quite remiss in keeping up with this blog, but we're nearing a milestone that will be the start of the next set of adventures. My retirement date is set for June 30. So 7 days before my 70th birthday, I'll join all the rest of my unemployed friends in the great happy hour of life! Or is that the early bird special??
The old saying "time flies" is certainly true! Unfortunately as I get older, there's not even the need to add the "when you're having fun" portion to that. Days, weeks, months and years zoom past way too quickly. So it's equally hard to believe that four years have past since we bought our boat. That was a day not soon to be forgotten nor was the next month and a half that went by before we could get to Louisiana to actually take possession of the vessel. A lot has changed since that day when we arrived in Slidell to find the boat tied up to an old wooden fixed dock requiring a 30" step up or down to get aboard.
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| On the dock at GulfSouth Yacht Works |
The adventure of making the trip from Slidell to Chattanooga was key in cementing the idea of doing the cruise referred to as " America's Great Loop". There's a book titled
Honey Let's Get a Boat which tells the story of a couple who buy their first boat in Florida and take off to do the trip. You can find lots of websites and stories about this route. So for the last two and a half years, I've been planning and working on things that will make the trip easier, safer and hopefully a little less expensive. The trip will have us traveling about 6,500 miles round trip beginning in Chattanooga and returning to our starting point. There will be about 180 actual travel days, but when you add in weather and stops at places along the way, the whole thing will take about a year to complete.
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| The Great Loop Map |
So we're well ahead of the couple in the book who jumped on board and took off cold. We plan to start the trip in late November this year. I haven't figured out how all of the nitty-gritty details will work like how to do oil changes along the way, what is the best way to deal with mail, what happens if something breaks, how do I get a package shipped to myself and the list goes on. So starting in July, I will have a job to do.
Most of the boat upgrades are finished. A fresh coat of bottom paint and the mounting of davits for our dinghy are still to be done. The bugs are pretty much worked out of the new systems we've added and things are starting to become familiar. There are still surprises as we learn about little hidden things on-board like generator circuit breakers which aren't in the electrical panels.
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| Sitting on the Dock of the River |
Now its time to get ready for nice weather to return. Spring outings are chances to get out and enjoy the scenery and maybe locate a new place to go. Summer will come and go too quickly like always. We will not be in Vol Navy for football season this year so that we can prepare for the November departure. I'll try to keep the blog going throughout the trip so you can follow along on our new adventure.
