A Week and A Lifetime Away

Sometimes, life is just better if you bring all your worldly belongings with you. So Sophie has ensconced herself on her bed from Alexandria at the foot of the forward cabin -- peering out into the boat and asking so why are we here?

My response is that we can go for long walks each morning, mid-day, and evening -- I can read books anytime I want -- take naps whenever -- and visit with good friends who are either sailors I've met on these wonderful waters or people I've known for longer.

After arriving last weekend, it has taken me almost all week to unpack the car and assemble things on the boat in such a way as to make sense. Now, it's a matter of cleaning up, getting the outboard on the dinghy to see that it's running correctly, and eventually actually starting the motors on Sonador (I'll have someone here with me when I do that since ms Sophie is startled by the slightest new sound, let alone the rumble of twin 240 horse diesels.)

My plans are still pretty much in flux, but I think beginning to come together. I'll spend all of June here in Charlevoix -- maybe venture onto the big lake, but really would be content with day sails on this smaller body of water. Then, with the weather and the boating gods in my favor, I'll take the boat around under the Mackinaw Bridge and over to Cheboygan on Lake Huron. Friends BD and Rick will venture with me across Lake Huron to Harbor Island and then into the North Channel for a week -- we will come back to Cheboygan. Probably repeat that with another set of friends, before I have to catch a plane to Sarasota to do the electrical walk thru with the new home at the end of July. Back here and then spend all of August in the North Channel before returning to Charlevoix where I will dock the boat and live aboard until it's either too cold or I'm just plain bored. Then down to Sarasota, rent a small furnished place until the new house is finished -- predicted for the end of November.

That's the plan. Now, those of you who boating know that plans are just that -- weather, mechanical issues, and other acts of the water gods can make the biggest mess of any plans.

But, I'm loving it -- into a pattern that is satisfying and rewarding and a lifetime away from the hustle and bustle of work.

More after the upcoming weekend -- it is supposed to rain and storm most of the time, so solitaire and another book!!!