Sailing Baby Blue

At long last, boat shopping has commenced and may already be almost over. Looking at photographs and reading up on the specifications has given us a good idea of what to expect, but is nothing compared to seeing potential boats in person, sitting inside and imagining ourselves out on the water. The first boat we looked at was a little disappointing as it felt more neglected than we had anticipated, but seeing it first led us to really appreciate the condition of the second boat we just inspected. We're off to Camden, ME now to see if we can get a peek at our third Southern Cross.  Although it's been almost two months since we quit our jobs, it still feels like we're only on vacation. It hasn't even been a week since we left Colorado but hopefully we're very close to finding our new home. As soon as we decide on the best boat, we will make an offer and set up an inspection. We're hoping the process moves a whole lot faster than a real estate transa...

For at least the last year if not the last decade, Jon has kept a short list of the best boats for our offshore cruising purposes, and the Southern Cross 31 is near the top. We're looking for something that is small enough for the two of us to handle and maintain alone but big enough to live on for an indefinite amount of time, new enough to last and old enough to be affordable, and of course seaworthy to keep us safe. Thankfully, there are 3 SC31s currently on the market that are within driving distance, and so far we have appointments to see two out of three this week. We'll be spending a decent amount of time on each one, taking notes, and comparing them before we make a decision. Hopefully one of the three works out, or perhaps we will stumble upon an even better option during our search.

  We are finally on the road. With our car dragging under the weight of all of our possessions, our trip is starting to feel real. It is certainly bittersweet to be leaving Colorado, and this morning leaving the home where we spent the first five and a half years of our lives together just felt sad. The feeling of loss is somewhat alleviated in knowing that our home's new owners are good people who will love the house as much as we have, and surely fit in well in the little corner of the universe that up until today was affectionately known as "our neighborhood." I had anticipated nothing but relief   in selling our house after all of the time and frustration spent ripping the house apart and putting it back together in seemingly endless configurations. But as we prepared to drive away, the sense of leaving our home was overpowering. I'm comforted by the thought of building our new home, the one we've been dreaming about for so long and that with an...

Over the last month our house went from the disaster of looking something like this:  to getting ready for showings:  to preparing for our estate sale: and shortly after the estate sale, it's finally empty. We were soooooo tired of moving our junk around, and now it's all gone. What a relief. Our last challenge is making sure what's left will fit in the car for our drive across the country. Wish us luck.