it was always the dream - to live aboard and to cruise. the boat was ordered in 2007, built in china and then shipped to the U.S. we moved aboard on may 9, 2009. it has been a learning process ever since. we were out every single weekend if the weather allowed it. we rode out both hurricanes irene and sandy, and stoically duked out the last five winters on the chesapeake, but, whenever anyone asked if we ever had any regrets about moving aboard, the answer has always been, without hesitation, not a one! and now, it looks like we are finally going to do it. with tom retiring this year (2014), he will no longer be tied to a desk on land and it has become a reality - i have only been ready for this since the day we moved aboard in 2009, just waiting for tom to get to this point. although i will have to work until the day i die, at least my job is mobile and i'll be looking up from my computer monitor to changing fabulous views. this 2013-2014 winter has been especially brutal and all i know is that i just don't want to spend another winter living aboard in the snow and the ice. we are a boat - we MUST move!
tom's last day at work is april 30, 2014. our plan is to keep our slip at regatta point marina in deltaville, VA, just to have a place to base from while we pull this gig together, and to spend the 2014 season extensively cruising the chesapeake. at the end of the season, we will head south with the rest of the snowbirds. well, that's the general plan anyway. it could change at any time depending on what comes up, but tom is NOT going back to work on the dirt - at least that has been established. the whole idea is a little daunting from a funding point of view - isn't it always? - but i will still be working full time from the boat and tom has some writing assignments and other ideas to explore. we will MAKE it happen because it is TIME we got this show on the road. i don't think that anyone who has done this has ever been completely prepared both mentally and in the practical sense, but what the heck, right? it is what we've always wanted. it is what we have been moving towards so let's just get on with it.
