We are now less than a week from leaving. 3 days to go, 3 days! We can hardly believe it. We’ve been checking off the last few items on the To Do list and spending numerous sleepless nights rehashing “what ifs”. The dream is taking shape.
Its amazing how fast the dream has come back. It’s been less than 2 years since the decision was made to hop off the hamster wheel and it feels like we’re still running full speed.
I’ll take you back to that weekend in November of 2014. The dream was suddenly alive and moving. The decision to buy a boat, retire and go cruising came almost immediately . Our discussion wasn’t about if we would buy a boat, but about what kind. As we drove home from Aransas Pass that Sunday afternoon, I was already on my iPad searching for trawlers for sale. Even the decision about what we wanted in a boat was a pretty easy. We had to have a sun deck. We wanted twin diesels. A walk around queen master was a must and we knew we wanted 2 cabins. After all we had to have room for friends to visit. We wanted a boat that was heavier and more stable than the Marine Trader was since we would be making more open water crossings. The first brand that came to mind was DeFever.
We had looked at a 44′ Defever when we were shopping for our first trawler. It had all of our must haves, but at that stage of our lives, it was too far above our budget. As much as we would have like to go on extensive cruises, my teaching schedule wasn’t going to allow any trips much over a week. And taking a cruise in Texas during my summer vacation had very limited appeal. So, the Marine Trader it was.
We loved the Marine Trader and visited her just about every weekend, but time passes as it does and so do our wants. The summer of 2004, I stayed on the boat with Bluedog varnishing and making new curtains. Mornings before it got too hot, I would take Blue for a walk in Clear Lake Shores. As the summer went on I began to dread moving back to the house in Spring Branch. I had come to love feeling so close to the water, the sunrises and sunsets, the crazy, fun boat neighbors. I also came to love the thought of living so close to all these wonderful amenities. I announced to Tim that I didn’t want to keep driving back to the city every Sunday. I wanted to live full time by the water. That was in August. Before the end of September, we moved into our “Wow” house in Clear Lake Shores.
As with most major decisions, there are unforeseen consequences. We should have seen it coming, but maybe we just didn’t want to accept it. Midnight Sun soon became a 2nd, or even 3rd thought. We were busy nesting in our new home and getting aquainted with our new neighbors. A golf cart replaced the dingy and the new house replaced the need for a water based condo. It no longer made sense to have a trawler with a walk around queen bed when we had this great king sized bed in a beautiful new house. With great hesitation, Tim finally agreed. We would sell the Marine Trader and buy a fishing boat.
Life moves on and we moved away from dreaming about The Great Loop. My dreams were focused more on catching big redfish or the elusive flounder. Tim kept busy with house projects and that 4 letter word-WORK.