We're Moving!

Things have gotten weird. Sara is for going sooner. I'm not sure. We've come back to the simplified life aboard a sailboat, and decided it is a bit more our speed and budget.
We've given serious consideration to forgoing purchase of a boat until we move to Southern California, utilizing it as a jumping off point. We'd drive from Juneau to San Diego, having purchased the boat a few months prior.
I'm still looking at boats, from Kodiak to San Diego. Nothing is written in the waves. Everything is written in the waves. They will crush you, or you will ride them. Forward.

"What does a man need - really need? A few pounds of food each day, heat and shelter, six feet to lie down in - and some form of working activity that will yield a sense of accomplishment. That's all - in the material sense, and we know it. But we are brainwashed by our economic system until we end up in a tomb beneath a pyramid of time payments, mortgages, preposterous gadgetry, playthings that divert our attention for the sheer idiocy of the charade.
The years thunder by. The dreams of youth grow dim where they lie caked in dust on the shelves of patience. Before we know it, the tomb is sealed.
Where, then, lies the answer? In choice. Which shall it be: bankruptcy of purse or bankruptcy of life?"
- Sterling Hayden (Wanderer, 1973)

When you're my age, I hope you can look back and be proud of the man you've become.

Hands on search

This type of trip is nothing new to me, neither the finances or the mileage. I did Seattle to Juneau in May of 2014. It took 20 days in a Pearson 35, motoring 98% of the time. There were layovers by choice and those that came down to fear for survival. It was fun.

It's certainly the great primer I needed to delve deeper into what has been a very long dream of mine to cruise in warmer climates. We don't know how it will all end, whether it will be the addiction of a lifetime, another passionate but terminable pursuit, or something somewhere in the middle.

***

We're flying to Seattle in March. Sara has some clinical training through work. We'll take this opportunity to view a bunch of vessels, take a few for a spin and become better educated on the motor yacht spectrum of cruising.

I have an offer out on a smokin' deal through a broker I've worked with before. It won't be dealt with for another few weeks due to some contractual trade obligations with another client. But if the few weeks expire without those obligations being met, my offer will be considered. If my offer stands, I could be one boat richer by February. That would mean a trip up the inside passage this May. That would be awesome. And this time I'd get to bring my wife and two boys.
What an adventure! And that's only the beginning...

Updates

I've got a crude budget put together. It looks positive. I'll post later.

Sara spoke of the potential for burnout as a travel nurse.

She's an ICU nurse for over a decade in level 1 trauma centers. Currently, she is a flight nurse here in Alaska.

It's a different feeling, moving from one place to the next, never really becoming a part of the team.

I've ordered Exploring the Pacific Coast—San Diego to Seattle
Second Edition.

I continue to research the different vessels up and down the coast, from San Diego to Kodiak. We aren't set on any particular type yet. This trip will be coastal cruising, so priorities should be designed off of that forethought. A blue water sailboat is tempting, if only for safety's sake. The creature comforts of a well laid out motor cruiser, given we are a family of four, can't be ignored. 

The biggest expense difference will be the fuel costs of a motor yacht as well as an increased amount of maintenance, due to it having so many more systems on board. 

By initial expenses during purchase, I see the "right" sailboat costing more up front than the "right" motor yacht. What comes after, the particular vessel can only tell.  

A shift in perspective

Since our decision, three months ago, to remain in Southeast Alaska for the next four years, a number of things have happened to me that were not of the result of that decision, but still, I believe, greatly affected by that decision. So much so affected were my manic depression with suicide on my mind by the minute, three separate spinal injuries a decade or more old, the recently settled into and chosen profession of stay at home Dad (the source of a lot of my inner turmoil, degradation and back pain), the natural seasonal depression that comes with winters in Alaska, and the depression experienced by the first anniversary of losing my best friend, that I finally broke down and got myself an antidepressant. The side affects are minimal, but present. Thus far though, it's settled my mind enough to see a future, one I can be a part of, one that isn't exclusive of single life or one without children, or a deeply compromised life filled with all of the unnecessary luxuries I and my family are becoming deeply accustomed to.

We told ourselves four years, binding ourselves to the idea that should we move sooner, we'll grow accustomed to the endless uprooting when we always chased something better, or that we thought was better. It seemed to be moving because things were not perfect where we were. We want to travel, to move, because that's who we are and how we want live.

For the last few weeks I've danced with the idea of a new boat (having recently sold our Pearson 35 Sloop), the future while we're here and what comes after. Finally I struck gold, finding something both Sara (my wife) and I could immediately agree on. It follows my passion, our desire for travel, and a unique way to raise our boys. It adheres to a timeline we already set for ourselves, still allows us to enjoy the upgrades we're doing to our current home, and continue to make the best of our current situation (This isn't to say our current situation is poor, simply not what we envisioned, all the while digging a deeper and deeper rut). 

So... Let us live aboard, as we've talked about for years. Sara will begin life as a Travel Nurse. We will home-school our boys, Bodhi and Kavi. Our current crude timeline is as follows:


Spring, 2017 - Purchase Vessel
May, 2017 - Bring vessel to Juneau, AK
Spring, 2018 - Move aboard
Spring, 2019 - Set Sail Southward



Seattle would be our first stop. Currently, we are debating the merits of Sara transferring back to an old job at Harborview Medical Center, remaining in the system for a couple more years addition to her pension, while the boys attend a public school and I either work or go to school. If I go to school, I'd look to attend Seattle Central College's Marine Technology program, or even look to attain my private pilot's license with some commercial certifications utilizing my GI Bill. I look at both as passions and of great use once we get where we're going, with the marine technology skills aiding us all along the way.

Then it's down the US' west coast for who knows how many stops. I guess it all depends on our comfort level as well as job availability for my wife, though I'm not worried about that in the least. San Diego would likely be our last stop in the US before we head toward Panama, it's canal, and the Caribbean. What happens there is still up in the air. There's work for my wife, no matter where we go. So we could settle somewhere like the Virgin Islands for a spell, or we could continue on to Florida, or simply live seasonally, i.e. summers on the east coast and winters in the Gulf.