Where to start…

Have been thinking for the past few days exactly how to start this Blog post.   I thought about reminding folks that Kristi and I tend to think we had only one ‘plan’ for this lifestyle (Go down the Columbia River and turn Right).  We have found making plans with any time horizon outside a couple of weeks pointless, there are just too many external variables – Weather, Boat condition, Family,  that ‘Hey, did you hear about this xxx going on over on YYY island’ opportunities.  All conspire to make Planning rather a futile effort (unless one is of the type that loves to make plans, and live by them till death.)

Our one and only 'Plan.

But we do have ‘intentions’.  Our current set of intentions centers around dividing up BC and SE Alaska into 5 chunks, then focusing on one chunk each summer.  Last summer we did Sunshine Coast and the Gulf Islands.


So, I thought about talking about how we integrate the ‘P’ word into our lives.




I also though about how I have observed that a typical cruising blogger tends to be around for a short time.  The other day we met up with some folks whose path we cross every once in a while ‘out there’.  They have been doing this for going on 17 years now.  They do not blog.  Yet, almost without exception the cruising blogs we have followed (Toast Floats, Third Day, s/v Sereina to name a few), all seem to enter this life with a bang, and for some reason get distracted a few years later (Getting pregnant, Kids entering teen-age stage and needing a social anchor outside Mom and Dad, deciding they really were too bored with life and going back to work).  But for whatever reason, there does seem to be a trend with cruisers – who blog - to expire after 3-5 years.

Maynard and Ellen at their 60th last summer.

Where to start . . .  in the end I guess it is just best to come out and say what’s up.   Kristi and I will be moving to Minnesota next month to help with her folks.  This has come about rather quickly (a little over a week) and really goes to show the power of not using the ‘P’ word!  Kristi will be flying directly from Portland back to Minnesota just after New Year.  To a small town which is actually 2 towns over from Walnut Grove, you know – Little House on the Prairie??  I will return to Friday Harbor to find a place we can store Viking Star for a year, then join her.



We have put a time limit on this of a year (++ or --), and after that our INTENTIONS are to return to this life.  But until then, well, this Blog is about Cruising, and as such will likely cut down on the posts.  (ala, will stop the monthly Cost to Cruise posts).  But if you are really interested in what we are doing, check back every once and a while.  We will put up something just to let folks know we are here, and when we do find our way back to the water, will resume more active posting.


Closing words?  Well, overall I think of all the quotes I have collected over the years, this one consistently rises to be the one with the most truth –

     "The whole idea is freedom.    Go simple,  Go cheap,  Go now."   -  Lyn Pardee.




And yes, for folks reading this who have not yet started – Go Now!  There are ALWAYS reasons not to, and we have come across more than one whose reason is they just got too old.  So, if you are looking to go – go now.

-al-