Blog #002 – First Day on the Boat

Looks like we made it! The boat sure does look good after 3 days on the road.

We started unloading the trailer and did a little time lapsed video of all of the chaos involved in finding space for every little thing. It took us a few days to find places for it all. Liana’s still moving things around looking for that perfect spot. Even though our Uhaul was only 4×8, you really would not believe all the things we still gave away or sent back to Colorado. My sister and her husband flew down to help us move in and then they were taking the car back there. When they left it went back nearly full of stuff we did not need.

By day number three it was time to go sailing!! So that’s just what we did…

Leaving out of the marina was smooth and calm but once we got out of the channel the wind was blowing 20-25 knots. The sea state was not too rough – it is amazing how much more stable this boat is than anything we have ever sailed on before. I guess there is a lot to be said for the nearly 50,000 lbs that Silhouette weighs for comfort of crew. On our last boat that wind and sea state would have sent us home with our tails between our legs. What a beautiful day it was with the wind in our hair (ok, Liana’s hair) and the sun on our faces. This is the life we’ve been dreaming of.

So now we are waving good bye to John and Beth and the last vehicle we had left. In a few short months we went from a family of four cars to none. Well sort of, we did rent a car for the next 10 days to finish preparing the boat for the first leg of our journey. But back to having no cars – how did we wake up one morning and think we need four cars and two boats and two homes? Just how exactly did that happen? Well there is hope for all of us. Just like in AA, first we have to admit we have a problem and then the solution will become clear. At one point we woke up and realized we were paying too much every month to look at shiny stuff in the driveway.

So we began our journey to sanity. I think in all of us is a longing for life to be less cluttered, simpler. Liana and I realized that clutter actually made us feel trapped, it took away our sense of freedom. This conversation is about to get deep. But we really felt like all that stuff owned us.

We have a little cabin in the woods that does not even have running water. But the truth is, we enjoyed that little cabin more than all the stuff we had accumulated. We felt the closest to God, nature and ourselves in those few weekends at the cabin. So our journey to freedom is also moving thru a time of letting go. Because once you get rid of the cars, you get rid of car insurance, and gas, and toll way bills, and road taxes, and license fees (oh crap-that reminds me-we still need to cancel the toll stickers and the monthly car wash. What a deal that was $20 a month to wash your car as often as you like). Next when you don’t live in a house you don’t have electric bills or gas bills or trash bills, etc. You don’t need to mow the lawn so no need to have a mower, no shovels to shovel the walk, no junk mail, no gutters to clean…I feel a hundred pounds lighter already.

Now please don’t allow us to offend you if you are waist deep in the stuff I just talked about. You’re going to be ok. This is our journey and just because we had become junkies doesn’t mean your life is not perfect. We also sent enough clothes to Goodwill to cloth a small nation. This is another one of those aha moments. We had clothes that neither of us had worn for years. We had a full room walk in closet. (Now Chrissy, you will probably read this and feel sick to your stomach because you are the only one I know who needs three rooms for a closet. But Today we are more like Robby all we have now fits in a space no bigger than a coat closet). If you see us wearing the same shirt in a few videos, sorry but this is what it looks like to go cruising. It is hard to explain the psychology behind how it feels now as compared to a few months ago, but we feel so free. It’s like being in a dark jungle your whole life and then one day you see this light and the closer you walk towards it the brighter it gets. Then all of a sudden you see a whole new world out there.

May God bless you on your journey. This is a very special change for us. Oh by the way, the names have been changed in this blog to protect the innocent. (I’m sure we are going to get an email…)