Location:
Blacksburg, VA
As
Mark's Dad used to say, “Spring is sprung, the grass is riz, I
wonder where dem boidies is?”. Well, the grass hasn't actually
risen, yet, but we've had a couple of warm days and the daffodils,
crocuses, and snowdrops are poking their heads out and starting to
flower. The snow is gone, the buds on the trees are swelling, the
birds are chirping, and spring is definitely in the air. And
yesterday we got to wear short sleeve shirts outside for the first
time in months!!
And
big changes are afoot in Rachel land, too.
After
our thoroughly enjoyable camping trip in Wanda the Honda two summers
ago, it came to us that there are lots of places we haven't seen yet
that we can't get to by boat. So we bought an RV. It's an old,
funky camper built in 1987 on a Toyota pickup frame. It has a 4
cylinder engine, gets about 14-18 mpg depending on how it's driven,
and goes from 0 to 60 mph in, oh, about 5 minutes or so. It's like a
tiny Rachel inside – sink, stove, fridge, bathroom, settee, bed,
generator, and more - all packed into a 20' length. Much smaller
than Rachel, but way, way bigger than Wanda.
We're
currently refurbishing the inside – new linoleum flooring, some
shelves, shades, curtains, and new paint on the cabinet doors. Unfortunately, it looks like a tornado has passed through it, and the only photos we had of the inside were on the previous owner's ad which he removed from the Internet after the sale. Rest assured that we'll take more and get them posted as soon as things are a bit more settled in there.
When
we're done fixing up the camper and finish the outside house jobs that
have been on hold for most of the winter, we'll start tootling around in
it for a few months. Hopefully, we like the lifestyle!!
After
that, we've been thinking we might enjoy going to some exotic place
and immersing ourselves into their culture for a few months. Some
friends we met while cruising in Honduras have been doing that for
the past three years and are really enjoying it. So we thought we'd
give it a try, too. We're currently thinking about Puerto Rico,
Ecuador, Thailand, or the Philippines – time will tell where we end
up, and we'll make sure to keep you posted as it all unfolds.
Our
other “a-bit-sad-and-really-quite-momentous” news is that we've
made the difficult decision to sell our Rachel. After more than ten
years and over 25,000 nautical miles, it's time for us to move on.
We're not done cruising, but we are done with long trips - Mark's
seasickness has really put a damper on future blue water passages.
Our current plan of action (drawn in sand, as usual) is to to “land
cruise” for a couple of years, then buy a smaller boat with a
shallower keel, allowing us to continue our boating adventures with more of a
focus on coastal cruising and “gunkholing” rather than passage
making. Rachel's deep draft and extreme seaworthiness are quite
simply overkill for the type of cruising we expect to do in the
future. So we thought it would be best to pass her along to someone
who will get more use out of her and get her back out there in the
deep blue sea where she belongs.
“But
life
is change, that is how it differs from the rocks, change is it's very
nature.”
John
Wyndham, “The Crysalids”
Mark
& Julie
s/v
Rachel
