We're Back . . . And Almost Gone

   After a several month, unofficial hiatus, yes, we're back on the blog.  "Where'd we go?", you might ask . . . "What happened?", you might wonder . . . Allow me, if you will, to sum up our absence.

"Where have you  been?" . . . 

   In short, life got in the way; a large wave of whiplash-inducing, "Now what?"-producing, "Why do bad things happen to good people?" sort of life. . . We've all been there at some point so I won't use up your time or mine hashing it all out.  The good news is that we're back and are literally about a week from leaving the States. Yep, you read that correctly . . . We're back on track!

   Now, even though we were sidelined for a while, we didn't spend our time lying around feeling sorry for ourselves; we continued to try to move forward.  Taking jobs, buying a car, and paying monthly slip fees are just a few of the things we never expected to be doing when we were towed into the area about a year and a half ago. However, we were able to do a good bit of work on the boat, allowing her to be all the more blue-water ready. I've probably forgotten quite a bit but, these are the major improvements that I can remember:




Fixed the engine!!!

One of the new panels on the bimini

Replaced :

• House and starting batteries, switch, and charger
• Solar panels
• Sump pump and bilge pump
• Old glass in hatches with new lexan and reseated one of the hatches
• Forward lazarette
• Old rigging with sta-set x (and did the splicing and whipping ourselves)
• Lifelines
• A lot of the lighting (inside and out)
• Speakers in the aft cabin and the salon
• Electronics for navigation
• Latches for v-birth storage
• Aft cabin head and faucet (soon to do the same for forward cabin)
• Life sling
• EPIRB

• 

  new electronics at the helm

  Lazy jack system

Installed:

• Controller for air conditioner
• SSB radio and antenna tuner
• Regulator for refrigerator
• Solar panel controller

This actually shows the port side with a new speaker,
lee cloth, cushions, and shelf covers

Made:

• Salon cushions
• Lee cloths
• Aft cabin cushion
• Shelf covers
• Stack pack
• Dodger
• Anchor bridal

Bought a generator

Patched a few tears in the Genoa

new stack pack for main sail

Removed old wind generator

   This doesn't include all of the countless little purchases and upgrades that we've done as we were able but, . . . I'm sure you get the idea. . .

   After spending our entire time here in the Miami area in a marina, we finally untied the lines again.  So, for the last few weeks, we've been on the hook in a lake right behind the West Marine where Bill and I were working. Our last official day was this past Saturday.

new dodger

We've had LOTS of well wishes from customers, coworkers, and friends.  Offers of help haven't been rare either.  Questions about and general enthusiasm for our lifestyle and journey have definitely become a big topic around here.  We appreciate all of it.  So, to everyone who's offered a phone number/email, asked to check out this blog, given a helping hand, or just lets us know that what we're doing is pretty awesome, thank you!

On the way to the lake

In the lake

Final checkup at the vet . . .
Silas actually doesn't mind giving the vet a helping hand 

There you are . . . 

   I will be updating the other pages on the blog soon and will continue to post as I did when we were out and about (about once a week).  Please keep checking in on us; we're happy to have you along for the ride.

   Please let us know what you think. Feel free to ask questions and leave nice comments. (If no one has commented yet, there will be a "No Comments" link near the bottom of the post. If someone has already commented, there will be a number and the word "comments" beside it. Just click whichever of these is there, click, "add comment" when the window opens, and type away.)