Friday, January 25, 2019

A Loopy Trip Around the Sun

In just a few days I hope to celebrate my 60th birthday and start my 61st trip around the sun.  
 
A sunset, and one of the reasons we love cruising.
The view changes everytime we move.
We’re also very close to crossing our wake on the Great Loop.  We started the Loop from Stock Island Marina, just north of Key West on February 27, 2018.  We’ve listened to lots of Jimmy Buffet songs along the way.   “Trip Around the Sun” is playing in my head as I create this blog post.


The Great Loop is an allegory for life itself.  Like Spring, we left the Florida Keys fresh and new.  Traveling north, Spring felt endless as robins sang and flowers bloomed all the way up the East Coast. 

Summer found us in Canada, where we were much closer to the North Pole.  The incredibly long days gave us ample time to hone our cruising skills. 

Heading south, Fall’s shorter days forced us to slow down.  We worked to master our skills and enjoyed Fall’s spectacular colors and cooler days.  

View from an anchorage along the river system.

We’re now in the Winter of our Loop.  I know this, because we’re in Florida, along with piles and piles of people with snow-colored hair enjoying warm Florida Winters.  

Some of Florida's seniors with snow-colored hair.

To paraphrase Jimmy Buffet’s “Trip Around the Sun”, ‘I’m just hanging on while this old world keeps spinning.  It’s good to know it’s out of my control.  If there’s one thing I’ve learned from all this living, it’s that it wouldn’t change a thing if I let go.’

The centrifugal force from our spin around the Loop seems to have helped us let go. And you know what?  Letting go didn’t change the fact that the world keeps on spinning!  It’s really is not in our control.

The first thing we let go of was a lot of our “stuff” – no more cars, houses, furniture, excess clothing and more. It was surprisingly liberating.  

The most dangerous thing on a boat is a schedule.  The next thing we let go of was the need for a schedule. Initially I scheduled to blog once a month.  Whew, what a relief when that plan went overboard somewhere on the Great Lakes.  

We thought we’d be in Clearwater around Thanksgiving.  The world snickered at us as we drove from Mobile AL for Thanksgiving.  This change of plans also changed our route and we got to spend some quality time with Jerry’s brother and sister-in-law on our way to the big family celebration in St. Augustine.

Yeah, Lisa and Chris are a ton of fun!
Thanksgiving 2018
Nine grands, three wonderful children and their spectacular spouses and Momma.
So grateful!
We also got to visit the USS Alabama and a submarine museum when we were in Mobile.
We had plans to be in Boca Grande and home for Christmas Eve.  Once again, the world rolled its eyes and asked, “Are you guys slow learners, or what?” The weather changed our plan and we drove home from Steinhatchee.  On the bright side, the drive was considerably shorter, and this afforded us time to reacquaint ourselves with friends we’d made in Steinhatchee; a town we’d lived in about a decade before.

Someone in the little sleepy town of Steinhatchee put up an amazing Christmas display.  
Nothing says "Christmas" like Minions.  
We were there long enough that we got to see them take it down.

By the time we had returned from Christmas visits, I guess the world thought we still needed more lessons on letting go of scheduling.  Doctors’ visits turned into tests.  More tests held us in Sarasota for longer than we had planned. 

In its kindness, the world gave us lots to do.  We enjoyed Sarasota and visited with lots of friends and family while we waited for results.  The upshot of the tests is that, for now, all is well.  We’ll just watch and wait.  
 
Jean and Joe Abrams were the best man and maid of honor
at my parent's wedding more than 62 years ago.

Cousin Mary, on my Mom's side.
She lives in Bradenton and saw my Facebook post and came to visit.

Our friend Gretchen also came to visit from Venice Beach.

Lynn and Byron on Miss Understood
were also at Marina Jack in Sarasota.
 We visited the Ringling Art Museum and
other attractions with them.
Audubon Society park in Celery Fields

A "walking tree" aka Banyon tree, part of the park near Marina Jack.
While in Sarasota we also enjoyed visiting with Wanda and Dave aboard SoulShine, John and Marilyn aboard Blue Goose, and Pat and Janet aboard At Last.
A different trip took us to the new dirt home in Punta Gorda of Nancy and Jeff abord Exile.


Since the last blog on November 1st, we’ve met many Loopers who are in medical “watch and wait” situations.  We’ve all learned to enjoy the ride and not fret.  It doesn’t do any good to worry.  We’re eager to take more trips around the sun, so we’ve improved our diets and walk more. 

The beach on Fort Walton Beach is a good place to walk.
We enjoyed our walks with John and Donna aboard Socially Sea Cured.

Along the Loop, we heard about minor and major mechanical failures affecting Looper boats.  Just four cruising days from crossing our wake in Key West, we counted ourselves lucky to have avoided a “no-go” mechanical situation.  

As we were leaving Salty Sam’s Marina a critical part of Tanuki’s electrical system failed.  Right now, as long as she’s getting power at the dock, her appliances, like the refrigerator, work fine.  But they don’t work when she’s underway or at anchor.  That makes this a no-go situation.  

Salty Sam’s Marina welcomed us back and it looks like we’ll be here for about a month. We’re happily stuck in Fort Myers Beach with plenty of room to walk, good restaurants and stores nearby, and pretty good weather too.  And, since we won’t have to drive home from Key West for events in February, our drive back home has been cut in half. Not only that, but I find myself with time and inspiration for updating the blog!


It's easy to get seafood here.
Just walk in either direction and you'll find shrimpers and fishermen selling their catch.

Left: Jerry and Debbie aboard Whiskey Business, Lauren and Jim aboard Oar Knot, Don and Jan aboard Time to Breathe and us at Cape Coral's Ford's Garage for an impromptu gathering.  
We have tickets to ride the Key West Express, a commercial ferry that brings passengers to Key West and back.  It’s 2 blocks from Salty Sam’s.  We’ve booked a couple of nights at the hotel at Stock Island Marina where we began the Loop and we’re looking forward to reconnecting with cruising friends in the Keys.  

As it turns out, we’ll probably finish the Loop before Tanuki does.  She’ll probably complete the Great Loop when she’s ship shape again.  We don’t know when, and we don’t know exactly where we’ll cross our wake; but we think we’ve finally learned the lesson about letting go of schedules. Time will tell.

Some of the souvenirs we have from this trip around the Great Loop are these lessons, a closer relationship, more relaxed attitudes, our ship’s log, this blog, pictures, videos, stories and memories. 

Only time will tell if it was time well spent.  This old world keeps on spinning.  We’re glad we went when we went.  

Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery; today is the day.  Enjoy each day of your trip around the sun. 
My brothers' and their families.  My new IPad wall paper! 

5 comments:

  1. Nice, I often thought cruise stoppages where like medicine that tastes bad but is good for you. I Love how you two have embraced and refined the concept of turning lemons into lemonade!

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  2. Excellent Blog! Looking forward to crossing wakes with Tanuki in the future and hearing accounts of your journey on the Loop. Hope to see you in April at the GHTA meeting.
    Arnita & Rolando
    M/V Rubia

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  3. Thanks for the update. Sharon and I stopped paying Bridge at the club a year ago, but I started up again a few weeks ago and Giles was asking about you 2. Judy has a beginners class with 7 tables going!! So many new people moving to St. Augustine.
    I had 4 long trips planned for this year, but like you say at this point in our life's plan nothing. We added a 5th as my 94 year old mother health changed fast and after a week in VA this month with family, she passed and will soon join her late husband in the Amelia River.
    I'm off to Ohio in March, a mid western drive through the plains in the Spring, Ireland in August with Sharon and the Keys in October. Stay in touch you and Jerry are always welcome. Allan

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