Pearl is in Dry Dock

This is it - the final blog of this segment of the trip. The boat is staying at River Forest Marina in Florida inside an enormous building. Pearl won’t know what to do with herself, sitting around all day in dry-dock. She will have plenty of time to rest and recover before we return in April to continue up the east coast. This will be her first (and only) winter away from the freezing cold and snow of New England. 

The cat and all the new houseplants are coming home with us. The car is absolutely stuffed; there is hardly room for anything else. On Monday we worked all morning, packing and getting the boat cleaned up. That afternoon we drove to Ponte Vedra to spend Thanksgiving with Brian’s father and family. We learned that you should never, never drive through Orlando at 5:30 p.m. It was horrible. The next day we visited our boat friends from the Melinda B at their house. It felt very odd to see each other in a land-based situation, but it was very good to get to see them. Tomorrow we’ll continue north to see some of our kids, then we’ll go home. Normally, if we weren’t right in the middle of our extraordinary adventure, a week-long road trip would be like a vacation. Instead it feels more like a transition-phase between Boat Life and Real Life, helping to break us back in gradually.

This is the difference between Boat Life and Real Life. Real Life is when you watch the clock and the calendar to be sure you get everything done at the right time. Boat Life is when you don’t actually remember what day it is. Recently I overheard a conversation about a woman who was so glad that Wednesday was over. Someone told her that it was only Monday, but then a man chimed in to say that he thought it was only Tuesday! THAT is Boat Life - and we have reached it. 

I hope that everyone who reads this will have the opportunity to discover Boat Life. It can make all the difference in your life.

Check back next Spring. Wishing you Happy Holidays and a short Winter.

 

Reflecting on the past and the future.

Pearl takes a break in Florida.