Sunday, November 29, 2015

Much to be thankful for!

Wearing our new Pura Vida hats - gifts from my brother's
visit to Pura Vida Cafe in Vallecito CO
We launched on Thanksgiving, a day to be thankful for and we are happy to be on the water once again after 18 days on the hard in the dusty dry yard. All the boat prep takes more time than you’d like but for us, everything must be done for our launch and prep for a nice liveaboard experience.
We couldn't bring our new dinghy south with us (always stories...),
so scored a great deal on a small dinghy here

On Thursday, while we did not have turkey or the fixin’s, we did score a couple pieces of amazing homemade pumpkin pies. Other than that, the holiday passed without much fanfare. We both got food poisoning 2 weeks ago then got somewhat better. Shortly thereafter, we did a major cleaning project which did me in and apparently set off something in my system. I contracted salmonella! So the idea of sharing a potluck with our associates in the dry yard on American Thanksgiving wasn’t in the cards for me.

The mural in Dr. Sanchez office - nice welcome!
I haven’t been this sick since 2002 and now believe much of my pains, aches and limited abilities are due to the prescribed antibiotic, Cipro. It’s been a tough series of 8 days since diagnosis and while Dr. Sanchez says my “hemoglobins are better”, my symptoms are not. I did not know I could sleep this much and still be this achy tired. OK, enough of my whining, I am just used to having a ton of energy and not being sick. I am on day 8 of 10 of the antibiotic and hope for the best once day 11 begins: reduced swelling, redness, achiness and all those really appealing characteristics one seeks out in a life / boat partner!

It’s such a great experience to have amazing, supportive friends who are helping out.
Some of our amazing friends! 


It must be holiday time here. The stores are starting to blare loud music, they're bringing out the sky high lard and turkey hot dog displays, and don't forget your tequila party in a box, complete with Squirt and a bag o' chips. Si, si si - let's party! 

We are waiting for a few days for the boat to settle into the water and Mike will tune the rigging before we head south on our journeys. We are deciding whether we’ll cross over to the Baja or do a straight run down the mainland coast. With my job, I need to have internet access most of the time so that will limit where we go.

And go we will, where the winds take us!

Sunday, November 8, 2015

Road Trip? Check. Adventures? Check.

Well, when you're ready for a road trip, why not drive to Mexico? We've begun our travels south to reach Pura Vida. She safely awaits us in Guaymas, Sonora, having been spared from the rains, hurricanes and big winds. Like so many boat owners in Mexico this fall, all eyes anxiously on Hurricane Patricia, a huge relief when it curtailed.

We are ready for some sailing, fun and sun in the Sea and this year, we'll go as far south as Puerto Vallarta to pick up our new mizzen sail.

Summer was fruitful and hectic with 8 jobs between the 2 of us. We both worked pretty much 6-7 days / wk and moved 3 times, continuing the ordeal of living out of duffel bags for the 4th year. We did unpack a bunch of boxes from our storage unit, downsized even more then happily moved into a great floating home we'd rented before. Alas, the home sold in 3 weeks of our moving in, so we moved yet again but it did allow us to enjoy and sort through some sorely missed belongings. We are very thankful to our incredible friends who helped us through our living situations once again.

As fall arrived and we started thinking about sunshine, we lucked out amazingly with an unplanned opportunity to purchase our own floating tiny house! It's in a nice moorage on Hayden Island. We signed docs just last week and will now have a place to return to when we head back to work in the spring. Let the projects begin.
Sunset from house 2 of 3 we lived in

Great reminder (thanks to Ang & Don)

We actually went sailing a couple times

WI capital building
Our 8th wedding anniversary

My brother's back yard in WI on 20 acres

Bounty at the Farmer's Market in Madison WI
Mike's sister & husband and 143# Zeke
under the grape arbor
at sister Joan's
In the Sierra Nevada mts - great vistas

A keeper - 1st hint of our home purchase


Our next quest: fixing up our tiny home on Hayden Island