Sunday, May 28, 2017
So, as I have said several times in the 10 days we have lived aboard..."That was fun, can we go home now?" Actually, I have been joking, but the first few days were awful.....that's because we arrived and unloaded every box we had packed onto the boat, and then it was like moving anywhere....boxes everywhere, not knowing where anything was, or where it would go, etc.....oh ya, and that small problem with the holding tank....which meant NO on board bathroom facilities. After several days of Bob with his head in the tank...really! He solved the problem and obtained sainthood....at least in my eyes.....all is now right with the world.
We have been extremely busy finding a place for everything, and, as predicted, a lot of "stuff" I thought we couldn't live without, we decided we can. I even gave up a few pair of shoes (which is funny, as I've worn the same flip flops for the last 10 days). We've been to the hardware store and West Marine each a dozen times, but the grocery store only once. We are eating ALL the food we transported from CO and is stored in the guest room!
Other than the trips to the pump out station (per the holding tank problem) we have taken one long "voyage". Daughter Molly and family came to visit yesterday and we did a 2 hour cruise thru Lake St Clair to the Detroit River, saw the sights there and cruised back 2 hours. It was a great day on the Lake.
Now is the time to publically thank all our friends for the terrific "bon voyage" gifts. Our life group from church, and Bob's poker family really went above and beyond to let us know we will be missed.....Bob continues to get the email notices about games being held and is having withdrawals...(I refuse to pretend play...now if he was talking serious $$...maybe! haha)
One of our concerns we discussed before the trip was "what will we DO all the time".....well, so far I am still waiting for just a few minutes to just sit, perhaps read, etc. I am sure that time will come, but for now (Bob especially) works from sun up to sun down....getting all ready for departure day. We do not have a definite date as yet, it keeps getting pushed back. Bob has some client work in CO and MI yet, and we have grandsons ball games to attend, and a trip to the zoo with grandsons planned etc. (all those things we haven't been able to do with living so far away), so we want to get them in before we take off. For now it is tentative for week of June 18.....but as previously mention.....NO schedule. We have made some other live aboard friends here (one with childhood ties to Rogers City!....small world) and this marina has a pool....so far, live is good.
Sunday, May 28, 2017
Monday, May 1, 2017
We are in count down mode......in 15 days we will be on the road to Michigan with our last load, ready to begin "the dream". Boxes are being packed, the pods have been ordered, last minute details on house being worked on before closing, etc, etc.....Good thing Bob is such a good organizer....as I tend to be somewhat paralyzed with feeling overwhelmed!...or maybe its fear! I am sure that if all the stuff I have packed to go on the boat really does go on the boat....it will probably sink!..So once at the boat, at the dock...some more decisions will need to be made. (and I'm not even referring to the shoes and purses!!) I have never been a minimalist!
Bob wrapped up the past 2 weeks in Michigan, working on the boat etc.....he attached the new swim platform and steps, painted the bottom, applied the name, finished with varnishing and installing the interior doors, etc.....and she was officially launched! There are (and always will be) a few more issues to deal with...as you that know what "B. O. A. T." stands for, understand!
Wednesday, April 5, 2017
April has been very snowy here in CO.....it makes us all the more anxious to "get this show on the road" (as we have been saying to each other). We put the house up for sale and received an offer the next day (despite a snow storm) and are now "under contract"! If it ever stops snowing, the roofers can get here to inspect the roof and complete the inspection process and all that comes with that. We hope to close on May 15 and head out permanently! Until then we have been busy packing....we have boxes for goodwill, boxes for storage here in Pods, boxes for storage in Michigan....suitcases with clothes for Michigan (for when we visit there) and on and on...... Bob will make a "preliminary work trip" after Easter, hauling a u haul full for storage there. Then after we close mid May, we will haul a final load, and begin our "lifelong dream"....(inside family joke)....lets just call it our "big adventure".
Bob will be installing the swim platform he built, finishing some varnishing on doors he started last fall, and the marina will then be dropping the boat in the water! It seems like yesterday they were pulling it out for winter!....We will then begin the process of loading up the "necessities" for our year long voyage. I think I might have to convert the guest quarters into a walk in closet!! Haha. I believe we will decide that we have way too much stuff that we think we "need" with us!... But the beauty of having the boat in southern Michigan for a few weeks before we begin the loop, and then again in Rogers City as an early stop, is that we will have access to storage for the "stuff" we thought we needed and determined quickly we don't. Some of the previous "lady loopers" have offered up the following to determine how many pairs of shoes to have on board....."you take the size of your boat and divide it in half and that tells you how many pairs"... that EXCELLENT advice allows me 24 pair! now onto the purses.....
Bob will be installing the swim platform he built, finishing some varnishing on doors he started last fall, and the marina will then be dropping the boat in the water! It seems like yesterday they were pulling it out for winter!....We will then begin the process of loading up the "necessities" for our year long voyage. I think I might have to convert the guest quarters into a walk in closet!! Haha. I believe we will decide that we have way too much stuff that we think we "need" with us!... But the beauty of having the boat in southern Michigan for a few weeks before we begin the loop, and then again in Rogers City as an early stop, is that we will have access to storage for the "stuff" we thought we needed and determined quickly we don't. Some of the previous "lady loopers" have offered up the following to determine how many pairs of shoes to have on board....."you take the size of your boat and divide it in half and that tells you how many pairs"... that EXCELLENT advice allows me 24 pair! now onto the purses.....
Friday, February 24, 2017
NOW WHAT.......I've been saying for the last year that I don't know where this journey will take us, but I DO KNOW the TOUR GUIDE....there is a lot of praying going on in this house!
I keep telling Bob, pray about it, the Lord will show us the way.....and He has. Bob's job in Pittsburg ended, there was a possibility of another in Denver (!)...I thought that would make me happy. It would keep us here 3 more years......but what about the newly purchased boat?...more prayer. In the meantime, Bob started his own consulting business...."Macomber Consulting Group"....It has been very successful so far in securing a few clients that he can service from anywhere he has internet. The Denver job opportunity dragged on and on (I think until I came to terms with the idea of leaving my beloved Colorado, house, and church that has become very important to us the last 4 years) and finally the plug was pulled on that opportunity. I said "I don't know how much more clear the Lord can make it for us".....so, come spring/summer we hope to have sold our "dirt" house and are living full time aboard "Le Reve"..."the dream"
Meanwhile, Bob has been making the "necessary" improvements to Le Reve......
He designed and built a new swim platform and stair access to the stern entrance. This is all happening in his beloved father's "workshop" in Saline, MI where his mom still lives....His dad is
smiling down from heaven watching Bob and the grand boys (and mom Alice) using his tools.....For more pictures on Bob's project (and yet another venture) see www.transomconcepts.com
Hey, when you are "semi-retired" you have to make a buck where you can!! My job is to make sure that BOB continues to do so! HA
I keep telling Bob, pray about it, the Lord will show us the way.....and He has. Bob's job in Pittsburg ended, there was a possibility of another in Denver (!)...I thought that would make me happy. It would keep us here 3 more years......but what about the newly purchased boat?...more prayer. In the meantime, Bob started his own consulting business...."Macomber Consulting Group"....It has been very successful so far in securing a few clients that he can service from anywhere he has internet. The Denver job opportunity dragged on and on (I think until I came to terms with the idea of leaving my beloved Colorado, house, and church that has become very important to us the last 4 years) and finally the plug was pulled on that opportunity. I said "I don't know how much more clear the Lord can make it for us".....so, come spring/summer we hope to have sold our "dirt" house and are living full time aboard "Le Reve"..."the dream"
He designed and built a new swim platform and stair access to the stern entrance. This is all happening in his beloved father's "workshop" in Saline, MI where his mom still lives....His dad is
Hey, when you are "semi-retired" you have to make a buck where you can!! My job is to make sure that BOB continues to do so! HA
we begin "the dream"
February 24, 2017
Talk about a new start to a new adventure.....I am learning how to blog!! With help of son Rob, I hope this turns out as planned...
We (Bob and Jane) hope to use this as a tool for all of you who have expressed interest and curiosity in this plan of ours to live aboard a boat for at least a year (we will see how it goes!) while fulfilling our boaters dream of cruising "The Great Loop". .. and hopefully will serve as insight for those of you who have bets on whether the two of us can live in such small quarters for such a long time!
The Plan.......One snowy, cold evening about a year ago, I made the casual comment to Bob "if we are ever going to do the Great Loop, we should do it sooner, rather than later....." I woke up the next morning to Bob viewing photo/listings of several boats available for sale and a plan as to when we would go buy one!! I asked for a cup of coffee and then gave him my "demands".....boat must have #1. a walk around bed (I am too old to be crawling around a berth) #2. a "back porch"....if we are living aboard, a indoor/outdoor space is a must.... #3. a washer and dryer #4. a bathtub....I have learned from the 5 boats that we previously cruised on, back in our great lakes boating days, that a tub will guarantee you a bigger bathroom (head)......he had a couple of his demands also....bow thruster, and updated electronics...NOT nearly as important as my "needs"!!
The Boat.....even though we hadn't owned a boat in the last 6 years the "bug" never left our system and therefore we had a pretty good idea that our next boat would be an (as we used to call them) "old mans boat". We had decided that one of us is now "old" ...so it seemed only right that our needs are now different than our days of go fast cruisers..... Thus the model we had looked up and decided we would search for would be a "Californian"....an older model "OMB"...the perfect "live aboard" for us.
The Search...Bob had business that took him to Jacksonville, Florida. It was there that he saw, in person, the first Californian...he liked it and "walked thru it with me on the phone". It happened to be a boat that was just moved to Florida from the Great Lakes of Michigan....made it all the more desirable (as a "fresh water" boat was also on his list). However, timing was an issue...that boat sold fast...we were disappointed, but met a great boat broker who assured us he would find the perfect Californian for us.
The Deal....now Bob has a plan in his head and nothing is getting in the way of that....(not a job, a "dirt" house, Jane's reluctance to leave Colorado, etc....) He finds a great one-owner (good for a 25 yr old boat) located in Lake St. Clair, MICHIGAN!....We fly up to look at it and by August, we are the proud new owners....OK, Now What!!
Talk about a new start to a new adventure.....I am learning how to blog!! With help of son Rob, I hope this turns out as planned...
We (Bob and Jane) hope to use this as a tool for all of you who have expressed interest and curiosity in this plan of ours to live aboard a boat for at least a year (we will see how it goes!) while fulfilling our boaters dream of cruising "The Great Loop". .. and hopefully will serve as insight for those of you who have bets on whether the two of us can live in such small quarters for such a long time!
The Plan.......One snowy, cold evening about a year ago, I made the casual comment to Bob "if we are ever going to do the Great Loop, we should do it sooner, rather than later....." I woke up the next morning to Bob viewing photo/listings of several boats available for sale and a plan as to when we would go buy one!! I asked for a cup of coffee and then gave him my "demands".....boat must have #1. a walk around bed (I am too old to be crawling around a berth) #2. a "back porch"....if we are living aboard, a indoor/outdoor space is a must.... #3. a washer and dryer #4. a bathtub....I have learned from the 5 boats that we previously cruised on, back in our great lakes boating days, that a tub will guarantee you a bigger bathroom (head)......he had a couple of his demands also....bow thruster, and updated electronics...NOT nearly as important as my "needs"!!
The Boat.....even though we hadn't owned a boat in the last 6 years the "bug" never left our system and therefore we had a pretty good idea that our next boat would be an (as we used to call them) "old mans boat". We had decided that one of us is now "old" ...so it seemed only right that our needs are now different than our days of go fast cruisers..... Thus the model we had looked up and decided we would search for would be a "Californian"....an older model "OMB"...the perfect "live aboard" for us.
The Search...Bob had business that took him to Jacksonville, Florida. It was there that he saw, in person, the first Californian...he liked it and "walked thru it with me on the phone". It happened to be a boat that was just moved to Florida from the Great Lakes of Michigan....made it all the more desirable (as a "fresh water" boat was also on his list). However, timing was an issue...that boat sold fast...we were disappointed, but met a great boat broker who assured us he would find the perfect Californian for us.
The Deal....now Bob has a plan in his head and nothing is getting in the way of that....(not a job, a "dirt" house, Jane's reluctance to leave Colorado, etc....) He finds a great one-owner (good for a 25 yr old boat) located in Lake St. Clair, MICHIGAN!....We fly up to look at it and by August, we are the proud new owners....OK, Now What!!
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