Cheryl's Notes:

I can't believe that we have been home for almost two months already. So far we have enjoyed a college graduation, a high school graduation, two graduation open houses, a bridal shower, a bachelor party and six family birthdays. My mom has also survived a heart attack. That event was not fun like the others. We have been to see Carole King and James Taylor, and Steve Winwood and Santana together in concert. The second concert was complicated by the fact that our Jeep blew a radiator in a downtown parking lot. At least it didn't happen while we were driving down the freeway. It does mean spending another boat unit on car repairs.

We were able to visit our home marina in Bayfield, WI for the Memorial holiday weekend. We stayed aboard Doris E with our good friends Pat and Dave. We had a great time visiting all of our sailing friends, and even got out sailing for part of a day. Pat and Dave will be closing on their house in Madison this week and then they will be living their dream aboard their Pearson 424. It was interesting to talk with people that are in the beginning stages of committing to the cruising lifestyle. They are where we were two years ago. We wish them both good luck on their future adventures.

John and the boys had a great time at Mike's bachelor party. Twenty-five guys gathered at the new Target Field to watch a Twins game. The game was on Armed Services Appreciation day, and they got to watch Navy Seals parachute into the stadium before the game started. Then, during the third inning, Justin Morneau hit a homerun right into their section. Mike and his friend both dove for the ball, almost falling over the railing. The game was a nationally televised game, and the whole thing was captured on film. We took the video footage and got some great still shots of the boys. Our son-in-law to be is now famous. Unfortunately, the Twins lost the game.


We have been trying to make the rounds visiting with all of our old friends. It is only three weeks until the wedding, and we still have a bunch of people to make time for. John has been kept busy with his granddaughter's driving instructions. I have been busy with my girls and wedding preparations. Three months sounded like a long time, be we are already two thirds through that. Time flies when you spend it with family and friends.

John's Notes:

Is it time to go home yet? Don't get me wrong. It has been fun to see old friends and spend time with family. But, the truth is, I'm tired of living out of a suitcase and sleeping on a blow up bed. It doesn't matter which of the kids we stay with, both have blow up beds for us. Really looking forward to getting back to our oversized V-berth.

Even after being gone for two years now, most of our friends still have no idea how we live. Of course they all wanted to hear about our adventures but most think that we are engaged in some type of minimalist, subsistence type of life. Every time we go somewhere and meet people who don't know us, we have to start all over again with the explanations. Sometimes I think we should make a DVD and just pass them out when asked for the thousandth time "what's it like to liveaboard and cruise?" I was even asked the other day by a very good friend if I were ready to come back and give up the lifestyle. Are you kidding me? We've just gotten started.

While we have been home, I have taken advantage of unlimited high speed internet. I've been doing research on literally hundreds of boats. Both trawlers and larger sailboats. The more research I do, the more I'm convinced that for the kind of cruising we do, our boat may still be hard to beat. Our boat is only 11 years old and has been upgraded almost monthly since the day it was new. If we buy a trawler just because if offers more "living" space, it will a boat that is somewhere between 10 and 20 years older than ours, way over powered for the kind of cruising we do, will cost CONSIDERABLY more to operate for the same distance traveled per year. It will also need upgrades. I know this because, at 11 years old, our boat is getting to the point where we are no longer adding much in the way of new features, but replacing things that are starting to show wear. When we were using the boat only a few months a year, mostly on weekends and a couple of summer cruises, there was little if any wear on the upholstery. Now, living aboard every day in all kinds of conditions, it's beginning to show. Replacement is going to be at least a couple of boat units. Adding more storage is an ongoing challenge. Bottom line is that we probably have way too much stuff aboard that gets very little use. Answer to that is to evaluate what we have actually used in the last couple of years and either get rid of the rest or place in our storage locker. That's another area that needs to be addressed. It's not much, but it still costs us something every month to store stuff that we hardly, if ever, use. Why keep it? Looking at larger sailboats is basically the same problem. There is always something that is going to go wrong with a used boat. If we keep our boat, we know everything that has even the slightest ding in it or will need to be replaced in the future. The best survey in the world isn't going to reveal every problem a potential boat will have. I remember when some friends of ours purchased an absolute dynamite trawler last year. After having it only a few months they were replacing the exhaust manifold on one of their really BIG engines. My friend did his own labor but the parts were about $3K. I could replace the entire engine in Leprechaun for a little over twice that amount. Everything is exponentially more on a bigger boat. Personally, I would rather spend that money on new adventures. We have no guarantee that we won't incur some large expense along the way but at least we might have an idea that it's coming.

Bottom line is that at least for the foreseeable future I think we are just going to work with what we have aboard Leprechaun. Making modifications that will enhance her livability and our comfort. Some of the rational is based on pure economics. Lets say we sell Leprechaun for $110K and purchase a boat 15 years older than ours for $125K. That means that I now owe the State of North Carolina almost $7K in sales tax. That is $7K just for the privilege of purchasing some unknown amount of problems. With the same money I could completely replace all the electronics on our boat or completely renovate the interior including the addition of more freezer space and storage cabinets. The list goes on. I haven't even mentioned the $10K in commission we would have to pay a broker to sell our boat. Add all that up and you are talking almost $30K just to trade boats. Did I mention that we are retired? I always joke that if we got in a pinch for money that I could always get a job in the produce department at Food Lion. That serves two purposes, cash and my love of fondling the melons every day. Might be more of a necessity than a joke if we trade boats. Now back to the drawing board for Leprechaun.