It's moving day for us.
We decided to create our own website and blog so that we have complete control over our content. We sill keep Sailblogs as an archive. Our new boat and new adventures will be posted at:

SV Tender Spirit
(https: svtenderspirit.com)
Check it out and see how you like it. We are starting small with just a blog, but soon we will be adding more resources and references for everyone to enjoy. The site is so new, that I don't even have the first blog post up until February 1, 2019!

Let us know how you like it. We would love your input.

Her she is... our new Baby!
We completed the survey and sea trial. Our new to us boat is awesome! Everything is completed except for some final paperwork. We will be on our way back to Alaska as soon as we can. With the shutdown, documentation will take a lot longer. We have a few maintenance things to get worked on and we will be on our way.
We will slowly make our way north as the season changes. We may take a nice shakedown trip down to Ensenada while waiting for the weather to improve. It all depends on getting the boat ready for the passages... and of course the wait for documentation.
I forgot how intense it is to purchase a boat and then turn-around and prepare it for travel. The to-do list is pages long and it seems like everything takes forever, even in the city!
Sorry, this is the same image... I accidentally dropped the phone overboard! Yup, a dumb classic error. I reached down to untie and it popped out of my pocket. I didn't think the yard worker was serious when he said they would find it... They did! I was shocked that the sim card still worked, so I have a new phone, but no new images.

The survey is completed. The sea trial is done. Lots of loot passed hands. It is only a day or two away and we will be proud "parents" of a new to us boat. We now have another Hans Christian! It is a 1987, Hans Christian 41 Molokai.

After careful consideration, we will rename her Tender Spirit in honor of our previous boat, which we dearly loved and miss.

Well, nobody said that making a change in lifestyle would be easy! The property that we are selling was delayed a bit, so we had to suspend our boat negotiations. It appears to be back on track. Our guardian angels must be back on the scene! Hopefully, everything will be sorted out and finalized next week, and we can get going on purchasing the boat.
We are very excited about getting back on the water. We will continue our RV adventures... but on a much smaller scale. The focus now will be to get our new "dreamboat" into our name and take all this uncertainty off the plate. I feel like I am playing some sort of twisted dating game. Will we get that boat? Will somebody else step in and get it instead? So far, it looks promising, so please, Mr. Broker, Don't sell my boat to somebody else!:)

I don't want to jinx this, but we found our new to us boat this week. If everything falls into place, we will be back on the water with a Hans Christian 41!

The good news: my Christmas cactus is in full bloom!
Now for the sad news:
Just when our plans were set, and we were working towards returning to our cruising life, two major roadblocks!
1.My job got cut! Yup, we just needed one or two more years to get our finances under control. So we have had to make some huge changes in our plans.
2. The other roadblock is that our property had a potential buyer, but they backed out at the most inopportune time. Our beloved Tender Spirit is back for sale! So, if you know of anyone that would like two acres of beachfront property in Alaska... please contact us! Here is a link to our property website: Click here.
So, in the meanwhile, we have made some new plans. We will be traveling with our truck and camper. We plan to do extended road trips in Alaska and the rest of North America. While we are traveling, I will be writing full time. I feel fortunate that I finished my master's degree last year, and I am ready to swap professions. I am going to set aside the public education field for awhile and pick up on some of our other dreams: traveling. While it is not by water, we will certainly enjoy our road trips.

This summer we are planning on traveling around Alaska and exploring old favorites and new... at a pace of our own choice. We will go back to our old ways of traveling as long as it's fun and making new plans. We promise to write them neatly in the sand at low tide.

We will be keeping an additional blog for our road trips. You can follow us here: Great Alaska Road Trip

We will continue to post on this blog when we start boat shopping. I just wish we could hurry up and sell the property before our previous boat sells. We would love to get her back!

As we have always said, we reserve the right to change our plans. We have been without a boat for five years. We tried to be land people. We even bought a piece of property... three in fact! OK, two lots are side-by-side. We wanted to build, but plans change. We have decided to sell both as one large lot, and plan for the purchase of a new (to us) boat. I don't foresee us ever able to settle down in one place, with one view, and one environment. We are cruisers. We enjoyed the truck and camper, but wherever we drove to, it was to view the water. Why view the water, when we can be on it? This new chapter will be to make the transition back to life on the water. Join us in this new chapter as we slowly move back onto the water. Just don't tell the family... we know they will freak!!!

I realized this afternoon that it has been three years since we sold Tender Spirit. Oh, how I miss her. On the other hand, I have been really enjoying our summers cruising in the truck. I'll tell you, there is a life after sailing. I have had a very difficult time readjusting to this new lifestyle. Every day I daydreamed about our cruising adventures, and I quietly schemed how to return to our cruising life.
Then this summer arrived. We were sharing a beer with a couple from Indiana. We chatted with some year-round RV visitors from all across the US. We exchanged fix-its, and tips for free and low cost camping (best anchorages in Anchorage). It suddenly dawned on me...DUH....we ARE cruising. We just swapped out the keel for 6 wheels. We still have a trusty diesel. OK, the sail plan is simplified, and our anchor has never dragged; the truck goes to windward so sweetly!
I guess this is our new normal, and I am finally not agonizing over our land-locked ways and feeling like I am somehow no longer an adventurer.
This summer I really enjoyed seeking out unusual places to camp. We challenged ourselves to see how little we could spend in camping fees. Well, we spent $65 total from Mid. May through this month - so, mission accomplished.
Our biggest mistake in all of our cruising years has been not having a positive exit plan for when it became necessary for me to re-enter the work force. I got a huge dose of independence, and having that experience will fuel our next adventures as we work towards our permanent retirement.
We just finished provisioning for another exciting school year. I have returned to Bering Strait School District. It was here I started as a first year teacher at Little Diomede. I am back now as the district librarian.
I have the world's greatest job now, traveling to all of our districts 15 villages in small airplanes all year. I love catching up with old friends at Gambell and Diomede. Some of my students now have their own children in school! It's exciting to see where our district is going and especially being a part of it once again.
So, I am back to my old happy self once again, ready to travel...but with pac boots instead of Crocs, and armed with books instead of varnish brushes.