It’s the end of another season here in the PNW and time to think about heading south to Mexico. It’s been a crazy weird summer and fall. The weather has been cold and rainy - I haven’t been out on my paddleboard once this year. And believe it or not, we have only been sailing 3 times for the last 12 months. What?!
But it’s also been crazy because of all our housing and job changes. I am definitely feeling the gypsy lifestyle. This year the longest we’ve stayed in one place is 3 months. My last count has us staying at an Airbnb, a friends trailer, a room at our friend’s house, and our own trailer, a condo for a month, and in the truck camping while traveling. Since we purchased our little 22ft travel trailer in August we’ve been living tiny-house-style in our friend’s driveway in the south sound.
It feels good to finally have a spot to call home, and that we can return to, or move someplace else. It’s a fair-weather trailer so it’s been a little cold during these unseasonably chilly months. I’m hoping we have our living sorted for a while now that we have the trailer.
As we contemplate our move south for the winter, it's clear this has been a bummer of a financial year since we were not called out for a hurricane deployment. Which means we have been making ends meet as construction contractors. It pays the bills but doesn’t help us save for the winter months. Plus its hard physical labor. This keeps us fit but honestly, we are getting too old for this type of work, especially when it's 40 degrees out. Fingers crossed that next year pans out with a couple deployments so we can cut down on physical labor.
I have noticed our confidence in tackling new projects has improved. We just assume now that we will figure out a new project as we go. We learned how to install a chain-link gate, how to remove a window and install a new exterior wall, how to fix a toilet flange that was installed sideways - a very, very ugly job. We figure it out together. We have finally come to a good working relationship, Shay and I. We know each other’s strengths and let one of us take the lead in a project based on who knows more.
I have faith it will come together somehow. And it does. Usually with a creative solution, or a little YouTube time. I think these are good skills to have for cruising on a sailboat. Belief in yourself and a good team relationship.
So after a weird summer season of moving and finding a trailer and getting our business going in a new location in the south sound and missing out on hurricane deployments, we are two or three weeks away from packing up the truck and heading south to visit family and friends and crossing the border into Mexico.
I’ve been looking at my Holoholo project list the past few days and starting a provisions list too. There’s a lot to do to get ready. We’ll pack up the cargo trailer, the travel trailer, get our boat gear out of storage, buy provisions and solar panels and paint for the mast and a dozen other little things and move to the boatyard in Guaymas, Mexico.
There is still a long list to accomplish in the yard before Holoholo can splash. The rigging, the mast, solar, water tanks, anchor chain, electrical, selling Eileen May’s engine and mast and all the gear we stashed next to Holoholo before we left. I hope Holoholo is not filled with mold or rodents or bugs. I hope she is well and in good condition and we live aboard soon after we arrive. I am worried about her condition.
I’m not excited yet about this upcoming transition to Mexico except it will be warm. Last year was so brutal working and living in the yard for 5 months. I hope it’s different this year.
This year we need to get some sailing time in. We need to leave the yard and get Holoholo back sailing. It's been too long for all three of us. We all need to be on the ocean again. To remember why we work so hard, why we chose to be gypsies. We need to SAIL.