Ever Wonder, What's Next?
This is HARD WORK!
Yes, indeedy, do! Hard work. You know: First to come and last to leave? Working for that minimum wage.
Up early, meet a truck, load in some gear, work 16 or 18 more hours, including a show, loud show, a concert, bunch of bands, screaming audiences... where am I? What town? Ahh, the Marriott. We'll work all day, and drive all night, and wake up in another town. Detroit. Or Chicago. Wait, no, not a Marriot, a Hilton. Who hasn't been inside one of the Hilton's, right?
Fast forward twenty years, and it's similar... it's no longer a Rock Concert, but, essentially the same. Trucks. Hotels. Gear. Roadies. Some corporate thing, or maybe a President or Premiere, but really the same thing over and over, only different cities. Take some empty space, set up stuff. Make an event. Make the gear go away. Go do it all over again somewhere else.
Looking at the calendar, I've done more events in the past, than I have coming up. Many more. I am MUCH closer to not working than starting my career... so...
What's Next?
Above, see me on the foredeck of a small 41 foot NordHavn. That's a classically designed, powered trawler. In short, a big boat, like an RV on the water. The one pictured above, has one cabin and sleeps 4 in a pinch. Small Galley Kitchen, storage, enough fuel and water storage to get away from it all. For a couple, it could make for a nice summer, of travel. For me? I want more.
My Vision
I have the wander bug. I want to see more. Do more. I was raised by the ocean. My dad taught me at a young age. Seamenship, sailing, and more. We've always had boats. Little ones. Take it out for the day and home by dinner.
My goal, for the immediate future, is to learn to be aboard, for a weekend... a week, and more. To learn to live in a small space, to find my way from point to point, and to explore my local area. To that end, I have in mind a small 27 foot Ranger Tug, to explore my area, the New England coastline.
She has a small galley, cabin for 2, room for a small dinghy to explore ashore, and enough storage for a week, maybe 10 days, without a struggle at all. It's enough boat for learning how to live aboard, to find my way. Maybe my last summer or two before retiring, will be aboard, my little Ranger Tug.
Really Get Away
But after that, when I pull the plug on the world? Leave the rat race? Retire? Well, Hello, Alaska... my first summer will be aboard my new 475 Nordhavn. It's a much bigger 47 foot, two cabin, ocean going trawler, meant to cross oceans if need be. Two engines, two generators. Enough fuel, capacity to make a month's worth of fresh drinking water per day, freezer and fridge space, and dry storage for a couple to live for a long month or two before resupplying.
I want to see and explore many of the coves and inlets along the Alaskan Coast, that first summer. I want to see what's left of the glaciers, and see Bald Eagles, Black and Brown Bear, Salmon in the wild. See Orca, and pods of whales and dolphin in the deep.
I want to spend my first winter, exploring the west coast of Central America, see The Galapagos, as Darwin and Huxley saw them. See the Panama Canal, and then, my next season in the Caribbean.
I want to see earth. The parts few have seen.
Who Knows, What's Next?
One thing I know, in all my research of trawler life, and retired life in boating, is, do NOT get locked into a schedule. First of all, Mother Nature dictates MUCH. The winds, the tides, the weather.
So plan, lots... but always plan in pencil. Being retired means, not following the clocks and calendars. It means, pack the boat. Fuel up your 3000 gallons of diesel, and fill the freezer with meat. Pack the Bombay Sapphire and load up on fresh produce, while you can... but, keep and eye on the sky, and winds... because, you do not dictate... you follow the seas, and let the world guide you.
And that makes me smile... better for the planet, better for my own family.
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