Son of a Sailor

Adventures come and Adventures go. This is how it was...exactly one year ago today. Here's our story-

One year ago today. This date is significant to us. We officially ended one adventure and started another adventure. We were hanging on the ragged edge as we flew out of Panama (and away from our home for five years) and into Tampa, where we were going to look at a bus that we hoped would fit our needs as a place to live and get us cross country.

So we boarded our international flight early in the morning in Panama City and flew out of Panama….leaving our beloved Tulum-5. We arrived in Tampa to go through the process of getting our luggage and rental car (which reeked heavily of cheap ganja) and then driving through afternoon rush hour traffic east of Tampa, to find our hotel, all on February 22nd 2023.

**The bus in the hotel parking lot, as we figured out how to drive it, added our own touches and realized we would have to get to Miami and find somewhere to stay while we waited on our stuff.**

Over the next week, we would carefully scrutinize the bus and start buying the basics (we had nothing but what we brought on the plane). Out of all the ways we could get our stuff home to somewhere in California, we were canalized into somehow getting it all (and the dog) cross country from Miami because that’s the only place we could have Quincy shipped into the US from Panama. So we could have rented an RV or a car with a trailer or tried to have Quincy ground shipped back to Cali, but we eventually settled on just buying a bus and becoming skoolies. The bus would allow us living space, we were able to cram ALL the stuff we owned into the bus for movement and it was big enough for all of us, the Great Dane and the cat.

And as the week went along, we had to call an audible and change our plans to pick up our shipped goods and our Great Dane, Quincy, in Miami. These are all other stories, but needless to say we made it to Miami and eventually picked up both our stuff and Quincy….before we started our cross country adventure by school bus.

Since February 22nd 2023, we have not really slowed down. We crossed the country with all of our stuff and family in the Green Machine (skoolie), came back to California to live close to family, bought a fixer-upper house (mini-ranch), put both girls back into public school, had to buy cars and found jobs. Now after a year back, we’ve got two donkeys, two snakes, two cats and three dogs. That’s really quite enough companions for now….I think we’re at full capacity.

Wow, it’s been a year. Below are link to a few select stories about our transition back:

Time To Say “Farewell and Following Seas” To Tulum-5

Boat To Bus In Under Two Weeks

WESTWARD HO! And A Rejuvenating Goat Farm

From The HelmsMistress, A Last Summary For Latitude-38 Magazine

Another Era Ended- Goodbye Green Machine