Last March, we closed on purchasing a house in the Tucson area (Executing the Plan). Marcia spent a grand total of five nights in it before closing up for the summer and returning to the PNW to get ready for the 2013 cruising season.
Last October, we stuffed the remnants of our Seattle house, that had been stuffed into a 10’ x 10’ storage unit, into a 8’ x 16’ moving pod for shipment to our new house, 1600 miles away. About 10 days after our possessions left the area, we (Marcia, myself and the cats) followed on the first “great migration”. We arrived at our new winter homeport on Halloween and have been busy settling in to it and the area since then.
Since we kept only a few pieces of furniture, we’ve had to improvise until we’ve acquired new items. One improvisation was taking the middle row of seats from the minivan and using them as our “couch”.
So far, the transition to a land based living has been easy and luxurious. Living on the boat forces us to compromise on space and resources (e.g., water and electricity) in ways we don’t in the house. The weather this winter has been exactly what we hoped for, moderate temperatures, ample sun and generally dry. We’re able to do pleasant walks directly from the house, and even better hikes a short drive away. We’ve used our bikes more now than since 2008.
While the weather is comfortable now, we know that the hot season here will return and our enthusiasm for the area will wilt. We plan on returning to the boat towards the end of March, prepare and provision the boat, then depart for our 2014 cruising toward the end of April.
