Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Go now ...

or not.

Kintala is starting her third season on lake Carlyle. This was not supposed to be but the v-drive disaster put a least a year deep dent in The Retirement Project. Shallow water and the brutal temperatures of last summer drastically reduced the number of miles we could put in learning our new boat and shaking down the admittedly shaky systems. Added up we are actually a little more than a year behind what we had hoped when we started this journey.

But it turns out the delay should have been part of the original plan. Having a drive train that actually drives turns out to be a necessary kind of thing. Having some clue as to the proper way to operate the boat turns out to be a good thing. Having time to fix things while there is still money flowing in turns out to be a no brainer sort of thing. And having another year to put away savings turns out to be an absolutely fantastic thing. So fantastic in fact, that the rather large amount of stress inherent in completely overhauling the way one lives in the world, is noticeably reduced. Indeed, I almost wish we had a little more time to fix and to save. (Particularly given last weekend's new drive train failure - which may yet put my back firmly against a very uncomfortable wall.)

But it doesn't look like it will work out that way. For reasons both emotional and legal I can't give many details, but we appear to be at the very edge of taking this leap. A decision as to an east coast destination for shipping has to be made soon. We can only wait so much longer for the house to sell before the "rent-it" option will have to be the choice. (Not what we want but it is hard to take a house with you when you jump into the abyss.) We are just shy of being enveloped in the hurricane, standing on the shore, wall cloud in sight, wind just starting to pick up, the first rain drops falling. It is a slow moving hurricane (at least for the moment) and it may well be a few weeks - or even a couple of months - before the full furry makes landfall in our little world. But it is clearly in sight and the barometer is dropping. And really, 4 to 8 weeks is not a very long time.

For those of you who have yet to leave, don't let anyone tell you to "go now". They don't know what you know. But when it comes time to go, take a deep breath, take one last look around, then jump.

3 comments:

Sabrina and Tom said...

Mysterious and exciting - will stay tuned.

~~_/)~~
Sabrina
s/v Honey Ryder Caliber 40 LRC

Bill K said...

Good luck what ever you decide.
I will also stay tuned. :))

Bill Kelleher

Robert Salnick said...

I don't know what the circumstances are that are cranking up the timetable and adding certainty. But I am certain that a defined schedule is far preferable to you than a squishy "some time in the future" kind of thing.

Congratulations on having salt water in your (near!) future.

bob
s/v Eolian
Seattle