On the Road...

So we bought this boat see...

Feeling the need for a change, we had been considering what to do.  Our reasons were many, but we both felt that we owed ourselves, and our kids, more out of these precious years.  The only question was how to get off the merry-go-round.  On a return from a vacation road trip to Yellowstone some time ago, my wife Carrie said to me, "Remember that dream of yours about buying a cruising sailboat and seeing the world?"

Suddenly alert, I said, "Yes."

"Well, let's do that," she continued.  My heart skipped a beat.

"Don't say if you don't mean it," was the only reply I could get out.

Well, many moons later, we now are homeless, all our worldly goods are either in storage with family back in Minnesota, or in our 4-runner.

So this morning Tamsyn and her dad left Edmonds under snowy skies.  Our destination is La Paz, Mexico, where our sailboat, a Tayana 37, is waiting.  The truck is loaded with gear and personal belongings for the family.  Tonight we now sit in a comfortable motel room after a long day of wet roads and fog.  We made it to southern Oregon, and tomorrow we hope to push far into California.  We hope to make it down to La Paz in the next five days or so.  Carrie and Griffyn plan on flying down to La Paz in a week, where hopefully they will be met by the advance party (us).

Here are a couple of pictures of the boat which is currently named "Que Tal."  We are renaming her Madrona, after our favorite northwest tree.  She will properly be name S/V Madrona, with the S/V standing for Sailing Vessel.  M/V is a motor vessel.  In Europe - and most other places besides north america a sailboat like ours would called a Sailing Yacht (S/Y), but I think Yacht sounds to elitist to most americans, so we have sailing vessels instead.

This is her stern, and all the stainless steel tubing hanging off the stern is a Monitor self steering windvane.  The white hockey puck on a pole is our radar.

Here's the view from the bow looking aft.  Notice how wide and unobstructed the side decks are.  That makes a big difference when moving forward in rough seas.

And here is the bow and the bow pulpit, and a view of our mast and spreaders.
Time for some shut eye.  Back on the road in the morning.  Go Ducks!

Oh... and here are a couple of pictures of a roadside shrine Tamsyn and I stopped at on the way down along the Sea of Cortez.