Sudden Changes of Plans

My lovely wife and I have been known to change plans at the drop of a hat. One time we were heading from mid Florida to our registered camping sites in the Everglades. While heading south we got the idea that it would be nicer in the Ocala National Forest the next few days. I turned the car around. She got on the phone, canceled our previous reservations and made new ones on the fly.

Well, Monday we were going to head down to the coast to look at some boats. The idea was that we'd pick up a boat on the coast, sort it out, then head south by October. Any later than that and the odds of getting caught in a snowstorm go way up.

Monday morning comes along it occurs to me that I really don't want to miss October in the North Country. It's a beautiful time of year. My lovely wife and I had a little discussion. While she was willing to head out early, she's just as happy to leave later. Instead of buying a larger boat, we will do one more winter with our trailer sailor. There are a lot of special spots along the coast of Florida that can only be accessed with a shallow draft boat. The Oday 19's 4' 4” draft drops to just one foot with the swing keel lifted.

While a larger shallow draft sailboat would be nice, I'm not going to go out of my way to find one. The one we have can do the job just fine. Getting a larger sailboat for long term living aboard can wait. There will be boat deals again next year. I got on the phone and told the boat broker that we would not be viewing the boat and he can show it to the other potential buyers.

Rather than stretch the budget on boats, I'm going to do some much delayed work on the house. Leaving later also gives us more time to get back into condition after our injuries.

Of course, being who we are, our plans could change again. We are having a blast figuring it all out.

-Sixbears