There are many other titles I thought of for this, but I
will keep those to myself. The meat of the matter, is that we have changed our
plans drastically. Again. This time, we are selling the boat and moving back to
land, somewhere.
The purpose of this trip has always been to change the way
we live, and focus more of our energy on our family, and less on working, and
keeping up what we have. Keep that in mind.
For more than 5 years we planned, researched, and prepared
in every way we know how, and some we learned about, to make this dream a
reality: to buy a boat and spend a year with our girls, sailing to the
Caribbean and back, learning everything we can along the way. Actually, first
it was the Mediterranean, but along the way we had to adjust our sights to the
Caribbean. Not a bad consolation.
Keeping in mind the goal of The Plan, we have decided put
FORTUITOUS up for sale, and move onto land, finishing our year the best we can,
hopefully someplace warmer, educating and exploring as a family.
Why? FORTUITOUS was
not the right boat after all.
In short, we spent all our time and money fixing up the boat.
We have done our best to involve the
girls in the boat upgrades, but they have happened so fast, it is hard to
involve them while just trying to keep our heads above water, so to speak.
The boat may be ready, but we are out of resources.
I can only imagine how it sounds,
but whatever. Since we made the decision to move off the boat, there is a
weight lifted that I was not aware was on my (and Fowler’s) shoulders. Of
course there are disappointments, but we are by no means walking away from this
empty handed. For myself, I have learned a great deal about myself, Fowler,
Thia and Janele, and how we work together and communicate, not to mention we
all know WAY more about diesel engines, winches, and old boats than we ever
thought we could.
So, onward…
As much as I respect all your decisions you have made, I really think you should reconsider moving back to land. From reading your blog I see you haven't given it much time, and with the all the fixes it really puts a damper on many things. Probably the most important is money. It seems like money is the source of your decision which is tough, other wise I think you would have kept on your journey. I know myself (having a bot too) that you are never done, but I feel you fixed quite a few problems for a while. At least some of the major things. I can't say enough how I think you made the right decision by moving onto the boat and home schooling your children. I think if you are or would be able to continue your journey I think you would come out on top in many ways. Such as your family having better morals, values, problem solving skills, travel experience, and know how attitude. Have you every thought about posting on the site gofundme.com? It is free and I have a feeling after seeing your article posted, you would have a lot of people willing to donate to your cause. Just giving my two cents and really hope you change your mind once again.
ReplyDeleteSincerely,
Tim
BTW excuse my spelling and grammar errors...lol I was trying to type this in a hurry after reading the article posted about your family. Don't give up!!!
ReplyDeleteMoney is absolutely the primary problem. I have considered blogging about how badly we underestimated the costs and what poor decisions led to it, so that others don't follow in our footpath.
ReplyDelete