2014

Bowers and Lott 2014 Family Newsletter – Cruising To Richmond

Details: Team Red Cruising Blog: Travel 2013-2014.

And yes, there are issues here. Our cruising year starts in September. The calendar year starts in January. So this is the end of year two.

January:

CA organizes the Whitby Rendezvous South in Jacksonville.

We move Red Ranger south. We interrupt the trip to visit the kids in Las Vegas and LA for the Pan-Holiday Celebration: Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, and MLK day all rolled into one.

By the end of January, we’ve reached New Smyrna Beach.

February:

Rob and Diane stop by in NSB.

We had a truly great offshore passage from Vero to Miami.

CA organizes the Whitby Rendezvous Further South in Miami.

Ron and Danielle stop by in Coconut Grove.

March:

Hanging out in Coconut Grove, Florida.

Steve working on his second book for Packt Publishing.

CA working on the essentials: art, fabric, hanging out.

April:

Visiting the West Coast. Why?

Interview.

When recruiters call and offer flights to talk to giant, famous high-tech companies in Silicon Valley, we listen. Steve may be old – and ageism is rampant – but a published book seems to trump being old.

Total panic about Red Ranger. If we get a job out west, what to do with Red Ranger? If we truck her to SF Bay, where’s the good marina?

Point Red Ranger North for the summer. Or for a job. By end of April we’ve been through a waterspout (waterspout = tornado) and dropped the anchor in the Neuse river in North Carolina. Really proud of our boat-handling skills in the waterspout situation.

May:

We motor and sail up the coast to Norfolk, VA.

A job interview in Norfolk, VA.

June:

Sail Red Ranger to Deltaville so that we can interview in Richmond, VA.

Move from Red Ranger to an apartment in Shockoe Slip neighborhood of Richmond. Start a day job as a rent-by-the-hour contract employee. This is Steve’s second job after 35 years with his previous contracting firm.

July:

Vacation in Portland, OR. After two years afloat, who really needs a vacation?

CA does her first delivery crew job. She and captain Gerry move Puffin across the Gulf of Mexico.

August:

We hang out in Deltaville on weekends. A downgrade from being liveaboard cruisers. But. We have day jobs in Richmond and are making bank.

CA starts at VCU. And she starts working with Sierra Club.

September:

We hang out in Deltaville on weekends. We make a sincere effort to fix the bedding for the chainplates using butyl tape. Finally reverse the two winches that have been bothering me for years.

Sigh. Weekend projects.

CA goes to the People’s Climate March in NYC with almost half a million of her closest friends.

October:

We hang out at Whitby-Brewer Rendezvous in Galesville Maryland. Party it up with Whitby and Brewer owners.

CA remains President of the Whitby-Brewer Association. Her official policy statement is to organize yet more parties. The Rendezvous South are the model for year more Rendezvous.

Post-rendezvous, I rebuild the fuel vent system on Red Ranger.

November:

Haulout and winterize. Back in Vero Beach, we busted up the “bang rail” that helps Red Ranger avoid dock pilings. It requires some skilled carpentry to scarf in a Dutchman to replace the damaged wood.

Now that we have jobs, we can afford to pay the boatyard for a skilled craftsperson to fix the rail.

CA and Sierra Club continue to lobby for sensible change in environmental policies. CA perfects her elevator speech to elected representatives. She lived on a boat: water pollution is not an abstraction for her.

December:

Working in Richmond. The customer makes Steve the hoped-for offer he can’t refuse. This is his third job: 35 years at one place, 6 months at another, now he’s a full-time high-tech worker with a weekend boat.

CA is an environmental activist and part-time high-tech worker. With a weekend boat.