We can’t see the future but we know it’s coming fast. So although we’re not quite yet fleeing the Nazis like the von Trapp family did, we are putting the boating life on hold in anticipation of the impending uncertainty of certain chaos. Our plan to cruise to Alaska is yesterday’s news, and yesterday’s news is old news.
You know the line about the happiest two days of your life being the day you buy a boat and the day you sell that boat? Not true. We loved Misty Pearl and hated selling her; we love Tumbleweed and hate selling her. In fact, it’s all that we can do to keep from crying, because she’s gonna be a hard act to follow. But we know that the sun’s settin’ fast, and just like they say, nothing good ever lasts. That’s the way that the world goes ’round.
No need to worry about us though. There’s lots of pretty thoughts that we ain’t yet thunk. Plus, gettin’ by on gettin’ by’s our stock in trade. We’re letting it roll, letting the high times carry the low, just living our life easy come, easy go.
Long-time followers know how much we relish Canada, the True North proud and free. With glowing hearts this summer we’re going to explore more of it, including spots unreachable by boat. There’s lots of things along the road we’d surely like to see. Metaphorically speaking, there’s gold in them hills and it’s waiting there for us, out where the lonesome wind blows on the open highway with the truckers and the kickers and the cowboy angels. Probably stop and see some friends in a prairie town.
No boat, however, means no Doug and Dana and a Boat. Duh. But we’re two of those who know that life is just a leap of faith, and we’ve got ramblin’ fever in our blood. So we’re going to leave the blog up, and if we buy another boat—or visit the canals of Europe, the Mediterranean Sea, or other exotic watery locales—maybe we’ll post about it.
This all started as a cruising diary to share with family members who thought we’d lost our minds when we sold our house and cars and moved off of dry land. Now and again we threw in a few musings to entertain ourselves. Somehow over the years since that first post in 2017, a surprising number of folks found the blog and engaged with us along the way. Even if we haven’t met a lot of you, we feel like friends. Thanks for your interest.
For now, we’re gonna put out the fire and call in the dogs, although the road goes on forever and the party never ends.
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* Special thanks to Julie Andrews (as Maria von Trapp), Mickey Newbury, John Prine, Kris Kristofferson, Jerry Jeff Walker, David Allen Coe, Jimmy Buffett, The Marshall Tucker Band, Gram Parsons, Billy Joe Shaver, Randy Bachman, Iris DeMent, Townes van Zandt, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Guy Clark, Robert Earl Keen, Merle Haggard, whoever wrote “O Canada,” and of course, the King of Country music, George Jones. Without their combined contributions, this post would’ve been far less awkwardly constructed.