Are You Living the 'Dream' Now ?

[drinky]

Partially living the dream means I share time between boat and unit. Boat gets most of the time but have a GF back where the unit is and must give her a visit now and then. Next winter is the Whitsundays trip that was supposed to happen this year.
All is great.

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by Don Lucas

See someone joined me in the CLODs, wonder if they met to.

I think someone who hasn't gone yet and is trying to get in with the CLODS will incur the wrath of our chief CLOD, Gord.

Don, you could say you slipped because of "Tiller Hand" or Autopilot finger...

Mark

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

I think someone who hasn't gone yet and is trying to get in with the CLODS will incur the wrath of our chief CLOD, Gord.

Don, you could say you slipped because of "Tiller Hand" or Autopilot finger...

Mark

I slipped because.................well.................... I'm Mildy Confused! Met to do the 5 years away choice.

[seghull]

This is a great conversation!
We are in the throes of sorting and packing and working on the boat all at the same time. I am pleased to say that hubby has the hydronic heating system in and working. Yes! Things are coming together. I got the perfect job as a half time home health nurse on Prince of Wales Island (Craig, AK), which will give us time to go places on the boat, which we will be living aboard. That also gave us a deadline, so we MUST get going.

Two days ago, I got an unsolicited call from someone wanting to look at our house. They loved it. That is encouraging, but they have to figure out how to make it happen -- Will they? I don't know. You know how that goes.

So, I have to say, we are VERY close. But there is MUCH to do. We have done this before, moving from a house in Minneapolis to a boat project in CA with two little kids, but that was 18 years ago, and we pared down to where we only had the boat. This time, we also have a house in Alaska, so we can keep things, if we want to. It was easier without that option (take note, any of you who think it is hard to give up so much stuff).

Good wishes to everyone, no matter what stage you are in!
Sue
www.sailingsunline.com

[jimking100]

Partially ;iving the dream. Heading down to the Windwards tomorrow and plan to live there for a year or two before heading elsewhere. Mark, you should be getting there about the same time as me. First round on me. Don...get back out there.

[maxingout]

I am always living my dreams. Sometimes it's land cruising, and sometimes it's on the water.

When I lived in Arabia, I did lots of land cruising in the desert. I rode up and down the sand dunes that were like the swells of the Pacific Ocean. Those were sand dreams, and I loved them every bit as much as sailing dreams.

http://positivegraphics.com/images/s...o-life-788.jpg

SAND DREAMS

After driving thousands of miles in the Empty Quarter, I'm hooked on driving in sand.

If you asked me whether I would rather sail the seven seas on my catamaran or land cruise in the Empty Quarter in my Defender, it would be a toss up as to which I would enjoy the most. I like both equally well.

They are actually the same thing - they're all about living my dreams.

Our Arabian sandbox had nearly a million square kilometers of sand - plenty of room for sand dreams. And when you are out there driving over the rolling dunes, you almost feel like you are skimming across the giant swells of the Pacific Ocean. The difference is that in the sea of sand, the waves aren't moving.

Sand dreams and sailing dreams have one other thing in common. The only way you can make them come true is to say yes to life.

It's easy to say no to life, because when you say no, you don't need to do anything. You can sit in your easy chair and make bun prints in the sands of time. You don't need to lift a finger.

The word "no" is a destroyer of dreams.

The word "yes" makes dreams happen, but it's not enough to say yes only one time. You must say it again and again. You must keep saying it until your sand dreams happen.

When you say yes to life, the work has just begun. You have to save up your money to buy your Defender. Next, you put a full length Brownchurch roof rack on top of your truck. Then you add some long range fuel tanks and put airbags inside the rear springs to upgrade the suspension. You load thirteen jerry cans into and on top of the vehicle. Next, you add 200 liters of water, food, camping gear, firewood, and sand ladders. Then, you load four people into the truck, drive 500 kilometers into the Empty Quarter, and finally your sand dreams come true.

Only those people who say yes to life can expect their dreams to come true.

http://positivegraphics.com/images/D...happen-788.jpg

http://positivegraphics.com/Positivegraphic80.htm

http://positivegraphics.com/Positivegraphic73.htm

[Mario G]

Moved aboard today it doesn't get any better

[VirtualVagabond]

Interesting idea for a thread, Mark... kinda turns names into real people.

We're more dreaming the life than living the dream... at the moment.

The Deckscrubber and I decided a year ago that if we organize things carefully, we could actually get a boat and play sea-gypsies for as long as we're having fun, albeit on a fairly frugal budget. (I don't know how all you guys with 'Admirals' ever get your decks scrubbed...)

'She' had a 'near death' experience that triggered the decision. Not as bad as it sounds. She spent 3 days in hospital while they were identifying a gall stone attack, and an elderly woman in a bed across from her was having last rites and last family visits. Wasn't expected to last the week.

That night I got a very sober... "We mustn't get to the end and have dreams un-drumpt..." or something like that.

Travel sounded like more fun than suburbia, and doing it full time, slowly, more fun than working 11 months for an annual, desperate 4 week dash someplace followed by another 11 months etc etc.

So the choices were... sell up, buy a motorhome and join the herd of grey nomads for the big lap around Australia... ok, aparently I'm grey, she just has sparkly bits...
Or get a boat and open up the destination options.
Fully knowing the answer, I was happy to leave the decision to her (psychology 101).

I'm not real sure I appreciate the way she put it. Something like... "well, you can still get around Australia with a walking frame, so we'd better get the sailing in first..."

We spent 6 months getting the house and garden ready, and now we're sitting in a market that is down about 60% on normal, whatever that is. It's the most frustrating time of our lives.
The one good thing is the Aussie $ has reached new highs, and buying our new home somewhere in the US or Caribbean means now it might even have roller furling and a water maker...
A happy Deckscrubber makes for a happy Deckscrubber's cap'n... hey, they're her names and she promised I could use them without a beating...

And so we wait, and dream... (where's that drummin' fingers icon...)

Vic (and Sandra)

[captain58sailin]

I believe the Admiral and I are close to living the life full time. I work full time aboard commercial vessels and we are in the process of putting together our wet dream, which is a commercial fishing/sailing yacht, to take us world wide where the whim and wind move us. I have a couple more years of working for the company before we can cast the lines off permanently. I feel we are indeed living the life, and are on the ramp up to going where the wind will's us. We will be exploring the south Pacific and where there is no snow.

[zeehag]

markj you didnt include my particular details--lol====i had to put kinda--i leave in dec for living my dream but i already ran away from home twice for cruising as well--lol--is just december is my own boat so is a real wet dream......lol....heck---i always live my dreams...no matter what i am doing-- but going to sea in my own shiplet is a realll dream!!

[Hud3]

Originally Posted by VirtualVagabond

"We mustn't get to the end and have dreams un-drumpt..."

We had similar worries when we retired about 10 years ago. So we took a bit of a different approach from most, and decided to carve our remaining years up into five year segments and focus on a theme.

Our first five years was devoted to sailing our Island Packet 380. We didn't live on her fulltime (a couple of six month stretches being the longest), but managed to put in about 16,000 nm, and explored and thoroughly enjoyed the Lesser Antilles, Bermuda, the Abacos, and the Chesapeake Bay. We sold the boat a year ago, grieving a bit, because our time on her were among the best of times in our 43 years of marriage.

Our second "five year plan" was living on a tropical island. The idea wasn't pre-meditated, it just came upon us suddenly while we were cruising here. We moved to Nevis full time a little over four years ago, and have loved the experience greatly. The people we've met and our experiences here have been extraordinary.

We're now thinking about our next five years, and think it'll involve moving back to the States to focus on soaking up some "culture", and doing some international traveling.

The worst thing I can imagine is to look back on your life and say, "Where did the years go?", having reached a point where you're no longer physically, mentally or fiscally able to do things you always wanted to do, and you've somehow let the years slide by without living those dreams, whatever they are. Sad, yes?

[nautical62]

My dream is not to live aboard or cruise full time, but rather to split the year between cruising in the winter and land life in the summer starting at age 55. I'm about 7 years away, but plan to have 3, 3-month cruises between now and then as well a month or more each summer.

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by Hud3

carve our remaining years up into five year segments and focus on a theme.

I tried to have an option for all our different forms of doing our dreams, but I think you and Dave Maxing Out show we needed another option too! Sort of a "Been There - Now Doing More and Different!"

If you count up all the people doing it, or partially, or in their own way; plus those who have done it, theres quite a significant number of people who know how to live our lives but have also reached beyond the Armchair Admiral stage too.
One critisim we sometimes hear here is that no one is doing it, we are all just pontificating.

Also like Hud and Dave I have other dreams too. somday I would like to have a little farm (a loooooong way from the sea) and breed BBQ Cows with big bums, piggys with fat legs and lambies ready for the chop. All just for my own consumption.

In all the times in Man's history I think now we have a good chance all our dreams can come true.

[cvondo]

I feel I'm livin the dream fully with 2 months to go before cast off. Just gettin the boat ready and the heighten anticipation of leaving is wonderful . all the romantic idealism splashing around in my brain with thoughts of the unknown are truly intoxicating . All the process of getting out Are all part of the journey which needs to be appreciated because you do so much of it out there anyway. Where it starts is hard to say . Gotta love it all. Thanks chris. P.s. Thanks Dave for all your great posts and the motivation you gave to me since we met at the seven seas gam.

[conachair]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

In all the times in Man's history I think now we have a good chance all our dreams can come true.

Now there's an interesting thought.

Do you think a few thousand years ago someone would dream of having a nice hut with plenty to eat and a big family to look after them when they reached the ripe old age of thirty? Or would they live more in the moment and possibly be happier for it?

Or is it a modern invention?

And if you're happy does it really matter?

Live the dream.....