“How is your trip going?” The XO asks. She is, of course, referring to the Great Loop. It’s not the first time she has asked this question.
“It’s your trip too,” I answer this time, knowing full well that it is my dream trip. But I couldn’t and wouldn’t do it without her. So that sort of makes it her trip too.
“Yeah, I know. But I wanna know about your part.”
“It’s great! Beats workin’.”
“Is it like you expected?”
“Hell no. Nothing about this trip is anything like I expected.”
“Like what?”
“Well for one thing, I thought we would have trouble finding places to stay, but that has never been the case. In fact, everywhere we go, we are usually alone, marina or anchorage.”

Alone in a marina.

“Maybe people are avoiding us,” the XO kids.
“Ha! It is odd though. We don’t usually run into the people we meet more than a few times. Maybe our pace is different,” I reason.
“Or our taste in ports is.”
“That’s true. We tend to avoid the popular places. Prefer a good working boatyard over a glitzy destination marina. There’s nothing better than a deserted out-of-the-way anchorage.”

Deserted anchorage.

“It’s the Great Loop. We can only go so far off the beaten path, but you’re right, we have different tastes than most boaters. What else is not expected?”
“I didn’t think it would be so cold. I though we would be fighting the heat. We’ve only air-conditioned twice and we’ve heated hundreds of times. I’m totally unprepared clothing-wise. I only brought one thermal shirt; I still have no gloves; I had to buy a wool hat and a fleece jacket, and keeping enough heating fuel on the boat is a problem.”

Heating fuel loaded onto my Lil Mule.

“The warmest day we’ve had so far had been way north, like somewhere in Michigan, and the coldest day was in the deep south near the Gulf of Mexico in Fairhope, Alabama. It actually snowed for the first time in decades!”

Snow in the deep south.

“What about you. What surprises you about this trip.” I ask.
“Besides the fact that fresh vegetables don’t last more than a day, I thought it would be more relaxing. Some of it is kinda frightening,” she answered.
“We do Summer trips on Ginger Lee all the time. It’s not so scary. Well, not all the time,” I countered.  Boating is, and always will be, somewhat dangerous. Stuff can and will happen, no matter how well you prepare.
“Ya but living on the boat has taken it to another level, but so far, most of the water stays out of the boat; I’m starting to relax a bit. In fact, by the time we get back home I’m gonna be so relaxed you’ll have to pour me into my job!” SOCOBO 12/16/17

Relaxing walk on a Gulf of Mexico beach.