Time for us to upgrade

When we started all of this sailing we were so excited to get our boat. She has been awesome and has sailed well. We have upgraded and fixed so many things. She is exactly the way that we needed her and she has done a fantastic job of taking care of us. She is a strong boat. We had decided thatwe would upgrade in about 4 years and then again in 6 years. The 6 year mark would be our exit strategy when we quit our jobs, sell everything and go live on a boat.

After our sail in the Bahamas we decided that New Girl was great for us on Flathead lake for a weekend sail. But taking her for extended periods of time was hard. The items that we were missing and we wish that we had were double sinks, refrigeration, a head with a door for privacy, an inboard engine for ocean crossings, a bed that we could sleep together in, and something just a little taller in the cabin for Mark.

With this wish list in mind we started our search for a boat that would fit the bill. We love our Catalina. We have a friend who has the Catalina 320  and we toured his boat. It was exactly what we were looking for. It had all of the items on our list and more.


Internet shopping is so incredible. You are able to go all over the world and shop for a boat with out even leaving your living room couch.  The boat that we found is in Ft. Lauderdale. We asked lots of questions and made sure everything was to our liking. Mark contacted one of the forums that he reads and asked if someone would be willing to go take a look at the boat for us just to make sure that everything was true to what was listed. A guy over there said that he would be glad to check it out for us. After he did a walk through he emailed Mark back with what he saw. We made our offer, they countered, we countered and we  came up with a price that was an incredible deal for us. We then hired a surveyor to do the inspection and it came out pretty well. There are a few things that we will have to fix but that is to be expected with a pre-owned boat. It is the same make as New Girl but 5' longer and about 3' wider. What a difference that makes for the boat size over all and the livability.

We did a search on the internet about the history of the boat and found that it has had 2 owners. The first owner had it named Lanai. Below is the pronunciation and the name meaning.

Lanai

Island in Hawaii

Lānaʻi  is the sixth-largest of the Hawaiian Islands and the smallest publicly accessible inhabited island in the chain. It is also known as Pineapple Island because of its past as an island-wide pineapple plantation.

 Pronunciation and 2nd meaning        also pronounced La nah ee.

 

The boat is now named Endurance. I am not thrilled with this name and would love to return it's given name. What are your thoughts?

 

We are super excited for this change! We are going to be headed to Ft. Lauderdale at the end of December for a couple of weeks for our maiden voyage to the Keys. We will let you know how it all goes and send lots of pictures of the new boat.

Here is a link to the video tour of the boat. Enjoy! The new boat!

Take a ride on the Amtrak

It is Friday morning Sept. 26th. Two o'clock in the morning is not an hour that anyone should be waking. Especially me. I had gone to bed at midnight the night before. I started packing a week prior, doing laundry along the way so that everything that I needed was clean. Of course the day before I had gotten a little full in my huge pink duffel bag so I unpacked to see what I had. Okay everything back in and more on top. Can I get it zipped now with out having it rip out? I put myself on the bathroom scale and now me with my bag. Holy crap that thing is super heavy. Good thing I am not flying, 62 pounds.
The train is running late. I have checked the schedule on the Amtrak app. Only a half an hour though so not too bad. Mark helps me with my luggage and gets me loaded on the train. I am on the upper deck and I end up getting 2 seats for myself. Sweet! The longest i have been on the train was for an hour to the Isaac Walton Inn in Glacier. I am a little nervous of how it all works so Mark was a sweety pie and gets me all situated, luggage on, cooler and supplies (blanket and pillow) at my seat. Hugs and kisses and I am off.
The upper level is dark. Everyone on board has settled down and gone to sleep. I am a little wired with excitement but soon the small 2 hours of sleep that I had gets to me and I drift off.
Exploring the train sounds fun. I go back car to car. There are 4 other cars the same as mine, a dining car right in front of me, a couple of sleeper cars, the lounge car that has tables and benches like a restaurant booth and the observation car. The lounge car has the snack bar downstairs and I go down to grab a fork and spoon for the goodies I brought in the cooler.
The people that you meet along your adventures are really the best part of traveling. Mark and I always say that you get out of it what you put into it. So I start talking to the gal seated across from me. Her name is Karolyn. She is in her mid 60's, from Seattle, was in the Military for over 25 years and is on her way to go.  Chicago to golf in a PGA tournament with some famous people that I don't recognize by name.
We spend a lot of time getting to know each other, she has a ton of stories and she is an absolute riot, she has everyone in our car around us laughing hysterically. 
She and I spend the rest of our trip together as bosom buddies. We have a few cocktails, dinner togethether in the dining car and after that  we end up in the lounge car with our dinner mates. It is loud in the car with raised voices. There are lots of young men here on the the way to North Dakota to work on the oil rigs.
We retire to our seats to settle in for the night. The sleeping is uncomfortable but it could be a lot worse with only one seat. In the morning I awake to find my cell phone has been stolen out of my lap. I search for it through all of my things but in the end it is never found. People can sure be mean at times. Luckily after being in the Bahamas on a boat I have learned to unplug and kick back. I have used my phone and electronics so much less that I am not really distraught. I find it freeing.
Karolyn is in an uproar for me. She says if it were her phone she would have them stop the train right now. No one gets on or off and we dont move again till she gets it back. She is calling her friends and telling them that I should be in a panic. She is having a melt down for me!
Have we become so dependent on this technology that is at our fingertips that we need it 24/7? I don't enjoy being at everyones beckon call. I want a slow paced life and less materialistic things. It just makes you think.
The train arrives in Portage, WI and Mark's mom and dad are there to pick me up. The train is 9. 5 hours late. They ran out of food and alcohol. The boys going to ND drank 8 cases of beer that night. In Rugby, ND a freight train in front of us hit a car on the tracks and killed the driver. That created a crime scene and we waited 5 hours for the tracks to be cleared.
One hour before my stop a man has a seizure and hits his head on a table as he goes down to the ground rendering himself unconscious.  Karolyn goes to help him out with her medical training in the Military. We stop the train to wait for an ambulance.
I wasnt in a big hurry and I had no deadlines.  I feel sympathy for the 2 people that were killed and  injured.
I fall asleep in he 1.5 hour car ride back to the house.
This was a big adventure. My next one will begin again on a bus ride to Gunflint, MN with 45 ladies. Thats a lot of hot flashes!