An Official Full-Time & a Part-time LiveAboard

November 23, 2011

Happy 1st Birthday Locklan Tacktor! Lots of Loves Lil' Man!

What a short night & long busy day! We both are exhausted, but elated...

This is a step toward our plan of becoming full-time live-aboard cruisers.

We still have a ways to go...but it is a step!

Last night, right after Dean got home from work we hooked up our 5th wheel & said goodbye to our home of the past 2 1/2 years...Trader Village RV Park. As my Daddy (& original Crewmember) says...

"Off to the next chapter of the Calkins Saga!!"

Dean drove the truck towing the 5th wheel & I followed in the loaded 'zip-zip' car. We stopped at a truck stop to give it a good bath in the hopes it looks appealing for it's next loving owner. Then we began the long slow trek of almost 300 miles to Kemah, Texas. We arrived wee hours of the morning...what usually is a 4 1/2 hour drive from Arlington...turned into a gas guzzling but uneventful 6 1/2 hours! We parked the rig in the Walmart Moble Hotel Parking Lot for the night so that we could arrive at the Park N Sell lot during daylight hours. Dean squeezed into the packed 'zip-zip' car & we went to open up the boat. He takes such good care of me!! After we unloaded cooler bags & necessities onto Our Way Too! I then drove him back & dropped him off to sleep in the 5th wheel for the night. We didn't feel comfortable leaving it there without one of us, so he stayed & sent me back to the boat.

After a very short night of sleep, I woke up to Dean calling me before the alarm went off. He was woke up by all the early morning shoppers and was in need of a bathroom! ;-) Well I hopped out of bed & made coffee to fill the mugs, then off I went to join up with Honey! We had a busy day ahead of us.

We grabbed a really unnourishing breakfast of MickyD's then headed to park the rig with 4-sale signs. A very emotional moment for both of us as it has been a beautiful home for us for the past 10 years, something we picked out & specifically had built...our first "Home" together. It breaks our hearts to have to sell it, but it is for the best. When we are cruising...it won't be good for it to sit in storage. It's best that someone is using and loving it as we have. It is beautiful!

We pulled into our storage & began unloading all our worldly goods into the storage unit. Then we took it to the Park N Sell lot just across the road. We put up the 4-sale signs on it and finally after a couple hours, headed to the boat. Now it is official...I am a full-time liveaboard on Our Way Too! Sadly tho, Dean is still only a part-time liveaboard. This is going to be the hardest part of our decision to move forward toward our "dream". Dean will be commuting to Kemah on the weekends until further notice. I am hoping to find work in this area and it will save us alot of $$ toward our cruising kitty in the long run, especially once we sell the 5th wheel. (If you know anyone interested...send em our way!)
Say lots of prayers for us...this isn't going to be easy. Just thinking about him leaving Sunday evening back to Arlington for his work week...I already miss my Honey & Best Friend!! :-(

We grocery shopped for our Thanksgiving dinner, unloaded vehicles, organized, put things away & settled in to a quiet evening relaxing...

Time for a Shiner!

Happy!!

OK Honey...

 & watching a movie onboard Our Way Too!

ps...just an after-thought...
We call our 5th wheel our "rig" or "it" or "coach" in the RV- ing world.
We call our boats/ships/yachts/power or sailing vessels..."her" or "she".
Interesting!