Trapped In A Flurry!

It has been far too long since our last entry. We are still going to share our time in the Sea of Cortez in February and March before returning to San Diego, CA and taking the next steps in our adventures. For now I will skip the details of our difficult return trip, known as bashing, because it’s against the wind and prevailing currents. San Diego to La Paz took 12 days, the return trip took 19 days! We are going to share with you our current land adventures! Are you ready?

A number of times here on the blog we have talked about being free to embrace adventure, loosing the tethers of countless items and things so you can be free. We arrived back in the US on Easter Sunday, April 16th at about 0415. We checked in at the Customs Dock where we had to wait for our clearance. We decided to sleep. A couple hours later we were roused from our sleep to complete our Customs Check-In. We had to surrender about 45 eggs since they were not from the US, you know those eggs that were not washed or refrigerated? Yes, those! Why so many? Because the trip back was so rough, I did not cook like I did on the way down! Oh well, life goes on. After getting settled in the Marina we crashed out! Sleep felt amazing after our long journey north. We tried not to sleep all day so we could return to a bit of the normal awake in the day and asleep at night routine.

Several days after our return, we secured our boat once we were done checking things out from the rough return, we rented a car to drive the 680 miles back to our house in Redding, CA. It was time to see how the house faired through the winter and how the students and couple living at our home cared for it. Not many seem to take care of rental property the way an owner would. The trip was filled with feelings of dread for me. When we arrived at the house it was a relief to see all was in relatively decent order. The long wet winter that included a number of high wind storms left the exterior and roof of our house in need of attention. The yard was in desperate need of spring cleaning and grooming. We still had our office at the house and that was also our room.

Tim and I rolled up our sleeves and got started with our intent set to get the house on the market ASAP. After meeting with the realtor and getting our list of things to take care of, we finally listed 8 weeks later! Days and days of working over 12 hours to pack, store and then stage the house for photos and listing for me. Tim battled the heat clock every day to replace edge shingles and fix paint in windblown areas. We also finished the stair railing in the entry way. With the skills of a good friend Jim, we completed the upgrade vision we had to tie the door, stairs and entry.

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After finally getting the house on the market, Tim and I left on a much needed vacation to see family and friends in the Northwest. This was supposed to be my 50th birthday progressive party since we did not have the chance to plan a big party for me in Redding. This trip was cut short by taking care of some family business in Arizona for a week. Then right back to San Diego to hang out on the boat for a few weeks before our return to Redding for some appointments.

We did not anticipate being in Redding for such a long time and when we returned to the boat before leaving for Arizona the freezer and fridge had shut itself off! Oh gross! I will spare you the details and I will say it was days before the cabin smelled clean again!

We are again making some course changes with our lives. It was the sudden loss of both of our jobs that dropped us into this life altering adventure. Tim has the sea days he needs to apply and then test for his Captain’s License. When life has expenses and incomes are gone, there comes a point when income has to flow in again. Together we made the choice that in this next season I am going to find another teaching position so Tim will have the time and space to finish the tasks for his Captain’s License, change our corporations and finish other life details that are needed.

I agreed that I was to focus on getting the house ready for market in my areas and once the house was to market, my focus was to shift to finding work. If you are not a teacher or close friends with a teacher, teacher applications take HOURS to fill out! Some may take 10 hours! I spent the next 8 weeks filling out applications, applying for my teaching credentials in other states and keeping my pulse on 30 plus districts where I was willing to work. The locations had to be in a place close to ocean and moorage. I spent hundreds of hours in this process. Once I came to the place where I had applied for all the jobs available in our target areas and was waiting for calls to interview, I gave-up! Only a couple places responded to say positions were filled and I had one call for an interview from July that was scheduled for August.

August 1st came and something shifted! All of a sudden I had three interviews in one week! I received a call from a principal asking if I was still looking for work. I interviewed the next day and had a job offer the following day! From the three interviews: one I had not heard back from, one I had an offer from, and one that wanted me to spend a day with staff to be evaluated. The job offer in hand became my yes, it was the first application I submitted in my process, and it is the place we really wanted to live and have as our land base - Sequim, WA. My offer came late Friday afternoon and asked if I could be there by Monday, in two days’ time. It is a 700 mile drive, I went up on Monday and started New Teacher Orientation on Tuesday. While completing my training week we sold the house with a very short closing period, which we wanted.

After four days of training, I rushed back to Redding to complete what I could in three days’ time before my job formally started. Tim flew back as well. We worked like crazy for these days. We had many unique challenges such as attempting to get our 4-poster bed frame down the stairwell. We had to saw off the bottom of the legs. We added new stair treads the previous year and it raised the step just enough to keep us from being able to carry the headboard and footboard down.We signed our closing papers, and I left that evening to return to Sequim. Tim stayed on until the end of the week selling and donating furniture that we had decided we no longer wanted to keep. Followed by cleaning up the house so it looked great for the new owners. I left Tuesday and returned to Sequim where I can see Canada. Tim left the following Monday for San Diego where he can see Mexico. And the adventure continues…