Our home is where our monkey is. Bonzai, our constant travel companion,
sits here in our tent on one of our road trips.
|
Wednesday our realtor placed a sign in front of our house
at about noon. By 4 pm we had two competing offers, and by the
following afternoon, we had a purchase contract. If there
are no glitches, we will be houseless by April 30.
We had two showings and two offers on the first day of listing the house. |
After we bought Leilani
it was becoming apparent that once again we needed to have a serious discussion
about whether we should continue with both a boat AND a house, or if it was finally
time to give up on the home base here in North Carolina. The subject of maintaining
a house and a boat is a commonly debated subject among people who sail “full-time”. Some will argue that it is best to have a home
base as something to come back to, particularly, because you need a break away
from the boat at times. A home base provides some comfort and a familiar place
to plant your feet back on soil. The other camp says, “sell the house, sell
everything, free yourself”. There are those who argue something in
between with the option to rent the house, or to have family and
friends live there.
Porch repair demands seemingly endless attention. |
There is something satisfying about repair. |
Now ready for painting! |
We adopted the “keep the house as a base camp” plan when we became
“voluntarily unemployed”. It made a lot of sense to have a home base as we jumped
into this cruising life. As the initial stages of the cruising life were dominated mostly by working on the boat, the house provided the convenient base from which
we could work in a boatyard or a local slip. Anyone who has tried
to live on a boat or in a house in the middle of a renovation knows what a relief
it is to get away from the chaos to take a shower and relax. After our various shakedown excursions
and more extended travels, coming back to this old house was welcoming and a comforting luxury.
Replacing siding can be easy or hard. This section was more difficult than it looks. |
Bet you haven't seen a fireplace like this. Just a bit of caulk and paint was all it needed. |
We learned that having a house, particularly an old house
here in the harsh southern coastal environment, also meant that when we were
not on the boat, we needed to work on the house. It did not matter if it was a
boat trip or a road trip that took us away, when we returned to the house, this
old gal wanted attention. Of course, many others might simply open the wallet
and hand over the cash to have someone else do the work. We chose to do much of
the work ourselves partly because we tend to be fearless about what jobs we
can tackle (whether we are good at them or not can be debated) and partly because we
were appalled by how much it costs to have someone do the work, often poorly.
So, it became a cycle of “work on the boat, travel by boat, return, work on the
house, take a road trip, return, REPEAT”.
Tracy sewing new helm cushion on Leilani. |
"Some days you are the bug, some days you are the windshield" - Steven Tyler.
A common view on the road in Texas.
|
Most recently, our view of all of this began to
change. We truly love this old house that we have owned for about 25 years. It has
“character” but demands a lot of attention, not unlike a boat. We were becoming
slaves to the labor demanded by both the house and the boat. It was exhausting. Friends and family have
often expressed the false view that we were immersed in a glorious, adventurous
life. Yes, our life fit that view some of the time, but certainly not as much as we
wanted. The joy of owning the house was dwindling as we began to realize the
house owned us.
We also wanted to simplify our life. We did not want to be owned by our belongings. And finally, we came to the realization that we weren’t ready to settle down- not here, not now and not as far in the future we could see. Having a house in North Carolina meant that we would have to come back at some time, and that might not always be where we wanted to be. We wanted to have the true freedom to go where we wanted, when we wanted and with less baggage.
We also wanted to simplify our life. We did not want to be owned by our belongings. And finally, we came to the realization that we weren’t ready to settle down- not here, not now and not as far in the future we could see. Having a house in North Carolina meant that we would have to come back at some time, and that might not always be where we wanted to be. We wanted to have the true freedom to go where we wanted, when we wanted and with less baggage.
What is next? Part of the answer is obvious – we have to
move out of the house before the end of April. And there is a lot to do before
then…a lot to do.
The potential buyers have suggested that they may want “everything
in the house, including the dishes”, which will reduce the need to sell most items
at a yard sale or to store them. We still expect to have a yard sale, donate
many other items, and store a limited (hopefully very limited) number of things.
Living room staged for prospective buyers. |
Farmhouse table made from heart pine reclaimed from Georgia barn. |
Fireplace and reading room all pretty. |
We will soon be houseless, but not homeless. Our home will
be Leilani. We will pack up the
remaining gear to transport to Leilani in Brunswick. We expect to depart from
Georgia before the first of May if possible. The remaining details about how
all that will come together will come later.
Bye for now. Please let us know what you think. Comment
below.
Hope you all will post your comments here. Checking now how this works.
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful new adventure this will be for you both. All the hard work getting the house ready to sell and now just fun, fun, fun traveling. I will really enjoy keeping up with you and are so glad you have this blog so we can all share in your travels. Enjoy every moment!
ReplyDeleteThank you Claudia! We are excited about this next adventure and look forward to sharing with everyone. We love to hear from you.
Delete....I have the same urges as you believe me !.....good luck on your journey
ReplyDeleteThanks for commenting. Come back for more postings as we transition to the boat life.
ReplyDelete