Living on a boat, cruising from place to place at my own pace, is almost too good to be true.

If you’re wondering why I haven’t been blogging here lately, it’s because I’m busy trying to catch up with the blog posts I need to write about my big boat trip, which I started back in October. While I was traveling with two different friends — one for about 3 weeks in October and the other for about 3 weeks in December — I just couldn’t seem to get my head into writing mode. Days and days of my trip slipped by without me writing a word about my trip. This happened to me during my cruise in Spring 2022 with Capt John on the Intracoastal Waterway and although I promised readers I’d write up the missing days, I never did. I don’t want to make or break promises about this trip. I just want to write it up.

You can find what I’ve written so far in my Great Loop blog, MyGreatLoopAdventure.com.

Why I Blog

Understand that I blog, in part, to document what’s going on in my life so I can revisit those times in the future. I started this blog in October 2003 — yes, it’ll be 20 years old this year — and it has become my personal wayback machine, providing me with hundreds of true stories covering nearly 1/3 of my life. I can go back and not only read about a specific trip or day in my life, but also about what I was thinking of feeling about politics, current events, and personal matters, such as my work or divorce.

So when I neglect to post in this blog, I’m neglecting my duties as chief documentarian of Maria Langer. I’m creating gaps in my record, empty patches where days and weeks and related events existed only to be forgotten.

Who cares? you might ask. You’re nobody. No one gives a shit about what you did or saw or thought.

Here’s a newsflash for folks thinking something like that: We’re all nobodies. And we’re all somebodies. It’s all in your state of mind. (Also: If you don’t give a shit about what I write here, what the hell are you doing here reading it? Get lost.)

Anyway, it’s important to know why I blog to understand what I blog. And why neglecting my blog disappoints me.

What I’m Up To Now

So what’s keeping me so busy that I’ve been neglecting this blog? As the previous post here indicates, it’s not Twitter. (Frankly, the changes at Twitter have made it so distasteful that I’m glad to avoid it and get hours of my week back. Jeez, what are we thinking wasting so much time on social media? Want to wake up and smell the coffee? Read chapters Six and Seven of Johann Hari’s book, Stolen Focus: Why You Can’t Pay Attention — and How to Think Deeply Again.)

I’ve been on my winter travels and they’re very different from the RV trips I’ve been taking to travel south for the past 10 years.

This winter, I’m on my boat, which you may have read about elsewhere in this blog. I sold my helicopter in May and bought a trawler in September. In October, I had the boat shipped to Chicago where I put it on the Great Loop. I’ve spent a total of 72 days/nights on the boat since then, traveling south and east, and I am totally loving it.

My buddy boat friends shot this photo of Do It Now as we headed out of Carrabelle, FL, the other day around dawn.

I really think that 20 years of RVing prepped me for living on a boat. I wrote about that in a lot of detail back in November after the first three+ weeks of this trip, when I went home to take care of responsibilities. Since then, I traveled for three weeks with a different friend and have since traveled for nearly a whole month by myself.

I think going solo is what has really made me fall in love with this type of travel and lifestyle. After so many years of my life spent compromising with a difficult partner on so many things, it’s great to be able to make all of my own decisions. While it’s nice to share a trip with a friend, it’s not as nice when that friend has expectations that aren’t in line with mine — or maybe even the reality of this lifestyle. It’s very frustrating to travel with someone who is perpetually disappointed when you’re having the time of your life.

Right now, it’s before dawn on a Thursday afternoon. I’m in Steinhatchee, FL, at a surprisingly affordable marina. I arrived several days ago and had originally planned to leave yesterday, but weather is on its way so I — and a boat I’ve been traveling with for a few days — have decided to stick around. The marina has a great staff, three restaurants within walking distance, and a grocery store and hardware store I can get to on my bike. I’ve made friends with a few of the other boaters waiting here for the weather to pass, including another solo traveler in a boat even smaller than mine.

The next leg of my trip is long — 82 nautical miles! — and is mostly on the Gulf of Mexico. The weather we’re waiting out isn’t severe like thunderstorms, but it is windy and wind generates waves. Although my boat can handle ocean travel, there’s nothing pleasant about traveling 80+ miles in waves that are two or more feet high. So we’ll wait until the Gulf calms down, probably on Sunday morning, and make our run then.

What awaits me at my next stop? An anchorage in a town known for its manatee population in the winter. I’ll have to use my dinghy to get to shore to walk around. I’ll stay a day or two and then continue down to Tarpon Springs. After that, I’ll be in the Tampa area where I can hop on the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway and not have to worry so much about weather and waves for a while.

I have no set plans. I have no reservations. All I have is a comfortable and seaworthy boat, access to the information I need to plan out the next few days of my life, and a credit card. What else does a person need for adventure?

A Home on the Water

I’ll say it here — if I haven’t already said it elsewhere — I’m enjoying this so much that I’m starting to think about becoming a full-time live aboard. That’s a person who lives on a boat instead of “on the dry” in a “dirt home.”

I’ve already met a few liveaboards on this trip. My favorites are Kenny and Rhonda in a big Kadey Krogen trawler. I don’t know how long they’ve been cruising full time, but it’s been at least a few years. They’re knowledgeable, they’re comfortable, they’re happy, they’ve come up with a “formula” that includes marinas and anchorages and isn’t as expensive as one might think. This part of the country is perfect for living and traveling aboard a boat full time: south in the winter, north in the summer, in between in spring and autumn.

(I think people who live on a boat in a marina are missing the point just as much as folks who live in an RV in an RV park or piece of land. Your home can move; why not move it? If you’re going to stay in one place all the time, you don’t need a home that can move.)

So far, I’ve passed too many places too quickly; I’d love to go back and see some of them again with time to really see them. The idea of traveling along the route of this 6000+ mile circle, possibly for years, is incredibly appealing to me. Every day different, always meeting new people, always doing new things. I wish I could have started doing this when I was younger, but it’s not too late to do it now.

(Yes, Do It Now is the name of my boat. When I think of the years I wasted in a dead-end relationship with someone too afraid to take risks and have fun, I cringe. If you want to do something with your life, do it now.)

Would I do it in this boat? Probably not. I’d need something a bit bigger, one with decent guest quarters and a place I can set up as a workstation for doing my own thing. I’m thinking of something a few feet longer and maybe a little wider than this one. But I’m not going to start looking now because then I’ll want to buy what I find and I’m not ready for that. Not yet.

Anyway, while my house-sitter is dealing with what seems like a never ending winter of snow and frozen fog — including several days when the water was shut off because the water company found a leak in their lines — I’m hanging out on the water in the sun with new friends, planning my next adventure.

And I’m starting to wonder why I need to go home at all.