Sailor? Or Trailer?

SweetHaven

Our Travel Star

Seven months ago I recall sitting in the hot tub, when we decided to buy our boat. We were settling in to our latest posting, however unhappy we were being stuck out in the woods on Whidbey Island we knew our time there was limited and we had planned everything up to this point... But now what? 

With some of the money we made on the move across country we bought our 27 foot travel trailer and had accomplished a few successful trips on it and discovered we really enjoyed a life of travel, now we were faced with some decisions. All along we said we would save up, buy a sailboat and live on it, travel great distances and see new and amazing places if we could but not wanting to over step our bounds we'd stick with the, "just live on a boat" part for starters.

Of course we received a mountain of backlash from our families, which as much as we don't want to admit has an affect on us, it does and puts little nuggets of doubts in our minds. But through our travel in the trailer we knew we wanted to live simpler, smaller, and travel ready and a trailer/motorhome does that too. Of course our tiny travel star was not suited to full-time RVing, so we started browsing the RV lots and found our motorhomes were out of our price range and then we'd have to tow a vehicle behind it for transportation when we stopped at a place. But we liked that everyone would have freedom to lie down, sit at the table, go to the bathroom while on the road, but it was out of our reach, at least a new one was and a used one had too many problems that we didn't want to tackle. We fell in love with the massive, beautiful fifth wheels. They are like a house and so nice inside, but we all still needed to be strapped in the truck while we travel, it is something huge to tow, which I am a bit uncomfortable with backing up in (but that skill can always be learned), and our truck is not powerful enough to haul a bigger trailer so that would mean a new truck. 

We got to the point where we were ready to trade in the truck and buy a new fifth wheel, but the idea of our sailboat was always in the back of our mind. Were we really not going to do it? Or at least try? We've been dreaming about it for so long and now that we were here, actually faced with it, were we going to wimp out? Obviously you know the choice we made because three weeks later we had found and bought our boat, but the idea of trailer living is always a standby for us, maybe down the road, maybe if we ever get to the point where we can do both that would be great... the roaming McShanes by land or sea.

When we approached the family with our two choices of course they weren't thrilled with either option, "so we're either going to be trailer trash or wharf rats?" Of course we use those labels jokingly and only when we talk about ourselves, we know the RV lifestyle and the cruising lifestyle isn't as those derogatory terms suggests. Either of these options opens up a whole new world of possibilities and an alternative lifestyle that we long for, something different, anything different...

So we boat our boat despite the parent-induced-nuggets-of-fear niggling in our brains, we'll fix it up and make it our own. We haven't dared to plan farther down the road than this summer, we'll take it a step at a time and see where we end up. You never know if you don't try, right?... Right.