Summer in the Heartland

* Columbus, Indiana *

It is hard for us to believe that we have been home 16 weeks!  Just watching the beans and the corn grow in our Hoosier state. 

It was over a year ago we left home on our adventure of a lifetime. The 10 months on board the Now or Never were everything we dreamed it to be and more. This was an adventure we had planned and dreamed of for a long time. The freedom, happiness, enrichment, history, and the incredible journey we were experiencing was so much fun and then it all came to an abrupt stop, and now we find ourselves home. Sixteen weeks and more to come.

They say things happen for a reason and we continue to reap the blessings of our pup knowing where we needed to be. In addition to most likely dodging a more critical situation with David and his heart condition had we continued cruising, Remy brought us home so Tasha could be with her mother during her last months.

Living with alzheimer’s for the past five years, we made the tough decision to set out on our journey with her slipping away day by day. While her memory faded from many of the day-to-day facts, she did remember almost to the end that we were on the river (water is water) with Remy, the pup she so loved. Our travels and ports were planned with access for regular trips home in mind for Tasha to visit.

Coming home in April, Tasha was able to spend these last few months with her Mom. Momma Sally left this world on July 5 with Tasha by her side. We will miss her presence in our lives as well as her laughter, smile, positive outlook on life, and endless abound of love. She was an incredible mother and a beautiful soul. If not for our pup and one open heart surgery, we most likely would be cruising the Chesapeake Bay and have missed this time we could never get back. Forever thankful for one golden retriever and God’s intervention leading us home.

Our whole crew is just starting to rebound from a very stressful and difficult few months. With this being another extremely hot summer, Remy is happy to be in the a/c at home. The Chesapeake has been hot, hot, hot. The rivers last summer were hot and home a/c is much cooler than boat a/c. This has proven to be a great opportunity to catch up with friends back home.

It seems like a lifetime ago we were cruising (did we mention just 16 weeks?). David and Tasha have made one quick trip to Melbourne to check on the Now or Never. With the abundance of twiddling thumbs David has been doing (his activity was very limited post surgery), searching online for boats has turned into a great hobby. Hindsight has us somewhat wishing had bought a different boat for the loop. As much as we love our aft deck and the space in our motor yacht, we really would prefer a raised pilot house trawler.

We had been contemplated selling the Now or Never as she sits in Florida all alone, in the heat, during hurricane season. Just as we were discussing the idea, David’s dream boat came on the market, we made an offer – a full price offer (who does that?), and spoke with David’s surgeon for a release to drive or at least to travel to South Florida. We worked in a visit to check the boat out in person and to make all the arrangements for a sea trial and survey while we were on our way to Melbourne. Concurrent with that we contacted a broker to meet with us on the Now or Never so that we could also list her. Everything fell apart on our trip down. Tasha was driving and David was on the phone with the seller and was informed that we may want to offer more than the full price as he was now entertaining other bids as well. Our crew wasn’t comfortable getting into a bidding war, nor comfortable with how this whole transaction was shaking out. Although we were only a couple of hours away from the destination, we walked away prior to meeting with him.

We took a deep breath, realizing we needed to slow down on the big decisions and concluded we have a very nice boat compared to many we have viewed. So we cancelled the broker for our boat and in turn began preparing to leave her for hurricane season (a new one for us). We just wish we didn’t have a boat sitting in the Florida tropics for months. However, even after our visit, David is still twiddling his thumbs, surfing every site for available boats, and has inquired about several other vessels. Stay tuned!

The captain is recuperating well and gaining strength each week. In addition to searching for boats and big bouts of boredom (he isn’t one who sits still), he is engrained in cardio physical therapy as well as physical therapy for his back which was his original ailment that helped us discover the heart issue. David is back to bike riding, 20+ miles at a time, and lots of home projects. He’s in better physical shape than he has been in years and feels better than he has in a long time.

The first dog is doing well also. We celebrated her 15^th birthday, quite the milestone for a large breed pup. We all would have rather celebrated on the boat with our boating community including a lot of 4- legged friends. It was her quietest birthday ever, the three of us, on the back deck (house, not boat), celebrating by splitting one steak (unfortunately the heart patient who had not had steak in 6 weeks was not very good at sharing with anyone). However, Remy was showered with gifts and treats from family and friends. We enjoyed a perfect evening to celebrate our girl.

We adopted her at one year old, from golden retriever rescue. We picked her up from her surrendering family and drove directly to the river and our boat. She has spent every boating season (April – October) and every July 1 birthday weekend until now on the boat. This was a very different birthday. Tasha spent most of the holiday weekend with her mother and David and Remy hung out enjoying their fireworks of lighting expired flares at the boat barn. They still work!

Remy has swam in the creek a few times, visited her friends at her old office, and is enjoying her cool naps after long walks.

Our days are filled with working on house projects that were not completed prior to embarking on our journey (we moved into our home just prior to casting off the lines). A few of the things we’ve been working on are power washing everything, sealing concrete, supervision of an irrigation system installation, mulching, edging, moving a section of fencing and painted the cyclone fence, tending to a yard and garden beds ignored for a year, and we’re planning to add a couple of trees and redo the back deck.

Tasha is trying to learn to cook healthier. It’s been a challenge. A low sodium, low fat, low sugar, low carb menu has proved difficult to create anything with any flavor. Neither of us is too crazy about our new menu and dining choices but we are learning to eat plain vegetables and beans 199 different ways. Gone are our appetizers, cheese in anything (or Tasha’s case everything), sauces and sweets. We both crave a good steak or burger more than once a month. It’s a learning curve. David has lost a good deal of weight, Tasha not so much.

We get regular updates from Melbourne on the Now or Never. Some are fellow cruisers taking a photo from the pub that overlooks our dock, some are friends of friends that check on her, and the dock guys could not have been better to work with. They all have made it a little easier to be away from our boat for so long. This has been very difficult for David not checking on the boat and working on projects. We are thankful for a boat washer and a underwater hull cleaner too. It takes a crew to keep her in shape – the tasks that our captain has always maintained (except the hull cleaning as that is new to us in the salt water).

We plan to get our Pursuit boat out of storage in the next couple of weeks and to splash her in some local waters to get our fix. Currently she is holding 125 gallons of gas from 2020 when we put her away and that needs to be used. We will probably put her back in the Ohio River and visit all of our old boating locations. Or maybe drag her up to the great lakes for a few days, who knows!

We miss being on our loop adventure very much but try not to think about it. Many of our friends are cruising Canada and the Great Lakes currently, what a perfect way to spend the summer!

Our cruising mates, Judy and Dave, aboard Freedom, who we parted company from in Melbourne when we came home, just crossed their wake and finished their loop on Lake Michigan north of Chicago at the end of July. We have enjoyed following their journey and celebrated with them from afar! They now sport the gold loop burgee. Congratulations to the Crew of Freedom!

We knew when we left on our journey coming home for an extended period may happen, as we were casting off the lines with a 14-year-old pup. While Remy is doing well, walking up to a mile a couple times a day, having play dates, and starting rumbles with neighborhood pups, she is still 15 years old. Her arthritis is more limiting, and she is struggling some with getting up on hard /slick surfaces. She is just a bit wobbly in her older age. We are evaluating her daily but thinking by the time the captain is cleared to return to the boat (mid-September), it will be too much for our senior pup. Slick surfaces, narrow walkways, boat steps, movement on the water, sounds like a disaster in the making in addition to finding and getting to vet care if needed. Most likely our journey is temporarily on hold to keep our girl at home for her senior life. She deserves it. We are so blessed to have a 15+ golden and are going to enjoy her as long as we can – right here at home.

We appreciate your continued thoughts and prayers; we really have had a challenging few months and can feel your support. We’ll keep you posted with a little bit here and there, but nothing is quite as exciting as our great loop journey! God Bless!

Cheers! 

David, Tasha, & Remy