Hanging out in Stuart, FL

     For the last 3 months, we have called Stuart our "home away from home," and we have come to like this little town (population 18,000 or so), located on the east coast of Florida (right on the Atlantic Ocean) between Palm Beach to the south and Fort Pierce to the north.  It's nickname is the "Sailfish Capital of the World," which is rather self-explanatory (factoid compliments of marina neighbor and friend Robin Evans, who also happens to be my personal photographer).  Anyway, Art & I have noticed a few things different from life in California--you don't see so many tattoos, and it is the normal body parts that get pierced; pants seem to fit better here and I haven't seen any screaming pink (or orange) hair highlights.  Another big difference--there aren't as many fast food or chain restaurants.  Instead, there are a lot of locally owned and mom-and-pop eateries with wonderful things on the menu (good-bye waistline, hello big butt).

     The climate here is usually warm and mild, but all that went to hell after we arrived on Jan 1. Supposedly the average rainfall is 58" a year, but I think most of it has fallen since we arrived.  It has also been the coldest winter ever, so our suntans are not up to Florida standards and I have yet to put on a bathing suit or dip my toes into any body of water that does not qualify as a bathtub.  Worst part has been the wind--ohmigod, some days there are white caps in the marina!

     In spite of the above comments, we have had a good time here.  Every day we see all kinds of wildlife and the plants and flowers are breath-taking.  Here are a few photos of what we like about being here:

 Enjoying Stuart

My favorite place.

Banyan trees forming a canopy over the road.

Some of our neighbors at the marina.

Marriott Digs

So here we are safely docked at the Marriott Resort Hutchinson Island Marina (which is actually in Stuart, Florida).  The photo above shows the whole Marriott property--and it is huge!  The marina is that white stuff dangling out into the water on the left side of the photo.  As you can see, there is water everywhere--the Intracoastal waterway is on the left and the Atlantic Ocean is on the right side of the photo.  The property is over 200 acres, has an 18-hole golf course and a private beach (and some pretty cool outdoor bars by each of their two pool areas).  Best part is they provide a tram to get you anywhere you want to go on the property.  I pretty much assumed I would be taking the tram from the boat to the bar to the beach to the bar to the boat--pretty cool round trip wouldn't you say?  And, of course, that would have included drinking something with an umbrella in it!  In reality, the need to exercise our chubby bodies won out and Art and I are walking all around the property instead of taking the tram (that sure put a damper on my bar hopping ideas!).  Anyway, it is really nice place to chill until we are ready to head up north and begin our journey.  More on the local area (Stuart) in my next post.

Our boat is tied to (behind) the fifth pole counting from the left.  View is looking West across the Intracoastal at sunset.

The End of "The Beginning..."

While everyone we knew was thinking about shopping for Christmas presents, we were taking the concept of "boxing it up" to a whole new level. It is a challenge to suddenly realize you are going to be "homeless:" no place to put your "stuff," and no permanent address. And so we boxed up everything we owned (except what we were taking with us by car to Florida) and put it in storage in Fresno near the kids (including one other car).

Our journey to Florida was not going to be a straight line. We had decided to drive from Fresno to Art's family home in Iowa for Christmas. As you might guess, we had lots of snowy, icy weather there and stayed a day or two longer than

we had planned. Florida was sure looking good about this point!

After leaving Art's parents, we had terrible driving conditions in Iowa/Illinois--lots of snow and ice, and cars sliding off the road or banging into one another. It was rather eye-opening (and a little entertaining watching all those fools skid into the ditches), but once we got to Kentucky, things got better, save for an L.A. style traffic jam outside of Chattanooga which cost us a couple of hours. After that, we cruised into Atlanta, then into Melbourne, Florida and finally into Stuart.

At last we were united with our new boat. Once on board, we moved the boat to the Marriott Marina on Hutchinson Island here in Stuart--boy is it great--and that will be my next topic.

(The top photo was taken of Art's parent"s back yard. Art & I are standing on their back deck in the second photo.)

The Beginning...

     Our story begins last summer when we first got serious about retiring. It was our intention to hang it all up in March of this year when Art qualified for Medicare and we would be free from employer-based health insurance (my employer, by the way). We listed our house in Lake Forest in July thinking it would take at least 6 months to sell in the current economy, but as you have already guessed, it sold in 2 weeks! We scrambled to find an apartment to hang out in until March, and then found ourselves working fewer hours on fewer days and finally decided to just hang it up and retire, on the spot, right now! (Good decision, I might add.)

    Doing the Great Loop had always been part of our plans, but there was a lot more to do to make it happen, so we kicked it into high gear. Art spent many hours on the Internet researching boats, and after 2 trips to Florida and much gnashing of teeth over money, we decided to say, "Oh what the hell," and just do it. We bought the boat in November (in Stuart, Florida). It is a 45' Ocean Alexander sedan, and here she is:

 (Photo taken by Robin Evans)

     At this point (November), the boat was in Florida and were were still in our little apartment in Aliso Viejo, but we were pulling things together as fast as we could and that will be my next post.

The Great Loop

As many of you already know, Art and I are about to take off on a 5,500-plus mile journey around the waterways of the Eastern half of the U.S., known as the "Great Loop". (See map on right.) It will take us a year or more to complete this journey depending on where we decide to stop along the way, weather, boat breakdowns, repairs, and on and on, and our schedule will be decided as we go (isn't retirement great for some things, like doing what you want, when you want to?). I hope to use these pages to keep you up to date on our travels as well as share our experiences along the way, but first I need to fill you in on how this all came about.