Eastward Bound

“She always had that about her, that look of otherness, of eyes that see things much too far, and of thoughts that wander off the edge of the earth.”

-Joanne Harris

This quote resides on my user page for WordPress.  I honestly don’t remember where I first read it, nor do I remember when I put it there, but it still remains a quote that hits me in the hard spots.  You know?  There are some words, whether they are books or quotes or speeches, that hit you hard and make you remember all of the soft spots about yourself.  This one encompasses the enjoyment of wonder, of exploring and adventure.  The last few days have been full of travel and adventure, so I felt these words were perfect to continue my Women’s History Month quotes. 

We had a wonderful last few days in Arizona with Steve’s family and friends.  We got a very early start Thursday morning, taking his sister to the airport, and then making our way East!  We decided that we did not feel up to driving straight home like we did last time we drove back to the East coast, so we made sure to book a few Airbnbs on the trip.  We did about 8-9 hour drives, which turned into 9-10 hours with food, bathroom, gas, and pup stops.  However, we did visit and stay at some PRETTY COOL places.  

Our first stop was Midland, TX.  We stopped beforehand at the Monahans Sandhills State Park.  It was like a beach without the water.  Dunes after dunes of sand and blue skies.  We parked and took Buoy for a walk, and soon after we found a kite that had crashed into some of the weeds on the sand.  I ran over, pulled it out, and before we could say “Monahans” we were flying a kite!  Believe it or not, this isn’t the first time I’ve found a kite somewhere and fixed it up enough to fly.  A few years ago my dad and I saw one at the beach on top of a trash can.  Clearly, we grabbed it and propped it up correctly and boom!  We had a kite!  Steve and I had a blast flying it, and Buoy sure got her energy out running around the dunes.  We made our way back to the car, left the kite by the picnic tables with hopes of someone else getting as much joy out of it as we did, and headed to our Airbnb. It was a cute little cabin, but man were we cold!  Mind you, we were not ready for the 26 degree weather that was awaiting us the next morning.  When we are staying somewhere for a night, we just bring in the next morning’s clothes and our toothbrush, shampoo, and stuff like that.  So, I just grabbed shorts, a tshirt and my sweatshirt to throw on top.  Let’s just say that the next time, I made sure to grab warmer clothes!

Our second Airbnb was the COOLEST.  This was in Monroe, LA, and holy cow it was one of the most unique places we’ve stayed.  We stayed in a SCHOOL BUS!  Yes, you heard me right – a school bus!  It was completely renovated into a small living area.  Being people who lived on a boat, we knew we had to book this!  It was beautiful.  There was anything you could’ve needed right there, whether it be a coffee maker or a hot plate.  We didn’t need much, but we loved every second of it.  It was more spacious than the boat, and definitely more decorated.  We even got a few ideas for the boat!  Here’s the link to the bus if you want to see better pictures, but I’ll add some we took also! (https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/47791593?source_impression_id=p3_1647375227_PfH1v%2FYgVLtHaQ68)

We then made our way to Woodstock, GA which is where some of Steve’s family lives.  We got the chance to stay with them.  Having just visited for the wedding that was in Atlanta, it was nice to be back without them being so busy with wedding activities.  We had dinner, talked, played with the baby, cut my hair, and talked some more.  It was a wonderful visit.  Oh, and I turned 24 that day!

Our last driving day was from Woodstock to Garland, NC to stay with my parents for a few days.  We were packed and ready to go and as we were driving away our tire pressure warning came on.  We had hit a nail.  So, we pulled back into their driveway and began fixing our tire.  Luckily, we had already fixed the other back tire last fall, so we had a plug kit in the car.  If you don’t have one, GET ONE.  Thanks to Steve’s uncle, we got it done, blown back up, his aunt made us some coffee and hot chocolate so we could warm up, and then we left (again).  Finally making it to mom and dad’s was so nice.  We could breathe!  The surfboard had made it on the racks, we didn’t lose a tire, and we were home safe for a few days.

On Friday, we will be heading back to Norfolk to check out some short term rentals, then going back to Deltaville to fix our boat! We have a lot of work ahead of us, but in 2 weeks we should be back in Norfolk with the boat and have an idea if it will be seaworthy again. Things are coming together, just as we knew they would.

Thanks for reading along with our wild ride of life – it’s definitely an adventure. 

Happy sailing,

Skye