It has been a while since I posted. I have been busy.
  I met Kelly last year while I was going to upholstery school. She lived on Mary lee with me a short time. She also ended up out in the semi truck for 10 months. We have now rented a place and she is not only going to upholstery school, but is being taught to sew in one of the furniture factories.                                 

                                    I grew my first beard in many years.

We have now got a place to sew.                                                                     

                                       Hurricane Florence helped damage Mary Lee. I looked at prices for unstayed masts. Fixing her may cost more than She is worth. I have time to ponder whether to fix her or buy a true deep water sailboat on the west coast. More on that later.                                 

                                     The blog is not seeing any action because I am out in a truck full time and facebook is handy.         

I should mention that Kelly and I did take some sailing lessons. Sadly Kelly does not have picture taking skills. But I do😉

I am sitting here pondering all the ideas I have had for returning to full time work. My brain still thinks my body can do everything it was capable before my back injury. There is never any question of being able to figure out how to do things. The problem is finding something that I can do continuously without hurting myself. Right now I am driving truck. It hurts me a lot. There is no more fun in doing it. Kelly is going to start real estate classes next month. I will have to drive for a while longer.

  I have some ideas for something lucrative I can do. We live in an area that is about to grow. There is a living to be made here. We both really like Oriental, NC. and will most likely move Mary Lee there for the summer. We are going to forego a bunch of the interior upgrades for now. I need to do canvas soon and bottom paint. Then we will just sail her on my  days off. I am excited to finally start sailing her. There is a trip planned for this next season. I want to make it happen.

Sailing lessons almost complete. Last day of ASA 103 starts in 6 hours. ASA 101 was quite a learning experience. We are taking lessons in Oriental, NC. At Bow to Stern.

We both really like the area. The instructors have been excellent! Taking these lessons at Bow to Stern has been a great experience.

Kelly has really done well. The end of day three has left me sunburned and tired. Kelly is also wore out.

We laughed about the struggle to keep from going to bed before the sun even set. But the sun did set before we did. Tomorrow is March 31st. The anniversary of me getting hurt. How ironic that it is the last day of our sailing lessons. It has been quite the battle to get to this place in my recovery. I am finally ready to start sailing Mary Lee....yay!!!

We are set to take sailing lessons at the end of the month. A.S.A.. Three levels available. We will take 101 and 103 this month. 104 in April.
   Mary Lee will come out of the water soon after. New bottom paint and some changes. Adding more batteries. Building the booth and finishing upholstery.
  Once back in the water....we are thinking of moving her to Oriental. We both like the area better. We will spend my "home time" sailing and wrapping up the little projects. Canvas being one of the necessary needs.
 

I have a partner in crime(so to speak). I have been dating Kelly for over 6 months

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She and I are going to tag team the rest of the preparations on Mary Lee.

I will continue driving truck. I will drive three weeks and have a week to work on boat projects each month. This is mostly unheard of in trucking. They usually want you to be out 30 days and take three days off.  We plan to head south at the end of this upcoming hurricane season.

It will be a very busy time.  As we get rolling on projects, I will try to post the upgrades as they are completed. Mary Lee will come out of the water soon

It has been a very busy time. Several very good things have happened in the last few months. I was on the fence about selling Mary Lee and buying another boat in Seattle.

I have been out seeing things. This is Oriental, NC. I am back in a semi truck full time. I was just salaried at a very good wage. I also have some part time driving jobs with the van that I am looking forward to.

The move back west is imminent. The boating adventure was never about the east coast. It was about the South Pacific. Also sailing the Alaskan inlets for a summer. I will be pulling Mary Lee out of the water soon. The end of next hurricane season will see everything done and she will be ready to travel. I am excited. I finally have recovered from the back injury enough to move forward with the original plan. The one I made when I first bought Mary Lee. FINALLY!!! So....there will be quite a bit of posting very soon. I will have to hire help to do some of the work....I will be too busy to do it all myself.