When a world pandemic keeps you away from your boat...

It’s been over 6 months since I last posted and I still don’t have much to say if you are looking for the exploits of two adventurous sailors, but as we near the end of 2020, I would like to update you on our whereabouts and plans.

We arrived home in June just in time for my mother’s 90th bday. We celebrated in true COVID style with a drive by birthday party attended in cars by a handful of her local friends and a family Skype call in the evening. It was actually quite fun!

We didn’t have a house to move back to and we didn’t feel it was safe to move in with mom under the pandemic conditions, so we quarantined in an AirBnB for two weeks in Narberth, Pa. While in quarantine, I went house hunting since it looked like we were going to be stuck in the U.S. for a while and we might as well have our own place to live and store our furniture, instead of paying for AirBnB’s and storage units. In July, we found a terrific little condo in Devon, Pa. and submitted an offer.

Settlement was scheduled for August so we took the time to try another form of adventure. In order stay safely to ourselves and at the same time visit friends and family outdoors, we opted for renting an RV! It’s a lot like a boat in some ways with all of the familiar systems (water pumps, propane tanks, batteries to maintain, pump outs, etc.) but not nearly as fun to maneuver.

We started out going west to visit cousins in Johnstown, Pa., the Lampe Marina Campground in Erie, Pa. and then to Niagara Falls in N.Y. From there, we headed toward the Finger Lakes and got to stay on the grounds of a few vineyards and breweries, as long as we sampled their products, which wasn’t a hardship. We got invited by our friends The Bacon’s, to spend a few days in the beautiful Adirondacks and then drove through New Hampshire and Vermont to visit more friends & family in Kennebunk, Maine. 

Two weeks into the trip, we got to visit our son, Campbell and his family in Natick, Mass. and our former boat partner’s, the McCarron’s on Salter’s Point, Mass. and our niece and her family in Greenwich, Connecticut. From there, we looped south to catch up with our son Drake, and almost got swept up in a tornado in Bear, Delaware.

Our last leg took us to various parts of Maryland including Chestertown (where we sawed our way into the Hall’s driveway), Queenstown (to visit with the Hansen’s & Sullivan’s), Oxford (to visit the Hoekstra’s) and finally, Worton (to visit the Wright’s). 

All in all, we found our land yacht to be quite an adventure and a great way to catch up with friends & family during a pandemic! When we returned, we finalized the purchase of the condo and settled in. While the islands were still closed, Andrew decided he needed to have surgery to address a nagging shoulder problem and I set out to entertain myself starting a few business adventures (website content writing and professional organizing). We are both keeping ourselves busy until early April, when Andrew’s shoulder should be ready to pull some strings again and we’ll head back to St. Lucia and our (much preferred) sailing yacht!!