Ship's Blog 2017 Planet Earth

[Wayne Johnson]

  This is for all who venture out away from the nest. I am using a large font because it is easier for those of us beyond sweet 16.  I have always been a sailboat kinda guy. I have lived in campers, motor homes and boats. I found that the ultimate survivalist is anyone who can live aboard a boat completely detached from the sight of land. This is where the real survivor in you comes out.

  People don't usually think of the ocean like it was a desert but actually a desert is much more easy to survive.

  A motor home offers some jostling around so you must prepare your "things" when you drive. But what I experienced in a boat was a constant jostling in a manner similar to riding a bucking horse.

  Imagine, every time you hear a weather report warning of a storm, you immediately think that maybe this time you will sink and be left treading water hundreds of miles out at sea in the middle of the night.

  Believe me, a breakdown on the highway in some small town is not so bad when you think of your waterborne brothers and sisters daily life.

  I welcome this life as I am older now and don't quite have the body for the bucking horse, but I can manage to ride a "walking horse".

  We will talk again soon.

[Wayne Johnson]

  Hello my friends,

I am so happy to see people joining my little spaceship. I am sorry I have not been here for a while. I have been preparing a place worthy of a refit for our Shasta. Also I have been burning honeysuckle vines to prepare for our garden. My wife is from Colombia and is new to all of this, garden and RV alike. She is like a child with new adventures possible and that makes me like a child. "And that's saying a lot for an old dog like me."

  But I really want to tell all of you that you make people feel welcome and also feel as though we are a family of like minded souls who just want to enjoy the next adventure.

  I have decided to do a strength rebuild of our rolling cottage. This means a "grid down" capability on a thinking man's budget. There are so many things we can do for ourselves with involving our bank account. We just need to go back to a simpler way of viewing a situation and solution.

I would like to give cudos to Pat Daly, Lakota and Jimco. You guys have the history that most just read about and I am happy to be in the same discussions with you.

[Dawn Michelle]

Oh yeah, that stuff was harsh, but I have an associative fondness for it now :-)  Brings to mind grapes you plucked from overhead for dessert, women in babushkas who plucked at my ripped jeans and twittered, sun-drenched beaches, circle dances until late in the night with too much of that stuff finished with ouzo, a particular golden-eyed boy who didn't speak english...

[Dawn Michelle]

Sweet, Pat!  My dad did this for many years - the Atlantic side of South America.  I don't think I ever had quite the courage :-)  Did do the Greek islands with him on vacation.  I was much happier each evening when we docked and found a taverna - now that's my kind of fun - grin.  Hats off to you Wayne and Pat.  Bet you both have some amazing stories.