Introduction
This
section of my web site is for family & friends who want to
find out where I am and what I'm up to. I am about to
embark upon what I hope will be a very long adventure, or an
open-ended series of adventures. These travelogue pages are
intended to ramble with me, to be my journal, punctuated with
photos, of where I go and what I encounter. They may also serve
as notes for future stories and articles.
It
seems most new ventures begin when the former one ends. I begin
this journal and this journey in Barrington, Rhode Island, where
I have been living and working for the past 5 years building up
an Internet-focused yacht sales business, which I am now in the
process of selling.
|
|
The
fellow taking over Anchor
Yacht & Ship Sales, Joshua Hodgson, recently
took this photo of me to commemorate the precise end of
my 5-year commitment to developing the company. It marks
the end of my Anchor Yachts venture, and so it is the
beginning of something new. Of these past five years I
can say that while working is generally the best means
of accumulating money, five years of it is about as much
as I'm willing to tolerate at a stretch. Now I am
returning to my "real" life, that of a
traveler, cruising sailor, entrepreneur and writer.
|
01/28/04
As
Josh takes over Anchor Yachts, I'm actively searching for an RV,
a "recreational vehicle," in which I plan to live and
travel for a while beginning in March. Let me say from the
beginning, however, that I will measure the success of my
upcoming travels not by how strictly I stick to my plans, but at
least in part by how readily I change directions when a better
course presents itself. Maybe I'll philosophize about the value
of spontaneity and what I call the Art of Surrender later. For
now, since I've got an awful lot to do to pack up and get going,
I'll just outline what I think I'm going to do for the next year
or so because some of you have been asking.
Plan
A is, as I've said, to buy an RV, hopefully in the next week or
so, and be packed and moved out of Rhode Island by the first of
March. Then, before hitting the open road, I'm going to spend a
couple of weeks in Manhattan, staying at my father's midtown
apartment. I think it'll be fun to do some big-city stuff before
heading off into the wilderness, for the sheer contrast of it.
The real point, however, is to spend some extra time with my Big
Apple family, the visit climaxing with our traditional St.
Patrick's Day celebration not because we're Irish - we're not -
but because we are four generations of native New Yorkers and
the St. Pat's parade up 5th Avenue (and the pub party
afterwards) is a New York thing.
Next
I'll probably drive the RV down to Beaufort, North Carolina to
visit my friends, John & Lisa Nelson. John has been my best
friend since 2nd grade and I have more than once begun a new
voyage with a visit to wherever he happens to be. Besides, I
have to give the spring season a chance to work its way north
before I set out to drive across Canada to British Columbia by
way of Banff in the Canadian Rockies. That promises to get me
into some of the most beautiful country in this part of the
world and I'm looking forward to seeing it. By mid-summer I may
mosey on up to Alaska.
In
the fall I expect I will store the RV wherever it is, fly back
East for a visit, and then catch a flight to New Zealand. From
there the plan gets fuzzier. I'll be looking for a live-aboard
sailboat to buy to cruise the South Pacific, but I also want to
spend some time checking out New Zealand's South Island by road
and trail. And I'd like to visit Australia, and trek from
Thailand to Viet Nam, and go to China. And East Africa, and
Madagascar and the Seychelle's & Maldive's, and there's more
beyond that. Much more. Hopefully, I'll just keep going for a
long, long time. So many places... What fun!
I
invite you to visit here from time to time. If you ever wonder
where I am, just point your browser to www.tor.cc
and click to these Travelogue pages. I'd also enjoy hearing from
you. I may not always receive emails right away, but that's
probably going to be the most direct way to reach me much of the
time.
Hasta
luego,
Next
Entry: 03/07/04
