Our plans to leave
Pushed back a year
My dream remains
To ship out from here
We’ll wait a year
And then depart
From our home port
To make the start
The boat’s not ready
And I need money
To make preparations
To go where it’s sunny
I’ve removed from the trawler
All the doors
And brought them home
Including the drawers
Sanding and painting
Will make them look nice
My wife’s bound to like them
Especially the price
Then next spring
When the weather is right
We’ll splash it in
To test if it’s right
Next summer on Superior
Should be a good test
We can work out the bugs
And be ready for the best
The Illinois River
Mississippi then Ohio
Then down the Ten-Tom
Nearby is the Bayou
Arriving at Fort Meyers
In early Spring
Returning home
To continue fishing!
The past summer was a busy one – fishing and sightseeing made it a great summer, in spite of the setbacks.
At the beginning of the season, my starboard motor on the Cruisers (the Fishin’ Mission) was overheating, so I had to replace it and I ended up losing a couple weeks and a substantial amount of “raha” (That’s money, if you didn’t know.) Then the 115hp Mercury outboard on my Harborcraft (the Helm-n-Buoys, and yes it’s HarbOrcraft, not HarbErcraft) needed some major attention. The bottom line is that the bottom line looked a little smaller, dollar wise, and work on the Yooper Looper (the live-aboard trawler) ground to a halt for most of the summer.
These setbacks give me time to restore more trawler wood pieces, and my wife more time to mentally prepare for this adventure. As mentioned, I have some trawler walk through doors, cabinet doors and all the drawers at home in my basement to do some refinishing/upgrading – basically a new look to brighten up the 2 salons and cabin areas.
There are still lots of little wrinkles to work out, and a few big bumps. We need to hire and train a “manager type”…someone able to take over most responsibility at Designotype Printers when we leave. Also, with 2 boys playing football next fall, September and October, I need to be home, while most Loopers (other boaters taking the same trip) are progressing down the Mississippi or other parts of the route south of Chicago. I’m thinking maybe I can leave early to mid-August in order to get the boat down to the Mississippi by Labor Day, then go home for a couple months for football season, then commence the trip in November. We’ll have to research this option a little more.
I have many people that expressed interest in joining us on our boat for a night or 3 at some point along the way, and the invite stands to any who may be interested in the same. Let me know and I’ll add their (or your) email address to
keep you updated.
