Author: Dave

After years of looking at boats on line, it was finally time to get serious and find a boat.  As with most things in life, when you are ready, the right person just seems to show up out of no where.  So it was with Curtis Stokes. But I am getting ahead of the story, so let me back up a little bit. Our wannabe boaters decided to go to an AGLCA one day seminar in Charlotte, North Carolina to learn more about looping.  The seminar was in November 2014, and well worth the time, if for nothing else, for meeting Curtis Stokes.

Our couple narrowed their list down to about ten boats and were ready to go shopping.  February was selected to be the time to go look, and a road trip was planned to go see boats in Mobile, Destin, Jacksonville, and Ft Myers. By the time the boat buying couple got to Ft Myers, they had seen several nice boats, but none that shouted out, buy me, I am the one.  However, both boats that were viewed in Ft Myers quickly rose to the top of the list. In fact, they cast off the last two boats to look at because they knew it was one of these two. The boat of choice was one of the two boats in Ft Myers, but which one,………..decisions, decisions, decisions. Both boats had positives and negatives, but no matter how you sliced it, they just kept coming out equal.  It was  almost down to a flip of a coin.  However, while driving home and still trying to decide, our couple was listening to a sermon message they had missed since they were on the road. During the message, PK (Pastor Kevin from 12 Stone Church) was talking about being still and listening for God’s direction.  At that time the ‘would be skipper’ recalled a sign that our couple had in their kitchen that says …….Be still and know that I am God.  The ‘would be skipper’ announced that they would be buying the boat named Still Waters II.  He explained why to his bride, she was in agreement, and the call was made to Curtis to make the offer. Offer accepted! That was easy!

Another trip to Ft Myers for the survey and sea trials…………..And on March 30th our happy couple became the third owners of Still Waters II.

You may have heard, seen, or actually played a card game called Texas Hold’em. In the game there comes a point at which one player pushes all the chips to the center and announces ‘ I am all in’. Then the fun begins. Basically, the player has bet the farm that they are holding the winning hand.

Well, that is what our crew has been up to in 2014 – 2015, they have pushed all the chips to the center of the table and announced they are all in on doing the loop.

Now mind you, this is not required to do the Loop. Some folks (probably the sane ones) keep their home and do the Loop in sections during the summer boating season. Others rent their home and do the loop in 1 to 2 years. In fact there are many ways to do the Loop, and the best way is your way.

But our crew went ‘all in’, meaning they sold their home, had an estate sale to rid themselves of their stuff, and are now making the plans to buy a boat. Rather than enlarge the cruising kitty, sale of properties went into a future housing kitty as our boating couple will look for a home as they cruise the loop.

But back to our story. The crew sold the Percifield property in short order in 2014. The property was about 7.5 acres with 700 foot lake front on a small 100 acre lake. The new owners plan to build a house on the property and we wish them well.

So now it is time to finish the renovations on the home on Lake Alvarado. This is a 1.75 acre lot with 300 feet of lake front that the wife calls her promised land. The crew had begun adding on to the house in the summer of 2011 when they decided to move to Atlanta. The room above the new garage was still unfinished in the summer of 2014.

The plan was to finish the room and put the house up for sale, but as with most plans, this plan was about to get derailed in August of 2014.

A weekend of fun on the water was in full swing with the crew’s kids and grandkids at the lake when the granddaughter announced that there was a strange man in the yard. The ‘would be skipper’ went out to see what this man was up to when he announced that he was looking for a house in the area that was supposed to be for sale. He also commented on the great view of the lake. Our ‘would be skipper’ pointed out and gave directions to the neighbor’s house when low and behold the wife announced from the porch, “our house is for sale.” (In reality, I think she said “will be” for sale).

The man said his wife was in their boat around the cove and asked if he could get his wife and look at the house. In a few minutes, he arrived by boat and they got the grand tour of the house.

To keep a long story short, Randy and Kristie bought the property ‘as is’ with the room unfinished. Change of possession took place in November.  Hope the new owners of the ‘Promise Land’ have as much fun there as the wannabe boaters.

With the sale of the house in progress, the next step was to conduct an estate sell to unload the stuff accumulated over a lifetime of living on land. The crew had a saying, “if it won’t fit on the boat, then it is for sale.” Mind you, they do not have a boat yet…………only in America can you fill your house and attic with stuff, then move the cars out of the garage so we can store more stuff, and then rent storage space for more stuff. You just gotta love this country of stuff gatherers.

Kinda reminds me of a joke about the guy who died with a suitcase of gold. When the angel came down to escort him to heaven the man argued that he had to take the suitcase with him. After several back and forths, the angel relented and let the guy take his suitcase full of gold with him to heaven. As they were approaching the checkpoint desk, Peter gave the angel a look of ‘why does he have a suitcase?’ The angel commented that the guy just would not leave the suitcase behind. Peter directed the guy to open the suitcase to see what was so important. The guy opened the case with a big smile and his chest out. He was really proud of himself for amassing so much gold. Peter looked at the gold and commented, “it is only asphalt, why do you want to bring asphalt to heaven?”

With the sale of the house and stuff, it was now time to find and buy a boat.

In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps.     Proverbs 16:9 (NIV)

From the time that our adventurous couple learned of the Loop back in 2011 till July 2013, loads of water passed under the bridge of life. And with the passage of time, there had been plenty of change, with more on the horizon.

Both parents of the ‘would be skipper’ had passed on to the other side of life to Heaven, first the mother in 2011 followed by the father in 2012.

And if that was not enough, after 26 years of work at Comanche Peak Nuclear Power Plant, the ‘would be skipper’ changed jobs in 2011 and went to work at INPO in Atlanta. While in Atlanta, the adventurous couple decided that the Loop was definitely something they would do and they began making tentative plans on how to unload their land possessions and buy a boat.

The original plan was to work in Atlanta for several years and return to Texas to retire, so they had not sold their house back in Texas. Instead, they had renters in their house at the lake. In addition, they had 2 other properties that they would need to sell.

So by July of 2013, they had formed a plan to return to Texas to help facilitate the sell of their 3 properties. Unfortunately, they had not figured out how to actually get back to Texas with a paying job.

Then the unexpected happened. At the end of July, a phone call came in from an old friend with a job offer to return to Comanche Peak. Interesting timing! The offer was for a two year contract with CBI. The start date would be September 23, 2013 and the countdown was on for the new job, selling properties, and buying a boat.

The next 2 years would be interesting, interesting indeed.

Back in 2011, the ‘would be skipper’ was working at Comanche Peak Nuclear Power Plant.  As part of his professional development, he decided to participate in an INPO review visit at the Clinton Power Station in Illinois.  

While on this trip, the ‘would be skipper’ met one Al Darelius who had just purchased a trawler.  Like a grandparent showing pictures of their grandkids, Al was busy showing pictures of his new boat and talking about something called America’s Great Loop.  Al also discussed the America’s Great Loop Cruising Association (AGLCA) that provides information to people planning and cruising the loop.

After returning home, the ‘would be skipper’ shared the ‘Loop’ with his bride and they decided that this sounded like something to add to their ever growing bucket list.

The ‘would be skipper’ is a big reader, so he ordered a couple of books to research this adventure further:

1- Honey, Let’s Get a Boat by Ron and Eva Stob

2- Changing Course by Paul and Sheryl Shard

After reading the books and researching the Great Loop on the web:

1 – Captain John’s America’s Great Loop,   http://www.captainjohn.org

2 – America’s Grat Loop Cruisers’ Association, http://greatloop.org

the couple was hooked and they knew this was something they would have to pursue.

Now that the dream was planted, the happy couple needs to figure out how to cut the anchor from this land existence and navigate to full time livaboards.  They set a goal to be on the water in 2015, but with no real plan on how to get there from here.   Hhhmmmm