Home is Where the Hull is: The Hull Has Been Sold

It is strange but true, "Eagle" now has two new owners. Luckily they are wonderful men with lots of experience between the two of them. Jim lives the the SF Bay area, has cruised and raced. Dennis lives in Portland, OR and has less experience but loves Eagle as much as Jim. They both have condos in Sayulita, Nayarit, Mx and our friend Eugenie encouraged them to go for buying "Eagle", told them what a great boat she is, and how much care and love she had received from us.

We moved off the boat on January 25th, loaded John & Veronica's truck with all of our stuff (good heavens how can all this be ours!) and have been pushing steadily northward. First night was a short drive to Sayulita where we stayed at a great place (Villas Sayulita) and had dinner with Jim, Eugenie, and her girlfriend. A lovely evening. The icing on the sale of our sweet boat is that Eugenie will be sailing her when Jim and Dennis are not in Mexico. The great news is that she will be bringing her back to SF next year.

Second night we made it up to Mazatlan. We missed the motel that J & V told us to look for and decided on The Eiffel Tower before we got all the way out of town. There was no "office" to check into only a voice coming from what looked like a drive in talk box at the gate . Of course the voice spoke Spanish (very fast) and I reply "no hable Espanol". A lady shows up with her walkie talkie and still is only speaking Spanish, but we get across that we want a room, one bed is okay and she tells us to go to # 125. The places all have garages and the rooms are above them. We park the truck. Another lady comes with our receipt for 220 pesos and (we discover later) our check out time. We ask about a key and she giggles and shows us how to close the garage door. The receipt has the time we checked in 5:24PM. We get into the room, clean, roomy, and an incredibly huge shower with lots of hot water. I start looking at the cards on the table and realize this is a hotel where people have complete privacy, even a dumb waiter for the room service, and other "extras" you can order, but if you want the "companion" I don't think they would fit in there. Whoa! No wonder the ladies were laughing. We finally figure out our check out time is 12 hours from when we checked in 5:25AM!!! I won't let Phileta turn the TV on. She voices her displeasure with regular TV and I didn't want to see or hear what was on this one!!! At least we have a nice private garage where we can unload the truck, pack things a bit better, and get the new tarp on. We get a good night's sleep and are up at 4:30 to make sure we are out by 5:24, don't want to see what the extra charges would be.

On to Hermosillo. A 12 hour day. Driving in Mexico is entertaining; toll roads, police stops, military stops, agricultural stops, topes (speed bumps), vabriados (lots of speed bumps).

Okay, it's now been two months since I started this post and Phileta, Josie, and I are settled into our new home. Our trip northward was wonderful without any hassles at all. When we got to Hermosillo we decided to forgo the cheaper gated hotels and stayed at a Best Western. Coming back into the US was nothing like we had envisioned from stories told to us. We were searched, but the agent just wanted to make sure Josie had a carrier to be in because of the sniffing dogs. The only thing they found suspicious was my green stevia (an herb used as a sweetener).

We picked up the wheel chair accessible van Phileta had bought on Craigs List in Tuscon, AZ. It's wonderful and we love it. We realize we haven't made arrangements for insurance for the van. Ooops. It's 5 o'clock Friday night and no one is in the office. We drive on to Goodyear, AZ to be out of morning traffic. Phileta does her magic on the internet and we have insurance before we head on out to drop off John and Veronica's truck in Hemet, CA. Thank you J & V for your incredible gift. The truck is safely at home and even though it is night, we head on toward the coast of CA to my sister's. She and David are so great, dinner is waiting for us when we arrive. Ahhhhhhh, finally we can relax. An extra day of going nowhere to recuperate. Josie is ecstatic. She remembers Lynn & Dave, says hello, and goes outside to roll in the grass. This was the last place she had stepped foots on terra ferma, one and a half years ago!

After 2 nights of peaceful rest, we blitz on up to northern Calif. One night of relaxation with Zak and Jessica (another wonderful dinner and comfortable bed to sleep in), then on to Walnut Creek to unload the van and then head on to Oregon to pick up our belongings that we had left at our friend Kendall's. We wound up staying at Kendall's for nearly two weeks due to complications of a dental visit for Phileta. As per our norm, it all works out well. Gives us time to slow down, get the van checked out and worked on, not to mention being able to spend time with Kendall & Olso. So nice, especially since I get to walk a dog. I do miss having a dog.

So, now we have been here in Walnut Creek for 2 months. The weather has been horrible, cold and rainy. At least I'm no longer wearing my silk long underwear. But life is good. I even got my hands into potting soil today. Two planters of herbs now grace our little patio wall. Last week we got our first 24 hours off and enjoyed going for happy hour at the Japanese restaurant across from our hotel in Concord (maybe 5 miles from Walnut Creek) and chowing down on sushi. I also got a bicycle and have enjoyed cruising the numerous bike paths around here, between rain storms.

Okay another week has sped by, another 24 hours off (this time a"social living" deal at the Pyramid Alehouse) , the sun has shone for two days now, and there is a pot full of purple freshias and allysum along with lavender and peas in front of the apartment!! I am helping with the garden plot at "The Manor" which is still in the planning stage. It's a huge space at one corner of the property. People sign up for plots where they can grow whatever they want. I'm going for corn. Phileta has been able to meet up with a few of her old friends here for coffee and catching up. She's the main care giver and shopper. I'm the cook, house cleaner, and go do exercise classes with Lynn. Now you are all caught up with us. We no longer have a hull , so this is the end of this blog. We do miss the cruising life and all the wonderful people we have met and shared memories with along the way, but we feel good about our decision to come here. If I/we decide to start another blog (please let us know if this is something that is desired), we will let you know.

We bid you adios and leave you with the last of our pictures of Mexico.

Sunrise New Years day and scenes from the Mayan New Year Blessing ceremony with Ah Tah.

Views from the La Cruz Marina Sky Bar

AcroYoga demonstration - I actually did both parts of this!

More AcroYoga - I did the nothing fancy flying.

Last whale on our way to Paradise Marina

Sights from downtown Puerto Vallarta:

Our favorite vegetarian restaurant just down from the cathedral in PV.

Sights at the beautiful Mar de Jade Retreat Center where I spent a week immersed in Therapeutic Yoga Training with wonderful teachers, delightful fellow students, and great organic food, all in little Chacala.