The 10000 Bird version of the story...

Here is the version of our story, that I posted on 10000 Birds

www.10000birds.com/the-big-year.htm

Back to blogging, and a catch up!

I know I have been absent fr way to long, but things have been a bit crazy. We have sold our business, La Paz Cruisers Supply, then we sold our only home of the last 16 + years, Eagle our Freeport Islander sailboat, Now it is time to go traveling. I have been asked several times as to what we are going to do, so rather than type it over and over, and typed up the brief itinerary, and saved it, so here is what's going on!

I don't know how much you have heard thru the grape vine, but there are some big changes going on down here in La Paz, Mexico. Rich and Lori Boren, SV Third Day, the owners of Cruise RO Water and Technautics Cool Blue Refrigeration have agreed to buy our business, effective February 1st. Well stay on until that point, and have been training them in all the idiosyncrasies of the Mexican Government, banking and tax situation!

And....just yesterday, we signed papers to sell our boat! After 18 years, full time live aboard, we are moving ashore. The check has not cleared the bank yet, but we aren't too worried. There are a few tears, and a few lingering smiles from anchorages past...and mostly of the great friends we have made along the journey

We have bought a really BIG truck, as in Ford 350, Super Duty, 4 door, long bed, turbo diesel...in order to pull our 32 foot 5th wheel. Our plan is to continue with our private bird tour company, FocusOnFeathers.com here in La Paz during the winter months, and travel during the summer in the northern climes.

But....some of that will be interrupted this year with a different sort of plan. We will drive our new rig north to Seattle starting on Feb. 5th, put it is storage up in the Seattle area, and then board an airplane to New Zealand on Feb 28th. Arriving in Christchurch, we will pick up a motor home for two months, spending the first month on the south Island, and then the second month on the north Island, this to include a service to spread Jeanne's mother’s ashes on the beach near the home and property that they owned for many years.

But wait there is more....We figured if we are this close to Australia, why not just pop by for a month or so? We land in Melbourne, spend a few days there, then fly to Alice Springs, pick up a motorhome for a week to explore the Ayers Rock and surrounding area. Then we fly to Sydney for a few days, then fly to Cairns, pick up a motor home to explore that area for a week. We then fly to Darwin, pick up a motorhome, and explore that area for a week. We then fly to Perth, and explore from hotels and a rental car for 5 days.

By now we are just having way too much fun to go home, so one of our customers is giving us use of his 4 bedroom home on the border of Kruger National Park, in South Africa for 18 days! We fly to Johannesburg, then drive to the house. Lions, Tigers, Hippos, and Giraffes! After the stay there, we drive back to Jo'burg, and fly to Cape Town to explore for a week.

Then, we fly to Doha for a couple of night to visit with some old cruiser friends that are living there, before flying on to Edinburgh, Scotland. We pick up a motor home there for three weeks of exploring and driving the Highlands and the North Coast 500. Highland games, Loch Ness Monster, Highland Games and good scotch, I have no doubt we will find something there to like!

Finally we have to start heading back towards home, but we are giving ourselves 9 days of exploring to drive the 380 miles from Edinburgh to London. From London, we fly to Seattle, to complete our circumnavigation!

Once we get back to Seattle, late part of July, we will pick up the truck and 5th wheel and wander...not sure where or when, or how fast, but probably end up back in Mexico at some point! There will be a few weeks visiting family in Oregon as well. We have an awful lot of great friends from this boating life, that have invited us to “Stop By” as we meander around, so there will a lot of mini-reunions.

Like always, we are hardly ever bored! Jeanne will be starting a new blog (as yet to be named, or located)  to cover our travels, and I will activate my old bird blog  RamblingsOfTheBirdNerd  so I can keep all the birders updated on the birds I find on the trip...

So, I am going to make every effort to use this blog as my everything source of information. I will continue to write for10000 Birds, but that will just cover the birds, while there will be a little more detail about the areas, and the people. I hope you will follow along, and lets see how much fun we can have!