Four years ago my wife and I made the decision to leave Northern California and move to SE Louisiana. There were several reasons for the move. I was looking at retirement and cost of living is much, much lower; my wife's mother (84) is/was there and they have not lived near each other in 28 years; she grew up here and has family here; she is an LSU alum (well that part has been fun); and lastly, the relatively low cost of homes on the water with access to the Gulf. So we sold our 52' CPMY ($26,000 to move) and took our classic 23' Cobalt with us and moved to Covington, LA. And I do like it here....it's not Cal but there are many pluses.
As soon as I started looking at the homes with docks in the back yard, it became clear that my wife did not want to live the 50 miles away from her Mother where the waterfront homes are located. And truth be told, while the area with the homes I was interested in was mostly nice, the surrounding area was just so-so. So I reluctantly gave up my lifelong dream of living on the water. The vision of having the boat in the back yard and being able to work on it there and just pack and leave from home was dreamlike not to mention not paying slip fees.
But my other lifelong dream was to be retired and cruise to destinations (mostly coastal) at a leisurely pace enjoying the peaceful surroundings found on the water. I finished the restoration of the Cobalt last year and started looking for a suitable express cruiser. At this point, out of nowhere, my wife dropped the bombshell that she is done with big boat cruising. WTF! She always loved cruising. She now thinks we should buy a 5th wheel trailer and drive around. We already have to truck to tow with (F-250 diesel).
At this point I have absolutely no interest in doing the RV thing. I know there are really nice RV parks but I just can't see myself overnighting in a parking lot. I really enjoyed cruising for most of the day and then pulling into a new, unknown marina for the night. And I loved having a boat in a marina. It was so enjoyable be to sleep aboard even if we just stayed in our slip for the weekend. And nobody, but nobody goes down to their RV storage lot and spends the weekend in the 5th wheeler.
I've really only had 2 personal dreams/wants in my life and now to keep peace (and remain wedded) I have to give up on them. Getting older has been hard enough. Now this.... Another thing to figure out. And they say there is no stress in retirement....
Shawn
As soon as I started looking at the homes with docks in the back yard, it became clear that my wife did not want to live the 50 miles away from her Mother where the waterfront homes are located. And truth be told, while the area with the homes I was interested in was mostly nice, the surrounding area was just so-so. So I reluctantly gave up my lifelong dream of living on the water. The vision of having the boat in the back yard and being able to work on it there and just pack and leave from home was dreamlike not to mention not paying slip fees.
But my other lifelong dream was to be retired and cruise to destinations (mostly coastal) at a leisurely pace enjoying the peaceful surroundings found on the water. I finished the restoration of the Cobalt last year and started looking for a suitable express cruiser. At this point, out of nowhere, my wife dropped the bombshell that she is done with big boat cruising. WTF! She always loved cruising. She now thinks we should buy a 5th wheel trailer and drive around. We already have to truck to tow with (F-250 diesel).
At this point I have absolutely no interest in doing the RV thing. I know there are really nice RV parks but I just can't see myself overnighting in a parking lot. I really enjoyed cruising for most of the day and then pulling into a new, unknown marina for the night. And I loved having a boat in a marina. It was so enjoyable be to sleep aboard even if we just stayed in our slip for the weekend. And nobody, but nobody goes down to their RV storage lot and spends the weekend in the 5th wheeler.
I've really only had 2 personal dreams/wants in my life and now to keep peace (and remain wedded) I have to give up on them. Getting older has been hard enough. Now this.... Another thing to figure out. And they say there is no stress in retirement....
Shawn