Seattle – Cannons to Cruising

Covid Closeness

Here’s what you guys have missed—W and I were up in Seattle for the month of March. I know right now you’re thinking, WTF why would they go to the center of a pandemic? But keep in mind, when we left during the first week of March, there were only 5 known Covid cases in Washington state. Nothing had been shut down and we had no idea how bad things were going to get. Conor was slated as an augment instructor in Yuma until the end of April. It seemed like the perfect time to visit family, who we hadn’t seen since last spring.

Then shit hit the fan.

Suffice to say, it was not the vacation we had planned. We quarantined in my parents’ house and at my in-law’s farm for the duration of the visit. Lots of great time with grandparents, but each day that ticked by left me wondering if we were going to be stuck in the northwest indefinitely. When Conor’s assignment ended early, it felt like a “now or never” situation to try to get back home. I also needed to be back here in April for a very important medical appointment. After rescheduling flights five times, W and I flew back together to meet up with Conor in NC. It was a hard decision to make, but military orders changing last-minute qualified as “necessary travel”. I’ve never seen the airports so eerily empty.

We are currently in the middle of a 14-day self-imposed quarantine on our boat. We all feel great (no fevers or cough!) so fingers crossed it stays that way. It is just a precaution to make sure we don’t accidentally spread the virus if we are asymptomatic carriers. We report to the duty corpsman every morning with a temperature/symptom check and even have our own separate bathroom at the marina.

We aren’t going stir-crazy yet and are using this time to get Story Time ready for the sailing season! Right now, we are replacing the lifeline netting and doing brightwork. It felt good to strip that nasty old net off, but now the boat looks so naked!

oldnet — SO GROSS. Time for a new one after 3 years

Love,

Taylor, Conor, and W

2018 Recap Video

Well guys, Conor is back in North Carolina to do Marine things. W and I are still hanging in WA because he is going to be so busy, but we miss him so much! Thank God for Skype.

To commemorate what a great year we had as a family, I put together a little recap video for 2018. Our 2017 video is here, and our 2018 one picks up right where that one left off! It is crazy to look back and see how tiny W used to be. This year consisted of sleepless nights, two cross-country trips to WA, boat work, long summer nights, great sailing as a family of 3, and more. I have to say, I’m pretty impressed that I was able to put this together just a week after New Year. The 2017 recap video didn’t get posted until March 2018. I think I’m more on top of it this year!

The song is ‘End of the World’ by the Dirty Heads. Thanks for following our journey!

Love,

Taylor, Conor, and W

What’s In A Name?

This week we started the registration process for our boat with the U.S. Coast Guard. This paperwork is also the opportunity to change the current name of the boat as well as the hailing port. Right now, our boat is called At Last and the hailing port (shown on the back of the boat) is New Bern, NC.

The story behind At Last is very sweet. The previous owners met and married later in life, and them finding each other “at last” inspired the name. The only problem is, there are well over a hundred other boats on the east coast named At Last! Although its a great name, we wanted to rename the boat something that was meaningful to us and our journey.

We’ve had a couple of contenders over the past few weeks. I originally wanted Tabula Rasa—it means “blank slate”. I felt like it fit in multiple ways, mostly due to the fact that this is our first boat, we lack experience, and we have no idea what we are doing, so everything is new! A fresh start all around.

Conor nixed that idea though. His vote was for Transmogrifier. For those who are unfamiliar with the reference, it is from our favorite comic, Calvin & Hobbes. It is an invention of Calvin’s that turns one thing into another, fueled by imagination. The boat would be our “transmogrifier” as we turned our life inside out. I pointed out that no one would be able to understand us on the VHF radio, especially in an emergency.

So we were back to square one. At least we were unanimous on the hailing port. It will be Seattle, WA. We are pretty excited to see a little reminder of home on the back of our boat while we live so far away.

Then Conor pulled the most perfect name out of the blue: Story Time. It encompasses so many things that are important in our life together: my writing (both for this blog and my novels), our future family, and all of the amazing memories we will create on the boat to share with others. The name is simple, but evokes a feeling of wide-eyed childhood wonderment and adventure. There is nothing like getting lost in a good book and letting the real world fade away. This boat is our escape from the mundane.

What do you guys think about Story Time? My dad had his heart set on Docksmasher III, but I told him he would have to get his own boat for that. What would you name your boat if you had one and why?

When it gets closer, I’ll do a post on the official renaming ceremony that needs to take place to appease King Neptune. Sailors are a superstitious bunch, but we don’t want any bad juju out on the water!

Love,

Taylor and Conor