Better in the living

More than a week has passed since I wrote this. Jennifer has returned to Seattle, and I have been head down working on what needs to be done before we leave and what I’d like to be done before we leave.

DL1077 ATL-SEA twenty minutes outside of Atlanta, 20-JUL-2019 – As an adult, I’ve always lived a double life, or more. A life in one city, a second or third in another. It has been a life out of a movie sometimes: I worked at a movie studio, fell for a Russian I met there and followed her to Paris; I was profiled in a magazine and worked in dozens of countries; I owned that same model sports car that James Bond drove, but it was always a life better in the telling than the living. Long distance relationships seem to be more about pain and heartbreak than anything else, life on the road is exciting and tiring and forbids other parts of life.

For a few years I missed my cars. They’re inanimate objects, but so is a boat. A friend and I once drove in separate cars through the city streets of Atlanta. He told me he could tell where I was ahead of him from the people turning and pointing. One does nothing to attract that attention, but write a check; when it is the car one has always dreamed of owning, there is a satisfaction in the ownership and the stewardship.

The cars are covered at our house in Atlanta, but sun and weather will eat a car cover. When I arrived, there she was with her flanks exposed.

When we’re done sailing, I’ll return to my cars. I’ll probably sell Caro Babbo, possibly buy a trimaran, and then retire to houses and cars and spend time with Jennifer doing whatever she wants.

Did I ever mention that Jennifer met me so that she could drive that red car?

I did almost everything I planned to do in Atlanta this trip. I didn’t see an optometrist but all else is done. Jennifer will return to Seattle a week early and I am crazed to get Caro Babbo ready to sail.

Fisheries sent a text message saying that the replacement water bladder has arrived. I’m waiting on new windows from the fabricator, I have a chain locker hatch to repair and possibly another grand or three to spend on a personal AIS Beacon and an inflatable survival cover for Hilary Hoffmann, our portland pudgy dinghy and life raft.

Well, the actual list is much longer: replacing a V-Belt on the alternator, replacing a weeping valve cover gasket, there is no actual end, but there are items that must be done before we leave and those that would merely like to get done.

Caro Babbo’s interior is once again torn to pieces, this time waiting for windows and sections of headliner to re-covered – yes for the third time in six years.

(The young woman next to me on the flight watches some period-piece serial with a full frontally nude – of the woman – sex scene that goes on for many minutes. The young woman is riveted and either doesn’t notice when I glance over or finds the scene to be not worthy of note.)

I also must replace the zinc.

Caro Babbo continues to get her monthly checkouts: open and close all the through hulls, above and below the water line, run the engine up to 3000 rpm, check oil and coolant, wipe down the engine. This list has twelve items.

I’ll replace the coolant with a permanent non-toxic coolant called Evans Cool. It never needs replacing and will cost not much more than double toxic glycol-based coolants.

(Ah, the young woman sets her tablet like an easel normally and sets it flat on her table during sex scenes.)

I have started my correspondence with people in Hawaii, I’ll keep everyone posted on what I learn.

James and Kimmie on Zingaro may meet us there; they’ll arrive by boat after having sailed through the canal and then to easter island, Picairn and French Polynesia. I said I would bring our used autopilot for them to have as a spare. They do not have a wind vane.

Our friends Pat, Lorraine, and Roberta promise to visit via airplane.

The last of my rental properties sold while I was in Atlanta, so I am free of them. Jennifer still has two and is working to get them sold. While mine are owned by my IRA and not subject to tax on the profit, Jennifer is limited in what she can do with the money to avoid paying Capital Gains.

I‘m driven to get a new cover on my car, and get on our way. The Port Townsend house is rented until December, so the gods are telling us to get a move on!

My life now is better in the living than the telling, lives out of movies can’t be as good as they seem; this life isn’t out of a movie and it is as good as it seems.