And just like that.. it’s time for our annual travel wrap up! Where has the time gone? Oh right.. adventures! And lots of them.
2024 wraps up 18 years on the road for us together!
This year started with Zephyr going right into storage back in our lot in Benson, AZ and setting off on a van trip back to the boat. And with Kiki’s passing, we started integrating in other types of travel adventures.
- Y-Not (boat): 1305.5 nautical miles – 289 nights – 89 days in Sanford / 200 days cruising.
- Blooper (van): 8061 travel miles (plus many ‘local’ miles) / 61 nights
- Other Adventures: 15 nights
First here’s our 2024 interactive travel map:
The map is created by a WordPress plugin called Nomad World Map. It allows us to easily tie locations, dates, future plans and blog posts together as we go – creating a much more interactive experience. Use the arrows to scroll to different locations and/or click on the points. We didn’t write a post for every stop, but many are linked.
Travel Re-Cap
We left our lot at SKP Saguaro in Benson, AZ – leaving Zephyr behind – right after ringing in the new year and began heading eastward back to boat life.
We took about two weeks, leaving time to finally divert to Big Bend National Park along the way and visits with family. It was way too many miles in too short of time.
We returned to Sanford to find Y-Not in fine condition after a few months part – and began in earnest to prepare life to actually leave our pandemic home base and resume our Great Loop in spring time.
We enjoyed some of our favorite Sanford events, spent time with friends, attended to some boat projects, wrapped up medical appointments and did a quick van trip to chase the total solar eclipse.
In late April, we left Blooper in storage and tossed the lines leaving our slip behind in Sanford with no plans to return in the foreseeable future. And end of a chapter.
We made quick time of the St. Johns River – having cruised it many times in the past years. We managed to return to the official Great Loop route along the ICW on our 7-year anniversary of originally having started our loop adventure.
Having already transited as far north as Charleston, we did a rather rapid voyage that far – completing that portion in just under 3 weeks. We slowed things down after officially picking up where we left off on our previous attempt at the Great Loop, enjoying new to us cruising territory.
Returning to cruising wasn’t all rainbows, we encountered many obstacles with weather and mechanical issues as we regained our cruising legs.
When we arrived to Wilmington, NC – which is bit of a side diversion off the ICW – with a one week reservation, but were instantly smitten. We knew we had found a little bit of velcro for the summer, and extended for a month. We really were ready for some stationary time to regroup, and indulged in downtown life.
And then Kiki started to show signs of deteriorating health – and we ended up staying nearly 2.5 months as we attended to her end of life care and initial waves of grief.
When we could finally manage to pull ourselves away without too many tears, we returned to the ICW and continued our looping northbound. Wilmington will always hold a bittersweet spot in our hearts.
Our adventures took us to new cities and making new friends in Swansboro, New Bern and ‘little’ Washington.
We faced our fears and crossed the legendary Albemarle Sound, and then enjoyed the tranquility of the Dismal Swamp before arriving to the Tidewater area in Norfolk.
After a few days enjoying downtown life, we decided we had just enough time for another side adventure up the James River to Richmond – where flooding from Hurricane Helene had us pinned down in an oxbow for 9 nights before we could arrive.
But it was worth the wait once we finally docked in Richmond for a couple of weeks – including our first overnight cycling adventure to Williamsburg along the Capital Trail.
We returned to the Norfolk area for a final few days of merriment before it was time to get Y-Not ready for winter storage and retrieve Blooper. We ended our cruising season having more than doubled the number of nautical miles we had ever done in a single year since we purchased Y-Not.
Once Y-Not was secured with a list of maintenance projects for the yard to attend to while we’re gone, we loaded up Blooper and headed back to Florida for the holidays exploring the Outer Banks along the way.
We also both completed a full marathon in the Space Coast Marathon, before boarding our first cruise ship in many years out of Miami.
Once our cruise docked, we had some time with my mom in Melbourne for her birthday, and then started a westward trek to Texas for more family holiday time with our new niece.
Which is where we will end 2024.
General Life Updates
It’s been a remarkable and bittersweet year for us personally.
We continue to rock semi-retirement for our second full year. The Mobile Internet Resource Center continues to chug along – despite less folks needing reliable internet solutions than during the height of COVID and more easy options available (such as Starlink).
As long as it continues to fund our and our team’s basic living costs – we’ll continue at it.
We have continued to maintain a healthy and active lifestyle. Chris completed his second official marathon, and I my first. And we amped up our cycling with the addition of more suitable touring bicycles, and we look forward to integrating in more overnight biking adventures.
We’re just in general enjoying our travels more – having time to explore, attend theater, meet more people and just in general being more engaged in our surroundings.
And of course, losing Kiki this summer hit us both rather hard. While everyday it gets a little better, we still feel a big missing piece of our lives and hearts without her exploring with us. But it does open up more adventure options.
Fleet Update
We continue to enjoy having a nomadic fleet on both land and water.
We could be quite happy with just the boat and van.
We continue to love Y-Not and Blooper – they both are just perfect for our desires.
And while we still love Zephyr and our time out in Arizona – it seems that returning every year just isn’t what calls us at this stage. It’s just such a long journey from our coastal life, and there’s so much more of the world to explore.
We shall see what the future holds there, as every time we do return – she feels like home.
What’s Next?
We honestly don’t know what the rest of the winter looks like for us.
We originally intended to return to Benson for a bit – but with so many reminders of Kiki awaiting us there, and other adventures on our horizon – we would not be surprised if don’t manage to make it.
Instead, we’re keeping our eyes open to manifest some new adventures that we couldn’t pursue with a cat onboard.
In particular house & pet sitting is calling us, or perhaps just renting cool bungalows in awesome cities to explore where we can spread out a bit more? If you have opportunities along those lines, please be in touch!
Come spring time we should be re-united with Y-Not, and resuming our cruising northward until winter is upon us again.
Thank you for coming along virtually on this adventure –
we so enjoy sharing this space with you!Wishing you ALL the best in 2025!
Our past year end wrap-ups:
2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015,
2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023
Wishing you a fabulous 2025! We stayed in an awesome AirBnb in Taos NM, walking distance to the Taos Square, so much to see and do there during our 5 week stay. Might be a little too cold during the winter for those of us that appreciate the warmer temps, but let me know if you’re interested and I can share the link, the owner has a second house in Taos as well with a fabulous hot tub.
Just sent you an email about another possible house / kitty sitting opportunity if your paths take you west.
thank you for sharing with us,
my wife and I travel (RV) about 2 months a year and love it.
Keep enjoying life and Love Always.
It seems you have become a pair of sailors. Very definitely the pair of you remind me of all the best parts of Popeye and Olive Oil. Just remember Break Out Another Thousand. May this coming year be another marvellous free trip around the Sun.