Roaming About

A Life Less Ordinary

Month: June 2021

Spectacular Sunsets on the Water – A Photo Blog

The following photos are my favorite sunset shots, taken on our eight-year sailing journey (2007-2015) in the Caribbean and South Pacific, aboard our 35ft catamaran Irie. These photos are shown in their “original” form. No editing has occurred, except for adding my watermark. The sun can really be this bright and colorful. 🙂

My travels and experiences (and then some) on Irie have been memorialized in my recently published travel memoir Plunge – One Woman’s Pursuit of a Life Less Ordinary. You can find more information about this compelling, “refreshingly honest,” well-received book here.

Caribbean Sunsets

Sunset in Puerto Rico


Caribbean sunset at anchor

Sunset in the Grenadines

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How Are Mark, Maya, and I (Really) Doing? – Update from the Heart

Enough talk about publishing and promoting Plunge and spending too much money every month… What has been going on with us, in our private lives, the last few months?

Well, I haven’t really touched on how we arrived in Massachusetts, except for the road trip, and our feelings and activities since then. If you are a blog reader only interested in our alternative lifestyle and adventures, this is a good post to skip, as it is more geared towards updating our friends and family members – like in the old days on our sailboat Irie. 😊

(As always, hover over the photos or click on them to read the captions.)

Before we cleaned and sold Zesty and hopped in our crappy rental car, we managed to meet up quickly with artist Jon and author Gail, whom we met in Baja California, Mexico. In Yuma, Arizona, they introduced us to hospitable friends of theirs and we had a lovely evening together.

Another highlight was to finally be reunited with sailing circumnavigators and good friends made in the South Pacific: Lisa Dorenfest and her Captain, Fabio. This picnic get-together happened in a park in Tucson, Arizona. For anyone following Lisa’s wonderful blog, One Ocean At A Time (which contains her inviting writing and incredible photos), the couple is doing well, despite the crazy heat, taking a break from their boat to replenish the cruising kitty.

Then, we cleaned and prepped Zesty, sold our van, and jumped in our crappy rental car. Busy times! We saw some cute creatures one night of “stealth camping” in Tucson as well.

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Monthly Expenses – May 2021

Expenses - image

Every month, I post a report of our expenses to show that it is possible to live a comfortable, exciting, and adventurous life without breaking the bank. The less money you spend, the less you need to make. 🙂

This report includes ALL of our expenses, in US$, for two adults and one 60-pound dog (we adopted Maya on June 4th, 2019). Under groceries we incorporate food, produce, and non-alcoholic drinks predominantly bought in supermarkets. Toiletries belong in that category as well. Dining out means eating at a restaurant/event or purchasing take-out food. The health category covers non-prescription medicines and vitamins/supplements; medical contains prescription drugs and doctor’s visits. Because of our income level, Mark and I are eligible for free health care within the state of Massachusetts. For check-ups, we both return to the East Coast.

The entire month of May, Mark, Maya, and I lived in our “room above the garage” in Newburyport, Massachusetts. We helped out my in-laws, worked, and researched pick-up trucks. It’s been a huge battle finding the right set-up for our next adventure in this post-pandemic, elusive, and inflated Super Duty truck market. One day, I hope to share our experiences about that in a blog post. So far, unfortunately, there is no end in sight.

May 2021 was another expensive month for us, mainly because we bought two plane tickets to Belgium, for the end of June. That being said, we have no conclusion yet if Mark gets to go, based on European travel restrictions being lifted. What’s a bit more stress… I should be okay with my Belgian passport. Fingers crossed! As prices for flights keep rising, we didn’t want to risk waiting too long to book the tickets. They are exchangeable for vouchers in case we/he can’t go, something we confirmed before paying money. If all goes well, our friends Duwan and Greg will watch Maya for two weeks.

Our grocery expenses are still high. We blame it on New England being more expensive than the American Southwest, let alone Mexico. We are careful, but each time we pass a Trader Joe’s (which isn’t often), we have to buy a few of our favorite specialties. And, when we visit friends, we can’t show up empty-handed of course. Or maybe the number remains high because we are eating too much?

We are fortunate to have the use of Mark’s parents’ car to run errands and look at (rusty) pick-up trucks and truck campers in the area. “The area” stretches throughout Massachusetts, to Connecticut, New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York. Most of our fuel goes to these widespread, time consuming pursuits. We are drinking alcohol again after a multiple-month hiatus. We also shipped a spare part we kept for Zesty to a friend in Arizona, now that we sold our camper van, and tentatively paid for a camper insurance policy (more about that later, if it sticks).

Visiting family in Connecticut on a detour from a truck “inspection”

The only other “high” expense was for a vet visit, in nearby Salisbury. Mark and I took Maya to another vet, in Newburyport, a couple of years ago and weren’t too happy with the inflated prices. So, we tried a different one for a check-up and small procedure, figuring it couldn’t be any worse. The vet and staff were friendly and professional; the doctor said everything was fine. Maya was healthy, the liquid that needed to be expressed was surprisingly clear, and there were no infections.

As we were ready to leave his office and pay our bill, he asked his assistant to grab a container of probiotics and another with antibiotics. Mark and I were confused. “Does she have an infection, or not?” my husband asked. “Yes,” the vet answered. What do you do when a doctor recommends medication, but you don’t quite believe your pet needs it?

We moved to the check-in counter to pay, as the nurse approached with the container of probiotics. “How much does that cost?” Mark inquired. “85 dollars.” What? We declined. We’d feed her a couple of spoons of yogurt each day, if needed, or look for probiotics online. Could we decline the antibiotics as well? This was a toughie. We let that one go ($40 for a generic brand) and for the next two weeks, we fed our dog drugs we didn’t think she needed.

Again, we were disgusted by how vet clinics upsell their products and try to make money. It’s all about money, especially in this part of the world, we once again concluded. Capitalism. It’s been confronting us every step of the way this year. We’ll look for yet another vet next time.

May 2021 Overview:

Travel (plane tickets):

Groceries:

Car (fuel: $182; camper ins.: $147; parking: $7; REFUND: $69):

Dog (vet: $143; food: $34):

Alcohol:

Dining out (take-out, ice cream treat):

Utilities (phone/internet):

Postage:

Medical (co-pay meds):

 

TOTAL:

 

$1,175

$408

$267

$177

$56

$55

$35

$17

$7

———

$ 2,197

Find all our expense reports here. To learn what other full-time nomads spend each month, check out the blogs of our vanlife friends Duwan and Greg at Make Like An Ape Man.

Writing Update June 2021 – Six Months after Publishing & Promoting Plunge

Every first Wednesday of the month, the IWSG (Insecure Writer’s Support Group) engages writers to share their fears, thoughts, progress, struggles, excitement, encouragement, or anything really, about their writing. A different question is posed each month as a writing prompt. Answering it is optional. For June, the question is: “For how long do you shelve your first draft, before reading it and re-drafting?”

This amazing, supportive group of writers was founded by Alex J. Cavanaugh. Today, the co-hosts are J Lenni Dorner, Sarah Foster, Natalie Aguirre, Lee Lowery, and Rachna Chhabria. Click on their names to see what they’re up to this month.

My answer to the question – How long do you put your first draft aside?

Since I’ve only written one book, I don’t have much experience with shelving first drafts before tackling them again with fresh eyes. This elapsed time period for me – in the past and possibly in the future – is dependent on what I’m doing at that moment. If I’m traveling full-time, I work whenever I can and this might mean the first draft (a good stopping point) might get put aside until the next substantial slot of time becomes available.

I wrote Plunge largely while Mark and I were house and pet sitting throughout the United States (2015-2019). Since my main project then was this book (whenever we were actually living in someone’s house and not in our camper van), I immediately moved from my first draft to the second one and kept improving and condensing whenever I could. I can’t help but edit and reread my existing paragraphs before starting on the next chunk/chapter, so my first draft – which took three years – was in pretty good shape by the time it was finished.

My book news

Can you believe that six months have passed already since I released Plunge – One Woman’s Pursuit of a Life Less Ordinary? In this section, I report on what has happened in the last month, regarding my book news and promotion efforts. If you are interested in an overview of all the marketing methods I have entertained since the publication of Plunge, have a look at my post of last week: “10 Free Ways to Publish Your Book – What Works & What Doesn’t?”

How did April 2021 look like?

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