Flashback

Betsey: George and I had always dreamed about going cruising (I had dreams of cruising even before I met George). For a few years, we had been putting about half of our income into savings, with ideas of buying a boat, leasing the house, and taking off for a few years. When George was laid off from his dot.com job, we felt equal parts scared and excited. Could we really do it? Are we NUTS? So we called our realtor friend. We thought, "we'll just see how much we could get for the house". Our realtor listened to us patiently for a while, then she said, "Can you have the house ready to show by Tuesday?"

	George: 20 years of dreaming and talking about cruising had to be put to the test. Were we up to the dream? It was exciting and yet profoundly frightening to move ahead with the idea of cutting our ties to a settled life and leaving our friends and families to explore another world.
Lucas: At first I was certain that my parents were out of their minds. But the more I thought about leaving the more I liked the idea of doing something out of the ordinary and different. I was sad to leave my friends, but I couldn't wait to leave.

Here is a timeline of our process:

March, 2002	George was laid off
April, 2002	We talked and talked. Here's our chance Should we...sell the house? buy a boat?
May 2, 2002	Appointment with Teri Jones, realtor
May 6, 2002	House on the market
May 14, 2002	Received offer on house
May 25, 2002	Drove to Vancouver to see Soul Catcher
May 26, 2002	Here's what George wrote about the day we made an offer on Soul Catcher: "Grey morning, calm winds, 11:00 am. Rain at the border, missed the exit but found our way to the meeting spot. Maureen and Bruce led the way to Soul Catcher. WOW! We both felt at ease on her. A great boat, with good spaces and scale. She needs a general cleaning and varnish or oil on the interior, but all the basics are in and work or can be updated. 3:00 pm Sunny , calm, settled with some clearing. 72 degrees, low tide. The deal is done and we are going to work out transition details. Customs Wash State registration, Lloyd's registry Insurance - Moorage - Title Transfer - Taxes The great steps are done, the rest is just details."
June 2002- August 2003	Boat repair and refit, electronics upgrades, replace the diesel tanks (damn!)
Sept 2003	Leave for 2 year long distance sailing voyage to Mexico and Central America