Jacksonville/St. Augustine FLA. Summer 2011
Do you ever wake up and think WTF, questioning what am I doing? Why don’t I just quit my job, sell everything, buy a beer and bait shack in Florida make my $30k a year and live happily ever after. Mañana!
Jacksonville/St. Augustine Fla.
I had a choice, walk the half a mile in the 98 degree heat and humidity or try to find a parking spot in the middle of downtown Jacksonville during the peak of morning rush and walk a mile in the heat and humidity.
I walked the half a mile.
I like to walk, you see more of the city on a walk vs. a parking garage. You experience the little out of the way spots that are hidden from traffic, the garden in the middle of a bustling downtown, the unknown statue to some hero long forgotten except by the pigeons. In Jacksonville, this stroll had the side benefit of walking along the docks on the St. James River, which runs through downtown Jacksonville. A nice stroll if I was wearing shorts and flip-flops, not so, with a suit and tie on.
Just the previous night I had dinner at a dockside restaurant on this very path and watched as a lone man sat on his sailboat watching the nightlife all around him. An island of peace in the middle of a hectic nightlife in the city. I thought wow, wouldn’t that be the life, no cares, pick up anchor and leave for your next destination. The peace and serenity vs. the pressure cooker of modern civilization.
Modern civilization took control over my fantasy, the next morning, now on my walk to the corporate suites of a Fortune 100 company, I saw the same man on the boat wearing what he wore the night before and probably the night before that. I nodded and he nodded back and I continue my walk, now covered in a thin patina of sweat and fatigue I came very close to throwing my computer bag into the river and saying screw this.
The pressure cooker hadn’t vented quite yet. There is the mortgage, the kid’s health care, I don’t know how to sail and since our country is in debt up to its Washington neck ties, I figure I should do my part. I do have a job in this time of recession so I guess I am one of the lucky ones. So I persisted in my endeavors for the day another meeting probably leading to several others which might lead to something, who knew.
I kept walking and remembered one tidbit from the dinner last night that the bar did $49,606 worth of business in one day during the Georgia,Florida football game in November. This game is better known as the world’s largest outdoor cocktail party. Boat guy probably had a front row seat to all the action and who knows a couple of coeds might have wandered on board. I thought almost 50 grand in a day, and then I found my computer bag was in mid-air at that time, almost heading towards the St Johns River, when I realized that I had my personal computer in there also. I relented and it swung back to my side, safely, ready for another day.
The meeting, the reason I was there, went uneventful, a waste of time, same issues that they will always have but are unwilling to do more than meet and discuss and do nothing, corporate America. My day was over.
I made it to St. Augustine’s old city later that day and meandered around for a bit, sans computers, didn’t know how many more G forces they could take. I wound up in at The Taberna Del Caballo heralded as the oldest tavern in America. The tavern no bigger than a modern kitchen with a barmaid and some draught beers, a consolation to modern times. Soon conversation broke out amongst the patrons, when I ordered a light beer and water. The bar maid put two glasses in front of me a beer and a water and told me.
“The water is the one with the ice in it.”
“Funny” I said and the night began.
A family from eastern Pennsylvania was there, a solitary man who didn’t say much and a couple, Jenna and Chris sat and chatted with us.
I asked innocently enough.
“Where are you guys from?”
Chris replied, “Hard to say, we travel a lot, don’t settle in one location much.”
“R V ers huh?”
“Kinda of, we live on a sailboat, the water version of a land yacht.”
“No way, I saw a guy in Jacksonville last night, on a sailboat he obviously lived on. I thought what a life. How do you do it? I mean what does it take?”
“It helps if you love the water and know how to sail. I have been living on the boat for 20 years, Jenna for about 10 years.”
“Where do you store your lawnmower?”
“At my brother’s house.”
As we talked I became aware of what we take for granted everyday, water, 911, fast food, 24 hour convenience are not available in the middle of the ocean. There is some planning involved if you live on a boat, weather, emergencies, water all are daily priorities that need to be planned out in advance. Except for weather it is best to know what that will be like before the storm hits. That, red skies at night sailors delight, red skies at morn sailors take warn, stuff.
“Mail, do you receive mail?”
“We have a service that scans in our mail; we go on line and can choose open or toss. The ones they open we can see on line later.”
“Can you get on line most anywhere?”
“No problem, libraries have WiFi, we can pick up a satellite signal most of the time, most bars and resort ports in the Caribbean haves wireless. Usually not a problem.”
“Food, how do you keep it fresh?”
“No milk that goes bad to fast, we have a small freezer for some meats, mainly rice, eggs, flour, sugar. The Oregon Trail stuff.”
Oregon Trail was the passage way from the East usually starting in St. Louis westward. The settlers would pack for a three-month journey through very unforgiving terrain. Just look up the Donner Party and what they were serving for dinner in the winter of 1867.
“Electricity do you have a generator.”
“No you want to keep gas and explosives away from a sail boat, we use solar and wind they generate enough electricity to keep a freezer going and a microwave.”
“So you’re pretty self efficient, what is the main worry of boaters?”
“Weather and water, too little or too much of either is not good.”
“I guess fresh water would be an issue. Weird living on the water and water can become your number one nemesis. The irony!”
“Fresh water is used only for drinking and cooking. You wash up using sea water, we have a tank for our bathroom for waste. You don’t use fresh water unless you’re thirsty. When it rains you get a nice fresh water shower.”
“How did you two meet?”
“At a boat show, right!” Jenna said and added.
“I wanted to live on a boat and John and I meet talked and a year later we are cruising the inter coastal on our way to Savannah.”
“What kinda of boat do you have?”
“42 foot sail boat.”
“Do you ever get claustrophobic?”
“No, when your on the ocean you’re a spec in the sea. Wide openness, no land to set your bearings. Space is all around you plus the cabin is big enough for two so never been claustrophobic.”
“What about money, I know nothing is free, they do charge you for slips, right?”
“They do it varies it could be a couple hundred a month in some spots. Our checks are electronically deposited and we can access the account from any ATM machine. We just need money for incidentals, like food, water, slip fees and the occasional fine from the shore Nazis.”
“Shore Nazis?”
“Local cops that bust people for docking without permits, could be $300 fine. We came ashore just before a storm in Georgia and the next day a cop was there fine in hand, was ready to confiscate the boat if we didn’t pay right then. A money grab,Georgia rednecks.”
“How are most people you meet, I imagine there are some salty characters out there?”
“People are people for the most part they’re all friendly and nice. Want to know about our life style. The jerks are far and few.”
“I take it you’re not big fans ofAmerica’s Got Talent or Dancing with the Stars?”
“Ha, no TV, just books and the real stars.” Jenna said.
Chris added. “Yea everything is mañana, however sometimes mañana leads into weeks months, years. Sometimes you do have to do some things now. But that mañana attitude fills your days.
Mañana, I feel that way but I guess in the opposite way, I will quit my job, sell everything, move to the coast, live in a smaller house, enjoy life. Mañana.
The Bev Nap Diaries 