Sailing Tarka: To California, or not to California...

*You may want to get a beverage. This one got kinda long.

When we left California four months ago we had every intention of returning this spring and working another year. With cush living quarters, amazing friends, and of course my favorite little Jameson- why wouldn't we go back? That is an interesting question that neither Jon nor I can answer. It was just this strange unanimous decision that we both came too; that there was something else out there and it was time to move on.

I have to tell you: that was a hard conclusion to come to. Leave this amazing place where we felt comfortable and had an income forrrrrrr.... What? Well we didn't know. Telling our friends we weren't coming back was emotional and it was hard to answer the question, "Where are you going instead?" with a shrug. It felt... irresponsible. (Now of course we knew what we wanted to do - sail. But we had no plan in place to make it happen. It was just a dream.)

Once our decision not to return was out in the open, the air felt clearer, and we laughed easier. Corny I know but I'm serious! We were afraid we would regret not coming back but we knew we made the right decision because it felt right. So with our decision final we made our way back to California (to bring our total to 10,000 miles in two and a half months) to say good-bye, collect our things and come up with a plan.
Step 1: Fit everything we own into our truck.
Step 2: Sell the Element.
Step 3: ?

For some reason it didn't bother us that we had no plan. (Okay that's a lie, sometimes it caused some stress) We kept telling ourselves, "Once the Element is sold then we'll think about what's next." So we drove to Arcata, spent a few days with Ro, Joe, and Jamo; drove to the cabin had an awesome BBQ with friends and packed all our stuff up; then headed to Vallejo to sell the Element and visit our friend Robin, who is in Med school there. He let us crash at his place for a week until we sold the car. What a guy! I'm not sure what we would have done otherwise; how lucky we are to have such great friends.

A few weeks before Vallejo Jon had mentioned to me about an add on the internet for a small sailboat named 'Tarka' that he'd taken notice of since last July. This was nothing new. Jon had been looking at boats for sale for years now, ever since we almost bought a boat in Duluth almost four years ago but got cold feet and went with a truck and a road trip instead. It had become something of a hobby for him. Always searching for that perfect boat for just the right price.
I took a look; under 30', good condition, comes with lots of stuff, engine's got low hours, very clean, good price... what's the snag? There's always a snag. "It's in the Caribbean" Jon says. That didn't seem so bad to me. Then he informed me that he's actually been e-mailing the guy selling it and asking questions. This was also nothing new. Jon's done this dozens of times. I seriously didn't think much of it. But maybe this was it... There was hesitation of course because I hate getting my hopes up only for it to fall though so I acted pretty nonchalant. "I mean it would be perfect, great boat and starting in the Caribbean would be the ultimate, but the timing's a little off. We need more time to sell the car and organize our stuff... details, you know? It's been up since since last July, in a few weeks let's make a move." A few days later:

March 6th - "Hi Jon, I have received an offer on Tarka, we are disusing the details, if all goes well she will be sold. Cheers, Lindsay"

Dang. Well if there is one thing we've learned; if it doesn't work out, it wasn't meant to be. There will be another. Let's focus on selling the car.

(Now in Vallejo)
March 12 - "Hi Jon, the guy who made the offer on Tarka has backed out, family pressure I think. If you are still interested I will be standing by. Lindsay"

(We read this the morning of the 13th)
Me: "What! This is fate! A second chance! Let's make him an offer! Quick!"
Jon, "Don't you wanna sleep on it?"
Me: "Sleep on it?? Sleeping on it's for chumps! Early bird gets the worm! There will never be another opportunity like it!"
Jon: "What about the car?"
Me: "Who cares about the car?! We'll give it away! Sometimes you gotta be bold, now or never! You're getting hung up on the details! Act now, think later!"
Jon: "That's not my style."
Me: "Ok look, we've been talking about this how long? You know more about boats than most boat brokers. When is a better time? Next year? The year after? When was the last time you saw a boat so suited for us?"
Jon: "This is a pretty big step, we're not exactly expert sailors."
Me, "Oh come on. Think of some of the climbs we've done - we can learn how to sail."

And that seemed to click for Jon. When we left on our road trip we had climbed very little together. Jon had only done a single trad lead and had never done a multi-pitch climb before. But by being prepared and cautious, taking it one step at a time, we found ourselves rewarded beyond what we had ever dreamed of.. And so -

March 13 - Offer made.

March 14 - Bought one way plane tickets from Minneapolis to St. Martin. Leaving in two weeks. We were still in California needing to sell the car. Yikes.

March 17 - Sold Element for $1,000 less than we were hoping. And glad to get it.

March 22 - Made it to Minnesota. One week before take off.
Unpacking, repacking, visiting friends and family, climbing, playing in the snow, checking out my brothers awesome program at WITC, pretty much never a dull moment. The week flew by and pretty soon we were headed out of town. Headed to Minneapolis where we would park the truck at a storage place and go for one last climbing sesh at VE with my friend Tasha and her boyfriend Cory.

March 29- We woke up in Tasha's amazing condo a few miles from downtown Minneapolis and she drove us to the airport. We unloaded our bags, said our goodbyes, and we were off.