“I feel that as long as the Shire lies behind, safe and comfortable, I shall find wandering more bearable: I shall know that somewhere there is a firm foothold, even if my feet cannot stand there again”

— Frodo Baggins, by J.R.R. Tolkien

How are you making it happen?

The land life.

We hope to rent out our house while we’re away. The car could be sold or stored. As much as we love them, our cats probably won’t enjoy life on the water; we hope to leave them with a family member while we’re away.

The boat.

Our 2005 Beneteau 423 has three cabins inside. The kids will each have a cabin in the aft, and the parents will take the owner’s cabin in the bow. We have two heads, a galley, a navigation desk, water tanks, stowage, and a dinghy.

The jobs.

Alison, a software developer, has worked remotely for the last decade. Moving her office from the house to the boat won't require much adjustment. A typical workday is achievable for her as long as we establish reliable internet options while on board or in town.

Chris, a photographer, is focused on crafting images for the landscape industry. He'll fly or drive out from the nearest port when he has a shoot, much like he does from our land home. He also has several other projects he can work on from anywhere he can access the internet.

Other Logistics

School.

Ewan (age 10) and Gwynnie (age 8) are active kids who have jumped into the homeschool experience for the last couple of years as we prepared ourselves to be able to live and work from anywhere. They will be in 5th and 4th grade, respectively, during the bulk of our travels.

Chris will continue to be the primary learning guide, working with the kids on their studies and supporting their research about upcoming destinations. He'll dinghy them into town so they can learn and explore while Alison finishes her typical workday.

We'll explore and voyage together when school and work are complete for the day!

Groceries.

One of the beautiful things about America's Great Loop is that you are almost always near land. While some towns are not as accessible as others, there are plenty of places along the way where we can gather standard provisions.

When we see that an upcoming distance may be more difficult to find nearby grocery stops or don't have conveniences like grocery delivery, we'll be sure to stock our cupboards ahead of time with plenty of options to keep us going until we have another opportunity to shop.

Appointments.

All families have appointments with the dentist, eye doctor, or other such check-ups. We'll plan to cluster our appointments together as much as possible to limit trips home. The regular cadence of recurring appointments should allow us to complete some before we launch in the spring and handle another batch around Thanksgiving, when we may return home to visit family.

Follow our journey.

Get the full scoop on our plans.