Never say never!

 When we sold our last boat, Journey, we had decided not to own a boat again.  Well...never say never!

Maybe it's the COVID years with it's limits on travel...But mostly, for us, it's the realization that we might find ourselves unable to travel where we want to due to health issues that might arise.  One day we looked at each other and ask ourselves if there was anything else in the way of travel or life changes that we wanted to do while we could.  We both admitted we'd like to travel by boat on extended cruises again.

So...we sold our house while looking for the boat we'd picked out, a Mainship 39'.  We'd been looking for a boat for a couple of months, but as soon as boats came available they were snatched up.  Fortunately for us, our broker connects with Facebook and saw a Mainship 39' for sale in Portsmouth, VA.  We expressed an interest and our broker called the seller to arrange a viewing of the boat within days.  We drove to Portsmouth and, after a tour and talk with the owner, signed a contract pending a survey of the boat.  As we walked out that day in Portsmouth to see the boat Wayne stopped on the dock leading to it and pointed to the side of the boat and it's name:  Maggie Jo!!  We took it as a sign that it was meant to be!

As for selling our house, it was an idea we'd been considering for several years now.  When we bought our house on Coachman Lane it was exactly what we wanted.  We wanted to do some traveling...by boat and car...and the Coachman Lane house had lawn maintenance built in and neighbors close to alert us to any problems.  As the 12+ years passed, though, we both became more involved with our hobbies: art for me and woodworking for Wayne.  We decided a little bit larger house would allow me a room devoted to art projects...and we could get a larger piece of land that would allow Wayne to build a separate structure for his woodworking.  Strangely enough, the couple that bought our Coachman Lane house had sold us our first house in Knoxville back in the 70's!  Again, we took it as a sign that it was meant to be!  Our only regret in selling the house is that we had fantastic neighbors!  Our plan is to keep in touch with them as you would any good friends....

 So!  We got to the boat last Tuesday, June 28, and are using this week to organize our "stuff" and acquaint ourselves with the workings of the boat and the navigation software.  Though we'd looked at the boat in Portsmouth, the owners were on their way to Pasadena, MD, so that's where we are now.  We'll leave here on Tuesday, July 5, and start our trip up to New York City, Hudson River, Erie Canal, Great Lakes and then the river system that will bring us back to Tennessee and the Knoxville area where we'll make some changes to the boat before we take longer trips.

Speaking of the boat, here's Maggie Jo...

 

Upstairs helm

Downstairs helm

Salon

Galley

Galley

Bedroom

 

 

 Head

 

 

 

 Spare bedroom AKA Storage!

 

 As for the name of this boat?  Well, we were tempted to call it Maggie May...but decided to call it Journey II.  We'll go by Maggie Jo until we get back to Tennessee, though.  

Tonight we're going to try out the new restaurant at Fairview Marina where we are docked.  The restaurant is named Sam & Maggie's...after the owner's dogs, I think.  More to come later when we start moving...