Oh my....

By Gary: Oh my indeed! Robin and I have been talking about the future for some time .. like since we met :) The biggest part of our dream is to someday sail off into the sunset (or sunrise for that matter) and live on a boat and see some of this world with a perpetually changing million-dollar view. There are a thousand consideration and another thousand things to do in order to finally get to this point and we've been hoping and praying that somehow we might be able to realize this dream of ours.


Wednesday at around 2:00 P.M. a huge part of the plan was handed to us, basically on a silver platter. For several months now (actually since October) we've been making moves to set up our retirement relocation plan (RRP) where we pick up stakes, break camp and head off to Texas or Florida, or some other warm spot that would prove to be an ideal place to launch from for weeks or months at a time. As we discussed the future, and as we thought about the boat named "Spring Fever" (see another entry on that) we deicided that it would be very cool if we could somehow manage to get transferred to another FAA facility, set up our base of operations and then let the retirement date come to us without all the stress of moving, finding a place to live while finding and outfitting the boat.


No sooner had we settled in on this particular 'what if' that we saw some openings to bid on in Miami Center. We began the paperwork churn that took us deep into some midnight oil (the application package to bid a job is around 23 pages long) and managed to get everything submitted within a hairsbreadth of the deadline. Then the waiting began.


We were excited to receive our notifications that our applications had been accepted and we'd been put on a selection list (I still don't know how big that list was).


Shortly thereafter we made application to Jacksonville Center and the process started again.


About three weeks ago we received a phone call to arrange telephone interviews and after Miami Center had done those interviews with us asked us to please be patient because the process would probably take 6 to 8 more weeks before they were ready to announce any selections. One week later Jacksonville Center interviewed us, thanked us kindly and asked for our patience in the process. I did a second interview with Miami for another opening and we figured we'd wait around to hear what happened. I guess I must note here that I did not come away from the second interview with Miami feeling at all optimistic. The interview did not go well in my opinion and I hung up wondering if this was the right place to be hoping for after all. That was a week ago Thursday.


When we arrived at work this Wednesday, John (my boss) greeted us at the entrance and said nothing more that "Miami called ... they want you both."


Robin said her knees went weak, and I know I had a catch in my breath as well. It was as if we'd just been handed the exact answer to a prayer we weren't even sure how to make. We needed to make a decision on accepting their tentative phone offer, and that meant retracting the rest of the bids we'd submitted for other jobs, but how could we possibly turn down the opportunity to move to a location precisely where we wanted to be and to a facility that was not only interested in us as a team, but willing to promote Robin in the process! We didn't need to discuss it very much at all and glady said yes to the offer.


It will be several months before this actually can take place. Denver Center has to carefully plan losing people to transfers, and the manager has told us that it could be as long as 12 months before we can be released; but he also told us it could be as soon as 6 months depending on how staffing levels go here in the facility.


I think it's best that we plan on the shorter time, and if it winds up being longer, that's bonus preparation time for us. My gosh, this is exciting and there is a lot to do.


The Argyle house project is being ratcheted up a notch in an effort to get it marletable and sold quickly, the Verdant house is a quandry because I have great renters in there, they want to buy it, but can't manage it right now and the Hayden Ct. house is ... umm .. where we live. We need to sell basically everything, travel light and then start over in the new location with a 'live-aboard-the-sailboat" mindset.


Yesterday afternoon we went out to an RV sales lot just to poke around with yet another idea on how this might all work out. Robin suggested that we might want to consider down-sizing into a Motor Home and that would provide living quarters for us should the house sell quickly. We could also move our house with us to Florida and set up in an RV park until we found a more permanent residence in Miami.


Well, that discussion evolved into one of planning to NOT set roots in Miami; after all, we've only 4 years or so before we can cast off and begin the sailing adventure, so why not consider actually living in a 5th wheel or motor home for those years. It would certainly make sense over trying to find affordable property in Miami and it's a logical step to the massive down-sizing we're going to have to do to move aboard a sailboat.



So we went window shopping. It didn't take long to figure out that we don't want a huge motor coach. We're not planning on living on the road, so we're not going to have that much 'windshield time'. We'll only need to relocate periodically if we decide to find new locales. In the long term, we could even relocate the 5th wheel to a place where we plan to end up after a sailing adventure, then we'd have a ground-based shelter awaiting us when we need to haul the boat out of the water for repainting or repairs.



Sounded like a good plan to me...let's go for it...sooner rather than later, so we can market the big house as quickly as possible. The sooner we can get out of it and get this down-sizing project underway, the better.
So here we go. Sell the houses, learn Spanish, buy the boat and bring it to Florida, and learn a new job and new airspace, procedures, and people. Easy enough :)

Thank you God, you are so good to us.