Over the past 9 years, we have lived aboard in three different marinas in the SD Bay; Jody has continued to work for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service out of Carlsbad and Palm Springs, and Rand has established himself as a small business web developer (without doing any marketing, by the way) — a business he intends to take along when we hit the high seas so we can continue to have an income. Jody, incidentally, will quit her job and clean boats (or something similar) for a “living.”

Along the way, we have made amazing, life-long friends who we hope will meet us in various ports during our adventures, and/or come sailing with us, like Thad and Kristin aboard She’s No Lady. We have enjoyed domestic and international terrestrial travels as well; we’ve gotten a decade older; we’ve experienced the heartbreak of losing loved ones while witnessing our nieces and nephews grow up, and some go off to and graduate from college; we became guide parents to baby Jack (Jes and Jon’s little peanut); and we just may see the first woman president be elected. It has been a long time coming, and the time has finally arrived. The dream — coming to fruition.

(To see other photos of our great friends, please see the galleries in other posts, such as Friends and Fam Aboard Free Luff, The Sky Chair, and Catalina Shenanigans, etc.)