The Change from Yacht to Land Yacht
We didn't want to, but we had to. Cathy suffered a back injury and
unsuccessful
surgery in the 90's. We were told a day would come when she
couldn't handle the movement and such. We were hoping that day was
years away, but it came at the end of March, 2010.
We were on an offshore passage from Pensacola to Panama City, FL,
beating into 8 ft seas. As Cathy said, "The back brace, neck brace,
Loritab and rum 'n' Coke did no good."
So the decision was made to return to Pensacola and try to sell S/V
Valkyrie, then switch to a motorhome. Yes, we thought of and discussed
all kinds of alternatives - Neither one of us wanted to lose our
beloved floating home. The problem was she's not suited for "protected
waters". Too deep a draft at 6-1/2 ft and too high a mast at 52 ft.
That was why the offshore passage. There are 50 ft bridges (which can
be 47 to 51 ft) after Pensacola. Even switching to another boat
wouldn't help though. One still has to chance hours and days of rough
seas unless one sticks to canals and bays, which really is not totally
workable. The Bahamas and Caribbean are out. The clincher was taking a
chance of further damage to Cathy's back.
I guess we were right. This June Cathy's knee "went out". The doctor
thought she had "blown it" and needed surgery, but the X-rays showed inflammation
from arthritis. It's on the mend with medication, but she
was on crutches for a couple weeks. That would have been fun on a boat!
So it was back to Pensacola and advertise S/V Valkyrie at a low price.
We lucked out in that we had a buyer within a week, but it took him
several weeks to be able to come down. He's a doctor from North
Carolina and plans to do a circumnavigation in about a year. He really
got a bargain, but under the circumstances we figure we're fine. It
could have taken months or years, or even never, to get what she was
worth.
We had been looking at motorhomes and now that we had cash in hand, the
list was down to two. We waffled back and forth and leaned toward a 37
footer with a washer/dryer and ice maker. It looked pretty good but
there was something about it that wasn't quite right. Buzz answered our
doubts when he looked at it. The inside had been rebuilt and there was
mold and mildew in the walls. Scratch that one!
We called number 2, this one, and met them at a lake campground so we
"could see everything works". It looked like new inside and almost like
new outside. The only thing outside is one kind of maroon stripe that
has gotten shabby and all the stripes on the front from bugs and stuff
I guess. It was obviously well taken care of. Cosmetically. I'll list
the stuff we had to fix on another page, but suffice to say the guy and
his wife did an excellent job of hiding the problems. No problem
though. One has to expect to have some problems with anything and we're
happy with our new RV Valkyrie!
