The crew of Take Two is off on new adventures. Eli has just completed his EMT (Emergency Medical Technician) training and certification. Aaron is coming up on his one-year anniversary with Mercedes-Benz and he enjoys playing airsoft on the weekends with his dad and siblings and driving the 1997 Trans Am he bought last year.
Sarah is also completing her first year in the U.S. Coast Guard at Shinnecock Station in Long Island, NY, and waiting for a spot to open up in the A-school of her choice, where she will begin her career training. She came back to visit recently and it’s so good to see her happy and independent.
Sam is in his last year of homeschool high school, and he and Eli are taking a two-month hiatus to thru-hike the Florida Trail, about 1,100 miles from Big Cypress National Preserve in the Everglades (about 30 minutes from our marina) to Pensacola in the Panhandle through the swamps, prairies, pine flatwoods, salt marshes, and hardwood hammocks of our beautiful state.
Jay, Rachel, and I dropped Eli and Sam off last Sunday afternoon (January 12th) at the Oasis Visitor Center in Ochopee. They could not have picked a more beautiful day to start their long walk. Carrying everything they need for the next two months on their backs, they walked off into the scrub, expecting to make it to the first camp (9.8 miles) by dark, where they would use their satellite communicator to send a message with coordinates. This allows us to follow them vicariously and know where they stop at the end of each day. If necessary, they could contact us if they needed help or supplies. They plan to re-provision along the way, so we don’t really expect a message with requests, but it’s nice to know where they are. I know our families appreciated the similar comfort our device offered while we were out sailing. They could map our journey and follow along as we made passages or hopped between islands.
I am beyond pleased that we are raising kids that have both the desire and the confidence to undertake a journey like this one. We did not go camping with our kids when they were younger, though we spent a lot of time out in nature and hiking whenever we could. Many of the skills they will need for the next two months are ones they have had to learn on their own, through practice and research over the last year. They have been gathering supplies and gear, weighing their packs with each addition, and testing things like tents, sleeping bags, hi-tech socks and underwear, pocket-size cook-stoves, and easy-to-prepare food.
That leaves three aboard Take Two: Jay, Tanya, and Rachel. She starts high school in the fall, and we have begun to plan new travels (on and off the boat) as a family of three. One of the benefits of a smaller crew is the ability to take off on an adventure without extensive planning and packing: fewer seats needed in a vehicle, less expensive air travel, smaller accommodations required, and fewer mouths to feed. Because we are still caring for our parents, we are reluctant to do long-distance sailing or months-long road trips that would make it hard to be here for an emergency. But that doesn’t mean we can’t find ways to get out into the wide world for short periods.
Jay has been watching YouTube off-road adventures and planning our next vehicle purchase. After he and Eli took Sarah’s Jeep into Fakahatchee Strand last year and got it muddy, he’s been obsessed. Having taken a long road trip out west in 2021, where we hiked through ten National Parks, we are itching for similar outdoor adventures.
While I don’t care that much about modifying off-road vehicles or primitive camping, I do have a burning desire to see the rest of the National Parks, so our interests may dovetail nicely. I loved the camping trips we took when I was a kid–cooking on an open fire, sleeping in a tent, and taking long hikes–and I’m open to the idea of a new mode of travel and going places our sailboat can’t take us. Watching Sam and Eli get ready for this trip has probably inspired all of us in one way or another to keep pursuing life on the road less traveled. In the boys’ case, that road looked very wet and muddy last weekend. I can’t wait to hear the stories and see all the pictures.
