Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Year-End Wrap-Up

The past month has just flown by, and with the end of the year only a few days away I figure it's time for a quick update!

I had a really nice couple of weeks in Atlanta at the end of last month, hanging out and catching up with all my good friends there. A special highlight was a two-day trip I made up to the North Georgia mountains to visit with a good friend and long-time former client. After selling his business last year, he was finally able to execute his retirement plans to move south, "back home" to near where he grew up. He's built a beautiful mountain home overlooking Lake Rabun, and the view is spectacular!


At the beginning of this month, I spent a few days driving a rental car north to Pennsylvania, the only salient point of which was how much I missed driving Darth! As soon as I arrived here, I reclaimed my beloved truck from the custody of my good friend Marty who took excellent care of him while I was away. I spent a few days with my folks while I pondered "what's next" for me, then formulated the basic outline of a plan and have started putting it into place.

It's not really much of a "plan" per se, more like just a decision to stay in one place for a little while. I've been on the move for so long that I'm just feeling like it would be fun to be stationary for a change. Accordingly, I've decided to "settle" here in south central PA for a few reasons: First, I've got a few projects that I've been dabbling with for quite a while, and this is as good a place as any to do some more serious work on them. Second, I've got family and friends in the area with whom I'd like to spend some time and who may be able to help me with my projects. Third, it's a good place geographically in that it's close to a number of metropolitan areas without being in a city. Finally, the winter here will likely be "crisp" but not "punishing" -- just the way I like it!

So, I retrieved my camper sled from the lot where I stored it back in October and have repositioned it to a nice little "neighborhood" in the area. My neighbors are mostly manufactured homes and mobile homes, with a few RVs and campers like mine as well. It's a really nice, rural setting with pretty views of farms, woodlands and mountains.


I'm pretty well settled in now, back to enjoying the tidy, quiet lifestyle that I enjoy. I'm not expecting this to be a permanent location, of course, but it's feeling really good as a location for "world headquarters of me right now."

2011 has been another chockablock year for me, beginning with a 7-month international expedition around the North Atlantic, continuing with a thorough cross-country drive and ending with a world-class open-ocean yacht delivery. Sometimes when I think about everything I've done in the past five years, my head kind of explodes! I expect 2012 will start out a little less high-energy, but who knows where it will go from there?… Stay tuned!