Nautical Nomad

These are the journals of a modern-day nomad from St. Paul, Minnesota. Included are land and sea travels from Africa to the Mediterranean to Indonesia. I've volunteered--released baby turtles into the ocean, conducted fish research, and written a marketing plan for a non-profit. The recent forcus has been to immerse myself in the local culture.

Monday, June 12, 2006

Back in the U.S. (Minnesota, Wisconsin, Boston and who knows where else)

Well, I spent a few days at home before taking off traveling again. Guess the bug is still with me.

I planned my return just ten days before Memorial Day weekend, the launch of Summer in the United States. I stayed in/around Minnesota for a whole two days before heading out of town. Obviously, I resumed a typical schedule of running myself crazy. For example, the day I landed back in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul in Minnesota—after traveling about 24 hours straight, having watched six movies and managed to sleep for maybe one hour—I ran errands, made some phone calls, checked email (the home email that I’d not looked at since early February) and went through some of my snail mail. I finally went to bed about 5 p.m., only to awaken at 2 a.m.

Jet lagged or not, I was there for the first Thursday night sailing race at Wayzata Yacht Club. Good thing I didn’t do it the night I landed as my equilibrium was questionable. The next morning I made a key lime pie, the favorite dessert of one of my best friends, and took it up to Superior WI to help celebrate the last birthday we’ll be sharing in a while since she and her husband will be cruising on Sojourn, their 37 foot sailboat for the foreseeable future, starting in June. Luckily another friend of ours accompanied me because she ended up driving all the way home once my jet lag set in after dinner.

Racing on Minnetonka was the priority for the next couple of days, then it was time to stay at home, finish unpacking, and do laundry in order to things in order before heading up to Bayfield WI for racing on Lake Superior. “Opposite extremes” is the best way to describe racing on Superior this Memorial Day weekend. Races were postponed, then start times were announced and races took off, as did the wind in short order—e.g., from zero to25 knots within fifteen minutes. Things were more relaxed in Superior WI where I stopped next to help put the finishing touches on Sojourn before the last items were loaded on the boat. One day home and it was off again, this time to Boston to see my nephew Justin graduate from high school, an event I wouldn’t dream of missing. When I go back home, I’ll stay there for a few weeks this time—or so I think. There’s Race Week on Lake Superior to look forward to around the 4th of July so I think I can subdue my travel bug until then. In the meantime, I’m looking at opportunities to look forward to this Fall and Winter. Life is such a wonderful adventure, and I’m making sure to enjoy it!