My mother used to berate my Dad sometimes with the phrase “Imagonna” when she wanted to remind him of something he said he would do, and had not gotten around to doing it just yet. She’d be upset with him and would be the one to remind him that he wasn’t doing whatever it was with this caustic remark of “Imagonna”.
But Mom had a way of telling us kids she was going to do something, eventually, if we asked her. She used “I’m fixing to begin to commence to start…” meaning to us, she’d get around to it when she was damned good and ready.
On Wednesday last week I spent the better part of eight or night hours actually sitting on an aircraft to head to the location of the boat I’m looking at. On Thursday morning I sat at breakfast with the surveyor and discussed our attack plan.
By Thursday evening, I was convinced.
It was cold, negative 10 degrees below zero when I arrived and looked at the boat for the first time in person. I’d “driven around the area” using Google Street view, but couldn’t quite see the boat from the location the Google car had turned around. So, no sneak previews for me. Only the images the seller had sent to me via the broker, and those on the various ads I could find.
There was ice on the deck. The deck covered with tarps. Did I mention it was cold? Colder than Colorado, that’s for sure.
I had a “Wow!” moment when I first saw the boat. It was just as beautiful, if not more-so than the images told me. In fact, Confucius had it wrong when he said “One picture is worth a thousand words”. The images tell a lot, but when you’re in person and all you can say is “Wow” I guess that says something too. A lot.
My second “WOW” moment was on deck.
My last one was when I climbed down the ladder to the cabin. That was more of a “Triple Wow!”
Basically, the survey went well, everything we checked out was good. There was some “bad” too though, but mostly things I can deal with without having to resort to professionals.
The most important part was coming away from the survey having watched a professional examine the boat, taking notes and taking pictures and knowing his evaluation would give me the confidence to go forward.
We stand awaiting the survey report and in a short time we’ll “be fixin’ to begin to commence to start” our trip to the Islands.
More to follow….
Winds of Time 
Congratulations Rick on this giant step. We purchased ours in July of 2013 in Duluth MN. I worked on Adventure through the winter to get ready for our departure this summer. So I understand cold but lovin’ it. Good luck and I will follow your blog to see how your progress goes. Who knows maybe we can meet up in Florida next year. (That’s were we are now)
Thanks for the comment! Funny, we are going to re-name the boat “Adventure”. Originally, it was going to be “Winds of Time”. We think that is too long (but I left the name on the blog).
When we get in the car and go on a road trip, she always says “YAY! We’re on an ADVENTURE!” So – the name stuck. Thanks for following back.