About Rick and JoAnne

Rick and JoAnne at Foxy’s, Jost Van Dyke, 2010

JoAnne and I are about to escape.  We’ve been working all our lives, living in Colorado, Washington, DC, Oklahoma and Virginia, working for the Government in one form or another.Soon, we are retiring, selling our little house in Colorado and buying a boat.We’re planning to join the Cruising World out there, sailing from Island to Island and visiting as we go.Currently we live in Colorado, and sail on the mountain lakes here.

JoAnne: She has managed fast food restaurants and has worked in retail sales for many years.  She has been the “Chief Cook” of the family and as such is the “Ship’s Chef”.  She loves baking and cooking. JoAnne is a trained sailor, and has several certifications from the American Sailing Association. She is an Amateur Radio Operator, Technician Class, Call sign KB0IRW.  JoAnne spends a lot of her free time playing online games, posting on Facebook and reading others’ Facebook pages.  JoAnne brews beer and mead as a hobby as well.  Her favorite computer is an iPad.  JoAnne has visited about 13 countries up to this time (as of March 2013).

Rick: He has worked in electronics and communications most of his life, the military and in civilian life and has been an electronics teacher at a local college in Colorado Springs for several years.  Currently retired, he used to work as a security systems engineer, maintaining and repairing electronic security systems for a large government agency.  Rick’s hobbies include computers, shortwave and ham radio, guns and shooting, bows and arrows, astronomy, physics and meteorology.  Rick has several certifications from the American Sailing Association and is an Amateur radio operator, Amateur Extra Class, Call sign N0NJY.  Rick blogs on several sites, is active in the community and politics and has become a “jack of all trades” to prepare for being a boat skipper.  Rick has visited approximately 50 countries at this time (as of March 2013).

Between them Rick and JoAnne have five children and fourteen grandchildren and one great grandchild.  They decided to retire early and see the rest of the world in 2008.  They created a “Five year Plan” to accomplish their goals and are currently in the next-to-final phase of pulling up the anchor, that is getting the house ready to sell.  The last “phase” will be the purchase of their cruising vessel.  They have spent the past five years getting rid of debt, saving money, getting rid of “stuff”, downsizing the house, upgrading their skills and becoming prepared to jump off of the land and into a world of cruising islands and coastlines, crossing oceans and visiting foreign lands.

Rick and JoAnne work together to brew beer and mead (honey wine) and have several overlapping hobbies including the aforementioned Amateur Radio, computers and especially reading.  JoAnne reads 3-5 books per week. Rick tries to keep up with her but he reads much more technical material than he does fiction.

Rick and JoAnne have been married since August 1977 and along with their daughter Kristy and her husband Carlos renewed their vows in September 2012 (and then went on a road trip to South Padre Island, Texas).

Together they act as a team in most things (although some disagreements do occur!) including sailing and preparing for their “new life”.

Rick and JoAnne can be reached by visiting the Contact Page on this site.  We welcome email. See the contact page.

Rick and JoAnne Exploring Ireland, 2004

About the header photos:  All the photos are taken by Rick or JoAnne, or one of their children and are copyright by the us.  All writing on this site is copyright by either Rick or JoAnne and all rights are reserved by us.  Please don’t copy photos, or text from the site with permission.  A simple email request to us should be sufficient to get you permission if you feel the need to use anything from the site.