Steak Burritos

Well, blogging from the tent tonight... We made delicious dinner tonight of steak from Wal-Mart and onions in burritos. (I do not endorse nor recommend buying anything from this horrible company!) But damn was it delicious!
We have made an offer on a Bayfield 36! We love it! We need to check out the engine and have it surveyed yet, so this is far from final... But this boat is pretty sweet! Better than most for a first boat I would say. I just hope I don't screw something up with it being new to owning a sailboat. So many systems! Lots of water, Turbo diesel engine, solar panel, wind generator, watermaker, Monitor self-steering wind-vane, autopilot, refrigeration, SSB radio w/weatherfax, VHF with cockpit speakers and controls, GPS's (4 total), liferaft, dinghy and outboard, canvas dodger and bimini, Lifesling, boson's chair and to top it all off a speargun! I have got lots to learn! Here is the listing... http://www.yachtworld.com/core/listing/boatFullDetails.jsp?boat_id=1878510&ybw=&units=Feet&currency=USD&access=Public&listing_id=1639&url=
Check it out!
We get to take it out Wednesday!!!

We have ended up in the coolest place ever... Oriental, North Carolina! Who would have known? The absolute nicest people I have ever run across. Anywhere you are, people are striking up conversations and laughing and joking amongst themselves... People in the grocery store, just everywhere are super nice! It is amazingly refreshing! Oh, and there are two chandleries, a used marine supply store, lots of people living on boats and cruising, lots of people riding bikes, and the only coffee shop we have found since Bozeman, MT that makes a decent latte. Anyways I am excited about being here for a while! Hope everyone back home is doing well! We miss you!

Kristen Here,

Thanks for all the comments! Unfortunately I don't have any super cool pictures of Ben sleeping to post.

We went through sooo many states! Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska (that one wins the award for most boring state ever!!)Missouri, Kansas, Kentucky, Tennessee, then finally N. Carolina! I do not have any desire to take another road trip for a very long time!I put some pictures on from the drive.

Camping has been pretty cool here! There's only one place to do it in the area, so we drive about an hour to get to where we want to be, but not bad. It's off season for camping, so we have our choice of spots. We got a hotel the other night though because it rained 2+ inches & wind was reportedly 60mph. (...there's probably a reason no one else is camping...)They have bugs the size of Texas here!! It's like being in a rain forest!! It's not what I was expecting at all, but really pretty. It's been raining/sprinkling everyday on & off, otherwise really sunny & nice, but super humid. Skippy loves his A.C.

Oh, did I mention the towns here are under water? I took some pictures. Pretty nuts! They have all these roads you have to avoid because they are under 2 feet of salt water! Check out the paddle shop! At least you can paddle your way out if you get flooded in there! The coffee shop next door was not so lucky!

So, about our boat mission... We came to N.Carolina, because we wanted a Morgan 38. Funny thing is, we got here & I hated them & Ben was extremely disappointed by them as well....luckily, our broker talked us into seeing a Bayfield 36 n the same dock & we fell in love with it! I have no idea why we never considered them as an option before..in fact I had never heard of them, but it turns out this one is exactly what we were looking for. Two staterooms, separate shower (with tub) good galley, all the electronic equipment Ben wanted, solar panels, wind generator, wind vane, good sails...the list goes on...

We thought about it for a day & went on about 5 more boats, then made an offer!!!! I really hope it surveys well!! I'm so excited!!

We will keep y'all posted! We should have some more info in a few days!

Keep sending comments our way! We miss you guys!!

Drivin' ya'all!!!

Just passed through Nashville Tennessee! We should make it to The North Carolina coast today if everything goes OK. We drove pretty hard for two days to get here. We drove south from S. Dakota into Nebraska... We noticed that people really keep their yards nice in Nebraska! Even the trailers. Then we headed east to Lincoln on I 80, then cut away into Missouri. They have mile markers every .2 miles... seems like an awful waste of signs, but then we figured that we were right next to the federal pen in Leavenworth, Kansas and they probably made road signs instead of lisence plates. We went down through Kansas City(actually right around), then across Missouri to Saint Louis. Missouri seemed pretty nice, and was lots different than I expected as far as the landscape. It was pretty hilly with cobblestone cliffs here and there. It was nice. We took a picture of the arch in Saint Louie, and then into Illinois. Lots of strip clubs right across the river. We dipped through Illinois and into Kentucky. Kentucky seemed nice... Then into Tennessee! People seem pretty nice here. Lots of maam's for Kristen. I think she is getting used to it. Lots of trees! Suburban seems to be doing OK after our trouble in Montana. It leaks tranny fluid though, so we have to keep an eye on that. All this is just going to make it easier to part with it when we are ready to. Pretty nice vehicle though! I can't say enough about the comfort of the seats-I think both my trucks I have been driving have been pretty uncomfortable... Anyways---I can not wait to look at some boats!!!

Oh, did I mention that Skippy really likes Air Conditioning!!! I could see his breath at one point!

Thanks for checking out our blog!

Rumble strips and Rocker!

Here we are about 250 miles into Montana. Our new tank of a suburban decided to stop running. Something electrical I think, so we are waiting for a tow truck. We spent our first night in a truck stop in Rocker, MT. The seats are comfy, though Skippy has it best. We have two layers of memory foam set up for him as a couch in the back... much different than any other road trip we have been on. I think he likes the Suburban.
We are on the road! We are both really excited! So much more work than we thought getting all our worldly possessions situated in various locations. Lots of people are helping us out on this trip storing vehicles and tools and sending mail. We put almost all of our stuff in a 12x12foot storage unit in S. Cle Elum. If we had one more box, I don't know where it would have gone, we were literally pushing things inside as we were closing the door to get it closed. Funny how hard it is to part with stuff. We brought my tools and trailer to Doug's and got to see all three Rock brothers on the way out of town. Sounds like Steve might just be checking out flights already for when we get down there! We have got our mail forwarded to Blakely Island where my Mother will filter out junk mail and send packages when we are in a location where we can receive it... Thanks Mom! The Bronco is being looked after by Jessica over at Brians place in Ellensburg! Thanks guys. And we are currently being stored in our 92 Suburban on the side of the Freeway!

At least Skippy is happy. And Kristen is catching some zzzzzz's.

packing explosion!

Hey again, Kristen here!

I'm currently sitting in the biggest pile of bubble wrap you've ever seen! We are trying to leave on Wednesday...that's 3 days away!!! We took a good hard look at everything we own today & are deciding once & for all what we are & aren't bringing, tossing, selling, etc....
We are having dinner at our (Scott's house) on Tuesday if anyone wants to come we would absolutely love to see you before we leave!! We will REALLY miss you all!! Call if you need directions or e-mail Kristen at kristencontratto@hotmail.com.
Since last Friday, we've been to Blakely, Bellingham, back to Anacortes, Cle Elum, Back to Seattle,we spent today in Issaquah, and now home in Cle Elum .We finally sold the Hobie12, possibly the Dodge, winterized & stored the boat, put the Bronco at the Cooke's house,and started to move out this last week. So, it's been a pretty nutty schedule.
I just can't wait to get on the road! We're hoping to make it to dad's in South Dakota on Thursday A.M., then we have no idea which way we will take to get to North Carolina...so if anyone has any tips on cool stuff for us to see on the way or good routes to go, please let us know!! We would love some entertainment or at least good scenery along the way..also if you know of any good camping spots in the area that would be helpful too!! We appreciate any info you have!

OK, well, back to packing, I think I have a few long nights ahead of me! The house looks like a war zone!

Don't forget about Tuesday!! We won't see you for another 8 months, so seriously, if you can come it would be really cool!

The whole crew is ready!

Skippy is soooo ready to go!

Updates

Hey guys... we are one step closer to the big picture...but still a few steps back.
We managed to sell the Chevy & the flat bed trailer this week. We still have lots more though including the Dodge. If anyone knows someone who needs a good towing truck this is the one for them! It seems to be impossible to sell a v10 pick up right now with gas prices & all.

We are trying to separate from our storage unit things we NEED on a boat, things we will continue to store, and still...things to get rid of. This is a much bigger process than I ever imagined. Is it just me...or did craigslist get harder to use?

I'm still sooooo excited though! This is all going to be more than worth it when we set sail.

We went to look at boats yesterday in Seattle just to get a feel for the models we wanted to see in MD/VA/FL/& NC and counted them all out as possibilities almost as soon as we boarded them, but found some other interesting boats to look into that we hadn't considered before....so good progress....sort of. We may go look at another one or two today....you can see what we spend all of our spare time doing these days.

Life is consumed by the dream!..and I have to admit as strange as it is...I love it.

Well, that's what's going on right now... wish us luck on selling the rest of our stuff.. especially the Dodge!! We'll keep you posted!

-Kristen