Lessons learned from the movie Captain Ron
Website design By BotEap.comTonight I saw the movie Captain Ron again (about the 10th time in the last 12 months) and let my daughter Chelsea see it for the first time. I decided that the story made up for the language and the slightly inappropriate shower scene. Partly because Chelsea is now 14 years old, and partly because the shower scene is such a good comedy.
Website design By BotEap.comThe story of Captain Ron is tremendously amazing: the Harvey family of Chicago inherits an old sailboat and decides to throw caution to the wind and sail from somewhere in the Caribbean to Miami, where it will be sold. Since they are not sailors, they hire “Captain Ron” to sail the ship and teach them how to do it along the way.
Website design By BotEap.comThe film stars Martin Short as Mr. Harvey and Kurt Russell (in a Speedo) as Captain Ron. It’s a fun movie with a great moral: get out of your routine and do something as a family!
Website design By BotEap.comWhen my family started this whole “living on the road” thing, I was hoping to be in a trailer for about a year and then graduate to sailing. Due to the slowdown in business, the sailboat’s piggy bank has not been filled yet, but I am still working towards it.
Website design By BotEap.comI’m starting to feel more than a little pressure because my son Tom turned 16 this past February and although I don’t know if he’ll take off as soon as he turns 18, I want to get on a boat for a while. Before he’s eligible to escape my clutches
Website design By BotEap.comWhy? Because I believe that people who have a “typical” education are at a disadvantage in life. They see things in a very narrow way, which limits their options. After all, how can you make a sharp left turn when everyone else is turning right if you don’t even know that the left is an option?
Website design By BotEap.comWhen we started this journey, we didn’t have enough money saved. But if we had waited until things were “better”, we would never have hit the road and experienced new things …
Website design By BotEap.comPlaces
Website design By BotEap.comWe played on the beach in Santa Cruz.
Website design By BotEap.comOranges picked out of our trailer in Bakersfield.
Website design By BotEap.comHiked the rim of the Grand Canyon (and got some great photos).
Website design By BotEap.comI watched the moon rise over the Superstition Mountains (and talked about the Lost Dutchman gold mine hidden there).
Website design By BotEap.comHe wandered the streets of Tombstone where the OK Corral shooting took place.
Website design By BotEap.comHe cheered Tom on as he followed in his Uncle Nick’s footsteps and chased after an armadillo (it was catch and release, folks).
Website design By BotEap.comI saw the Alamo where so many American heroes lost their lives.
Website design By BotEap.comI visited the UFO Museum in Roswell. (“UFOs aren’t real, Dad.” Five minutes later, “Are UFOs real, Dad?”)
Website design By BotEap.comHe drove across London Bridge (brought brick by brick from London to Arizona).
Website design By BotEap.comPeople
Website design By BotEap.comAnd we put some wonderful people on the trip, including the Sauers family in Santa Nella. We ended up parked side by side in an RV park and even though there was a pretty big age difference between their kids and the bears, they were still all kids and got along pretty well. After we left, we continued to follow his travels through his blog.
Website design By BotEap.comAnd we met both members of the Raspyni brothers and juggled with them. Barry invited us to spend the day at his house to meet his family and play and Dan let us stop by his house for juggling and an impromptu piano concert. I’d been a fan of the Raspyni Bros forever, so the opportunity to spend time with them was great.
Website design By BotEap.comPlus many more people: the Bastrop families, the gunmen near Tombstone, the jugglers in Austin, etc.
Website design By BotEap.comWhen you live in a house, you go to the same job every day and you see the same people all the time, you don’t have adventures. You just skate through life. And at 47 I realize that life is too short for that kind of skating; I’m sorry for the time I didn’t spend seeing new things and meeting new people.
Website design By BotEap.comSo if we had a chance to get on a sailboat tomorrow, I would, even if none of us know how to sail. We’d be stuck (mostly) until we could figure out how to get the thing going, but at least we’d be on our way.
Website design By BotEap.comI don’t see any reason to “settle” at this point: there are too many things to see, places to visit, and people to meet. How could you trade those things for a house attached to the ground?