The Emilie Belle
After spending the week getting affairs in order for my separation with corporate America, I made my way up to Brooksville, ME and contemplated the idea of living there as I had many times before. My apartment in Portland is now subletted through September, and with my largest bill being my phone bill, and having saved a good bit of money in my latest corporate gig, I have options. I love the idea of being in Brooksville, but don’t know what I can do here for work. I guess I may just need to see what happens.
For now I’m here to enjoy the reason I came back to Maine from Oregon, and the UK, and Australia; summer in Maine. I talk the “About” section about how much the summer here has been an integral part of my life, and how my life has centered around it. This fells like an amazing opportunity that landed in my lap, and I’m taking full advantage of it. I’m going to enjoy the summer in Maine in the way I most enjoy experiencing it, cruising on a small boat.
In Travels With Charley, Steinbeck names his campervan, a flatbed 1968 Ford truck with a customized camper in the bed, Rocinante, which he had custom built to be self-sufficient like a boat, and to be able to handle all conditions through which he planned to travel. Steinbeck was a boat man at heart, and even starts the book with a story about saving his boat the Fayre Eleyne during a Hurricane at his home in Long Island. His description of Rocinante is exactly the way think of the Emilie Belle, my family’s boat, and I even tried to convince them to name if after Steinbeck’s truck, as both a nod to the author, and Don Quijote’s steed.
The Emilie Belle has everything one needs: a v-berth bunk, a head, a sink, cabin and reading lights, a stereo system and ample living space on deck. To round out the amenities of the boat, I bring a Weber grill, an item I have owned on all three continents I’ve lived for the past 10 years, a new YETI cooler that keeps ice for several days while cruising, and a hammock to hang on deck. That is literally everything I need. More than I need. It is easy to live a comfortable existence if you have those things.
