Nelson

Tonight I find myself really hoping that somehow my business will take off to the point where it'll provide a nice living for Dawn and I. I know that it doesn't happen overnight, and it takes a lot of hard work to make it happen.

I'm willing to do the work, and I feel like I'm doing it, but it's so spotty right now. For the last month and a half I've been REALLY busy . . . but the work is starting to thin out a little. It's time to find a bunch more.

I'm kind of getting to really like the life we're living right now. Every day is "casual Friday", as I wear sweats and a t-shirt from 8 until noon . . . the first half of my workday, then take a break to shower and clean up . . . and then move on with the rest of my day: usually in shorts and another t-shirt. I work from home, set my own hours depending on how much work needs to get done and what the deadlines are for each client, and when time allows, I get to play a little. And, for the rest of this month anyway, I've got the best view I could ever imagine from my "office". Most days, I'm putting in 8 hours, if not a couple more.

For example, today I took the afternoon off and got to run my new electric model hydroplane for the first time since I got it in November. There was a lot of work that I needed to do to it before I could run . . . assembling battery packs, touching up paint, "reversing" the motor, repairing dings, installing the radio, and all that kind of stuff. I'd been doing most of that between November and now. Today was the reward. I put the boat in the water, started it up, and it ran. It ran great, as a matter of fact. I'm thrilled . . . and really excited to get another chance to run the boat. Hopefully next time with some buoys to go around to help improve my driving skills.

But there's a lot more to this past week than just the boat stuff. I'm working on a few new clients, which is good because I'm starting to run out of work with the clients I've been serving the last two months. Problem is, I don't get paid for work promoting my own company. Not right now, at least. But still, I'm optimistic that things are going OK for the business. I know there's A LOT more that we could be doing but those opportunities are still to be found. Just takes patience and hard work.

I had some fun tonight, looking back on some of the blog entries from when we first started this trip. Wow. We've sure done a lot of things over the last three months. We're pretty lucky. Over the three months, we've seen Seattle, Seaside, Lincoln City, Bandon, Arcata, Ferndale, Fort Bragg, Mendocino, Marin City, San Francisco, Petaluma, Alcatraz, Paso Robles, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Ventura, Oxnard, L.A. (Encino, specifically), Beverly Hills, Palm Springs, Cathedral City, Rancho Mirage, Palm Desert, Desert Hot Springs, Quartzsite, Phoenix, Tempe, Mesa, Cave Creek, Carefree, Apache Junction, Prescott, Glendale, Scottsdale, Tucson, the Biosphere 2, Parker, and Lake Havasu City, not to mention all of the many great places along the way.

Wow. That makes me feel like I need to take a deep breath. But then I think about the places still ahead of us: Las Vegas, back to Mesa, the Grand Canyon, Flagstaff, Page, Yuma, San Diego, Malibu (when Luka graduates in May), and all of the places in between those spots (and on the way home), too.

The moral of this story is: We're pretty lucky. Lucky to be doing this, and lucky to have so many friends and family following along, living vicariously through us. Thanks you guys!