It’s been a while since I’ve had the brain space to sit down to write. July was…big. We watched from Colorado as Hurricane Beryl destroyed islands, homes and boats of people we love and then drove straight into her path to Houston to witness her punch first hand. Tucker turned nine and Charlie turned six while we ventured out on “Tour de Tejas 2024,” a familiar Texas circuit to squeeze as much of our family and friends as possible. And this morning I am staring at my list of lists trying to figure out how to prep for Tropical Storm Debby as she set her sites on Hilton Head. Never a dull moment!
Hurricane Beryl made landfall as a Cat 4 directly over Union Island where my sister-in-law is from and her family lives. We felt helpless as we watched the models and texted family. After the storm, we also got news that our first sailboat, Stella Blue, was on the hard in Carriacou and is no longer. Emotional times. After a week of family fun, we packed up our duffel bags and began our voyage from Colorado to Texas, once again obsessively checking the weather – Beryl had made a turn and was heading straight to Houston! We drove through the outer band of storms, tucked ourselves in and woke up with no power. We rode out the now Cat 1 storm with my parents ON Tucker’s 9th birthday! Definitely an exciting page in his life story!
We spent the next week crashing with friends and family who had power – thanks guys!!! Then spent the rest of the month traveling and celebrating in a much less dramatic fashion. We felt the love as we pulled into as many driveways as we could to load up on Texas hugs.
Spending time in Texas was a funny thing. It felt so familiar and comfortable, but a month is a long time to be on the road. We travel around on Tideye constantly, but our home is always with us. It’s so cool that SV Tideye has truly become our home – not just a sailboat with a coffee maker.
The weather is still pretty uncertain – but models are lining up for this storm to track directly over Hilton Head. We will head to the grocery store, double up on lines and get out a deck of cards. Time to batten down the hatches.
