Video Transcript

00:00:12
Great Loop cruising day number three! We’re currently still near Merritt Island. We absolutely loved our anchorage near NASA. We actually got to see a rocket launch, so that was pretty cool. Today we’re looking to do about 30 miles and we’re currently going through Mosquito Lagoon. We’ve got less than 10 mile an hour winds according to the Windy (app).

00:02:44
We have winds out of the east and the ICW runs on the west side of the Lagoon. There’s a lot of fetch, which means the wind can build up the waves. Since they’re coming on our east and we’re heading north, we’re getting our waves on the beam, directly on the side of the boat. That can be really uncomfortable. We picked a low wind day, so it’s not a problem for us, but I just wanted to point it out for you when you’re coming through this area. It’s been absolutely beautiful. We just saw some dolphins.

00:03:09
We saw some manatees this morning, and flamingos. Tons of wildlife in this area. It’s a Sunday, so quite a few recreational people out fishing and kayaking. Going through the Haulover Canal, we had to take it nice and easy just to be courteous. Yesterday we anchored at Titusville, over close to NASA, and it was beautiful. We actually stayed the next day on the boat there.

00:04:08
{Captain Tom on the radio] We started at Sebastian Inlet (Florida). Today is day three of cruising essentially. Just started it. Yeah, it was pretty windy. Appreciate your time. Have a great day and stay safe. That was so nice. Seven knots is what they wanted to do. [Playing with the radio beeps] You know what this reminds me of? You hear that? Oh, we hear it. We hear it. Plinko. I don’t know what Plinko is. The Price is Right, you know?

00:05:29
Or no, the wheel. [laughter] And it sounds just like it, doesn’t it? You mean the Wheel of Mythicality? $1. I win. [laughter] Going to the showcase. I think you’ve got all of the game shows confused. What? It’s all the same thing. [laughter] [Finished playing with the radio] Osprey, a little Ranger tug, was heading up. Their slip is in Banana River. We saw them in the Banana River. When we were hiding from that storm in Indian Harbor Beach, which was, I think, the end of day one for us.

00:06:04
And so, we hid out there for a few days and they headed up to Daytona for a Ranger Rendezvous. They’re on their way home after a weekend trip, essentially, and they wanted to wish us well and safe travels and wanted to ask how the anchorage was, essentially. Honestly, it was perfect in there. Like, you know, other than it being windy, it was fine. It was pretty small space, so not too much other than wind.

00:06:32
We didn’t ever have a lot of waves or anything, but super nice of them to to call us and ask us to switch over and wish us well along our trip. So, pretty cool. Oh, that was a seal jumping out. Right? No. Oh, man, you missed You were looking at the camera. I just watched a a stingray jump or manta ray jump out of the water and it was spotted.

00:08:05

Oh, it’s (the ship) First Date! We’ve seen them before! With all these RV parks around, I figured I’d give you a little history for those who are new to the channel. My name is Tom. And I started this YouTube channel in 2018 when I first started traveling. In fact, I started the channel in 2017 and started traveling full-time in RV in June of 2018. So, the channel was like a year old when I started traveling.

00:08:41
I documented selling everything and moving into an RV. And I went to the Florida Keys and work camped. And that kind of set off years of travel. My original goal was 3 to 5 years of travel. Now, I worked in law enforcement for almost 9 years in Central Florida and had some pretty close experiences and just realized life is not guaranteed. You know, the the average life expectancy for a man in the US is 76 years old. So, if I worked till I was in my 60s and then retire, I’ve got like 15 years if I have good health.

00:09:18
And health is not something that is guaranteed for law enforcement, right? Their life expectancy is less, just like nurses or other first responders.

00:10:07
My first recreational vehicle was a travel trailer, which is the most common first recreational vehicle in the United States, kind of funny. So I had a Dodge Ram pickup that I bought from my pawpaw that he used to use for the blueberry farm that I grew up on in Central Florida. So I bought the travel trailer, had it for about a year.

00:11:00
I put my very first solar system on that RV. I had a whole boat set up in the back of that, had a plastic dinghy, but like a little boat. And so my plan was to fish around the United States and to work camp around. But when I did my first solar system on that RV, my idea originally was to stay in campgrounds for 2 weeks and then to live off the solar system for 2 weeks because I was on limited income. You know, this was in 2018 at that point, so I was like 30-something years old, like 31, 32, and I didn’t have a big retirement or anything.

00:11:32
Once I started moving around in the travel trailer, I realized it was too much set up and take down and it was a little too big for the types of travel that I wanted to do at that time. I wanted to move a lot faster. So, I transitioned to a Itasca Viva, which is a 24-ft Class C, or a B+ sometimes referred to as, and traveled in that for a year and 15,000 miles. That was my first big trip out west. I put a solar system in that one as well. So, that was my second solar system and that one kind of launched into being a little more popular.

00:12:05
And at that point, I created a solar series. I think it was like 10 videos where I taught solar. It was completely free and I didn’t sell a course or anything. This was early YouTube days. YouTube wasn’t like it is now. Since my solar content was doing well, I had someone reach out and want me to do a solar system for them and their Winnebago Trend, which is a a sister to the Itasca Viva that I was traveling in.

00:12:36
I did the solar system for that person, Mr. Duncan. Hopefully you’re watching. Hopefully you’re doing well. And that kind of kick-started doing RV solar while I was traveling around the United States. [Fiddling with the depth finder settings] See what I’m doing? I’m just moving that. I like the I like the depth up top instead. And then the speed over on below. Yeah. Makes sense. That seems more important.

00:15:53
After 6 hours and 15 minutes cruising, covering almost 40 nautical miles, we were tired. But, we pulled into a busy anchorage, found a little spot to call our own, dropped the hook, had a late lunch, and start planning the next day. It was a long, wonderful day, but tiring. And sometimes that’s just how it is when you’re cruising. If you enjoyed the video, please take the time to share it to your favorite Facebook group that’s relatable, or, you know, just take the time to comment. We love answering comments and chat with everybody. Please like it, hype it if you want to, and we’ll catch you in the next one.