A week ago I left the place I’d called home for nearly 4 years. The dreary fog masked all but enough road to barely keep moving.

The scene was eerily familiar, but it took a few hundred miles to fully sink in.


February, 2004

We were about an hour South of Montgomery when I woke up from my nap. I’d hardly been able to sleep a wink for the last few weeks and now it was all I could do. Dad was driving the truck with the focus of my life in tow.

With his help, I purchased the 24 year old sailboat 5 months earlier. It immediately became my refuge from homework and I made the 70 mile drive from Athens to Lake Lanier more times than I could count. It wasn’t that I disliked college, it was just that I liked the water more. I had plans for the boat and it had plans for me.

The boat had become my identity, and there was a purpose surrounding it. The plan was to spend a few months in Orange Beach, Alabama before sailing around Florida in time to resume college that Fall.

As we stopped on I-65 for gas, I walked around the trailer carrying my 25′ 4500lb home for the next 8 months.

The day was finally here.

I’d been talking about it for so long it had yet to sink in that it was actually happening.

Then the butterflies appeared.

I don’t know a soul in Orange Beach.

I’ve never sailed in the ocean before.

What do I do if I get caught in a storm?

What if my boat can’t handle it?

What if I fail?

The drive to Orange Beach last week was very much the same, yet so incredibly different.

Looking back, although the scope of the trip changed, I know my journey seven years ago was a success and has forever defined who I am in countless ways.

But that trip had a definite beginning and ending.

This one is different.

In 2004, sitting in a classroom in Athens, Georgia, less than a month after stepping foot back on shore, I made myself a promise. I decided that if I didn’t have a house or a wife or kids when I turned 28, I would try to sail around the world.

Last year, before my 27th birthday, I knew it was time to either put the dream to rest or take steps towards making it happen.

So today, as I sit in a tiny office in Orange Beach, Alabama, I’m proud to know that I’ve taken the first few steps. The only thing between me and a trip around the world are a few family meetings and a whole lot of money.

As I’ve said before, I don’t know what the next 2 or 4 or 6 months have in store. I’m not sure where I’ll be in 1 or 2 or 5 years. But I know that my main goal right now is to figure out how to make this dream a reality.

In 2004 I realized that with enough work and willpower (plus a healthy dose of naivety) I could do anything.

So if a broke fat guy like me can figure out how to sail around the world, I think that’ll prove just about anything is possible.

Bo is currently living in Orange Beach, Alabama trying to come up with ways to fund a sailing trip around the world. If you’d like to be a part of the adventure, consider sponsoring a mile.

Video: Time lapse video of the boat Bo will be living on in Orange Beach being taken from shipyard to slip. Video Here.