Life Of Solitude

~Every picture has a story behind it...or in it

 I once met the old fella who lived on the boat you see to the left side of this picture. I don't recall his name, so I'll just refer to him as John. The guy who introduced us told me John's story the next day after John had headed off to wherever it was he was headed next. He'd stopped off to visit the folks we were staying with at Gull Cove and that's how I ran into him. He was a nice guy, and quite as I recall: at least he was quite in my direction.

The story was, John's wife had died a couple of years earlier. After some time had passed, John decided he was going to leave the prototypical world behind and spend the rest of his time on the water, motoring up and down the west coast of North America. I recall thinking it was too bad he couldn't have done this while his wife was alive, but then it may not have been something he would have otherwise had the desire to do. I can't imagine that it didn't get old, spending most of your time alone on the water day and night, but apparently it worked for John. It also worked for Dick Proenneke, only Dick moved to the Alaskan wilderness and lived by himself for 30 years in a little log cabin he'd built from scratch: no power, no running water, and a long bush plane ride to the nearest human beings (not to mention the nearest McDonald's).

To me, these are the kinds of things that sound cool from a distance, but in reality, it'd be a rare bird who could pull it off for more than a handful of days, in my estimation.
Anyway, hats off to John and I hope this finds him doing well if it finds him. If I hear of any updates on Ol' John, I'll of course keep you posted...