History

From School Hallways to America's Waterways

For most of my adult life, the calendar has been pretty well planned.

After 35 years in public education — as a teacher, principal, superintendent, and human resources administrator — I've spent my career working with students, educators, families, school boards, and communities across Ohio. It has been challenging, rewarding work, and it has given me experiences, friendships, and memories that I'll carry with me long after I leave the office for the last time.

But eventually, every chapter comes to an end.

On October 1, 2026, a very different one begins.

Chasing Horizons

I've always been drawn to the water. Over the years, boating on Lake Erie with dad, Josh, uncles and cousins and eventually my own kids and their families became more than recreation for me. There is something about being on the water — the freedom, the challenge, and perhaps especially the view toward whatever lies beyond the horizon — that has always appealed to me.

Eventually, an idea that once seemed a little far-fetched started sounding increasingly possible:

What if retirement didn't mean slowing down? What if it meant finally having the time to go?

That question ultimately led me to Chasing Horizons, a 1999 Mainship 430 trawler that will become both my home and my transportation for the next chapter of my life.

Beginning in Marathon, Florida, I'll transition from being a recreational boater to living aboard full-time. There will be plenty to learn — about the boat, its systems, navigation, weather, anchoring, maintenance, and probably a few things I don't even know yet that I need to learn.

That's part of the adventure.

Taking the Long Way Home

The centerpiece of the journey will be America's Great Loop, a roughly 6,000-mile voyage through some of the most remarkable waterways in the United States and Canada.

From Florida, Chasing Horizons will eventually head north along the East Coast, through the Chesapeake, into New York and Canada, across the Great Lakes, down America's inland river system and back toward the Gulf.

There will be anchorages, small towns, big cities, locks, rivers, lakes, marinas and stretches where the destination may change because the weather — or life — has other ideas.

I'm deliberately not treating this as a race.

I want time to explore the places along the way, visit family and friends, meet people I otherwise never would have met, and occasionally stay somewhere simply because I like it there.

Eventually, Chasing Horizons will make her way back toward the waters of Ohio.

I'm quite literally taking the long way home.

More Than the Great Loop

The Loop is the plan.

It isn't necessarily the finish line.

There are other waters I'd like to explore and other adventures that may follow — the Bahamas, perhaps the coast of New England and beyond, and undoubtedly a few destinations I haven't thought of yet.

That's one reason the boat isn't named The Great Loop.

It's named Chasing Horizons.

Because this adventure isn't really about completing a 6,000-mile route or collecting another accomplishment.

It's about having reached a point in life where, for the first time in a very long time, I don't have to know exactly what comes next.

Why Share It?

I'm not setting out to become a boating expert or an internet personality.

In fact, part of what I want to share is the process of not knowing everything.

I'll make mistakes. Something will break at an inconvenient time. I'll undoubtedly take longer than I should to figure something out. There will be beautiful anchorages and lousy weather, successful docking maneuvers and probably a few that I hope nobody happened to record.

That's real life aboard a boat.

Through Chasing Horizons, I'll share some of those experiences — the places, people, lessons, successes, mistakes and unexpected moments that make the journey worthwhile.

After spending much of my professional life helping other people prepare for what comes next, I'm looking forward to discovering a little more of that for myself.

The horizon isn't the destination.

It's simply an invitation to keep going.

Prefer email? Click & Say "Hello"

MissShooey@gmail.com