Ruthann K. Harper

There is a Tide... Ruthann K. Harper

Retirement literally began with a splash for Bill and RuthAnn Harper. It all started when they spied the 64-year-old wooden Chris-Craft motor yacht lying idle at a California dock after a long career of its own. The Harpers, landlocked in Bakersfield, California were mulling over what lay beyond their working years. They knew they'd continue to spend as much time as they could in Italy, but suddenly a new thought hit them. Why not launch a new way of living in which home became a floating adventure along a constantly changing shoreline? Here was the perfect boat for such an odyssey. This book is the story of how this dream navigated the challenges of distance, inexperience and plain old red tape to become a reality. A vessel had to be overhauled and shipped to Europe, an Italian berth located, foreign regulations met, a new language learned. Today, in the new Porto di Roma, not far from where the Tiber River enters the Mediterranean, "i Gatti Felici" bounces at anchor, a symbol of retirement and regeneration, a tale of Americans discovering the Old World, and a reminder that life is a tide in constant motion.