Campbells’ Quest Life on the Water, Death Denied

Cancer changed Karen and me. Rolling my wheelchair away from a life-saving surgery, we redirected our lives toward living desk-free. Maybe overcompensating a bit, we went bushwhacking in jungles, trekking the Arctic Circle, and snorkeling in southern seas, all within the first year. But while our fresh-stoked zest for life proved one eternal truth, it posed two essential questions.

The eternal truth is easy, even trite: The time to live is now. The essential questions, “how can we do it,” and “how much will it cost,” can be far more shrouded in mystery. After all, zest for life doesn’t pay the bills. That eternal truth is what took us around the world, into extreme climates, and to change our way of lives.

When our adventuring took us to the sea, as all grand adventures must, we began to see our future on the water. After budgeting ocean living against our fixed income, Karen and I started to realize that they could be made to comfortably match.

Our family trees have always been rooted between earthen horizons. But destiny is in our dreams, not our genes, so we changed our future. The two of us took the dive into searching and, at long last, we bought a boat, Largo. A 50-foot trawler that once loomed so large above us when we first saw her, is now our first, and likely our last floating home. Over the five years we have owned Largo, she has sailed us from our sodbuster roots to a full-time liveaboard life. Currently, we are house-free and car-free, anchored in clear Caribbean waters, as we have set new priorities and followed them to sea.

So this is our quest—our “Campbells’ Quest.” We are living our plan, showcasing the ocean life to could-be captains and desk-bound dreamers through words and photography. Our goal is to show the “how” as often as the “what,” and peel back some mystery from the cruising life. Certainly, if we can do it, anyone can. And maybe some of you who join us today on these pages will join us soon over the blue water’s edge. The time to live is now.

■

here is no question that pasta is one of my favorite dishes. Quick and easy to prepare, and available in so many appealing shapes and sizes, it pairs perfectly with an endless array of ingredients. Imagine it for a second: Cooking up a colorful pasta primavera after a trip to the farmer’s market. Not so fresh? What better way is there to clean out the fridge and use up those bits and pieces of leftover chicken, veggies, and cheese to create a tasty chicken alfredo?

However, I did not always have this versatile view of pasta. Growing up, I thought pasta was just another term for spaghetti and meatballs.

T