Preparing to Visit the USA
- sondrawinter
- 3 days ago
- 4 min read
Over the past two weeks we have been busy getting things ready for a two-month trip away from Utopia. This involved preparing the boat, planning our travel schedule with a long stay in the States, and practicing some hiking.
Friday, June 5 – Saturday, June 20, 2026
We had arrived at the marina the last week of May with plans to fly back to the United States in late June, giving us plenty of time prepare for what looks like to be an epic trip. This trip to the States had evolved from my doing a solo, three-week backpacking trip into a two-month long odyssey with the two of us traveling together. But before leaving we had a few things to accomplish.
Preparing Utopia
This will be the longest period for us to leave Utopia behind in a wet slip. Previously we had left the boat for two week periods, but this time we were leaving for two months. In addition, we do not think there will be a good opportunity to sail Utopia until after the new year, meaning she will be just sitting still in a slip for seven months. Since the boat is not being actively used, we are “summerizing” parts of the boat to preserve equipment or to reduce mold and mildew.
For example,
Placing all sails in the cabin to prevent mold and mildew, while giving them a break from the sun and heat.
Setting up a tarp over the hull to reduce the temperature inside of the cabin.
Decommissioning the dinghy by pulling it out of the water and running the fuel out of outboard.
Adding a bio-bore to the diesel tank, to keep unwanted growth from forming inside of our diesel.
Taking the refrigerator out of service. This means planning our food inventory, shutting off the fridge, and giving it a good clean after it defrosts. This is done a few days early so that we can repair and varnish the doors before leaving.
Fixing things that need attention before leaving.
Deep cleaning to avoid inviting critters onboard.
Various preventative actions reduce probability of mold & mildew in the cabin.
Testing critical equipment before leaving, like the bilge pumps.
Coordinating care of Utopia with the dockmaster.
Plus we have been meeting with contractors for the construction of a new cockpit enclosure (including a random ride through town on tuk-tuk, only partially understanding where the contractor was taking us). We also applied for 9-month permit to allow Utopia to remain in Guatemala past August 20.
Fingers crossed we do not lose too much stuff to mold or lightning while away.
Scenes from Tijax Marina
Planning a Road Trip
As mentioned, this trip turned out to be much more involved than originally planned, and needed a fair amount of coordination with family and friends that we hope to visit during our stay in the States. Here is what our trip will involve:
Boat & bus travel to Guatemala City
Fly to Boston, MA
Train travel in Massachusetts
Sondra to hike 16 days on Appalachian Trail in New Hampshire & Maine, while Jimmy follows along in a camper van
Road trip to North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Florida & Pennsylvania
Fly from Boston to San Francisco
Visit Oregon & Northern California
Fly from Boston, then back to Guatemala City
Bus to Antigua Guatemala
Bus & boat back home to Río Dulce
Believe it or not, there are family members and friends that we could not fit into this trip. I hope to squeeze them into a future visit to the States. I realize this is a lot to fit into a single trip, but my uncle recently passed away, and I was unable to make it back to the States for his service, prompting me to see as many people as we could on this trip. A general travel map is below and updated on Polarsteps.
Practicing Hiking
Prior to our Appalachian Trail (AT) thru-hike attempt 2024, we did not do much training other than walking to all of our errands wearing our packs. We were in decent shape for flat terrain and figured the first few weeks of our six-month backpacking trip could serve as our training.
Same goes for my AT backpacking trip in Georgia in 2025. Other than adding in walking the marina boat ramps at low tide, I did not do any specific training for this 11-day backpacking trip, and I seemed to manage that trip just fine.
However, this year’s backpacking trip covers the most difficult part of the Appalachian Trail as I knock off the northernmost 40 miles of New Hampshire, and the southernmost 100 miles of Maine. Also, I will be joining a group of women on this trip, so I want to make sure that I am fit enough to stay with the group. Therefore, I have been attempting to do some training ahead of this backpacking trip.
Once I began to recover from a horrible stomach bug, I began to take small walks twice a day, increasing distance on each walk. Eventually I began to hike a continuous five miles with a loaded backpack every other day. I feel very fortunate that this marina has a wonderful hiking trail on the property with fairly steep hills.
Yet, a reality check comes in the form of comparing the grade of my training hikes with what I will actually see on the Appalachian Trail. My five-mile hike here at the marina includes 1,000’ of elevation gain, for an overall grade of 200’ per mile, while my first day of hiking on the AT will only be a 4-mile day, the overall grade will be 650’ per mile.
As we walked around the town of Rio Dulce taking care of our final errands this week, I felt that I was actually going to miss our dusty, noisy, busy little village, while at the same time, feeling very excited about a trip back to the States.
We head out the morning this blog is posted, on a long bus ride to Guatemala City before our flight to Boston. So our blog posts for the next two months will be made from somewhere in the USA.
Post 26-25
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