Liquidate!

 Liquidation

I think I’ve already shared that liquidation is our current theme. When Marilyn and I first got together, we quickly realized that we have four kids, nine grandchildren, six properties, and eight dogs. We needed to scale down—liquidate.

We decided to prioritize and keep the grandchildren first and foremost.

We’ve been most focused on shedding properties: my house in Sonoma near Healdsburg, a couple of Marilyn’s condos in Sun Valley, and some of her property down here in Todos Santos, Mexico—especially anything that keeps her tied to being an Airbnb landlord.

While Marilyn successfully sold one of her condos a while back, the big news is that I’ve sold my house in Sonoma! That’s a big deal. It’s bittersweet. A few tears have been shed—especially by the grandkids. There are so many memories there with all the kids, the donkeys, the gardens, the orchards, wine tastings, and more. It was a very special place. https://vimeo.com/1128461832?fl=pl&fe=sh. A new family grasped the gestalt of Balverne Farms, and it was an all cash 21 day close. 

Now I’m the proud renter of a 10x20 storage unit in San Rafael. Hopefully, with the sale of Marilyn’s last Sun Valley condo, we’ll pursue a small condo in San Francisco.

Next, we’re focusing on selling Marilyn’s oceanfront property in Todos Santos: floradelmar.net. It’s quite unique, plus there have been very few high-end buyers in this area over the past year. We’re positioning it for active retirees who want to watch sunsets and whale migrations (there are so many passing by), while playing tennis or pickleball and enjoying an eclectic community of expats from the U.S. and Canada.

Ideally, we’d keep one of the casitas so we can continue to enjoy the sunsets, whales, dogs, and friends during the warm, dry winters.

And then there’s the boat. It’s coming along, but it’s going to be late to the party. While I thought we’d be doing sea trials in May or June, it’s now looking more like August. If that pushes the launch to September, we’ll likely only have September and October before needing to dock it for the winter.  Here's an AI generated simulation with a proposed paint job.

The current plan is to head across the English Channel from the Isle of Wight and explore the rivers of France—such as the Seine into Paris and the Garonne into Bordeaux. If all goes well, we’ll leave the boat in northern Spain in preparation for returning in the spring and continuing on to the Mediterranean.

I’m headed to the boatyard on the Isle of Wight the first week of May to check on progress.

The grandkids are all thriving, with more activities and performances than I can keep track of—let alone attend.  This is a picture of my gang:

Summer plans are already taking shape, including visiting us at Casa Luna in San José del Cabo.  By the way, Casa Luna has a new web site:  casalunapalmilla.com.  Obviously you get a big ol' discount if you want to come down.  

This is a picture of Marilyn's gang (pic from our Africa trip): 

Daisy, on the left is graduating from HS at the end of May and Marilyn and I will be traveling up to Boise to celebrate with her...then she's off to college (soon to be decided).

As always, would love to hear from you guys....

Best for the Summer of '26,

Mike and Marilyn

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Back in Baja for the Winter...

 …Back to Baja

Dogs, of course

This is blog #3 with the agenda of “keeping up and keeping connected.” In the last post, I shared a bit about the dogs of Flora del Mar in Todos Santos. All came out well. Trés-si’s amputation healed beautifully; she’s filled out after being emaciated, and she is now the #1 young troublemaker of the pack (she tried to eat my glasses case and sunglasses this week). Peanut—the former troublemaker with the torn knee ligament—was finally able to calm down and heal successfully. And for those who remember him, Riley is doing better than ever with the pack, aging gracefully in the warm Baja weather.

The trip

As you may recall, at the time of writing we were about to head out on an RV

adventure, leaving Idaho and the Sun Valley Writer’s Conference. It was a good trip.

We started in Yellowstone, taking an excursion with the wolf guides of Northern Yellowstone out of Gardiner, MT. Our number one goal was seeing the wolves reintroduced in to Yellowstone that have had such a dramatic and positive impact on the whole ecology of Yellowstone. Unlike our trip to Africa, they were not easy to spot—about a mile away, visible only through high-powered scopes.

Our guide, who holds a master’s degree in predatory mammals, was a wealth of information about the wolves we were watching and how they compared to many of the animals we’d seen in Africa (closest in behavior to the hyena).

While wolves were hard to see, buffalo were everywhere. What beasts—massive.

Unfortunately, we didn’t see any bears, and off we went.

From there, we headed north to Bozeman

to visit with a contingent of the Lanman family, then continued on to

Glacier National Park (gorgeous—rivaling Yosemite in grandeur, in my opinion). We neared Calgary on our way to Banff and Lake Louise. This entire area, while crowded and touristy in the summer, was manageable and the scenery was incredible. I would say the road from

Lake Louise north to Jasper was some of the most magnificent I’ve ever seen. 

A devastating wildfire took out a third of Jasper and much of the lower valley trees, but the mountains were still spectacular (enjoyed from e-bike trails).

Our plan was then to continue to Vancouver Island

and down through Washington and Oregon before returning to Balverne Farms in Sonoma. But halfway across British Columbia, en route to Vancouver Island, we called friends from Todos Santos we planned to “drop in on.” They informed us that we were about to run smack into BC Day—described as something akin to the Fourth of July for British Columbia.

All the ferries were already booked. All the campgrounds were reserved. The roads would be parking lots.

We abruptly turned south, gave up on Vancouver Island and the Pacific Northwest, returned to Boise, and eventually made our way back to Balverne Farms by mid-August.

Liquidate

When Marilyn and I got together, we quickly calculated that between us we had 4 grown children, 9 grandchildren, 6 properties, and 8 dogs. We’ve been very keen on liquidating much of this—mostly the properties, less so the grandchildren. Add in multiple vehicles and a whole lot of “stuff,” and it becomes… a lot.

Balverne Farms is simply too much now: a 4,500-square-foot house on 5.7 acres. We love it, and it’s beautiful, but it’s a lot to pay for and manage. My number one liquidation goal has been to sell Balverne Farms, and that has not gone well. I’ve switched agents recently; it’s back on the market until mid-December, and hopefully we’ll get some action. The greater Northern California market has been at a standstill.

https://vimeo.com/1128461832?fl=pl&fe=sh

We spent much of September and October prepping Balverne Farms for sale, enjoying it—perhaps for the last time—and then returned during the first week of November to Baja: Casa Luna in San José del Cabo and Flora del Mar in Todos Santos.  We couldn't resist a little display of patriotism on No Kings Day:

Now we’re exerting a fair amount of attention to liquidating the hotel/Airbnb portion of Marilyn’s beautiful 3 acres on the Pacific coast in Todos Santos.  Not unlike N. California there’s a bit of a real estate stall down here in Baja as well.  

Regardless, Baja is warm, it’s relaxing, and it’s great to reconnect with the dogs. 😉

We wish you all happy holidays as we head into the last half of November and into December.

Oh yes—the boat

The boat now has a name: Nomadicat. It is about half-finished, with miles of aluminum welding before and behind us and the hybrid motors ordered.

Sea trials are still slated for May/June.

We’re still planning for the Mediterranean to be its primary home base after going down Brittany and the Atlantic sides of France, Spain and Portugal; we’re considering chartering it out during parts of the year and possibly wintering it in the Canary Islands.

If you’d like to subscribe to our blog specifically about the A4702 Nomadicat, let me know in the comments, by text, or wherever, and I’ll add you to the list.

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Life and Times in Kenya and UK

 Greetings, 

This is blog #2 with the goal of letting folks know what’s up with us.  The last one was sent April 7 and we were still in BCS, MX between Todos Santos at Flora del Mar (FDM) (Marilyn’s home) and San Jose del Cabo at Casa Luna (my home). We had a great pickle ball tournament in April at FDM with over 40 players.

Dogs.

Much of May was spent with dogs and getting ready to leave for the summer.  In the dog world, our adolescent trouble maker, “Peanut” had surgery for a torn ligament in his knee (very painful).  The surgery seemed “routine” but the recovery requires absolute quiet for 3 months!! And if you knew Peanut, you know this was a big order.  We signed up Efrain, one of our staff at Flora del Mar to the task, and it seems to have been successful - no pain/no limp.  The other dog story is that someone “dropped off’ a young emaciated 2 year old with a mangled raw stump for a rear paw.  We had the leg amputated just before we left and she’s also looking good — her name is now “Trés-si” for obvious reason.  And for those that remember him, Riley is with the gang of 8 at Flora del Mar, doing well and learning Spanish ;-).  We’ll all be back together in November.

Safari.

At the end of May, Marilyn and I traveled to Nairobi, Kenya for a safari that Marilyn hosted for her kids (Tannan and David) as well as their families (all four grandkids). It was truly a “trip of a life time.”  So proud of Marilyn for doing this for her family.  Marilyn has been to Africa before and even volunteered at a Rhino sanctuary at one point.  It was perfect timing.  The youngest grand child is old enough to remember and the oldest will be off to college next year.

We started at Nairobi National Park for a few days just a few miles from the airport in Nairobi.  We stayed at a wonderful lodge just off the park border, the Emakoko, and nearly an hour from the city of Nairobi.  We went out on early morning and early evening guided rides.  We saw an amazing number of animals here considering how close it is to a major urban center,

but it did have the feel of a “safari park” in the US.  For instance, it’s too small to host elephants (45 sq miles); they know every rhino; they have two prides of lions and know where they are, etc.  One of the highlights here was visiting the Kendrick Elephant Orphanage

in Nairobi.

But then we flew (a little over an hour in a prop plane) to the Maasai Mara National Reserve that is continuous with the Seregenti National Park in Tanzania.  We stayed at a more rustic (but very nice) lodge owned and operated by two Maasai partners and businessmen.  We were there for 3 days, took a hot air balloon ride, and saw an amazing diversity and large quantities of animals including black and white rhinos (often with their horns as Kenya has been successful in their anti-poaching efforts),

leopard, cheetah, lions

as well as crocodiles, hippos, buffalo, giraffes and I lost track of the different antelope (from the size of small dog to big as a small horse). 

We were here for 3 days and saw more than a 100 species of animals without counting birds

(which were amazing).

We flew to 2 other lodges, Lewa House, quite luxurious, and then on to Malo, before returning to Nairobi. We saw unique zebras and giraffes that were not at the Maasai Mara as well as taking a night tour.

In all, it was an amazing trip..truly remarkable…I’d go back in a minute (with my grandkids when they’re old enough to remember).

Isle of Wight, UK.

Before heading back to the US, we wanted to see the progress on the boat.  The A4702 is being built in Newport in the middle of the Isle of Wight.  We also enjoyed a couple of days in Southampton where we met up with the owner of Archipelago, Stephen and his French designer, Thomas. We took the ferry to the Isle of Wight where the boat was in very early stages of being assembled

in Archipelago’s recently leased boat yard.  Seeing the boat even at this early stage got us pumped up about the project again.

From there we went to London (stayed in Kensington) for a few days of being tourists, eating at Gauthier’s again (3 star Michelin Vegan restaurant).  London is really fun for us but oh my, so expensive!!

Idaho - The Writer’s Conference

Now we’re in Idaho (after stays with our grandkids in Calif. and Idaho respectively).  Marilyn is “working” as a volunteer at the annual writer’s conference in Sun Valley (that she’s done for 20 years). I get to listen for free outside on the lawn to most of it and it’s usually pretty good stuff.  One of the headliners this year is a favorite of mine, Doris Kearns Goodwin, because as a presidential historian she brought Abraham Lincoln’s greatness and the root and lingering causes of the Civil War to me in a way I could understand and value. When asked after her presentation about future presidents based on her study of our past presidents, her most heartfelt advice was:  go for character …the greats on both sides of the aisle were those with a vision for America, but most of all, character.

The RV.

Soon we’ll be heading out of Sun Valley in our RV (truck camper). 

We’ll head first to Montana (wolf pack tour just north of Yellowstone), Banff area in Canada, and then BC including Vancouver Island.  We’ve never gone anywhere with the RV so this should be an adventure one way or the other ;-).  

We hope this finds you well and of course, we’d love to hear from you… As per the initial blog, the attempt here is to stay in touch and not get too estranged as we move along to new places and new adventures.  I’m hoping to do this 3 to 4 times a year…but if that’s even a bit much, feel free without any judgment, to opt out.

Enjoy your summer!  Mike & Marilyn

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Where's Waldo/Mike?

 April 2025 - Where’s Waldo?

As we head in to April 2025, this first blog post will serve as a bit of a historical catch-up. A number of folks have mentioned, directly or indirectly, that they’ve lost touch with me:  "we know we lost Pat, but didn't think we had lost Mike..."

Relationships
I’ll start with my relationship with Marilyn—Marilyn Martin, to be exact.

I consider her my SO (significant other), partner, buddy.  We’re heading in to our 3rd year together this month.  We’re the same age, which brings a lot of shared experiences. For instance, while I was teaching “ghetto” kids in Portland, OR, during the Vietnam War era, she was doing the same in Hartford, CT. Our politics align, which is also a relief these days.

Marilyn and I met “the old-fashioned way”—no online dating or arranged introductions. Friends invited us separately to join them for the Thursday night Art Walk in downtown San José del Cabo, BCS, MX. When our groups merged for dinner, we ended up sitting across from each other and just started talking. That was March 2023, and we’re still talking. Hopefully, you’ll get to meet her if you haven’t already.

A few interesting facts: Marilyn started an Airbnb in Todos Santos over 20 years ago, just 200 yards from the Pacific Ocean; she rescues dogs [Fluffy pictured below has no teeth, thus the tongue]

(we currently have six); and she’s a committed vegan—no meat, fish, dairy, etc. 

So when I refer to “us” or “we” in this blog, I’m talking about Marilyn and me.

Family
Brent and Livia are still thriving in San Francisco. Their boys, Lucas (10) and Teo (6), ski nearly every weekend at Northstar.

They already ski better than I did at my peak—maybe the Brazilian ski team is in their future? Brent’s fin-tech career has added the role of COO at a B2B bank. He’s busy.

Caitlin and Stu are doing well in Mill Valley. Frances (8) is wearing some of Caitlin’s and Pat’s old dresses while also taking karate and soccer.

Hayes, now 6, is into tennis, among other activities and they both love to ski (off to France for skiing in April).   Little Ms. Meyer just turned 2 —an absolute cutie who reminds everyone of Pat.

She’s still unsure about this Grandpa and usually takes a while to warm up to me. Caitlin is writing a book, and Stu is launching a company focused on suppressing early wildfires with drones—exciting work.

Location
Between us, Marilyn and I have four children, nine grandchildren, six properties, and seven dogs. We quickly realized we needed to downsize (and no, not the kids or grandkids). Marilyn has already sold one condo in Sun Valley where she used to live, with another on the market. I briefly listed Balverne Farms last fall; it was in contract but fell through. I’ll likely re-list it in April—it’s a wonderful home but it’s just too much.

We split our time between Todos Santos (her Airbnb, now for sale)

and my home, Casa Luna, in San José del Cabo.

Marilyn’s property has a tennis court that can be converted into four pickleball courts, while San José offers plenty of activities, including more pickleball. We live an active life here from November through May. This last weekend we hosted a pickleball tournament with 48 players from Baja and Boise (where her kids live).  It was a hoot.  The greatest attribute for Todos Santos to me is the sense of community — lots of activities and burgeoning friendships with ex-pats like ourselves who spend 5-7 months a year there. 

Travels
So far, when we leave Todos Santos, we travel.   The first summer, after some time at Balverne, we went to the UK (England and Scotland) and Ireland.  Then later that summer, we babysat for Caitlin and Stu in Barcelona,

then visited Portugal:  Porto and the Douro Valley as well as Lisbon.

The following summer, we spent three weeks in the Netherlands, staying right on the Rhine, 30 minutes south of Amsterdam. Later, we returned to Croatia, Bosnia, Italy, and Serbia before sailing in the Adriatic. Along the way, we discovered Home Exchange, (most folks want to exchange for the house in Cabo) which has worked well for us.

Health
My “aggressive, acute” metastatic prostate cancer, diagnosed in 2013, is essentially gone. Thanks to the immunotherapy drug Keytruda, I’ve been in remission for about four years. I receive infusions every six weeks, along with continued hormone treatments. At one point, I had 11 tumors—now, the cancer is undetectable. Like many survivors, I don’t take it for granted and monitor my lab results closely.

My biggest health challenge is arthritis. I’ve had a hip replacement, and my left ankle,

affected by a break a few years ago and arthritis, is nearly locked up, limiting my mobility. Still, I manage to play pickleball 2-3 times a week, so it can’t be that bad!

Overall we are both in good health and see our challenge as styaing mobile -- so lots of stretching, some weights, some aerobics, and core work.

Work
I don’t work.  At least not in any income-generating capacity, aside from managing my rental at Casa Luna. Marilyn is trying to steadily get out of her Airbnb role.  I do serve on the board of the Cancer Help Desk, a nonprofit providing PhD-researched cancer treatment navigation. We assist oncology centers with second opinions, “A-Team” referrals, tumor biomarker testing, and clinical trial guidance. I also occasionally consult for Solar Sisters, which brings solar energy to some of the darkest parts of Tanzania, Kenya, and Uganda.

Animals
The saddle donkeys—as pictured left to right: Larry, Curly and Dom—became too much for Shawll (our neighbor) to manage alone while I’m in Baja.

We made the tough decision to find new homes for them. Fortunately, they’ve found a great new home at a donkey care and riding camp for special needs kids. I miss them, but they still recognize us when we visit.

Riley, now around 12, is thriving with Marilyn’s pack in Todos Santos and spent last summer there while we traveled.

A Boat in Our Future
Last summer on the Rhine, Marilyn and I discovered our “inner boat.” We watched countless rowboats, sailboats, motorboats, and commercial barges pass by for three weeks and realized how much we love the water. Too old (and perhaps too feeble) to sail, we decided on a live-aboard motor yacht for exploring the Mediterranean, Aegean, Adriatic, and Europe’s rivers and canals.

We’re building a 47’ Archipelago Expedition Yacht (a hybrid motor catamaran)

in the UK, set for completion in spring 2026. If you’re curious, you can follow our project at www.Archipelago4702.blogspot.com.

Those are the highlights for the first quarter of 2025. I hope this answers the question, “Where’s Mike, and what’s he up to?”—and hopefully sparks some correspondence.

Our very best,

Mike with Marilyn

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