Travel from Wisconsin to Oregon

Cynthia found a new job for eight months in Astoria, OR. I offered to help her finish up her house in Stevens Point, WI, and drive 2000 miles across the country. 

Stevens Point was cold, cold, COLD, although none of the deep subzero stuff. I arrived 1/31 and Cynthia immediately diagnosed my elbow issue (bursitis of the olecranon bursa) and got me a brace. Over the next few days. we took care of several interesting repairs and finishing touches on the house (I'm quite impressed at the things she tackled and the quality of her work), loaded up the U-haul trailer, and prepared to depart. I felt some urgency to get over the Rockies while the weather remained fair.

On 2/4 we finally headed out. Just after sunset, we decided to turn back to a gas station we passed to fill up before dark. Before turning, I looked in the side mirror to make sure no one was passing... and saw a large white pickup truck coming on VERY fast, mostly obscured behind us, and showing no sign of braking. I uttered a "Holy S***!" and he slammed into us. 

I recall my Coke bottle showering me with soda as it flew out of the cupholder, then we came to a stop. Cynthia and I looked at each other in utter shock, checked the dogs, and stepped out into the snow. We all seemed unhurt and the other driver, cocooned in his airbags, seemed unhurt. Our car seemed mostly OK, but the hitch was badly bent and the back window shattered. The trailer tongue was folded and the rear smashed. The pickup truck front end had crumpled. Cynthia checked the other driver for injuries and talked to 911. The sheriff department came and did a full report, trucks came and took the pickup and trailer, and (finally, after what seemed like hours) we drove the half-hour back to the house.

It took us two days to be mentally ready to drive again. We rented a Penske truck, Uhaul brought the trailer to the driveway so we could unload it, 

and we cleared enough space in the garage to park the car

and put plastic in the window to keep out pests. All the plastic bins in the trailer had shattered and quite a few things were ruined, but we were mostly OK. 

In mid-afternoon 2/7, we set out.

We drove past the accident site and got out to look.... and then drove on. We drove past cranberry farms, manufactured bog/pond/fields covered in ice for the winter. We drove into South Dakota and the weather warmed as we left the tongue of polar air extending through the midwest and plains. We drove through Wyoming and saw the pronghorns on their winter range, along with occasional bald eagles eating road kill. We drove through Montana with wind shaking the truck, climbing to the passes, hoping to get there before the rain turned to snow per forecast... and ended up with about five minutes of flurries. We continued through the panhandle of Idaho with more flurries and mountains.... and down into the dry and fertile Yakima Valley of Washington. I loved seeing the tall trellises for hops vines, the heavily pruned apples and pears, and the wide vinyards. And we finally dropped down into the green and mossy Cascades, past Portland and down to Astoria and the nice place Cynthia is renting.

As we drove, she searched for a replacement car and found one... in Astoria! On the day we arrived we went down and bought it. I spent a day or so helping get her a better mattress and getting things working for her, then we drove the truck back to Penske and dropped me at the airport to fly back to Sonoma for another week. 

Cynthia and the dogs are really enjoying the beautiful views and the much warmer climate: there may be frost, but a cold day is 25degF rather than below zero!

Now I'm back in Artemis, tearing my hair over various issues. But I WILL get it all working and go sailing soon! Cynthia has been telling me of her explorations, how beautiful it is there, and how much Chloe enjoys racing around and sniffing things. 

Right now? Clouds block my view of the lunar eclipse.... but a pot of butter chicken simmers on my stove for a very tasty breakfast and a sunny day is in the offing! May happiness and gratitude find us all, my friends! 

Another adventure survived! And a visit from Monty.

Back in the old familiar Bridgeton Harbor Marina, right across the river from New Bern, NC! 

The sail north mostly remained uneventful, although I DID get the pleasure of watching a rocket launch and fly across the sky for about five minutes, four shooting stars, phosphorescence, and many dolphins..

I also dropped in to St Augustine to visit my friend Skip as he cleared out his newly sold boat and headed to his home in TN. 

I've found that I really enjoy having both a water-speed gauge as well as the GPS speed as this allows me to tell how much current is helping or hindering me. Of course, as soon as I came to this epiphany, the water gauge stopped working. Research tells me that the most likely reason is that a little magnet fell off. I wonder if I can replace it or if I need to spend $$$ on a new unit?

I've also found that I really miss the mizzen on Keel-N-Time, that it helps me avoid using autopilot a great deal. 

And, one morning sunrise, I saw Monty as clear as can be. He still sails with me...

Madness! I bought another boat!

 Ahoy! November finds me stepping out a bit beyond my normal comfort area by purchasing a new used boat and sailing it single-handed north... Keel-N-Time is berthed in Bridgeton, NC while I am down in Florida, snagging a newer boat... a 1988 Island Packet 38, Artemis. 

Where to begin? I've wanted an Island Packet for some time as they are comfortable, well-designed, solid, and (like Keel-N-Time) do not snag lobster pots and similar. When I searched before, they were all far out of my price range... and I did not have AI to do a search for me! This time a quick request to Google found this listing for 10k less than my last boat. It DOES require about the same amt of work, but I'm quite pleased so far... and it has a LOT of extras that are very nice, like a dinghy, autohelm, and Monitor wind steering.

What needs doing? LOTS of tiny items... like dealing with some SHARP cotter pins that have already ripped my integument (I should probably clean up the blood!).... and, well, the dodger is shot except for use as a rough pattern.  

The bimini needs to be replaced fairly soon. I need a solid rack for the solar panels. And (biggest job!): the chainplates of most boats produced in that time were made of a metal that often fails at about this age (or ten years sooner as on my 1985 Catalina 34). And Island Packet chose to make the chainplates 100% uninspectable: there is NO way to detect failure before it happens!

How does one replace these? One must remove the cabinetry hiding the hull interior, grind out the fiberglass encapsulating the chainplates and remove them, install new ones, carefully clean up the glass dust, and reinstall/repair the cabinetry. One can either install new identical ones (of a better stainless) OR install some on the exterior of the hull. Many frown at the sacrilege of exterior chainplates on an IP, but given that this boat has sailed the world and has been heavily modified, I'm OK with it... and really like the idea of being able to see how the plates are doing. I'm undecided...

Anyway, I bought the boat early this month and am TRYING to get it up to NC, both to avoid the high sales tax of Florida (waived for BIG purchases, of course: the rich would otherwise modify their transactions to avoid tax), I have lots of contacts there, and because I have work to do on both boats that will be far easier if I have the other nearby. I motored (50hrs?) and sailed (10hrs?) from Tampa area to Key Biscayne and am now waiting for a favorable wind to take me up the Gulf Stream. I'm eager to sail, but it would be dumb to sail north AGAINST the wind! 

I'll wait here for a bit, sew a new dodger (or create a rough sailcloth version), make other fixes and improvements, and try to be patient.

I have hopes that I will fairly soon be sailing this boat down to the Virgins... and the extra sails that came with it might make repairs on my friend's CSY44 much more reasonable. In the meantime, I'm enjoying trying it out and enjoying stars and sunrises... 

and sailing through new places like the Everglades (where I saw this turtle)..

Taking Shelter From the Storm

 Hello from the Chesapeake Bay and the Concrete Fleet! 

I've spent the last ten days or so TRYING to get from Cape Cod to NC...

but the winds have NOT cooperated. When they are not blowing the wrong way or too gently, they are far too strong. Right now we have what appears to be a sub-hurricane sitting on the Outer Banks of NC, blowing at 30kts plus... and with loads of big waves and lightning... (Anything not green is not fun for sailing)

so I turned tail and headed into the shelter of the concrete fleet, scuttled here to create a protected harbor. Apparently this used to be a ferry terminal, abandoned when the bridge was put in. https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/kiptopeke-s-concrete-fleet

What a relief it was last night to be able to watch the final bit of the sunset from the security of a good anchorage!

Sea Turtle Nest!

I spent a couple more weeks this summer anchored at Cape Lookout. While the temperatures were too danged hot for comfort, I LOVE the warm dark nights, staring up at the stars. I also loved the warm waters and spent hours swimming and, when a distant storm brought in nice waves, found myself bodysurfing 40 or 50 feet each time, perhaps 4x the best distance I'd ever managed in colder climes. I attribute this to a nice gentle shelving beach and an unusual wave pattern. Sunrise and sunset walks gave me a nice light aerobic workout for nearly three hours each day. And, for the first time, I came across the tracks of a nesting sea turtle! The BIG turtle (perhaps 3.5' to 4' long shell) had clearly come out of the water, messed about, and then returned before sunrise. A crab had burrowed into the nest, perhaps by accident or perhaps scenting food. The next day, official markers and a plastic net protected the nest, perhaps even from burrowing crabs.

Relaxing at Cape Lookout

 I wrote this a few days back, but am just now getting ready to post it...

Hello from Cape Lookout! I've been anchored here for three nights so far and have loved my morning and evening long beach walks. Today I may even swim!

After two days of WIND and one of "wind", this morning is glassy calm.... and WAY too many fishing boats at sunrise! The low wind and heat wave are encouraging people to get out here and I sure can not blame them... but I miss the peace and quiet. And the bugs come out to my boat... I should anchor farther from shore.

I woke around midnight this AM and saw lightning beyond the cluster of anchor lights in the popular anchorage, so rowed ashore (wonderful phosphorescence!) to take a nice four-minute video compressed into a single second.

I also took a shot of the center of the Milky Way..

Conditions have delayed the mast job: it seems that all the boat yards in the New Bern to Oriental area have 5' to 5.5' of depth in "normal" conditions and depend on a north-ish wind to bring in extra water for boats like mine. And that does not happen often this time of year... and I'd probably get stuck in New Bern during this heat wave. So, I'm going to sail north with my wood and see what I can do in October.

I'm thinking about switching to a ready-to-go new sailboat, one with a shower and less wood, one ready for the sail to the Caribbean..or already down there. I'd love to find a good boat at a good price. Perhaps in the 35-45 foot range... I've been spoiled by some aspects of this boat: a good aft deck where one can land fish or put out the carpet for the dog, the sunroom over the cockpit, the loads of storage space. Anyway, if anyone sees a really good deal that might fit my needs, let me know!

In the meantime, I'll wait for the heat to moderate and enjoy the beaches, sunrises, sunsets... and interesting discoveries, like turtle bones!

Deadly and lovely

Pandora is now singing some song about a man-o-war. Coincidentally, I am TRYING to put down the words to talk about the Portuguese man-o-war jellies washed ashore on the Outer Banks. Jellies are utterly beautiful: colorful, translucent, transparent, nearly invisible. All of the tentacled sort kill prey by shooting venom into them, but only a few harm humans.... and these are one of the more dangerous. So, I keep a sharp eye out and try not to step on them: I saw six last week down on Cape Lookout on my sunrise walk..

In other news, I took my final night sail with my beloved wooden masts, lightning occasionally flashing in the distance. I'm now back up in New Bern and am going to replace them with used aluminum masts over the next couple weeks. I have a lot of other things I should do on the boat, but am so darned tired...