It's Tucson Time

A warm welcome to Tucson, so nice to be welcomed by friends.  A good meal, a bottle of wine, and a soft bed.  We settled in at Richelle and Leo's and started planning our next moves.  Connie got to practice her music while I jumped online to research places to stay on airbnb, booking.com, and state and federal parks.



We started to knit together a journey by land that would take us all the way to San Antonio.  Leo made us a giant frittata each morning, we'd do some hiking in the desert in the afternoon, then have a fantastic dinner at home. I started learning the different cactus species and began to appreciate the variety of the desert landscape.  We saw a squadron of javelinas (peccary) one evening on our way back from the hot tub, then the next day saw a wild bobcat at the Sweetwater Wetlands. Richelle had a few bird feeders on the back porch for the doves, humming birds, wrens, quail, and finches.

Leo, Richelle, and Scott at the Wildlife Rescue Center

Fish Hook Cactus

On a two night road trip to Bisbee we toured the Queen Mine and walked the scenic old town, stopping one evening at the Copper Queen Hotel where we found an ad hoc group of local musicians rocking the bar.  Connie helped out on vocals on Sloop John B, I think.   It rained like crazy and our little airbnb house sprung a leak in Leo's bedroom.

We spelunked the Kartchner Caverns and walked the muddy paths at the Whitewater Wash birding area. In the desert, where the road and paths are dirt, a hard rain turns those byways into an impassable morass until the sun dries them out. We came back from the Wash with big pancakes of mud on our boots and the vehicle covered in grey mud.  Taking the long way back through the historic community of Tubac, we completed our circuit back to Tucson.

Touring the Queen Mine

I jumped on Craigslist and started combing through the ads for pop up tent trailers, learning as I went just what features we might need and the specifications of the various models. I found that an older, small trailer would match up with the weight and horsepower of our little Ford Ranger.  However, the older models often did not have a working refrigerator or heater.  We narrowed the search down to three ads that looked good then made the 100 mile trek to Phoenix to go see them. I'm sorry to say that many people who are selling on craigslist are just plain lame.  Does the refrigerator work?  I think so.. not sure... haven't used it in five years.  We drove up here to see your rig.  When can we come by?  Oh, you are busy.  That's too bad.  Do you know how to light the stove? No?  Is it in good shape?  Yes... then how about this tear in the canvas.. and why doesn't the sink pump work?

In Phoenix, we found one person who actually put effort into selling his little rig.  He met us when he said he would, showed us everything right and wrong with the thing, then he fixed what was not working.  We bartered a bit, I asked for the 10% senior discount, we made the deal, and drove off with our new/used pop up tent trailer. $2250, can't beat that! The camper is a 2000 Coleman Fleetwood Tacoma and weighs 1918 pounds empty.  Because it had been sitting for a while, the deep cycle battery would not hold a charge but other than that, everything was in working order.  While the bumper hitch on the Ranger would handle the load, a safer, long term, option was to get a frame mounted hitch which we did along with a new battery.  Next on Connie's agenda was to do a deep clean, taking things apart and scrubbing every square inch of the rig.  Now we were ready to roll.  For Thanksgiving we had a fantastic turkey mole as a sendoff from Leo and Richelle, then we spent the next day packing.

Our stay in Tucson was everything we wanted and needed.  The plan came together there as we had plenty of time to do our research, plenty of time for Connie to do her music, and plenty of time to just enjoy our friends' company and the refreshing climate of southern Arizona in the winter.

Escape from Oly Town

Scheme gets hatched in moment of clarity

250 posts ago we started this blog to document our sailing adventures. Click on the picture title below to go to our first post in March of 2010.  We're still sailing, but mostly in the summer running charters.  Our travel adventures now seem to be mostly land based. We've finally got some free time to do some writing, so the focus of the Traveler at Sea blog will be more like Travelers on Land.  My apologizes to our sailing friends who care naught for the land, but that's the direction we are taking for now......

Our paths in life seem to lurch in one direction for a while then they barrel off in another direction until we come to yet another crossroad.  We make a choice, trying to do so carefully, but in the end we go with whatever feels right at the time.  Connie and I threw caution to the wind seven years ago, sold everything, quit our jobs and sailed south to Mexico.  In 2016 we changed course and pointed the bow to the west, sailing across the Pacific to Hawaii, then turning north towards Alaska and eventually south into the Salish Sea and our new home port, Olympia Washington.

We thought.... after many years living and traveling on the boat, it is now a time to get more serious in life.  Time to put down a few roots, put some irons in the fire, make a few commitments.  And also.. get some money coming in.  Thus came the Mystic Journeys sailboat charter business and eventually the little house at 1910 Giles.  After a few years of hard work we're mostly caught up with that long task list we dreamed up shortly after hitting the dock at Swantown Marina.  It took us a year to remodel the back of the house into a little mother-in-law space.  We rented out the main house and moved into the little "casita".  And now, after staying put in Olympia for three winters, we've had enough of the cold and drizzle and started making plans for a winter escape. Where is it warm? Where does the sun shine?

It's a funny thing, making plans.  You make a plan, list the steps, start with step one, then eventually you find yourself at the end of the list and Voila! you are at your goal.  Things really started to come together as we communicated to our friends our plans to travel south.  Our friends Richelle and Leo, who are traveling the world trying to decide where to retire, offered us a bed in Tucson for a month in an AirBnB they were renting in November.  Friends in Ajo Arizona said, "Come on by."  Connie's old friend and Obrador drummer, Jimi Doney said, "Come down to Tepoztlan Mexico.  I'll find you a cheap place to live for a while."   Connie's sister said, "I've got an old friend in Patzcuaro Mexico who will probably put you up."  Our Mexico boating friends, Virginia and Robert, stopped by in Olympia for lunch and invited us to come visit them in Barra de Navidad in January.  The clouds opened up and travel opportunities fell from the sky! 

 

Connie, Tesla, and Ezrah

To connect these far flung opportunities we needed to figure out how to get from point A to point B without spending a fortune on hotel rooms.  I fondly remembered our old Toyota Dolphin, that old beat up jalopy mini-RV.  How nice it was to be able to just pull up somewhere, cook up some dinner and fall asleep... on the side of the road, at a campground, in the Walmart parking lot, or in a friend's driveway.  How can we replicate the Dolphin without, you know, buying another old beat up Dolphin?  Full blown RV... to expensive, Sprinter Van... same. Maybe a pop-up camper trailer.

Craiglist Seattle had four or five for sale.  Craig'slist Phoenix had twenty five.  Clearly the south, the sunny, the hot places, have a surplus of RVs. And the prices... what was selling in Seattle for 4k was selling in Phoenix for 2.5k, or that's how it seemed to me.  OK, here's a plan.  We bolt south through cold Washington and Oregon and Nevada and pop out into sunny Arizona where cute little pop-up trailers fall like fruit from the trees.  We set a departure date.  

The Three Sisters, Oregon Cascade Range

It is 1502 miles from Olympia Washington to Tucson Arizona.  We cannot stand more than about 6 hours a day driving so we did the math and came up with about 375 miles per day to get us into Tucson in four days.

Dick and Mary Jane Tobiason

Who do we know about six hours south of Olympia?  Our good friend Scott Tobiason's parents live in Bend Oregon, about 5 hours away.  Can we stay there?  "Sure," says Dick and Mary Jane.  And so our first leg of the journey was determined and south we drove on November 9. After a couple of years staying put, the feeling of escape as we headed down the road was wonderful.  Down the coast and over the Cascades we found Bend Oregon and the peaceful home of the Tobiasons.  A nice, no stress, evening and a soft bed prepared us for the long slog south through the wastelands of Nevada.  

Flat, flat, flat.  Highway 20 to 70 to 95, two lane roads mostly devoid of traffic. Our past trips south were down the endless I-5 corridor through Oregon and California.  There is something about driving the freeway that is taxing on both driver and passenger.  All these cars and trucks are zooming by at breakneck speed and your attention is always focused on avoiding all this metal flying down the road.  On secondary roads I can just enjoy the scenery.  In the high desert country of Oregon the roads go off into the distance in a straight line as far as the eye can see. 

It's hard to figure how folks make a living in the hardscrabble outback of the high desert.  100 acres per cow with feed being brought in half of the year seems like a difficult way to make a living.   Hour after hour we hummed down the road, occasionally seeing a cow lying in the shade of a creosote bush. Looking for a break and maybe a cold drink we passed through a small oasis town and pulled up to the one little store.  Big sign on the front of the building said "Trump 2020."  Well that just took the joy out of our thirst.  We drove on and found a little rest area down the road to take a break.  I wondered if the proprietor realized that he/she was driving off snowbird customers with that silly blue and white sign.  Hmmm.   Why aren't more folks stopping in for a cold soda?  It's 50 miles between stops here in southeastern Oregon.  Must be some kind of conspiracy.

Soon we are in Nevada and by nightfall we pulled into Battle Mountain and the famous Big Chief Motel, by all means, the best hotel in town.  Most folks stay 50 miles north in Winnemucca when trying to transit the vast emptiness of Nevada.  With 30 hotels, Winnemucca is clearly the main stop on the line but we pushed on to the much smaller Battle Mountain to experience a little bit more of rural Nevada America.  After checking into the "best hotel in town" we walked to the "best restaurant in town", El Aguila Real (The Royal Eagle).  Very large Caucasian ranchers rubbed elbows with Mexican Americans consuming large plates of meat, cheese, and beans.  Walking home through a small town of empty storefronts and bare lots, it seemed like Battle Mountain had see better days.

Chile Relleno and Chicken Mole

After stealing ice from the Big Chief to refresh our cooler we rocketed south through the endless flats and headed up into the scenic mining town of Austin Nevada at 6600 ft. We climbed up Route 50 to the Austin Summit at 7490 ft to descend into more flat shrub land flanked out in the distance to either side by the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest. 

Climbing above the endless flat lands

We fueled up in the scenic and parched mining town of Tonopah, home of the famous Clown Motel then continued south in warming temperatures down the west side of the massive area 51.  The northern route around this area is dubbed the extraterrestrial highway. We saw very few aliens.

At nightfall the road had widened from two lanes to four to six to eight.  Our cell phones started working and we found our exit and eventually found our Airbnb in a gated community of row houses. We used the self check in where you use a code to open a box that holds the key to the house.  We knocked on the door then let our selves in, thinking we were going to be staying in the guest bedroom of a home with a mother and young child.  Inside the house it became apparent that no one was calling this place home.  The walls were mostly bare. The only furniture was one couch sitting in the middle of the room.  No kitchen or dining room table.  The two bedrooms had nothing in them but a bed and a chest of drawers. No side tables, no pictures, no curtains. Sterile. Cold.  Switching on the overhead light in the kitchen, we startled a myriad of roaches happily cruising for crumbs.  

Los Vegas - Not really our kind of place.

I pulled up the Airbnb description again and saw how the words made it sound like it was a family place but never actually said the mother and child were living there.  We'd been scammed.  I texted the host, Karolyna, and asked about the roaches and the deserted house and her reply was something along the line of "If you are not happy with the room, then you can leave and I'll refund your money."  By this time we were exhausted and the last thing we wanted to do was go out into the night looking for another room.  So we tiptoed around the roaches, stashed our food in the refrigerator, climbed into bed, and waited until dawn.  

Area 51 Alien Center

After a few days driving in the vastness of the high desert, the cacophony or Los Vegas was a shock to the system.  We battled our way through the freeway system stopping for breakfast in Boulder City and fueling up for the 77 mile run down to Kingman Arizona. We'd made our escape from the north and found ourselves sleep deprived but happily in short sleeves and we entered the land of the sun.  

 

Off to the Oyster Festival

Saturday October 6^th, a flotilla of four departed Budd Inlet bound for Oakland Bay and the Shelton Yacht Club.  Our route took us north to Hope Island then through the dreaded Hammersley Inlet, a transit fraught with danger:  shoals, grey whales, fast currents, and twists and turns of the topography.  Scott and Connie on Traveler (Passport 42) were chased out of Budd Inlet by Rick and Ada with Amanda as crew on Clara June (Freeport 41) and we arrived together at Hope Island at 13:45, halfway through the rising tide, timed so that if we ran aground in the narrow channel we’d soon float off.

Grey Whale in Hammersley Inlet

Rick had a new chart plotter at the helm so he led our two boats towards the way- north entrance to Hammersley Inlet, avoiding the notorious Arcadia grounding.  30 foot off the Hungerford Point #2 red channel marker, we edged into Hammersley Inlet feeling our way with the depth sounder.

We transited around the north shoreline, hugging land closely.  As Clara June rounded Cape Horn the VHF squawked with Rick’s voice, “Watch for the grey whale mid channel!”  I pulled back the throttle and put her in neutral as I edged to the side of the channel in time to see a beautiful gray whale arcing out of the water on our starboard bow.  It surfaced soon after off our port side then disappeared with a flip of the tail.  We continued on… amazed.

Hammersley is like a river, with the channel first on one side then the other, following the contours of the land.  The current was running with us and soon we caught up with two other SSSS boats making their way west.  Katie Braun, skippering WindWalker, had Dave Chance (Island Sailing Club instructor) aboard along with crew Doug Powell.  Alongside was Neil Mink, sporting a very nice beard and single handling his Morgan 27 Nasty Jack.  All together we were whisked westward at 8 knots, running with the current.

Nasty Jack

We encountered a minimum depth of 8 feet under our 6.5 foot keel at half tide as we headed toward Libby Point then Skookum Point to arrive at the final reach with good depth all the way into Oakland Bay and the Oakland Marina.  I hailed the Shelton Yacht club on channel 68 and got instructions to continue into the marina.  Traveler led the way into the tight marina and found a starboard tie right at the gangway, just barely squeezing into our designated slot.  We took Clara June to raft on our port side.

Traveler and Clara June

Soon afterward, Windwalker and Nasty Jack arrived and found space at the south dock.  Already present was Barry and Gloria on Soul Catcher (Maple Leaf 42) and Richard Bigley on his C&C Plus, Jolly Rumbalow.  Now we had six SSSS boats present for the late afternoon appetizer pot luck in the spacious Shelton Yacht Club clubhouse.   Thank you to whomever it was who brought the wonderful crab dip!  The Shelton folks made us very welcome.  Nice people.

Sunday we went to Oysterfest in a light drizzle and had a great time, eating way too many oysters, watching the shucking competitions, and listening to local music. Sunday night we had a little get together on Traveler and played music into the night.   

 

Soul Catcher and Jolly Rumbalow

Monday, up at 8, Traveler followed Clara June back down Hammersley, running with the current on a falling tide to get dumped into Pickering Passage with eddies, swirls, and upswellings pushing us on our way.   We ate eggs and toast once we reached the relative safety of Squaxin Passage and Budd Inlet.  Our transit time from Shelton to Oly Town was a mere 3 hours.

  

Would we do it again? Next year,  youbetcha!   The secret is to hang out at the oyster shucking competition tent 30 minutes after the event to be there when the judges emerge with twelve heaping platters of oysters on the half shell looking for volunteers to consume them. Me! Me!

S/V Traveler Goes To Work

Bachelorette Party!

Summer has gone by in a flurry of activity as we've spent countless hours on the phone and on the internet setting up Budd Inlet cruises for landlubbers who want short outings on the water.  Scheduling and accepting credit card payments is only half the battle.  The biggest (and most fun) part is taking those folks out on the boat.

We recently bought a small house on the west side of Olympia, fairly near the marina where Traveler has a slip on E dock.  We cleared tons of gear off the boat and into the little house until the boat was empty and the house was full. New PFDs and comfortable seats were pretty much all we needed to have the boat ready for a steady stream of visitors.  Calls came in and the calendar started to fill. Our new charter business was off with a bang.

Romantic couples cruise

We completed eighteen cruises by July 1st, did fifteen in July,  and twenty three in August.  Today we have a double booking that will bring us to seventy one charters completed this season. I guess I can say we've got the process down by now.  We know the ropes... or the lines I should say.

Friends and family

Rick and Ada ran this charter business on S/V Clara June, an Islander Freeport 41, for six years with great success.  We chose to manage this season's charters in that same proven method.  Starting off, we try to make our customer contacts on a personal level, eschewing online booking and payment technologies and instead steering new clients to have conversations with us over the phone.  In this manner we can get a feeling about what our clients are looking for and avoid over selling or under selling the experience.  Some people need to be reassured that it will be a relaxing and not a taxing experience, just a nice glide across the water.  Others want a more active cruise where they raise the sails and steer the boat, or maybe just see the drinks keep coming.

Can I bring my infant, my kids and my 90 year old grandpa?  Sure.  Can I bring a box lunch and a cooler of beer?  You bet.

Everybody gets to drive the boat

The day of the charter, we bring them aboard early, making sure they've used the restroom ashore, then note the wind and tide as we walk down the dock.  We climb aboard and all go below to view a chart of the area and hear a ten minute orientation and safety meeting which sometime stretches longer when they start asking about where we've been and how we've traveled so far.  I fit everyone with life jackets.  Non-swimmers and children have to wear them whenever they are above deck.  Other adults have the option to take them off.  We scoot everyone back up on deck and arrange them sitting on the front and sides of the boat in comfortable chairs.

CB blows the conch

With Connie at the wheel, I slowly walk the boat out of the slip.  Our prop walk in reverse pulls the boat to port.  We need to back out to starboard.  So I have to push her out by hand, swinging the bow around as I scramble aboard at the last minute, pausing for a second to wave bye bye and pretend that I'm not getting aboard.  Once she's in the fairway I take the wheel and Connie goes forward to button up the lifeline and bring out the conch shell which she blows heartily as we approach the turn out of the fairway between D and E dock.  We wave to neighbors on their boats and try to create a party atmosphere as we exit.  Connie leans out over the bow pulpit to look for oncoming traffic as I ghost the ship forward in neutral.  When I get the OK symbol from Connie, off we go!

Connie pulls in the lines and coils them, then brings the fenders and the boarding ladder back to the cockpit. Gotta keep it shipshape.  As we make our way out the narrow channel between the mud flats, we chat up the clients to get a feel about how they'd like the cruise to go.  Would you like to buzz through the downtown docks? or perhaps over to the log booms?  Is Sammy the seal sunning himself on the red buoy #6?  If so, we buzz by him/her for a photo.  Is there wind?  If so, maybe we head straight out, nose into the breeze and get the mainsail ready.

Fun activity for family visits

If no wind, we serve drinks right away.  If wind, I get the halyard ready then ask for help among the guests.  We put their strongest person (or youngest) at the mast and watch as they easily raise the first sections of sail.  The higher it goes, the more difficult it is until eventually most people can't raise it any more.  Then I show them how to sweat up the last few feet.

We tension the halyard the last few inches with the winch then drop the topping lift and off we go.  Eventually we cut across the shallows and get on a close reach.  I warn everyone on the front deck that the big green thing on the front of the boat will unroll and advise them to not let it knock their sunglasses off their heads.  Out comes the big Genoa and away we go, usually at a blistering 3 knots.

Yummy!

Half of the time, we just motor in the calm flat waters of Budd Inlet.  We bring out binoculars so folks can spot seals and eagles, then we serve them an organic fruit bowl or maybe some soft cheeses, salami, and crackers.  If they bring alcoholic beverages we serve these to them and keep it coming till they've had enough.

With wind, we grab the kids and let them steer the boat.  In really fresh wind, everyone takes turns at the wheel just to feel the power of the wind on the ship.  Big grins all around. Time for pictures.

When my clock says we are at the halfway point we tack her around and retrace our route back towards town.  Usually this part of the cruise is downwind, so everything calms down and people relax.  Connie normally comes forward with her ukulele and sings a few songs.  Sometimes I join her for a hearty rendition of "What Shall We Do With a Drunken Sailor."  If there is a birthday, there is a birthday song.  If there is an anniversary, there is the couple's favorite "falling in love" song.

Having fun messing about in boats

People get quiet as we enter the narrow channel approaching the marina. We bring out the fenders and lines and prepare for docking.  I check the clock to make sure the guests have received their purchased time on the water, then we slowly approach our turn at E dock.  Gliding in neutral I swing the wheel to port just when our cockpit lines up with that special sailboat on D dock.  At first it looks like we'll ram the dock but as the boat swings around its keel we normally glide in without loosing much paint.

Connie shreds it

Connie steps off with the amidships line and snags a cleat.  Then she takes the bow line forward as I step off with the stern line.  Our guests have a momentary look of confusion then they realize that they are done!  Nothing to do now but get off the boat.  We have a flurry of activity as people find lost sunglasses and wallets.  I remind them that they should probably take off the life jackets now.  Can't take them home after all.   There are handshakes all around, hugs even, and lots of group pictures.  About half the time one of those handshakes has a tip inside.

Blustery day in Budd Inlet

They tell us how they'd love to go out again, and I make sure they have our business card.  While one of us walks them up the dock, the other does an idiot check for items left behind.  At this point, with the guests gone, we normally open some beers and relax a minute, eating some left over fruit, cheese, and salami.  We talk about the cruise and how sweet everyone was.  We talk about the kids and the grandparents, and try to figure out who was with who.  It's a nice "after the party" time for us.  Then it's dish washing time, and we stow the seats and cushions and bring the dinghy around to the side of the boat to hoist it up in the air.  I gather up the trash and we head up the gangway, a little tired but pretty happy realizing how lucky we are to be able to do what we love to do and get paid to do it.

Mystic Journeys on Traveler has a website.  Check it out at mjnyoly.com

We do photo shoots!

Jordan Series Drogue Sold

Sold the drogue - 125 cones - 365 ft long - for up to 25,000 lb sailboat    $350.  It went fast after posting it on the Cruiser's Forum.    We got it in Mexico at a swap meet back in 2015 and I think we paid $350 for it there.

We added twenty more cones and some line to bring it to the length needed for our heaver boat.   Now it's sold to someone who is planning a trip to the South Pacific.

Never deployed, but has been with the boat for two years while we crossed from Mexico to Hawaii to Alaska.  Source was a

SailRite kit. Has heavy duty shackles, stout bridle, 365 ft of 5/8 to 3/4 line.  All new materials. All done to specifications.  Sized to fit our boat which is a Passport 42 ft at 25,500 lb.  I attach a 25 ft chain to the end as an anchor/weight.  Probably don't want me shipping that part.

Located in the Seattle area.  This thing is heavy (65 lb).

Swallowing the Anchor So We Can Keep on Sailing

Traveler's Makeover

As you know, we recently had a sit down with our old friend Traveler and explained to her that the time had come for her to start contributing her fair share to the household economy.  Living on a fixed income amid rising prices, escalating housing costs, out of control health insurance, and soaring varnishing expenditures, we were forced to sell dear Traveler into service.  Yes, she's going to work.

This winter we brushed up her bottom, greened up her top sides, and painstakingly restored her teak and holly floorboards.  We've stocked up on PFDs, signed a bunch of forms, opened an LLC, and prepared for the summer onslaught of land lubbers tromping down the gangway to take pretty summer excursions on the "oh how the mighty have fallen" sailing vessel Traveler.  Where once she was the sort that crossed oceans, she now shuttles land based creatures back and forth across the flat backwaters of the most southerly Salish Sea.

The Other Woman

As a further insult, we've traded Connie's rental house in Tumwater for, as Zillow puts it, "A charming craftsman style home in the heart of West Olympia."  We've truly swallowed the anchor.

If our boat could read she'd cringe with jealousy at the words in the ad, "Refinished hardwood floors, warm colors add to the rustic character of this fine home." And she would say,  "Why, that sounds like me!  They've thrown me over for another... and an older woman at that!"

To make up for this gut-wrenching blow, we've given Traveler lots of attention, sprucing her up quite nicely, a face-lift of sorts.  Coming in the post are new glasses with little fishes and sailboats embossed on the sides.  We've got new cups and plates with non-skid rubber bumpers to keep everything in place even in the fiercest of seas (like that's ever gonna happen in Budd Bay) and we're shopping for jewelry for Traveler in the form of  a new silverware pattern with little anchors stamped on them.

Giles has oak floors, Traveler has teak and holly.

It's exciting buying a house, Connie and I together for the first time. We have lived in my house and we have lived in her house, but never in OUR house.  This new house at 1910 Giles Ave NW is older than either of us.  It's right in town, only ten minutes to the marina, and within walking distance to the CO-OP and all it's organic wonderfulness. And we've got lots of  good friends who live nearby.

Six coats of varnish on the floorboards.

As you know, it's a crazy world in the real estate market here in the Pacific Northwest.  We missed out on a couple of houses that we tried to buy but failed because our offer was not strong enough.  When we found this house we knew what we had to do... 1. put an offer in immediately and 2. use an escalation clause so our bid would top other offers.  We waited the weekend to see the outcome.  On Tuesday we saw we had captured first place, the multiple offers escalating 14k above asking price!

Oh Traveler, you've got to really help us now.  We spent a fortune on that other gal and now we've got to have a spectacularly profitable chartering summer.  We are all doing our part for the family finances.  Connie has a half dozen gigs coming up and I've got lots of old boating gear I'll be selling online.   

Come aboard!

As the weather warms, the phone calls become more frequent and slowly we are accumulating reservations for charters.  Three weeks from now we've got our first charter of the season when Connie and I will be happy as clams as we share some of the great times we've had sailing Traveler all those miles.  We'll serve out the ice tea in those little glasses with the fish or sailboats embossed on the sides, pass around the CO-OP organic fresh fruit salad, and sing a song together as Traveler's shiny green hull slides through the waters and her white sails billow with promise.

Bright Warm Light Streaming Into the Cabin

How wistfully we read the blog posts of our old cruising friends, those still making passages on their sailboats up and down the Gulfo de California in sunny Mexico.  They anchor in sandy bays and wake up to bright warm light streaming into their cabin.  Up here it is a struggle for survival with the constant drizzle, overcast skies, and just above freezing temperatures.  We've had to wear socks!

There was a rare week long period when it didn't rain.  That's when we repaired, sanded, and painted Traveler's bottom.  Since then, we've not had enough "no rain" days to do any exterior work on Traveler and it looks like this trend will continue another month.  We've contracted with a local mechanic to replace our propeller shaft and coupling but I think he's hiding out from the rain as well as the only progress I have seen is the absence of our propeller. 

On the home front, things are moving more rapidly.  I made the mistake of check-marking the little box in the website Zillow that announces that for a certain price, a buyer could "make us move."  Some folks from American Samoa, 7000 miles away, saw that little checked box and made us an offer.  We were not ready to move and were actually looking forward to having a little hibernation time in Connie's Tumwater house.  Now we are immersed in all the pesky details of negotiating the sale of this little house.  We are doing so without the guidance and cost of agents, saving a chunk of change in the process.  Can I tell you how unpleasant it is to put on the overalls and squirm under the house into the crawl space.  How about the fun to be had picking up rat poop and replacing soiled insulation in the attic?

Paperwork comes flying in attached to email messages.  We print it off then fall asleep trying to read the legalese.  Sign, initial, date. Scan it and send it off. Google the phrase "time of transfer", "encroachment", and "statutory warranty deed".  Heck, I just recently figured out the difference between port and starboard.

The good part about this sale is that we'll be able to continue to stay here for a little while as renters.  That will give us all of spring to look for another place to land while we try to get boat projects done to be ready for chartering season in June. 

I've updated the Mystic Journeys on Traveler web site finally.  Please go there and have a look.  Tell me if something looks too goofy.  Mystic Journeys on Traveler

We've got our LLC started and have started taking reservations for cruises this summer. Anyone reading this blog is probably a friend or family so I'd like to make you a special offer.  We are having a "Friends and Family" special for bookings in May and June.  It's a half price sale.  Book a cruise, or buy a gift certificate for a cruise (give it as a gift) and we'll slash the price in half.  How's that for raw capitalism?

Meanwhile, Connie has had a gig here and there.  We are still freaking out at what's happening to our country and what's happening to our planet. Both of us are relatively healthy.  Connie's kids are doing great.  We are enjoying the friendships that abound her in Olympia and miss the folks in Seattle that we used to hang with there.  As I lie in bed, I do continue to dream of those southern seas and the bright warm light streaming into our cabin.  Miss those days, yes.

Connie got a tea cozy for her birthday.