Saturday, December 15, 2012

How Did We Ever Find New Mexico?

So, we got Arizona and then did a small side trip to San Carlos, Sonora, Mexico.  Yeah, we had to visit the boat (Faith) to see what will be required for NEXT season.  We took pictures and had fun with friends.  Seeing JJ and going out to dinner while living in motel rooms with really, really bad beds!

Other than that there was the long drive down with lots of construction and turning in our FM-3 (resident alien) cards at the border.  So many issues with that but the process was fairly simple. (Stamp, stamp, stamp... su firma aqui... adios!)

We stayed in our favorite place in Amado and shopped a bit in Tubac then stayed in Tucson for a few days (some extra because it rained) then, finally, we were off to the east.  The Tucson stay allowed some visiting time and the bikes caught up to us there.  More on that probably later.

Turning east from Tucson our first day on a new road was pretty good.  There was a bit of construction with a narrow one lane section at 55 mph but that was nothing compared to Mexico and the jarring roads there!!



One stop had me walking Abby and we had a pet section:



Then it had a warning:



Fortunately it is cold right now so there wasn't much chance of a surprise from the reptile clan!

Sunday, December 2, 2012

Missing the Mark?

Sometimes the problem with traveling is what you miss instead of what you stop to see.  While we were in San Diego we made the choices that are inevitable and picked the Zoo and the USS Midway for our main attractions.  What this meant was that we did not see Sea World or other things that would have been fun too.  In Phoenix we first read about and then heard about the Musical Instrument Museum.  Unfortunately we have not allowed time for it and feel a little time pressure that we try to avoid.

In the case of Phoenix we will pass through again during the next few years so we will include this place at some other time.  This has, however, caused me to ponder the rest of the trip as we go places we aren't likely to get back to for either a long time or perhaps never.  Our research is done on the fly, as it were, and it means our choices can be more problematic.  If we don't read enough or don't hear about an attraction it will simply be missed.  Sadly there is not a cure for this but overall it is a condition we will gladly live with to see as much as we can. 





The motor home has been a marvelous change from the travel trailer.  It is easier to set up and take down at each stop.  The systems work better and the ease of having the car (Posie the PT Cruiser) has freed us unbelievably.  We are now talking about getting bikes to achieve a better exercise regimen going.  Looking around I found some aluminum framed bikes and am now looking into different methods of carrying the bikes.  That should give us a more interesting way of seeing nearby things than riding along in the car or the motor home.  We won't miss much and will be taking pictures along the way!!

Sunday, November 25, 2012

Summary: First Month on the Road



So, the American Bucket List Tour (ABLT) has started and I have been slow to take up the blog duties.  It has been a busy month thus far.

We have progressed at a leisurely pace as I had hoped we would.  Some days have been a whole two hours of driving and then staying for days at a time to see things.  We stopped in Springfield, Oregon to visit friends/family and then Sutherlin, Oregon to visit family and then made it to Redding, California only because it was on the way.  From there it was a short day to Sacremento, California where we spent time at the California State Rail Road Museum and a bit of Old Town Sacramento.  THAT was a great find!  The museum is unassuming from the outside but fantastic on the inside!!  There are LOTS of trains and train related "stuff".  We spent hours wandering through the museum and felt rewarded for finding it in the first place.  After that we had the time to stroll down the old board walk street and found a saloon that had great sandwiches... a few stops later we had a couple of bags of jelly bellies and it was off to the RV "park".

We stayed at the Expo Center lot.  That is a great way for the center to keep the rent paid to the city.  RVer's are in the middle of great stuff and the facility gets the attention it really needs long term to stay viable.

We moved on after a few days and stopped in a Sutter Creek (another grueling day of three and half hours or so) to visit friends and see the down town of Sutter Creek.  That was yet another fun walk about for a few hours.  Not that we enjoy window shopping and wine tasting or anything.  We both like artsy shops and there are several of interest in towns like these.  A few days later we hitched up the Toad (Posie the PT Cruiser) and set up camp later that day in Salinas, California.  From there it was easy to day trip to the San Juan Bautista Mission, Carmel by the Sea and Big Sur.  Abby really liked the beach at Carmel... what a dog friendly town that is.  A few days later we loaded up again and made it to Oceano, California (near Pismo Beach) and visited family again.  Taking a week to explore we hit Hearst Castle, Avila Beach and State Street in Santa Barbara, California along with other local places.  Last time we were in the area we had stopped at the Monarch Butterfly Reserve in Pismo but this time we had rain and it was a bit cooler so the butterflies were not so active.



Our assault on southern California was a longer day from Oceano to San Diego.  We skimmed across the top of Los Angeles and utilized I-15 to arrive in Lakeside (just east of S.D.) at sunset.  By the time we did the obligatory check in we had to find our site in the dark.  Thus far we have visited a wonderful place for breakfast (and probably other meals) called Hob Nob Hill, the USS Midway and Seaport Village along with a bunch of friends in the area.  In a couple of days we will have visited more friends, the San Diego Zoo and Balboa Park.  It will time to hook up and head east for the rest of the ABLT.

I apologize for the fast tour of our first month but I belatedly realized that I had fallen into the trap of just traveling and not keeping up the blog.  I hope to do better as we continue on. 


Sunday, October 28, 2012

Trailer Gone; Packing Motorhome

Thanks to Craigslist and our friend Steve in Chandler the trailer is gone now.  It took 5 days to drive down to Mexico and drop the trailer off in Chandler but only two days to blast my way back home!!  That was a fast trip.

We have slowly been packing up and getting ready to head south with the motor home.  This seems to be getting a little more compressed as we close in on the date to leave.  The house sitter is ready, we are almost ready and the weather is ready.  It started raining a couple of weeks ago here and now it almost every day that gray overtakes us. 


I pulled out the maps again yesterday for awhile and added a few sticky notes to make lists of what we can see as move around.  There are way to many things to see and do but at least with a list we will be open to more things than if it is completely by chance.  Cannot wait to get going.

Saturday, October 13, 2012

Whirlwind Trip




When we left Mexico last time we were chatting about turning in the Temporary Import Permit (TIP) on the travel trailer we use as Home while in San Carlos and, until we bought the house last year, had been living in during the summers. 

We posited that nothing was going to change for the coming year so we decided that we would not cancel the TIP.  Well that is not quite how things turned out.  We ended up with a new plan for the coming year.  It started with a news article that said that this coming year would be an El Niño year.  Hmm, we said.  Our last El Niño year was very difficult.  We travel from place to place on the boat (Faith) using weather (WX) windows.  Our general rule has become, "If it's not fun, do something else."  When the WX windows are really short then moving becomes one way to be beaten up by big winds and/or seas driven by that incoming WX.  Typically it takes two or three days to transit some of our longer passages along the Mexican coast.  In 2009 we had water spouts in La Cruz.  We had a storm one night in the Tenacatita anchorage (steady wind of 45 knots and gusts to 70 knots).  The windows for going from one place to another were down to one day much of the time.  While we managed that year it was still a bit nerve wracking from time to time.

This year we will be Land Yachting.  So we thought we would sell the trailer and get a motor home for our travels.  Then it hit us... we had not cancelled our TIP so we would not in the future be able to take a motor home in Mexico!  We are allowed only one vehicle of that sort at a time.  Sure, we do not think that Mexico has yet tied the system together so that thye would know that we had two open TIP's (three counting the boat) but why take the chance.  Storing the trailer until next summer did not make much sense AND it would be nice to have the cash out of the trailer.  So I packed up the trailer with a few clothes and headed south.

The drive down took 5 days and the last several stops I did not even unhook the trailer from the truck at night.  I just plugged in and left as early as I could to make as many miles as possible each day.  I avoided Los Angeles and was poised 100 miles north of the border the morning of the crossing.  It took all day to scoot across to kilometer 21 to take care of the cancellation of the TIP.  They actually had me check in through customs before I turned around to stop at the office for the cancellation.  It took quite a while (about 2 hours) to get the clearance and then about 40 minutes to cross back into the U.S.A.!!  My general idea on the return crossing is that they do things for maximum theater.  The trailer was inspected in Mexico, then again at the border coming back... all taking longer than I would have preferred.  As a result I returned to the RV park that I had left that morning just at sunset.  Whew, what a long day.

Now the trailer is in storage in Chandler where my friend Steve is able to show it from inquiries from my Craigslist ad. 

It took only two days to drive the 1500 or so miles back from Mexico once I dropped the trailer off.  There is more to the story because I had apparently hit something (tree limb probably) and caused a problem with the roof, but that is a story for another day and another Steve.


Thursday, October 4, 2012

More Pictures From Seattle

Here are a few more pictures from the trip to Seattle!!  There are so many reasons to go there!

Tickets to do stuff

Early Bass'
National Guitar


Jimi's Suit
Boat full of Globes

Glass Bowls

Chris in the Glass Garden



Sandy in the Hot House


Under Water Sculpture in Glass (Note person to the right)

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

A Bit of New in the New



Well, this time the motor home was not part of the mix.  A while back Sandy got tickets for the Stephanie Miller Show (The Sexy Liberal Show) for when it (she/they) came to Seattle.  The comedy show was playing at the Paramount Theater and I got a room at the very nice Paramount Hotel.  We drove up in the PT Cruiser and checked in.  After a bit of getting comfortable we went down to the restaurant and had a really great dinner (it involved sushi for one of us!!) and a glass of Malbec. 

The show was well done (most of it anyway) and the laughter worth every liberal moment!  It left us with smiles and lots of thoughts about how the world is glued together.

The next day was clear and a touch cool.  The same restaurant was serving coffee and breakfast but our sights were set on more exploration.  Off to the monorail to head down to the Seattle Center.  At the time of its building the monorail was very cool and yet another thing I wanted to do for a long time.  Now THAT is a place with a history.  The Space Needle is there and it has been on my bucket list since I was about twelve.  The 1962 World's Fair was staged there and it is not as large a space as I had envisioned.  Nonetheless, it houses some great stuff!


Up we went in the elevator to the top of the Needle.  Whew!!  Breath taking view.  Okay, if you can get 520 feet above any place you will see more stuff but it is still impressive.  Since my only experience with Seattle was a brief time a few weeks prior on my way through on the bus (long story).  Anyway, that was only the beginning.

Below again we sauntered over to the EMP.  That's where the Guitar Museum shows off some excellent displays of formerly local bands.  Jimi Hendrix, Nirvana and others have more information about them there.  Not to mention some really fantastic history on the guitar. 



Then came the Chihuly glass works.  Whoa!!!  Now here's some amazing art.  I was completely blown away (pun intended)!!  More pictures later...


Friday, September 14, 2012

Finally a New Direction!!



So, the year has come along that was inevitable. This coming year is supposed to be an El Niño year. The last time this happened for us was 2009. That year we had very short weather windows to move the boat from place to place. We got pounded a few times and would have liked to have just done something else more than once. 

In any event, we got to talking and decided that our bucket list could be approached from a new direction. We have lived in the travel trailer during our summers off for 3 of the last four years and have inadvertently preparing for more RV-ing. We didn't know it at the time but we have gotten a lot of experience in planning trips and storing items for travel. We have gotten into a mind set that has us moving much of the time and exploring places we have been before with new eyes or finding completely new places. We also like to stay warmer than we can if we stay in Vancouver all winter! 

The new-to-us motor home (Trudie) and the toad (PT Cruiser - Posie) are a set. But there is a small glitch that I need to solve before we get under way. 

Last year we took the travel trailer to Mexico as usual. Not as usual we found that we had to get a Temporary Import Permit (TIP) to bring the trailer in that time. We dutifully got the TIP and when we were leaving the country we asked each other if we should turn it in and cancel it before we left. Having decided at that time that we would just be coming back the coming year we did not cancel the TIP. So I will be towing the trailer down to Nogales (K-21) to accomplish that before leaving the trailer in the Phoenix area to be put up for sale. If the TIP isn't cancelled we would not be able to get a new TIP if we want to take Trudie to Mexico in the future. I found the time in the schedule to accomplish all this in the first half of October. This will be a "fast" turn around trip but that is a relative term. I can only drive so far and so fast towing the trailer. Not having Sandy and Abby along for this trip will make it a little easier on all of us but it will still take time.

Saturday, June 2, 2012

The Shortest Season



Normally we have been getting to San Carlos from the Northwest by November.  This last November we were involved in a house purchase that went on for awhile and even after the purchase was completed we had to furnish the place and suddenly the holidays were upon us so we only left Vancouver January 10th.  As the previous blogs showed we then worked on the boat for two months making up for three years of cruising the boat hard.

Faith has been a fantastic boat for cruising but, like any boat, she requires attention on an on-going basis.  We handled a lot of things on our list but there are still a huge number of things that will need attention before we can go very far this next season.  The autopilot completely packed it in this time so that has moved tot he top of the list, along with rewiring the batteries.  I have wind generator envy every time I see a boat with a wind generator!!  Let's just say that there are a number of lesser items that I want to tackle to make life on board more pleasant.

This season, too, we had far fewer guests and more time to explore places we have not been before.  We did not have to rush anywhere at any time and THAT proved to be very wonderful.  Abby, the boat dog, was more accommodating as well.  She has fit into our mostly mobile lifestyle and is accustomed to periods where she cannot go ashore.  She does not particularly like the occasional snotty passage, but then who does?




This season too we still are seeing things we have not seen before!!  Like the Sei whale that surfaced just off the starboard side while we were under way.  Then there were the groups of Golden Rays (15 to 20 at a time) as we came into anchor at Santa Domingo... like autumn leaves just under the surface of the water!!  Or, the skates mating along the beach in Los Candeleros, or the whale shark that surfaced just a few feet away as we dinghied into the beach at Chivato.  Many more things that surprised us that had not happened before.




So it was a good season even if it was a bit shortened.  That makes my apology for not adding to the blog a little weak but, really, we were just sooo busy!!

Monday, April 16, 2012

Why Does the Boat Smell Like Diesel Fuel??? 
This is usually where you find me when things go wrong... but meet Hanzel, it's his turn.

     This year, as I may have mentioned, was decreed to be the year of maintenance for Faith.  The water tank project, the battery systems’ rebuild, the life lines’ replacement, the Cetoling of all things wood outside, the replacing of various lines (both needed and forgotten) and in general the attention to be given to various things long since forgotten has zapped this season of cruising as surely as if we had not come to Mexico.  Well, not entirely.

     We ARE in the warmth and sunshine of the Sea of Cortez and even though the wind has been way up over the norm we are happy and healthy.  Sandy has been doing exceptionally well in studying Spanish and I have learned much on the periphery of that experience.  I watch the weather but, at this point, am not entirely sure why.  Usually we are far from here and south… it’s warmer there and there is a day to day need to watch what the weather is doing.  Here we are at the dock and unless we are released to wander about there isn’t much that the weather means to us that we can’t find out by looking outside.

     So, why are we still here?  ¿Why ask why?  We must be here because we are supposed to be here.  A couple of days ago I changed the fuel filters in anticipation of setting out on a tiny bit of cruising (oh please, let this happen sometime) and was going to then change the oil (it’s easier to do when the motor is a little warm)… after the filter change the engine started but only ran reluctantly.  No problem, or so I thought, I will run it for a few minutes then shut down and do this all tomorrow.  The theory was that I could start it the next day then change the oil (it was, after all, nearly wine o’clock and time for a shower and out to dinner).  The following day the motor would not start.  I tried the usual stuff to bleed the system of any air… still no start.  I went to the office that had the number for a mechanic and thought he would be by in a bit.  Well, we waited all day… nothing.  Okay, the next day we had put out feelers for a mechanic with a sense of time and found one.  In the meantime several people tried to assist me in further bleeding the system of air to no avail.  The mechanic came to the boat a few minutes after I called him and proceeded to take apart a bunch of stuff after doing some diagnostic starting attempts.  You see, there is not enough pressure coming from the fuel pump to start, much less maintain the motor’s speed.  Hmmm, well, as I write this, two fellows are laboring away at trying to fix the problem.



The offending fuel injector pump

   It normally falls to me to fix this sort of thing BUT sometimes you just have to give in to what the universe is telling you.  In this case the universe is telling me it is the maintenance year of maximum proportions and I just need to go with the flow.  I do not tire of working on the boat, at least not so far, but I do know when I really, really don’t want to screw up a job and need the expertise of someone who has done a job before.  I can watch and so far it is clear this was a wise choice… a very wise choice.

     While all this is going on the boat pretty much smells as if we are living IN the fuel tank.  We had planned for dinner guest this evening but that needs to be changed to maintain an appetite and excitement that a good dinner, well prepared, deserves.  Did I mention, I guess I did, that the wind has been screaming through the marina’s venturi entrance to make for a noisy, slightly rolly experience even at the dock??  Ah yes, it is a very enjoyable day but the fringes are a bit frayed!!

Thursday, February 9, 2012

The Tank & the Welder

Occasionally things just do NOT go as planned.  When David (the welder) got the tank to his shop and started cleaning it his close inspection had him make a call to me.  

"I think you need to come and see your tank," he said.
"What's wrong?  What's going on?" I replied.

"I just think you need to make some decisions..." was David's tentative return.
"Oh dear me... I'll be there in about 20 minutes."  I said as I reach for the truck keys and started getting off the boat in the marina.  David's shop is deep in the heart of Guaymas and given the time of day it took me a little over 25 minutes to reach the shop from San Carlos.

The Tank after cleaning attempt


When I got there the tank was on the ground in front of the covered part to get the full effect of the sunlight.  There were pin holes in most of the welded sections and the plate surfaces had fair sized holes in them.  It seems that as David cleaned the tank he found the metal in many of the plate surfaces to be so thin that his cleaning tool started going through the metal.  His investigation showed that if he brushed over some of the areas with his screw driver it would go through without much or any effort.  Looking at the tank I knew what his question was going to be so I asked, "How much to make a new tank?"
Note the screw driver
He told me he had already upped the order for aluminum to do the rebuild and that instead of the NP$4000 it would be NP$8000 to finish the job.  Okay, that's is not the end of the world.  That was telling me that it would not be the anticipated US$312.50 but US$625.00 instead.  In the big picture that is wonderful news.  I mean, to get a tank that will probably out live me for a reasonable price is a good thing, right?  

Now we will see how this plays out because sometimes things don't go as they are planned.    

Sunday, February 5, 2012

El Tanque - The Removal

When we got the boat to the slip, after a tow due to low batteries, we got serious about the removal of the errant water tank.  Mike (Stenbak) had helped to uncover the tank when we were in the work yard before going back to the States for a few days.  It took the better part of a day and lots and lots of unscrewing bulkheads from the covering shelf and tank veneer.  When the builders put together the typical boat they do some strange things.  I mean, not only is the tank attached to the hull via six (6) aluminum tabs with four (4) lag bolts each but it's also encased in a shelf/front arrangement that is FIRMLY attached to the two bulkheads at either end!!


First, they (the builders) assume that nothing on the boat will ever break.  That's a bad assumption but you see the evidence everywhere.  On Faith the water tank seems to be the cornerstone, so to speak, of the whole construct.  They install the tank before they put the deck on... in fact, it is clear now that they put the bulk heads and installed the tank before they built the aft cabinetry.  

Secondly, since it is an aluminum tank you would think that people would go to great lengths to be sure that dissimilar metals never come in contact with it.  When we got the tank uncovered we found that coins, in particular pennies, had slipped down behind the tank and started a corrosive process that led to some of the leaks we found.

So, third, an extension of the first problem really, the tank does not fit through any of the possible openings to exit the boat.  The companionway is 23" wide but one end of the tank was 26" plus the tabs that hold it in place (another 2").  
Tank gets to bottom of the companionway

After talking to various people and contacting my welder friend in Guaymas we came to the conclusion that we would just have to cut a chunk off of the side of the tank.  At one point while were turning and examining the tank we turned it so that the input spout tilted too far and a white milkshake like substance oozed all over the galley sole (don't tell Sandy).  Later when I was cleaning that up it was obvious I will also have to completely clean all of my tools in one of the tool boxes because it was also in the way of the yuck that poured out!!

 
David Cuts away the excess



Normally I wear a mask and earplugs when cutting metal.  Likewise, I normally have everything sketched out so I can follow a precise pattern to take off exactly what needs to come off.  Well, David the Welder just scored the metal with the end of a file I had sitting there and used a very long screw driver I had as well as a straight edge!!  The tabs were soon history too and we then tugged and pushed the tank through the companionway and onto the dock and later up into his van... as it spewed radiator substances all over the place.  It turned out the David had an accident on his way to the marina that morning.

The cut away piece!!

Anyway, the long and short of where we are today is that the tank has gone off to the shop in Guaymas to be cleaned and repaired and we hope to put it back in place on Wednesday or Thursday.

Tank on the Dock... Finally!!
In the meantime Faith lists like she is in a full gale without the weight of the tank and its 125 gallons of water.

Saturday, January 28, 2012

In San Carlos and ready... Almost


Faith, with new life lines before cleaning
This year we are really, really late getting to the boat.  Actually, it turned out that Faith is cleaner and drier than in years past!

It is significant, too, that we have our friend Mike with us.  He caravan-ed down with us to get a sense of this cruising thing.  He is also helping to repair some issues that we need to correct before we do the El Salvador Rally (hopefully next season).  He strung my new life lines on at a faster pace than I was able to and yesterday we attacked the leaking main water tank!!  This was while the boat yard guys washed and waxed Faith until she shined like new so we just chugged away at the task inside the boat while they polished her up.  By about 2:00 p.m. we were ready for a break at JJ's while the cleaner/waxer chaps had about another hour, to an hour and a half to go.  We got back to the yard after lunch to find them still working away but the boat looked magnificent!

The tank problem is going to take a good while to fix.  We succeeded in getting down to the tank but now need to figure out where the leak is and then get it repaired... likely welded.  At this point I don't think we will be able to bring the tank out of the boat because it appears that they built the boat around the tank before they fastened the deck on.

In any case, there is about 5 days until we are scheduled to splash the boat and that date can be changed.  It might need to be changed anyway because the marina is very full and we have to take the tide into account to get a valid splash day.

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Another Season... Finally!!!

Okay, we are headed south again and that's as much as I have time for today.  At the moment we are in Chandler, AZ waiting a couple of days before going on to Tucson (Tux) and then to Mexico.  The boat awaits with projects galore.

In Vancouver I rebuilt the life lines, and readied myself for the re-install of the aft head.  There is probably a leak in the main water tank so I am steeling myself for the assault on that issue.