Month: August 2009

We traveled back up along the FL coast and into GA and SC.   I must say that there is not much to say about GA or the SC countryside.   If you travel the interstate like Mike and I did, you are traveling through a corridor of trees and woods on both sides of the road.   This continues throughout both states until you reach the coast.  No offense intended toward either state, just an observation.  I’m sure there is a lot to see if you have a destination and get off of the interstate.   We took turns driving and arrived at Corey’s place around 10:30pm and spent a couple of hours visiting with him before heading out to the motor home to sleep.   The next morning Corey packed a bag and as he was leaving his elderly neighbor lady came out and said “You’re not leaving us are you?” He assured her he would be back in a couple of days and we headed out through the corridor of trees to the Beach.   We made it to Myrtle Beach and stopped at a couple of the beach shops.  We all needed some new swimsuits.   There were some great deals to be had and so Mike and I stocked up on suits for the boat and Corey got a new suit as well.   We checked into our campground at Huntington Beach and headed down to cool off in the surf.  It was terrific.   The SC coast goes on for miles and has great silky sand that packs hard enough to ride a bike on during low tide.  We spent the next couple of days swimming & walking the beach.  We saw a huge spider with an abdomen the size of my thumb that had caught a cicada.  It made walking through the trees to get to the beach an interesting experience knowing who made the webs you were walking through. Corey spent some time teaching  Mom some  guitar chords.   Corey rented a bike and we took a late afternoon ride down the beach and back.  We rode maybe 10 miles total.  Poor Corey who is not used to riding was a bit sore by the end or should I say, on the end.   In the evenings we all enjoyed the show put on by the lighten bugs.  We ate well too.  Mike used one of the cans of green chili that Corey’s dad Don had sent to him to make a batch of green chili which we all enjoyed and consumed over those 3 days.    Mike and I enjoyed watching the sunrise while walking the beach for the last time before returning Corey home to Greenville.  He took us to downtown Greenville where a river and waterfall run through a park in the middle and a suspension bridge allows you to traverse the falls.   We then headed over to the Blue Ridge Brewing Co. for some local microbrews.   We walked up the street and shared a pizza before heading back to Corey’s place.   We visited for a couple more hours and then said our goodbyes to Corey with a hope that our paths will cross again very soon.  

We really liked the feel of St. Augustine, FL.  It is the oldest permanent European settlement on the North American continent.  We stayed at Anastasia State Park.  The campground was great and we rode our bikes down to the beach and enjoyed watching the Surfers.   Hurricane Bill that traveled north through the Atlantic had kicked up the waves to 6-8ft and everyone was having a great time even though many of them looked a little worse for the wear.   Mike and I walked out onto the pier to watch them closer. As we were admiring their skills we spotted a porpoise surfing the waves along with the surfers.   He was having as much fun as they were and as one wave broke that he was riding he jumped completely out of the water and did a spin in mid air.  What an incredible sight.   We felt really blessed to get to see that.  We traveled south to Ft. Lauderdale and made arrangements to see the Lagoon and the other Victory.   We stayed the weekend at a couple of the Broward County Parks.  They are really well set up and offer lots of different activities for the Public to take advantage of.  Everything from Frisbee Golf , Batting Cages, Driving Range, Water Park, & wakeboarding lessons , just to name a few.    The Lagoon was less than impressive and needed just slightly less work than the Kennex in Mobile AL.  We toured the other Victory and found her to be better equipped as far as rigging, less engine hours, and the outside of the vessel in better condition than the Victory in St. Augustine.   This Victory would need a little TLC on the inside but is also definitely in the running to become our next home.   We will weigh the pros and cons of both boats while we travel up to see our Oldest son Corey in Greenville, SC.  We will pick him up and take him out to the Myrtle Beach Area.   He has lived in SC for 4 years and has yet to see the SC Coast.   We have made reservations at Huntington Beach State Park for our visit. 

Well we have been on the road a bit since I last wrote to you all.  We traveled into LA and stopped at a KOA campground in New Orleans.   We spent the afternoon riding our bikes on the levee and then swimming in the pool there.   We drove through downtown New Orleans but didn’t stop as the streets are very narrow and there really isn’t parking for Motor Homes.    There are still many areas around the city with uninhabitable buildings left by Hurricanes Rita and Katrina.   We will have to come back and enjoy the ambiance of the city when we have more time.   Right now the goal is to find a boat and hopefully be in the Bahamas by November.    We traveled to Mobile AL to see our first Catamaran, a Kennex.   We got the address from the broker and drove to a small Marina.   The poor Kennex had been sorely neglected and needed more work & money than we were willing to commit to.   We continued our journey along the gulf coast.   We traveled through Mississippi and stopped for the evening somewhere in Northern FL, another Wally World Camping endeavor.   (Note to self:  Never park near Loading Docks or Garbage cans of 24hr Walmarts when camping.  They don’t appreciate you being there and let you know by making as much noise as possible, all night long.)  We traveled on to St Augustine where the 2^nd boat on our list was located.  A 35 ft Victory Catamaran.   We arranged a tour of the vessel and were impressed by the amount of living space available.   They current owners are liveaboards and even had a cat that looked like a fat Archie.   They have meticulously kept the boat so she is in good condition.  We would have to add Solar, Dingy, 2^nd Anchor, and a few other etc’s to make her into what we would use her for but that’s all part of what might be negotiated with price.  We will travel south to Ft. Lauderdale to see another Victory 35 and a Lagoon TPI to have something to compare this one to. 

August 18, 2009

We saw our youngest son Sage embark on his own sojourn today, the one that will take him from boy to man in the next few weeks.  He was sworn in today as an Airman in the United States Air Force.  He will be spending the next 8 ½ weeks in boot camp at Lackland AFB in San Antonio TX.    He will then transfer to Keesler AFB in Mississippi to begin his instruction as an Air Traffic Controller, his first choice of Jobs.  He was initially told that this job was difficult to get into as there are not many openings.  However, an opening presented itself when another recruit who had requested that same job and had priority had gotten into some trouble in the last few days and was dropped from recruiters list.   Needless to say poor Sage got an earful of lectures the night before he was to leave when he went out with his friends for the last time in a long while.   Sage had chosen the quick ship option, which meant he could be called up in the event an opening presented itself…..which it did.  There have been many tears, hugs and words of encouragement and advice given to him in the last couple of days.  Mike and I went to the MEPS  (Military Enlistment Processing Service to watch him be sworn In)  Security was tight and we had to present ID to get in.  The Officer who was behind the desk offered me the box of Kleenex….I think he has seen this before.   We were able to visit with Sage for a little while and watch as he took his oath of service to our country.   We hugged him goodbye and left him to pursue his dreams while we pursue our own.   We will return to San Antonio in October to watch him graduate from Boot Camp and to see him off to Tech School.  Needless to say we are extremely proud albeit tearful upon seeing him go.   I tried to remain strong but spent most of that day with tears quietly running down my face and Michael giving me hugs telling me he will do just fine.   I know, I know….. but that doesn’t make it any easier.  Here it is day two and I am still crying as share this with you all.   We have decided to look for boats along the Gulf Coast and southern states and so we traveled from Alb. NM and made it to somewhere in the middle of TX before stopping around 11:00pm in a Walmart parking lot to crash for the night.  We will try to get to Mobile AL by Friday to see a Kennex Catamaran for sale there.   

We returned home to big Sage hugs.  It is wonderful to see so many familiar faces.  It is a strange but terrific feeling to have an open schedule that allows us to visit with so many of our friends.  Thanks to Karen and Laura for taking me hiking up to Alberta Peak where I left a smooth stone  that I picked up along my travels to the coast of Oregon, on the cairn at the summit.   Thanks to Laurie for allowing us to use her home as a central base of operations while we are here.   Thanks to Laurie, Stan, Don, Jim & Jackie who have been feeding us and wishing us well.       There have been big changes in the few days we have been back.  Sage was contacted by his recruiter and has been called up on the quick ship option.  He leaves for Air Force Boot Camp at Lackland AFB in San Antonio, TX this Tuesday.    He had just gotten hired by Eddie’s Uptown Grill and was supposed to start work Thursday Night.  He got the call from his recruiter Thursday morning and so had to call Ed back to let him know he would not be able to take the job after all.  We had planned on leaving Pagosa by Saturday but will stay through the weekend and deliver him to the Hyatt near the airport on Monday where he will become Air Force Property and will complete his processing as an Airman.    Mike, Don, & I put together a last minute farewell party for Sage on Sunday night and were extremely pleased and grateful to all those who turned out.   Many of Sage’s friends old and new as well as many of our friends who have watched him grow up were there to see him off.   You are all exceptional and will be missed greatly.  We enjoyed a last soak at the Overlook Spa with Sage after the party.   It will be some time before we can share time with each other as a family.  Mike and I will drive Sage to Abq. NM and stay to watch him sworn in as an Airman in the U.S. Air Force on Tuesday and then we will continue on our journey east to find our sailboat. 

John joined us for Breakfast and we spent a last morning together.  We have enjoyed so many adventures with our wonderful new friend over the last couple of days but we need to get back to Pagosa to wrap up those last minute details before we head out to find OUR boat.   Michael and I feel blessed to have met John and look forward to keeping in touch with him as we continue our travels.  As we were driving away I realized I had left my wallet sitting on the sink in the restroom of the Marina a few hours earlier.  Michael remained very composed and turned the Motor home around and drove the 16 miles back to the Marina.   I checked with the Rangers there and some kind soul had turned it in.   Whew!  Greatly relieved, we drove south through the Tetons, admiring their majestic beauty.  We continued through Jackson and didn’t see one parking spot anywhere.  That town was hopping.   On our drive we got to see a herd of pronghorn antelope.   We put quite a few miles on the motor home, skirting another large thunderstorm, before stopping just north of the Colorado Boarder where we spent the night in a church parking lot, not knowing the denomination until morning but hoping that they did not have early morning Saturday services that we might disrupt.   We awoke early and continued toward home, stopping along the way at one of our favorite places ORVIS HOT SPRINGS.   We had a wonderful soak and then drove the Creampuff  to the campground outside of Ouray.   I must say…..the mountains of Southwest CO ranks in the top of the many beautiful places we have encountered thus far on our journeys.  We continued on over Red Mountain Pass and on to Durango where we splurged and got a full hookup camp spot complete with WIFI. We will stop by the SS Office and DMV on Monday so I can change to my last  name to Gillich and then home to Pagosa Springs for a few days. 

We met the next morning and towed the sailing canoe over to the Southeast arm of Yellowstone Lake.   Since motorized traffic is not allowed past a certain point in the arm our plan was to anchor offshore and take the canoe to the end of the arm of the lake and then Hike to headwaters of the Yellowstone.   Best laid plans……so to speak.   We anchored the FAR WEST II and proceeded to climb into the sailing canoe.  Our first attempt an anchoring was not our best effort and from about 100 yards away, we could see the C-Dory was rapidly drifting toward shore.   We quickly returned to the C-Dory , losing the rudder to the canoe in the process,  we repositioned FAR WEST II and secured her with 2 anchors.   Once we felt secure that she would not end up beached we proceed with our Sailing Canoe Trip, (now steering with just a paddle).   The wind however by this time was directly on the nose and we were not making much headway even tacking.   So we changed our plan and paddled over to shore, we enjoyed lunch on the east bank of the Southeast Arm of Yellowstone and watched as clouds began to form to the west. We decided to go for a hike anyway and traveled approx 3 miles in on the Thorofare Trail contributing quite a bit of DNA along the way to the local population of Mosquitoes.  We forded a couple of streams and so ended up hiking in wet shoes.    As we stood admiring the view of the Yellowstone River, the winds began in front of the approaching thunderstorm.    Suddenly we heard a big CRASH!  No more pesky mosquitoes, just falling timbers to worry about.  We got on our rain gear and continued away from the area of dead timber.   The lightening began to flash around us and the rain became heavy for a while.  We hiked on to a ranger’s cabin that John knew of and took shelter on the porch for a bit until the rain eased some.  Michael had commented that he hoped we could see Moose on our hike.  John thought that was unlikely as the Reintroduced Wolf population had decreased the number of moose in the park.  Just as the last couple of words were out of John’s mouth, a huge bull moose walked out from the willows approx 75 yards away and stood looking at us.   We got a good chuckle over that.   We suggested that maybe John could take us where he knows we won’t see any Bears next.     When the rainstorm passed we hiked back to the Canoe and kept a lookout to see if the 2^nd anchoring job had held Far West II in her place during the storm.   We all let out a joyful yell upon seeing her right where we left her.   As we were boarding the Canoe, poor John slipped in the mud and fell in the lake and got soaked even more.   We fortunately had the winds with us and were able to sail the canoe right back to the C-Dory.   Far West II is equipped with a stove/heater unit that was immediately fired up and John was able to get into some dry clothes.   Michael remarked, “I haven’t been this soaked since our wedding day!”   We hoisted anchor, secured the canoe for towing and said goodbye to the back country of Yellowstone.  John loaned Michael a pair of dry swim trunks which gave us all a laugh when they ended up tangled around his ankles as he was adjusting the lines to the canoe.  The storm had kicked up following 4 ft waves on the lake and so we had to adjust our speed to a slow crawl for the 20 mile return trip, to keep the canoe from being swamped.  We were blessed with a glorious sunset on our return trip.   At 11:00pm we made it safely, albeit late, back to the marina where we were greeted by another friend of John’s who was happy to see us in one piece.   It turns out that while we were out hiking the Forest Service had radioed a recommendation to all boats that could get off of the lake, do so.    Michael reached for the line to secure the canoe next to Far West II for the night and the painter broke off of the canoe.  It had held for the entire return trip and broke off in the slip. Someone was looking out for us that day.   We sacked out in the Motor Home right there in the Marina Parking Lot and slept like rocks.

The next morning we planned on riding our bicycles over to a Natural Bridge not far from camp.  As we began our ride Mike wanted to check out the little Marina on Yellowstone Lake that was right outside the campground, no surprise there,  so we rode down to check out the boats.   As we were looking at the different types of boats that were kept at the Marina, a gentleman came up to us and asked where we were from and where we were headed?  His name was John Dracon and within a few minutes we found out he was staying on his 22 ft C-Dory, FAR WEST II, there at the Marina.   He invited us aboard to see his boat and upon discovering Mike was a sailor and hearing of our plans he asked us if we would like to take a ride with him out on Yellowstone Lake.   Well needless to say our bike ride from that point on consisted of riding back up to camp to change our clothes.  We spent the next couple of days with John and became fast friends, sharing meals and swapping jokes and stories.  John has been coming to Yellowstone for over 50 years and was even a volunteer ranger historian for the park at one time.    That first day out on the Lake, we traveled out to visit a couple of John’s Friends Jay and Jolee who also have a 22ft C-Dory called Hunkydory.  They were camping with their family at Eagle Bay on the Lake and John wanted to check on them.  We had lunch together and got to hear about some of HunkyDory’s adventures in Alaska.   We traveled back to the Marina and made plans to have dinner at our camp with John.   We had a wonderful meal and got to hear about John’s days as a Superintendent of Schools in Oregon.  At the end of that evening we were again invited by John out on the Lake, this time towing his 19ft sailing canoe.   We of course were delighted to accompany him.

We left old faithful and decided we would try to find a less accessible location for our next stop.  We read about Lone Star Geyser which is one of the few bicycle trails offered in the Park.   It was 2.5 miles to the Geyser and it erupted every 3 hours.  Even though we did not know when it was due to erupt we decided it would be a better choice to get away from the crowds.   It turned out to be a beautiful easy ride along a pristine creek.   As we rode along we encountered people leaving who had watched it erupt a short time before (just our luck) and told us it was worth the wait.    We arrived at the Geyser site and were delighted to find it with only a few people gathered.  We had about a 2 1/2 hour wait to watch it erupt so we hiked along the river that ran near the geyser and found numerous hot pools, springs and vents to explore.   The Geyser began to sputter and spray small bursts of hot water about 3-10 ft into the air for a few minutes then quieted down again.  Fortunately we had read the information provided and waited another 30 minutes for the big show.  The Geyser began shooting hot water about 25-30 ft high and continued for about 20 minutes, gradually changing from spewing water to belching steam.  There was even a small vent on the side of the geyser that was shooting sideways.  It was really cool to watch and a real pleasure to enjoy with only a few other people.    As we rode our bikes back to the Motor home we agreed it was definately worth the wait.

How about another Pic-a-nic Basket, Mr Ranger Sir?…..or how about another 4000?  Although we debated staying an extra day along the beautiful Buffalo River in Targhee National Forest we pressed on to Yellowstone.  We arrived at the West Entrance and waited in a long line of cars to get into the park.  We checked with the Visitor center at Madison Junction only to find out that we had arrived during the busiest season Yellowstone has seen in 5 years.   All the campgrounds in the Park were full.  We decided to head north and Visit a couple of geothermal sites and try to find a campground outside of the North Entrance for the night.    I had told Michael that we would know when we were getting close to seeing wildlife as the traffic would come to a crawl.  And so It was, our lone pic of the Bison was taken from the window of the Motor home as we rolled past in a line of cars going about 5mph.   We headed North and through the Park and stopped and Norris Geyser Basin.   I must say the Springs in Pagosa rivals if not surpasses the sulfur smell of Yellowstone.   Maybe my nose is just used to it.   We drove past but did not stop at Mammoth Hot Springs.  Looking up at the tiered deposits they looked like many of the springs had dried up.  Not quite as picturesque as I remembered.  We had to travel 16 miles out of the park to find a campground.  We got one of 2 spaces that were left and got up early the next morning to head back into the park, as the campgrounds in Yellowstone were reported to have been filling up by 8-10am daily.   Traveling in the park early is a great way to see some amazing sites without the crowds.  We stopped at Tower Falls and had them to ourselves.    We also stopped at Yellowstone Falls and Artists Point around 8:30.  The crowds were just beginning and we shared the overlook with a large group Jewish students chanting in Hebrew.   We passed a couple of large Bison lying out in the fields of the prairie and one dead badger.  We stopped at each of the Campgrounds we came to along the Eastern Side of the Jellystone Loop and finally found a camp spot for 2 nights at the Bay Bridge Campground.   Having secured a camp spot we continued over to Old Faithful Geyser and arrived just before lunch.   We watched it erupt with about 4000 other people sitting and standing 6 deep around the Geyser.  The parking lot to get in and out looked like something you would find at Disneyland.  We ate lunch in the motor home and took care of some telephone calls and waited for the throngs of cars to thin out before we continued our site seeing.