We prepared to head out to Latitudes to de-winterize her, do a bit of maintenance, put her back in the water, and go to a marina in the Chesapeake for the summer. Nope. Instead, we checked for winter mold over the past 7 months (none!!!!!), cleaned out about 50 pounds of bird nest material in the anchor well (I exaggerate only a little....damned starlings...) and prepared her with desiccants, water absorbing materials, and a dehumidifier for the summer.
Luke needs maintenance instead. He will have his second rotator cuff surgical repair (different arm) this month. Recovery is about 6 months, with the first 3 months of very limited mobility of the arm.
I believe that Father Time and years of handling a 42 ft sailboot take their toll our bodies. The plan now is to repair and recover during the summer, head south again this winter in the RV, and then go a-sailing again in spring 20.
Wednesday, May 1, 2019
Thursday, April 18, 2019
Grandkids, Branson, and Home!
Sorry for the delay - we were not only busy at all possible times, but once we got home, we had to have both computers repaired, including the one storing all of the pictures!
We left Albuquerque, turned northward, and drove to CO, where Luke's girls and the grand kids live. Youngest granddaughter Nelle has changed a lot since we first saw her in October. She and her Bompa re-bonded
Then Bomma got her chance
We took Nelle's brother Simon to "Get Air" - the largest indoor trampolines I've ever seen. Simon is the blue blur in the center.
And then, there is Walter. He approves of Nelle's carrier....
Erin and her family took us to the Celestial Tea factory in Boulder. It was a fun tour and we got to taste many of their teas. Even Evelyn and Kiran like hot tea.
The tasting room has a mock-up of of the living room that is on the front of their Sleepy Time tea.
We also went on a visit to Boulder with everyone. The 3 oldest grandkids can always find something to do.
Erin is an artist and has her work exhibited in the "made local" art shop in Boulder.
You can't be in CO without going on hikes. This is the Hall Ranch Hiking trail.
Deer were tucked away and napping during the early afternoon.
We left CO to go southward to Branson, MO to visit friends we'd met in FL. But first we needed gas. And then we needed to wait for over an hour for a semi hauling one blade for a wind turbine to make a 90 degree turn onto the interstate ramp. There actually wasn't one of these; there were 3. It took each over 30 minutes to make this turn. Virtually all traffic was stopped for this period. The semi has already made the tight turn. A back end part of the semi is supporting the middle. The guy in the orange shirt is standing just past the red tipped end of the blade. We learned that this blade is about 140 feet long.
We caught up with Janet, John, and sweet Picasso.
John and Luke caught up on their remote control airplane hobby (John is the one who is responsible for getting Luke back into the hobby). That is one of Janet's many beautiful painting on the wall.
They live on a lake
so boating is another mutual interest
Branson is definitely an entertainment center! In addition to 38 performance theaters, there are endless possibilities for fun along "the strip"
We chose dinner out at a restaurant affiliated with Bass Pro Shops (centered in Branson)
Big Cedar Lodge is an amazing resort owned by the Bass Pro Shops group. The trestle bridge and man-made waterfalls are examples of the architecture and attention to detail. Oh, and a wonderful restaurant!
Finally, the 3 day drive home. Uneventful with the exception of the Cairo Bridge crossing the Mississippi River. I have never been more frightened in our RV travel than here. See the narrow bridge? The yellow line down the middle? Where that yellow line appears to be from the dashboard? AND THEN CAME THE TRACTOR TRAILER!!! We passed on the bridge, so closely that our tires scrapped the curb of the bridge. Never again....
HOME! The RV in the driveway, the cars moved out of the garage so we can use them.
The grass is always greener....Smokey was deliriously happy to get home. She romped through the house, checked everything out, did it all again, and wanted attention. BUT when we went back into the RV to start unpacking, it was a different story. She had been LEFT in the house! Alone! She recovered quickly...
One last chore - to cover the RV for the summer. Luke gets on top and drops the cover. I grab and arrange. OK, it isn't that simple but that's the basic idea.
We are settled in now and beginning to think about going to the boat and putting her in the water in a couple of weeks for the summer.
Sunday, March 24, 2019
Albuquerque
We drove to Albuquerque next to meet friends from Oriental
and visit Luke’s uncle and cousin.
Friends Bonnie and Pete are on a west trip for the winter also and our
paths crossed in Albuquerque. We met for
dinner our first night, shopped the old Plaza shops the next day, and then
visited the Petroglyph National Monument, which is actually located within the Albuquerque
city limits. There are several walks and
we chose the 1.5 mile Piedras Marcadas Canyon Viewing loop with over 400
petroglyphs. The trail itself was sandy,
full of cacti, and of course,
petroglyphs along the canyon wall rocks.
No one knows what these carvings really mean and probably never
will. Perhaps marking a trail,
celebrating something, announcing their territory, hunting territory, we just
don’t know.
Ready to explore – Bonnie and Pete
This is a common pose – “there are some petroglyphs!”
A warrior
Hands – note the ones on the right all have 6 fingers…
Dancers
A hunter
And a fellow with a bird flying overhead. There were hundreds and hundreds more.
After the walk, Luke and I spent the afternoon and evening
with his 98 year old Uncle Gust, cousin Paul, and a cousin visiting from
Belgium, Marie Jose. Here are the 3
Huybrechts men
Paul and Marie Jose prepared a wonderful dinner including a
surprise cake for Luke’s upcoming birthday.
To get to the town of Los Alamos we had to pass through a
security gate – the road runs directly through the Los Alamos National Lab. In case you don’t know, this is where the US
developed the atom bomb in 1945. Here is
the original gate. This was a highly
secure, secret location at that time.
We toured the Bradbury Museum which covered the development
of the bomb and the current projects which include ensuring that
the US storehouse of nuclear bombs has bombs that have not deteriorated and are
not unstable. Here are mock-ups of the
two bombs that were dropped on Japan in 1945.
“Little Boy” was dropped on Hiroshima on Aug 6. A man is leaning over the bomb in the background - you can see it's size.
“Fat Man” was dropped on Nagasaki on Aug 9. Both contributed to the end of WWII.
On a much lighter note, here is Orchid! She has 11 blossoms now, with 2 more ready to
open. I do believe she thrives on abuse.
Wednesday, March 20, 2019
Oh, the places we've been! (over the last 3 days...)
So few days, so many wonderful places to go! Day 1, we visited the world's largest meteor crater, Winslow AZ, a Homolovi ancestral archaeology site, and the Small Painted Desert.
The meteor crater was caused by a meteor hitting the earth at about 26,000 mph approximately 50,000 years ago. It hit the earth with an estimated explosive force greater than 20 million tons of TNT. This immediately created a crater 700 ft deep and over 4000 ft across. Over the eons, natural debris has settled in the bottom of the crater leaving it only 600 feet deep. And it IS deep and wide!
Back in the 1980's a mining engineer obtained the land by putting in 4 iron mines. He really wanted to find the meteor and spent 26 years looking for it. It doesn't exist; it was totally disintegrated during the impact through vaporization, melting, and fragmentation. There are two tiny black spots near the middle of the crater - they are the drill that he used to search for the meteor and the steam engine used to run the drill. He went to 1400 ft deep, hit water, gave up, and died within a year.
This is about as close as we wanted to get to the edge of the crater.
Luke decided to sit on a ledge to get a good picture.
In THIS picture, however, we are "standing on a corner in Winslow, AZ - such a fine sight to see"
Yes, we're standing with Don Henley of the Eagles in Winslow, AZ. Note the eagle in the window above us?
Here is the corner. Both Don Henley and Glen Frye are here, along with the flatbed ford and if you look in the window, you'll see the "girl, my lord, in a flatbed ford"
From Winslow, we drove to one of the Homolovi 14th century archaeological sites in the Homolovi State Park. The Hopi people consider the high grassland here part of their homeland. The Homolovi State Park was created to help protect these ancestral sites in 1986. This is the park we are staying in. The park serves as a center of research for the late migration period of the Hopi from the late 1200s to the late 1300's. We drove to one of the sites to see the remains of a 14th century pueblo.
Shards of ancient pottery still litter the ground. This is a sacred area and everyone is asked to not take "souvenirs". Apparently most people are respectful and don't take anything. Many flat rocks are filled with pieces of amazing 14th century pottery shards that have been found and put in an obvious place to see. It was just humbling to me to touch these pieces and think of the history and life they saw.
And there is more to the day. The Small Painted Desert is a mere 10 miles from the campground entrance. We headed there in the late afternoon. It is a stunning view. The desert floor slowly gives way to rising badlands.
The colors are just beautiful.
Day 2, the combination of the Petrified Forest NP and the Painted Desert which is within the Petrified Forest NP. This 28 mile drive kept us in awe. I think I was expecting a few petrified trees inside a ring of protective barbed wire, but I was wrong! The entire park - and much of the area outside of the park - is strewn with the pieces of petrified trees. These fossils are from the Late Triassic Period, 251 to 199 million years ago.
Many of the petrified wood is pieces, but occasionally you can see full trees like this one.
Look at these colors! The "petrified wood" is no longer wood - it is now rock due to the process of being covered in sediment and the chemical reaction to volcanic ash and oxides. The white is pure quartz and manganese oxides form blue, purple, black, and brown, and iron oxides create yellow through red through brown.
Agate Bridge was popular to walk across back in the early 1900's but not today! Preservation is more important now. The petrified tree was shored up by concrete many years ago.
The Badlands with many many large pieces of petrified wood.
A trail goes through this section.
Ravens are everywhere. In fact, that is about the only wildlife we saw. They are often puffed up like this as they survey their domain.
This rock is called "Newspaper Rock" and has over 650 petroglyphs, some over 2000 years old.
There is an intersection in the park where the old Route 66 once cut through the park. A 1932 Studebaker sits there, along with the remaining telephone poles from the old road. Some even have their old insulators still attached.
Oh, the Painted Desert!
We didn't think we could beat Day 2, but we tried - we drove 2 1/2 hrs to see the Grand Canyon for Day 3. We have explored it before and it is simply breathtaking.
It is no wonder that it is one of America's favorite parks, not to mention also favored by a lot of international tourists. Unfortunately, the park did not seem prepared for the onslaught of Spring Break. Half of the bathroom facilities were closed for maintenance, leaving lines of over 50 women waiting for the 1 bathroom at the Visitor Center. I know, I was in the line twice and I counted... The parking situation is so bad that the park now encourages tourists to park outside of the park and take a shuttle back and forth to the Visitor Center. Lines to go through the fee both can be 1 hr long during the day and parking lots are full by 11 a.m. Areas of the park are accessible only by shuttle bus but there were not enough of them either - crowds tying to catch a bus to get back to the Visitor Center around 4 p.m. waited impatiently as full bus after full bus passed them by with promises of "another bus will be here in a few minutes". But enough of that - the park was still beautiful and awe inspiring.
The Colorado River snakes through the Grand Canyon.
The bottom of the gorge is a loooong way down....
The views were worth the hassle. That's the Colorado River down there again.
Today, Day 4 at Homolovi SP we stayed at the park and caught up on "stuff". Groceries, cleaning, a blog :-), and a little handy man chore in the desert for Luke. This isn't a panorama picture, the desert naturally flows like that.
Tomorrow we plan to go to Albuquerque to visit Luke's 97 year old uncle from Belgium along with his son and a visiting niece who lives in Belgium. Also, sailing buddies Bonnie and Pete are passing through on their West tour this winter and we'll be with them for a few days! Looking forward to it all.
The meteor crater was caused by a meteor hitting the earth at about 26,000 mph approximately 50,000 years ago. It hit the earth with an estimated explosive force greater than 20 million tons of TNT. This immediately created a crater 700 ft deep and over 4000 ft across. Over the eons, natural debris has settled in the bottom of the crater leaving it only 600 feet deep. And it IS deep and wide!
Back in the 1980's a mining engineer obtained the land by putting in 4 iron mines. He really wanted to find the meteor and spent 26 years looking for it. It doesn't exist; it was totally disintegrated during the impact through vaporization, melting, and fragmentation. There are two tiny black spots near the middle of the crater - they are the drill that he used to search for the meteor and the steam engine used to run the drill. He went to 1400 ft deep, hit water, gave up, and died within a year.
This is about as close as we wanted to get to the edge of the crater.
Luke decided to sit on a ledge to get a good picture.
In THIS picture, however, we are "standing on a corner in Winslow, AZ - such a fine sight to see"
Yes, we're standing with Don Henley of the Eagles in Winslow, AZ. Note the eagle in the window above us?
Here is the corner. Both Don Henley and Glen Frye are here, along with the flatbed ford and if you look in the window, you'll see the "girl, my lord, in a flatbed ford"
From Winslow, we drove to one of the Homolovi 14th century archaeological sites in the Homolovi State Park. The Hopi people consider the high grassland here part of their homeland. The Homolovi State Park was created to help protect these ancestral sites in 1986. This is the park we are staying in. The park serves as a center of research for the late migration period of the Hopi from the late 1200s to the late 1300's. We drove to one of the sites to see the remains of a 14th century pueblo.
Shards of ancient pottery still litter the ground. This is a sacred area and everyone is asked to not take "souvenirs". Apparently most people are respectful and don't take anything. Many flat rocks are filled with pieces of amazing 14th century pottery shards that have been found and put in an obvious place to see. It was just humbling to me to touch these pieces and think of the history and life they saw.
And there is more to the day. The Small Painted Desert is a mere 10 miles from the campground entrance. We headed there in the late afternoon. It is a stunning view. The desert floor slowly gives way to rising badlands.
The colors are just beautiful.
Day 2, the combination of the Petrified Forest NP and the Painted Desert which is within the Petrified Forest NP. This 28 mile drive kept us in awe. I think I was expecting a few petrified trees inside a ring of protective barbed wire, but I was wrong! The entire park - and much of the area outside of the park - is strewn with the pieces of petrified trees. These fossils are from the Late Triassic Period, 251 to 199 million years ago.
Many of the petrified wood is pieces, but occasionally you can see full trees like this one.
Look at these colors! The "petrified wood" is no longer wood - it is now rock due to the process of being covered in sediment and the chemical reaction to volcanic ash and oxides. The white is pure quartz and manganese oxides form blue, purple, black, and brown, and iron oxides create yellow through red through brown.
Agate Bridge was popular to walk across back in the early 1900's but not today! Preservation is more important now. The petrified tree was shored up by concrete many years ago.
The Badlands with many many large pieces of petrified wood.
A trail goes through this section.
Ravens are everywhere. In fact, that is about the only wildlife we saw. They are often puffed up like this as they survey their domain.
This rock is called "Newspaper Rock" and has over 650 petroglyphs, some over 2000 years old.
There is an intersection in the park where the old Route 66 once cut through the park. A 1932 Studebaker sits there, along with the remaining telephone poles from the old road. Some even have their old insulators still attached.
Oh, the Painted Desert!
We didn't think we could beat Day 2, but we tried - we drove 2 1/2 hrs to see the Grand Canyon for Day 3. We have explored it before and it is simply breathtaking.
It is no wonder that it is one of America's favorite parks, not to mention also favored by a lot of international tourists. Unfortunately, the park did not seem prepared for the onslaught of Spring Break. Half of the bathroom facilities were closed for maintenance, leaving lines of over 50 women waiting for the 1 bathroom at the Visitor Center. I know, I was in the line twice and I counted... The parking situation is so bad that the park now encourages tourists to park outside of the park and take a shuttle back and forth to the Visitor Center. Lines to go through the fee both can be 1 hr long during the day and parking lots are full by 11 a.m. Areas of the park are accessible only by shuttle bus but there were not enough of them either - crowds tying to catch a bus to get back to the Visitor Center around 4 p.m. waited impatiently as full bus after full bus passed them by with promises of "another bus will be here in a few minutes". But enough of that - the park was still beautiful and awe inspiring.
The Colorado River snakes through the Grand Canyon.
The bottom of the gorge is a loooong way down....
The views were worth the hassle. That's the Colorado River down there again.
Today, Day 4 at Homolovi SP we stayed at the park and caught up on "stuff". Groceries, cleaning, a blog :-), and a little handy man chore in the desert for Luke. This isn't a panorama picture, the desert naturally flows like that.
Tomorrow we plan to go to Albuquerque to visit Luke's 97 year old uncle from Belgium along with his son and a visiting niece who lives in Belgium. Also, sailing buddies Bonnie and Pete are passing through on their West tour this winter and we'll be with them for a few days! Looking forward to it all.
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