Every new beginning

As I watched Loretta pull away with her new family my eyes threatened to leak. She's been our home and refuge for 4 years. What started out as simply a method to help us obtain our Forever Boat became a new way of living - land cruising - a delightful surprise we hadn't originally planned but ended up embracing.

In our four years together, Loretta has delivered us to some amazing places. Originally there were only 4 things on our "to do" list while we hunted down the boat of our dreams. The Florida Keys, those parks in the middle of the country (we didn't even know their names yet), Niagara Falls, and the Smithsonian.

What actually happened is... every new friend we met along the way added to our list. And soon the 4 things on our list became pages and pages of things to see and we were having such fun two years flashed by before we got around to seriously boat shopping again.

Here are a few of my favorite memories of our full-timing adventure.

The manatees of the Florida Keys are very friendly and surprised me by swimming right up to my paddleboard and wiggling their whiskers like vaudeville villains

The bleached trees on the beaches of Forks, WA are huge, haunting and plentiful

The pebbles of Lake McDonald at the lower levels of Glacier National Park are every color of the rainbow

We spent our first night as full-timers at a Harvest Host winery in Paso Robles, CA, in a field full of fascinating bunnies which were quite active at sunset. We had a bet going on which of our furry family members would bolt to chase bunnies first, in the end the sun went down first and everyone relaxed when the bunnies were out of sight.

At Foster's Big Horn restaurant in Rio Vista CA your meal is supervised by representatives from all around the world. I ordered a salad.

Sunset in Willcox AZ, coyotes sing at the property perimeter and roadrunners flit through the campground

Saguaro cactus in Scottsdale AZ contribute to the surreal vistas of the SouthWestern desert

Chloe at the Grand Canyon's South Rim. She has no fear of heights and nearly scared us to death by dancing along the wall anytime she thought she could get away with it.

Camping on the Natchez Trace Parkway offers little internet or cell coverage, so on workdays I holed up in the Meriwether Lewis room of the local library, surrounded by the history of the Lewis & Clark expedition

Of all the places we stayed, Elks Lodges made for some of the best memories. We were welcomed like family at most any lodge across the country and Forks WA was one of our favorites.

Dragon Lights in Albuquerque

Christmastime with Elks in Tavernier

The world famous Betty of Abbeville, LA, the hostess with the mostest. Every afternoon RV guests migrate to her patio, and instant friends are made over homemade tasty shared treats, beverages and stories from the road.

The rides of Moab Utah left us begging for more. Until about noon when we went begging for cold beverages.

We found the best service could be had at truck stops where technicians wrench from the pit underneath. Driving over the pit is not for the faint of heart.

Staging in Murphy NC for a day's ride at the Tail of the Dragon

Working from the RV on a city street allows for some great people-watching. This mother was waiting for her daughter to walk around the corner from school, and apparently the little brother was done waiting. This led to the most epic temper tantrum I have ever seen.

Roswell NM is all about the aliens

Niagara Falls was amazing. We did get soaked, in spite of the ponchos. What we didn't expect was the power required for the tour boats to keep us in place at the foot of the waterfall against those currents.

We found a lobster restaurant we could bicycle to from our RV park in Maine, and got to pick our own lunch, which was prepared right there. Doesn't get any fresher than that!

Montana big skies, approaching Yellowstone National Park

Cutting up with Leiloni (my sister's childhood friend from our hometown of Lincoln CA). Leiloni loves to research history and introduced us to some of the local lore in Old Colorado City where the historians dress in costume of locals from days gone by and tell their own stories in first person.

Introduced my favorite little princess to her first smores around the campfire in Littleton CO, which turned her and her Mom into sticky smores monsters. So what does a marshmallow-covered princess monster sing? Let It Go, monster-style. Of course.

Mile Zero in Key West. It didn't take Chloe long to figure out those open-door bars were pumping out air conditioned air and we had to allow extra time as she tried to become a barfly at every door we passed.

Loretta at a Harvest Host winery in central California. Since it was after hours we had the corn maze all to ourselves. Chloe got the most scared of the three of us and raced around to beat us to the exit.

Loretta's new family is a retired couple who look forward to traveling around the country to visit their grandchildren. I think they will be good stewards and we hope they have many excellent adventures together.

We are now down to one motorcycle, one large sailboat and a whole heap of stuff that needs sorting onto the boat. Our floating adventure has never been closer. In the immortal words of Semisonic's song Closing Time...

every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end

RVers say "see ya down the road" and they mean it. We do plan meticulously to end up together in places around the nation. I wonder if sailors have a similar saying. Maybe... see ya on the water?

Whirlwind crossing of the USA #5

We settled in at the Elks Lodge on the hills of Lake Havasu City and watched the weather go by on the other side of the lake. I'm so glad we persevered with the tailwind down the Tehacapi and across the Mohave, because the next three days pushed one crazy storm after another, and they were a lovely sight from our elevated and safe position on the other side of the lake.

Mohave Storms on the West side of Lake Havasu

When the wind let up we rolled on to Phoenix and stayed with the Elks of Tempe. It's a lively crowd and we enjoyed our own carefully measured out space at the bar where we shouted at one another to overcome the 6' space between us.

Dim sum @ Mekong Palace in Mesa AZ

One of the good things about Covid is the extra elbow room in dining areas. I am a huge fan of dim sum but do tend to get a little claustrophobic with the heavy carts rolling close to my table, the extra breathing space is deeply appreciated.

 

The next morning we caught up with a friend for dim sum, then we took our full bellies on the road to Willcox, AZ. The RV park is overrun with tumbleweeds, roadrunners and rabbits in the day and coyotes at night. Chloe got her walks in early and we didn't have to coax her in to the RV at bedtime while we were there. She's smarter than she looks.

Another beautiful desert sunset. Way to put on a show for us Willcox!

Our goal the next day was Las Cruces New Mexico, home of the best sopapillas in the nation. It would have been a short trip, put since the predicted winds didn't turn up and we were making good time, we kept on rolling through El Paso and into Van Horn TX. When we fell into bed we thought we had beat the coming windstorm, the next morning my phone woke me up with an ugly red screen and a blaring alarm... 75 mph winds were on the way to Van Horn bringing possible tornadoes. We downed our coffee quickly, hit the road and got as far as we could into Central Texas to hide. The safest spot we could find was in Abilene TX where we hid for a few days from the worst of the wind, and let the rest of it pass over us. They greeted us at the door with "sorry about the pool, the winter broke it, and the season isn't done with us yet, tie down anything you don't want flappin'." Which seemed like good advice so we pulled the slide in when it seemed prudent, and while it howled its hardest we baked brownies and binged Hulu.

The most Texas thing ever, horse lodging at the RV park, just look for the elevated fiberglass horse sporting the Lone Star paintjob

Good advice from longtime sailor Carolyn Goodlander, when storms are threatening... nothing calms worries like the smell of baked goods in the galley

Texas has a very casual attitude about masks and Covid in general, so we regretfully traded the fancy Texas restaurant steak dinner I'd been craving for some basic Door Dash from whatever chain was delivering and kept to ourselves. Once we got into the green hills of East Texas the rest of our ride was uneventful, we spun podcasts and gobbled up the miles.

Yep those are the RV connections way up in the front of the bus. It's impossible to turn around and come in from the wrong direction at this park to make the connections work - we'd end up going the wrong way down a narrow twisting road for many a mile, unable to pass the folks going the proper direction. It's good to be self-contained. Connections - bah! Who needs 'em?

Even Atlanta denied us its usual drama. It was smooth sailing into North Carolina.

It always pays to run with the trucks through big cities. They know which lanes to be in, and communicate with one another about road blockages, etc. We have saved ourselves frustration time and again by noticing when the trucks suddenly shift lanes and following suit. This particular shift happened on the way into Atlanta and saved us from old wreck carnage being cleaned up in the fast lane, we slipped in behind this truck and went around it smoothly.

At the border between South and North Carolina is a complex called South of the Border - it's a restaurant, amusement park, RV park, motel, fireworks superstore, gas station; quite the spectacle. There's no missing it from the freeway, I think it might really be something to see in non-Covid times. Apparently there's even a crocodile park in there somewhere. We gawped at it as we rolled on by, and immediately afterwards we crossed the border into North Carolina and it started raining on us. Of course.

As we approached the bridge in New Bern, the last proper city before Oriental, Bohemian Rhapsody came on the radio. We head-banged our way into town, where friends were waiting for us at the dock and Minerva rested in her slip, beckoning us on to the next leg of our adventure.

Eastward Ho!

Northern California missions accomplished: plenty of loving lavished on family, medical attention received, trailer packed with scuba and boat gear, belongings deemed unnecessary for the foreseeable future sold. With tears in our eyes and a jaunty wave goodbye we pulled away from family and eased Loretta onto the freeway.

Kayakers paddle through the mooring field at Morro Bay

Each morning we were greeted by sunning vultures in the tree next to our campsite

First stop: Morro Bay for some camping time with the SoCal cousins. This is another one of those beautiful little towns I've often travelled through on my way to somewhere else but never stopped to study before. It's an adorable town with thriving waterfront restaurants, boat services and lots of kayakers paddling about. We pedaled around Morro Bay by bicycle and later explored the surrounding hills by motorcycle.

We sold Betty in Northern California, so all our riding for a while will be two-up

Avila Beach is just a short motorcycle ride from Morro Bay

Then we turned Loretta East. There are some notable Spring storms between us and Minerva so we'll be running and ducking to avoid the worst of them on our way across.

The landscape becomes quite surreal in Arizona.
These strange formations greeted us on our way into Lake Havasu City, AZ.

Loretta was reunited with the motorcycle trailer for the next lap.
This is how we roll.

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Embracing the No Plan Plan

Don't know which of the 3 of us is the most excited about the Arizona taco truck.
Oh wait, it's me. Definitely me.

An excellent Thanksgiving was enjoyed by the Oriental A Dock peeps, spread out in family groupings on the patio. Then bright and early Friday morning we hit the road in Loretta headed for the Florida Keys to meet up with RV friends at one of our favorite places on Earth for the month of December: Tavernier FL. The plan was to do it in a few days; easy 200 mile jumps and meetups with friends along the way.

Breakfast pie - a day after Thanksgiving tradition

The first morning found us at the Elks Lodge in Sumter SC, and Lance was frowning. "My foot hurts". Uh-oh.

Here we go again.

Lance and Chloe keeping an eye on the roadrunners of Willcox AZ

Wrecker train on Hwy 20 just East of El Paso.
You see the strangest things on the roads of Texas.

The original plan was to spend December in the Keys, then travel back to California in January to fetch boat and scuba gear and get a check up on the foot anyways. After a discussion over coffee, we decided the smart course of action was to skip Florida altogether and head directly to California and get a jump on whatever's going on with his foot. So we made a hard right turn and our 800-mile journey became 3188 miles instead.

Sailor friends Janet and Joe have adopted a "no plan plan" philosophy. Considering how everything else in 2020 has gone sideways, it seems like the best approach and we are trying hard to embrace it, too.

Traveling across New Mexico and Arizona does feel like being in a cartoon.
The landscape is just unreal.

Traveling in times of plague comes with some extra challenges to be sure. Every night's stop was in a different location and every place has a different attitude about Covid and how it should be handled - from business as usual to complete lockdown. Fortunately Loretta is self-contained, so with some strategic grocery shopping and by tag-teaming the driving we made quick work of the long journey. The passenger du jour pushed tunes or podcasts over the Bluetooth stereo. After every fuel stop there was a cleaning process to maintain the safe bubble around our home.

The Thunder Valley Casino in Lincoln CA is all lit up for the holidays

We'll be here until the foot heals, to spend some much-cherished time with family, and to retrieve the boat and scuba gear for Minerva. Depending on how the weather timing works out we may take another stab at last year's original sailing plan of Nova Scotia, New York, Boston, Annapolis or we may head out directly to the Bahamas or Bermuda. For now we'll go with a no plan plan.

Safe at our home Elks Lodge in Napa, CA

Transmission Mystery Solved, Launch of America-Lap 3

Mystery solved. That transmission was dead. Really, really dead.

With new and old transmissions set side-by-side the problem was clearly visible. A missing circlip had allowed the retaining nut to loosen, driving the shaft through the cover. No wonder the transmission was running dry. And fraying its cable. And working intermittently.

Which means all summer long, all the transmission-related things we fixed, they were all symptoms of this problem, and there was no way we could have known until it was separated from the engine. All of this drama was likely caused by the last service technician's lack of attention to a small but important 50 cent clip. Wish I knew who that guy was. I'd like to leave him a gift. From Chloe. It's already in a bag.

Well, deep breath. Onwards. The shiny new transmission hums along happily and the dead one is off to the knackers.

The two primary winches were also discovered to be dead. This was a bit of a surprise as we had them down as a Tier 3 project. We anticipated them to be like the first two we serviced, solved by simply breaking them down, scrubbing them well, and applying new grease. Alas they are frozen solid from years of neglect. So... new winches for us.

Winch #1 of 2 - we swapped our Lewmars for Andersens

Covid part delays strike again: one winch showed up promptly and the other one is still on backorder.

Dead winch guts are beautiful in a steam punk sort of way

Not to be deterred from our test-run mission, we temporarily shifted the jib sheets to the spinnaker winches for the transmission shakedown cruise. For the first time in 6 attempts, we left for a shakedown cruise and returned successfully. We motored. We anchored. We motored. We sailed. We motored again. We landed in the slip under our own power. What a glorious day! So long overdue!

What a relief!

This week the air conditioner finally gets installed (those parts were ordered in June... Covid delays again), and then the fuel system is being revised to give us greater control over the fuel/engine relationship. These two projects are beyond our scope and frankly we're ready to let someone else work on the boat for a while. We found a great mechanic to handle these two projects and the process will require total boat destructo. Better if we aren't underfoot.

Parking Loretta at the marina made moving back aboard easier

So we moved back onto Loretta. This was the November plan all along, although we thought by now we'd have pictures and sailing stories to share from our grand NorthEast sailing tour. November's plan is to camp with friends in nearby New Bern, followed by Thanksgiving with dock neighbors, and then cruising Loretta to the Keys for December. The rough January sketch is to continue the road trip back to California to fetch our scuba and boat gear, check in with family and friends, doctors and dentists, other mandatory adulting. If the weather cooperates we'll take the bikes out for a mountaintop romp or two.

Oh. And tacos. We will definitely be stopping for New Mexico tacos along the way.

Look out America... two returning full-timers headed your way for another lap.