Raining---time to loadem' up and head out

Light rain this morning, supposed to rain all day, which isn't bad, but winds 20-30 (Ugh).

I'll head off to breakfast, check out, and go to the morning mtg to hear the day's plans, then probably start loading the boat.

No pics from yesterday--took some video though and if I ever figure out how to post it, after editing, you can see it also. I mounted a camera lashed to the pedestal showing my sailing path, so as soon as I edit out all the BAD TACKS, it will be ready for viewing!

Zero Wind today, but still a pretty day!

The resort hosted a buffet breakfast this morning--nice!

Chari ended up flying home today--The Mom of a dear friend died earlier in the week and the funeral is Friday.  Fortunately, another sailor was heading to Vegas Airport this afternoon to pick up his significant other, so Chari caught a ride with him.  (Saved me 6-7 hours of driving!)

We walked around the resort area this morning, ate an early lunch, and then she left for the airport.  I took Kailani out this afternoon, but I could see from the flag NO WIND and I could see the sailboats on the harbor with full sails, but they weren't moving.

My sunrise pics didn't turn out well today, so today's shot is a mid afternoon shot from our resort area.

 Next shot is one I've NEVER seen before--the prop of the motor when it is in the full down position.  The water is beautiful!

Of course, once again , the London Bridge.

And the London Bridge Resort to the right.  About half the boats are slipped there, and the rest at the marina.

From my slip at the Marina--I think there are slips for about 1,000 boats here.

Nautical Inn where we are staying.  I haven't done it, but the sandy shore is such that you could beach your boat there--and several have.

Our group races today.  After lunch when Chari left, I motored to the bay, shut down, and just enjoyed the view for a coupla hours.

Windy day on the water today!

It was choppy for the all boat race (about 130 boats!), so we reefed before we left the slip and stayed in the back of the pack out of the way.  We did finish the race, and we were NOT last.  On the return leg, we saw something floating in the water, so we performed a cold water rescue of a LHPC baseball cap.  It was without flotation protection and was about to go under for the final time before we finally snatched it with the boat hook.  Can't believe someone would not return for it.  We handed it off to the race committee boat.

Lot of pics today and took a lot of video, but I ain't smart 'nough to even watch the video, let alone post 'em.

 The boss at the wheel--she's starting to like and understand sailing!

 Maybe my next boat--the Bud wagon. You could carry all your friends, all your beer, and a band!

Race start--choppy water.

 Famous London Bridge.

Our waterfront room, bottom floor, right side.

 Notice we are NOT in front, or even close to the front.

 Sunset over London Bridge (I imagine this is the most photographed spot in AZ)

80 Degrees here today!

A beautiful warm day.  Sadly no wind though.  Motored in near London Bridge and saw Mark & Tammy sunning in their boat. We pulled into the vacant slip next to them, visited awhile, then I found the ice cream shop. 

I haven't seen water this clear in years!

The crew just couldn't take the excitement and stress, so she had to grab a nap.  

This was posted elsewhere, but some might not have heard it:  Mark M, who along with Shane W have reputations as rabble-rousers, were pre-awarded T shirts saying some like:   

      'ARRIVE IN HAVASU ON VACATION, LEAVE ON PROBATION!'   Loved it.

I tried posting some video's directly here, but they didn't take yet. 

Another Chamber of Commerce Day here!

Another gorgeous day here.  Sean and company are putting on a stellar event!  I attended a sail trim seminar and realized how little I know about doing it right.  But we still have fun!

Obligatory sunrise pics............................  

Gosh, all this relaxing has made me tired, so we're resting up prior to going sailing after lunch...........

Ron

Happy pic - sad pic

London Bridge and reflection from camera phone (sorry for quality)

Found an evil pic of before we left.................... 

Definitely nicer being here now!

Ron

Sailing Day ONE

Took our usual 'too long' to rig the boat.  What with extra lights and extra securing of stays, etc to keep everything in place, it took longer to get down to the 'rig' part.  Had a lot of help and mostly things went well, so we had the boat ready to go in after lunch.  At one point, about 4 people were standing around watching our mast raising system, so I yelled "Chari, quick, go around and collect $5 from each person watching!"  Funny, no one contributed..............

Of course we had to purchase fuel this morning, and find a car wash big enough to fit the boat so we could wash the road grime off it before we could even think about splashing it.
I haven't seen water this clean for a long time.  Amazing when you can see to the bottom in several feet of water!
Del and Marge have just purchased a Mac 26X, so they were keen to watch / help us rig.  They are part of the ground crew assisting the event.  We thought it only appropriate that they should supervise us out on the water for awhile, so the four of us raised sail in the light breezes and had a great time.
Pics of the day:

SUNRISE

The pic says it all:

Made it to Havasu

Drive in today was nice.  Not much to see in NM and AZ.  Two things I've noticed--people here don't seem to have to pee in the winter (most of the rest areas are CLOSED) and the term "Land of Enchantment" really translates into "state with few cell phone towers."  We had a nice drive in today, beautiful weather and it was above 75 a few spots on the road.  We still had some snow in the cockpit that hadn't finally melted off yet.

Had a heck of a time finding the Nautical Inn; our GPS took us to an empty field and said we were "there". Finally got directions, and after finding the marina, knew we were close.

The poor gal in the office was in over her head. Getting phone calls ever few seconds, trying to multi-task (poorly). She finally got us our keys, the maps, the little tickets for meals, etc. Then had the golf cart guy take us to our room.

Chari dropped off, I set the luggage out near the room, and then rode back to the truck to move it to the correct parking lot. When I returned, she was sitting on the curb. HUH?

"Oh, the room is nice, but someone already lives there!" By this time, golf cart guy is gone. So I call the gal at the front desk via cell phone. She puts me on hold and never comes back on.

So I called again and when she answered, I said "DON'T PUT ME ON HOLD--YOU'VE LEFT US OUT IN NO WHERE WITH NO ROOM." So she said she'd get right on it and have security bring us our new room keys.

While we were chilling, another golf cart guy (looked like maintenance maybe) came by and asked if we need help. After explaining to him, he took off for the office.

A few minutes later, he returned with new keys, so we swapped. And he moved us from the room with the back of the motel view, to a lower level lake front room that was double the size. Hmmmm this will do nicely, thank you.

I'm sure I'll get to argue with them once more when it comes time to check out, but that's a battle for another day.

Later, after dinner, we met the original owners of the first room. and they had had issues also................. Not a real good start, nautical, but we've got all week to see how it goesIn the morning, we'd drop the boat, head over to register, go get some provisions and fuel, then launch the boat!  

We ate at a bar/grill on the water.  Really pretty.  Some pics:

Gallup, gallup, gallup

Had to hassle the winds a little more yesterday, so that slowed us down some.  Took some pics, but left the camera in the truck.

Had called about a motel on the west side, and got there there was no trailer parking, so drove back to east Gallup (UGH) to a place with parking and a Denny's.  2nd night in a row to eat at D's.  It was all that was within walking distance.

Should make Havasu tonight.  Boat and truck will both need a good bath.  Got in a muddy parking lot yesterday so now the boat is speckled!

Ron

Amarillo by morning............................

Made it to Amarillo tonight.  It was up near 50 on the road.  We had snow melting and dropping off the whole trip. There is still a mountain of snow around the pedestal and it will NOT melt tonight.  Supposed to be 14 tonight.

Uneventful drive (which I love!).  Had to stop once as a boat fender, which was under a rachet strap holding the mast to the deck flopped loose, so had to stop and secure it.  No problem.

Two tractor trailer operators had a less successful day.  Each west of OKC.  First one apparently went off the interstate into the median and before he could get it stopped, it jacknifed.  Think he was ok, standing in front of it, calling it in.  (We didn't see either one happen).  Second was about 50 miles further.  A semi was parked mostly in the outside lane.  A wrecker was there--his CAB had burned up completely.  I'm guessing he got out in time, but the whole cab was gone!

I don't think Amarillo has any snow removal trucks.  Pulled into a side street, then to our motel.  It was 5 inches deep in water from all the melting snow.  At first, I parked at the end of the lot, but two side tires were in 4" deep water.  I saw on the news that it would get to 14 tonight, so didn't want to risk being ice bound in the AM, so we moved it to higher ground.

Then we tried to see where we could walk to for dinner.  A nice restaurant was 2 blks away. Icy and no safe place to walk, so we did the 90 year old shuffle to the Denny's next door to our motel.  It is miserable trying to get around here.  Driving out tomorrow promises to be fun, NOT.

Pics from leaving this morning:

Saw this leaning tower near here!

Leaving TODAY!

Finished the boat prep and loaded the truck (ugh) today.  Still a mess trying to get around on the boat as the cockpit is FULL of snow.  I suspect there is a pair of my sunglasses sitting on the seat somewhere, but I couldn't find them.  I don't know if this nasty stuff will blow out or melt out as we head south. It's only 9 degrees here now, so melting won't happen sitting in the drive.

Almost ready for the road

After a lot of work and $$$$, we are almost ready to head to AZ and MUCH warmer weather.  The 8+ inches of snow we had this week, along with the minus 17 temps last night, haven't helped us in packing!

View from our garage recently: