Our life after living on a boat.

We started blogging in earnest when we decided to sell our houses and move onto a boat. We had many wonderful adventures aboard our Nordhavn 46 named Salish Aire . Seven years have passed and we have sold Salish Aire, purchased a house near the southern tip of the Salish Sea and often travel around North America towing Salish Airstream. It seems a good time to start a new blog about our further adventures but leave our boating blog intact for those who want to refer to our adventures on the boat. (http://salishaire.blogspot.com)

Monday, September 6, 2021

Settling into life on land

 

Chapter 1

It’s been a very very busy summer with moving into a new house and selling Salish Aire.  The beginning of the summer can be reviewed in our last post at Our Salish Aire .  We have now settled in a bit to our new house and as I write this are heading through the North Dakota oil fields on highway 2 towing our new-to-us boat back to our home in Lacey where it will reside in a side yard next to the Airstream.

Lives of everyone around the globe still are being affected by the Delta variant of the Covid 19 virus (Covid V2 as I refer to it).  It’s so very frustrating for us as those who have been vaccinated may get the infected with the Delta variant we will typically be asymptomatic or have a mild response whereas the unvaccinated are needing hospitalization and dying in droves while still contending that they are safer not getting the vaccine (the vaccine has proven very safe after millions of doses have been given and is widely available in the USA).  The power of misinformation is simply amazing. I add this note so that readers in the future will understand that events that should have been simple such as our daughter’s family visit was a big deal as it involved waiting for the US<>Canadian border to open and multiple tests to prove they were virus free both coming south and going north. 

With that thought perhaps its best to continue with our daughter’s family visit.  An aside to further show the disruption of normal supply chains and life in general is the story of our minivan. We decided to look into renting a car or minivan once Erin firmed up the date they would fly from Toronto to Seattle as our truck only holds 5 passengers and with her family we would need space for 7.  We expected this would be a relatively inexpensive proposition but quickly learned that the rental car market had gone a bit wonky.  During Covid V1 so many folks had avoided travel that the rental companies found themselves with a huge overstock of vehicles so they sold off much of their fleets.  Once V1 settled down people started to return to normal and there was a lot of pent up demand for things with computer chips (everything from phones to cars) and travel.  Well cars were in short supply as the supplies of computer chips from China have been disrupted so the rental companies could not quickly replenish their fleets and folks wanted to rent them so supply and demand directed the prices dramatically upward.  We looked at the potential price and decided it might be more cost effective to buy a used minivan so to make a long story short we purchased a Honda Odyssey with 175,000 miles on it.  It’s in relatively good shape but does need minor repair so after a 7 year hiatus I am back to climbing under cars.  We have about $4200 invested and our basic plan is to resell it after Erin’s family visits again for the winter holidays but we may decide we are a 2 car family again as it is handy to have around.

The minivan.

Erin had booked her flight direct from Toronto to Seattle via Air Canada rather than her usual routing of having her in-laws drive the family across the border to Buffalo New York and then flying via Southwest Airlines to Seattle.  It ended up that the ticket on Air Canada was cheaper and while her family has US passports and thus can drive across the border that the border was still closed to Canadians traveling south for pleasure so she would need to pay to park her car in Buffalo for 3 weeks if she came that way. By flying out of Toronto her in-laws (who only have Canadian passports) could drive her to the airport where there is a US customs facility that would clear their passports and Covid vaccination and tests status then they would land in Seattle and be ready to go.  I watched them on FlightTracker and laughed when I realized that Toronto is at virtually the same latitude at Seattle so almost all of their flight was over US territory. We picked them up with no problem at the Seattle airport in the minivan (even Jarvis was able to ride along) and introduced them to our house in Lacey about 90 minutes later.

While they were in Washington Erin’s family visited with family, attended my niece’s wedding with us, and visited with friends.  One of their friends offered that if her family would do a test stay at their new vacation rental property which turned out to be a huge mansion on 20 acres.  Our grandkids had a great time swimming in the indoor pool and watching a black bear eat pears off the tree in the back yard.  While they were with us our son brought his new daughter up and Erin’s family got to meet her for the first time which is again what happens when a child is born during a pandemic and movement is restricted.

This is the first time our family including children and grandchildren have been 
in one place since the birth of Hyacinth.

Valerie and Henri at Narada Falls on Mt. Rainier (Valerie went back to the campground with Clarice in the car while Henri and I walked the 4 miles through the forest - he was a very happy hiker!)

Henri wanted to keep walking up the mountain (through the mist) until he got above the clouds.  We didn't make it that far but he was totally enthralled with the scenery along the trail.


We walked around the trails above Paradise on Mt. Rainier.  The flowers were not in full glory but they were beautiful anyway.  I was amazed at how much the trees have grown since I was young and understood them to be a mature forest.  The rangers surmised that I was still seeing the results of a history of controlled burns by the Native Americans so that the blueberry fields would be most productive.

Henri and Valerie wanted to walk to a snow patch.  We didn't make it as the snow has 
retreated higher on the mountain than I have ever seen with global warming.

Henri wanted to get a good look at a glacier so we walked to an overlook of the Nisqually Glacier. It has retreated far up the mountain from where it was when I was a child but is still huge.

More flowers!

Another stream!

Mt. Rainier above the historic Paradise buildings.

Henri and Clarice at Paradise Meadows, Mt. Rainier.

Reflection Lake, Mt. Rainier.

Henri floating in the Deschutes river near our house.

Henri at Reflection Lake, Mt. Rainier.

We did take Henri and Valerie to Mt. Rainier to go camping which was a big deal for me since I haven’t camped up there for a number of years.  Valerie was content for the first day but the rainy second day took some of her enthusiasm away.  Henri was totally enthralled with the scenery and kept asking if we could walk up further on the trails.

After 3 weeks they had managed to arrange for free Covid tests that were acceptable to the Canadian government and after being proven free of infection they flew home back to Ontario.

Other events of the summer included a record heat wave with Seattle reaching 107 degrees F for the first time in recorded history.

We were concerned about my 94 year old mother getting too hot in her apartment so we 
jury-rigged an AC unit provided by my niece and her fiancé (now husband).

Etienne, our oldest grandchild graduated (with honors and a big scholarship!) this summer.  It was hard to talk him into having photos taken without his mask as he felt that avoiding contracting Covid 19 had been a defining part of his high school years.

Etienne with his dad and baby sister after the graduation ceremony.

The outdoor graduation ceremony stressed protecting each other from spreading the Covid virus.

Etienne with his mother.

Etienne showing off his diploma  (and hedgehog the technology school he attended 's mascot).

A really pitsy job we needed to do on the house was renew the crawlspace.  This involved removing damaged insulation, removing rodent droppings, removing deteriorated plastic ground barrier, putting in a new 6 mil plastic barrier and putting up new insulation. We were really pleased with ourselves that we completed this job before Erin arrived.

Before shot of the house crawlspace.

After shot of the house crawlspace.

It didn’t take too many photos of our friends boating in Mexico and Alaska before we started feeling pretty landlocked without a boat. (OK, we were drooling with envy!) While we were house hunting we looked for a place that included space enough to park the Airstream and a potential trailered boat so we would be ready if we chose to break down and purchase something that would float.

Our goal was to get a boat that would be very fuel efficient, was sea worthy enough for the Inside Passage, could be lived on for 2 – 3 months and could be easily trailered behind our current truck.  These requirements quickly narrowed the field to a boat with an 8’6” beam (the maximum allowed on highways without a special use permit), a displacement hull (for maximum fuel efficiency), preferably an inboard diesel engine, and a cabin with a heater.  Many years ago we had looked into Albin 25 boats made in Sweden during the 1970’s and 80’s but had decided that they were too slow for us while we could only go boating when we had time off from work.  Since we no longer have to rush from place to place and are used to traveling at 6-7 knots Clarice thought we should reconsider them.  We joined the Albin online groups and quickly realized that while owners loved the boats they didn’t come on the market often.  The first Albin we found for sale was a 27 ft model with a 9’ 6” beam that wasn’t too far away near Portland Oregon.  We went and looked at it including a ride on it on the Willamette River and very seriously considered buying it except it didn’t fit our desire to have a highway legal boat and we were very concerned about our ability to tow it long distances if we wanted to go to Mexico or the Mississippi River. Before we walked away from it we had a chance to tour an Albin 25 that wasn’t far from our home.  After that tour we recognized that the smaller version was really what we wanted so we notified the owner of the 27’ boat we would not be buying it.

We did find a similar boat that looked like a real possibility located in Wisconsin.  There was a high enough chance that we would buy it that we drove back to view it camping in the back of the truck on the way which is a bit cozy as the truck has a 5’ 6” bed and I am 5’ 8” tall.  We did have a good adventure with the exception of the night in Eastern Montana when we awoke to Jarvis snapping at mosquitoes which is when we discovered that the screen on one of the canopy windows had popped loose in one corner.   We were impressed with the condition of the boat that hadn’t moved from a barn for 10 years where the current owner parked it and realized he wasn’t a sailor.  On second look we realized it was more of a sailboat than a trawler with a deep enough keel that ramp launching it would be a major chore.  In other words it wasn’t the boat for us.  This excursion took place about 2 weeks before Erin’s family were slated to arrive.  On the way home we decided that perhaps getting a boat at this time was just not meant to be and we should cool our jets for a while – until we got home and I heard about an Albin that was available in Michigan.

We phoned the owner and confirmed that the boat was what we were looking for. He had purchased it 10 months prior and hauled it home from Maine but his mother’s illness made it clear that it would only continue to sit in his barn if he didn’t resell it.  We decided that with some airline ticket credits we had sitting from before Covid V1 we could afford to go look at it and get back home before Erin’s family arrived.  We arranged with the owner that if we decided to buy it we would hand him a check and he would have the titles of the boat and trailer ready to sign over and he would store the boat until we could drive back once Erin’s family left.  We spent one night in Owosoo Michigan and made the deal after viewing the boat. So that’s where we are now having driven back across the country to Michigan sleeping in the back of the truck, picking up the boat and trailer and after doing some quick trailer repairs while visiting my extended family, we are driving west across Montana using the boat as a camper along the way.

This was taken on our inspection / purchase trip back to Michigan.

Now that we own a boat (still sitting in Michigan) it will need a home to come to so we 
revised the RV parking on the side of the house to accommodate two vehicles.

The new gates are done (and (in the words of Q) "I'm especially proud of them").

There has also been tragedy along the way.  Our son and his family were planning to travel to Hawaii for a long planned vacation. They were planning to take their nanny and her husband with them both so they could have couple time without the baby and because the couple had become part of their extended family.  When the couple didn’t show for the planned joint ride to the airport Bryan worked to track them down and learned that they had both been stabbed repeatedly in bed in the early morning hours. Travis died at the scene and Jamilyn is recovering at home after being hospitalized with 19 stab wounds. At this writing no details about the attacker have been released but it must be a very evil person to have attacked with such violence.

There is also fear but joy for the moment that will be celebrated.  Our dear friends from Mexico who also hail from Western Washington and most recently Olympia learned that despite a life as a non-smoker and marathon runner she has developed stage 4 lung cancer at age 42.  She learned this while working as a nurse to rebuild their sailing kitty while her husband and two daughters (ages 10 and 12) were waiting for her return in LaPaz Mexico.  The joyful moment is that she has responded to a miracle drug (as a cancer nurse of long ago I have NEVER used this term before!) that is targeted at her very specific, random, genetic mutation and her tumor has shrunk by 80% in just over a month with minimal side effects.  With help from friends and strangers via a GoFundMe account they were able to have their home (boat) shipped into the Salish Sea and it is now moored in Olympia.  To see the family playing catch in our back yard the day before we headed back to Michigan was wonderful.  The fear remains in that the expectation is that at some unknown date the mutation will mutate again and the tumor will grow again but in the mean time she and her family (and friends) are celebrating every living moment she has.  (She writes her story quite poignantly in their blog at SailingXpression).

Michelle and Autumn join us for a camping trip (and putt putt golf game) after returning
 to the Pacific Northwest and seeing that their mother was doing OK.

To change the mood a bit we both realized something the other day.  On September 11th a few years ago we were crossing the country with a boat we had purchased in Florida along with a truck to pull it. We were in the center of the country trying to figure out why the flags were at half mast when someone pointed out the date.  We looked at each other and I formally gave Clarice the boat for her wedding anniversary present and she formally gave me the truck for my present.  So here we are a week before our 45th wedding anniversary and towing another boat across the country.  I did order Clarice an anniversary present that only she would get excited about; a composting toilet for the boat!  (I can hear the stunned silence from the folks who don’t know Clarice well and the laughter and “yup that’s her” from the folks that do.)

Clarice's "dream" toilet (do you think I should put a rose in it before giving it to her for our 45th wedding anniversary?) (BTW: I would love it if someone sends me flowers.)

So we are in the process of our 4th crossing between Olympia Washington to the Midwest by land and while that may seem like quite a chore it is also a chance for discovery.  We purposefully seldom plan where we will end the day’s driving so that we can give ourselves permission to stop early if we need rest or press on if we really want to get somewhere.  There is always the chance that this practice will lead to camping in a rest area or store parking lot but the reality is that we seem to always find someplace interesting if we start looking about 2 hours before we need to stop.  We have taken advantage of one favorite stop along the way for 3 of the crossings as our good friends Frank and Jan own a B&B in Spokane and always seem to have an empty bed and good company when we are passing their way.

A fishing access campground in Montana.

Sunset at a Montana state park.

Sunset over the Yellowstone River Montana.

Clarice tries pasties, a Michigan Upper Peninsula staple my aunt used to cook. 

An out-of-the-way campground near the headwaters of the Mississippi River.

The Mississippi River near its headwaters.

Once we picked up the boat we started back from Eastern Michigan to Western Michigan where most of my extended family live just south of the Mackinac Bridge; yes I am a troll from under the bridge as one of my Yooper students used to remind me frequently. We did have a bit of a problem along the way as we had confirmed that the trailer brakes would activate but we didn’t confirm they would release – they wouldn’t so 45 miles into our crossing of the state we pulled into a lovely campground with all grass on Michigan sand sites. Since there were few other campers it seemed like a good place to troubleshoot the brake issue except that Michigan sand won’t support a trailer jack even if it has a block under it.  After working for some time we were able to get a tire back on that we had removed between jack failures.  We went to bed frustrated but woke up with new ideas.  I asked the campground management if I could move the trailer to a concrete pad and they very nicely offered their shop floor.  In the shop I decided that the parts I had were not going to work so I deactivated the brakes and we drove very carefully across the rest of the very flat state until we arrived at my aunt’s house.  Along the way we ordered new parts from etrailer.com (I mention them by name because the parts arrived a day earlier than expected which really helped!) The parts were installed and tested on Wednesday and we had lunch with my cousins on Thursday and left in time to get across The Bridge and find a campsite on the Upper Peninsula before the Labor Day rush.

Aunt Mary's house - I knew where everything was since it hadn't changed since my childhood.

My cousins and my sister and brother and I used to cross this field to get to the woods beyond it. In the winter the snow was knee deep and in the summer there was a resident bull we needed to avoid.

I believe that the concrete in the center right of the photo is all that is left of my 
grandfather's barn on the original Gregory homestead



Gregory Road, such as it is, ran through the original Gregory homestead.

Perhaps a good ending is to tell about Jarvis, our great hunting dog, arriving at tonight’s campsite.  We are pulled off the road in a game preserve area (“boondocking” in camping parlance) along a tributary of the Missouri River.  Driving in we noted a sign that the field was prime pheasant habitat and Clarice joked that she wasn’t planning to catch a pheasant for dinner.  I replied that perhaps Jarvis would catch one.  We got to the site and within minutes Jarvis the hunter had found a fully cooked hotdog and was gulping it down.  I doubt that he will ever go hungry between his “I’m so hungry” look whenever someone is eating to his ultrasensitive nose, he will find something.

 Final photos:


With Jarvis at the Lacey house.

All 5 grandchildren in one place at one time.


Our church (St. Benedict's Episcopal in Lacey) was build with a plane round window over the altar. At some point a parishioner made and hung a stained glass dove in the window.  At a later date the trees blocking the morning sun from the window where cut down leading to the "summer solstice mystery".

On the Sunday closest to the summer solstice while the parishioners are walking down the isle to receive communion the dove joins them in the center of the isle.

Jarvis seems to have adapted to his new house.

Hyacinth decided that feeding tiny pieces of cheese to the doggy was very fun.


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