Lift and pull, fall over and set it up and do it again. repeat, repeat, etc.

Howdy all, long time since I've written.  Been a long year, mostly money was tight, trying to save an apartment house but couldn't get any good renters. I finally sold the apartment house  to get out of foreclosure and things are now better.

I'm at my brothers in Connecticut for Xmas, I was here for Thanksgiving also, wasn't planning on being here for both holidays but circumstances involving documenting the new boat forced two trips to West Virginia and this seemed a natural extension of that trip both times.  I was going to say I was cruising again,but this time in a $125 Subaru wagon, that's the vehicle of choice when I am going to leave it sit dockside for a month or so when I pick up a boat and sail it to a new destination. The new boat has a diesel engine and is larger, something worthy of a trip around the world, It's a 38 foot Hughes, it also has roller furling on the head sail, and auto pilot two very important features for solo sailing that my old boat didn't have.

From Connecticut I'll head down to North Carolina to look at a car I bought, I bought three cars on the computer a couple weeks ago in 15 minutes, Two are already home, a 97 Nissan Maxima and a 93 Chevy van, both excellent and this one another Lincoln Mark 7. The Chevy van was a Highway patrol vehicle, so had excellent maintenance, looks like new, I'll sell it, anybody know anybody that needs one? the Nissan needs a title, it was a drug deal confiscated vehicle so I'm looking for a similar wrecked one with good title to make one of two thing. The Lincoln will need a little work to the front air suspension, been there and done that many times.

Anyway back to the cruising report, I was cruising east south east from Washington, Pa in the Subaru, decided on the scenic route since it would save about 40 miles, I stopped in at the city library to check my email and eBay.  Historic scenic National road, AKA Highway 40 toward Hagerstown, Md, it's one that needs to be put on every-bodies to do list if they are in the area.  When I topped the hill in the town of Scenery Hill the view is outstanding and I wished I had time to stop in the 200 year old Tavern, but I'm rushing to beat the clock and get to the coast guard documentation office, so I zoom right by, somebody else will have to fill me in on the interior of that one.  I'm sure it would be worth the stop to see a tavern built when the word had a slightly different meaning then it does now.  Onward and upward, and downward and every other ward too, It's a roller coaster ride and one that makes us thankful we have cars with climbing gears.  The views and ride is great better than any carnival ride and priced right too. I thought that the view at Scenery Hill would be hard to top but when I summited Laurel Highlands It happened, even more beautiful, the ride down again was a nail bitter if you so choose and I so chose. At the bottom, around a quick corner and you all of the sudden on a bridge crossing Lake Youghiogheny, it doesn't get better than this. Continuing on past Ft Necessity a couple other taverns and a famous Toll house all I'm sure worth the stop and I end up back on interstate heading to Falling Waters, West Virginia.  I soon find out that once again they say the paperwork isn't all here, now they want another new piece of insignificant paperwork, a copy of an old out of date Florida registration form they finally agree to grant me the documentation on the boat with the demand that I produce said document within 30 days or else.  Luckily I don't yet have a first born, or I'm sure it would have had to have been pledged also.  On to Baltimore, Documentation in hand, In Baltimore awaits an EBay item to pick up, but I don't know where I'm headed and when I need to be there, I've got a phone number and maybe an email if I can check that.  It's pushing 4:30 and I'm over an hour away, I find a Maryland Welcome center on the Interstate, I pull in and use the phone, no answer, The nice ladies at the welcome center allow me to use their computer to check my email and there is one from Baltimore, reading it it says I can pick my item ( already paid for) up at the office of the Marina and give an address, it will be open till 4:30, it's now 4:27....  A quick Google search with the address and I get the  marina's name, Anchor, which was not in the email and the phone number.  I rush back outside to the pay phone and they answer the phone, and say they will leave it with the night watchman, success.... all this to just save $10 on shipping on 50 new grommets for the corners of sails, Storm sails that I need to make (and hopefully never use) for the new boat, another item needed for world cruising and ocean crossing. I wouldn't know how to live if I didn't make my life have this kind of adventure everyday. two new friends, we exchange emails, and now they will get to read and enjoy my travels just like the rest of you, thanks gals.

The rest of the trip has been rather uneventful, going through New York at night trying to minimize bridge tolls is always a challenge $14 from Baltimore next time I'm driving an hour north of the city, it's just not worth paying the tolls to fight the traffic.  This morning was fun along with adventure created by mis-information.  We had Xmas for a little boy here, most likely a future step son of my nephew, he's about a 5 year old and only child we will have here for Xmas.  Had to do it this morning since the ex husband has him for Xmas eve and day.  I Knew it was going to happen today so this morning I asked when at about 7, my brother said 7:30, I figured evening, at 7:25 after breakfast they were putting their coats on and saying are you coming? I asked,  Where? They said Colby's Xmas, I hadn't wrapped his present yet, luckily nephew Danny lives at my dad's old place next store, so they left and I told them I'd follow, in a little over a  minute,  with wrapped package in hand, full run I was there. After Colby opened all his presents it was mine he chose to play with first.  I did good.  My nephew restores John Deere tractors, everything in his house is John Deere.  I figured Colby would look up to that, when he opened my gift he said "My first John Deere!" and I knew I guessed right, later when he had opened about 40 presents, toys, games, remote radio control trucks, books, clothes, many with "I always wanted that, I need those," etc. etc, it was the toy John Deere tractor that he wanted to play with first.  I had bragging rights at that point, big time.

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I'm OK, just been busy with salvaging a boat here in Mobile (it's free, just have to pull and slide it 300 feet across a tidal swamp) 26 foot Cal, with a roller furling headsail and yanmar diesel that's been under water for a couple 4 months.  I've been using (or trying) the Internet connection at the library, it's really lousy, haven't found anything better, need to find an Internet cafe. (Actually just found one a hamburger joint called Krystal) The library here does not want you to use email programs so you have to get a special override to do it and the give you 15 minutes, but with the speed of their system that's hardly enough to type a note to anybody, basically you get to read about 4 emails and respond to one, right now I'm typing this into notepad so that maybe I can respond to two.  Their system is really slowed down by their virus checker software. This is the worst library service I've run into all across the country.

When I got back to Mobile the bilge pump switch had failed on my boat and I found water in the new diesel engine, got that dried out and still have a sticking intake valve to deal with.  All else is OK, should be in Florida in a little over a week and back in Kansas with two vehicles (a new Lincoln from NC that I fixed last week, another story of a lucky find, found a car with the parts the Lincoln needed on the last turn before getting to the place where my car was, another Internet EBay purchase, the parts car was free, no engine or tranny but had the air suspension parts I needed. After getting home for a weeks or so I'm headed out west, maybe finally off to Oregon to pick up the stuff I need out there with a visit to California too.

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Finally having some success with the salvage operation, after four days of limited success, 1800 feet of 2000 pound breaking strength line ( I can break it and have many times) and 6 pulleys (the main problem, couldn't find good one to handle a couple tons) made from tractor clevises and pipe flanges and close pipe nipples, lots of scrap wood from hurricane damage such as a 6x8 wooden gin pole about 10 feet long and 2x6's, 2x4's and plywood.  Bailing the boat completely 4 days in a row (I'm know how to do that from last year this time) I was getting tired of very little success, but today after taking back the 4 ton come along from Harbor freight that I destroyed and wasn't really trying, LOL, I traded it for a farmer handy man jack, the 7000 lb high lift type, and I've now got the bow of the boat high and dry and didn't even have to bail it (it was high tide, the bottom of the jack was in water, on plywood, and 2x6's but it lifted the bow 18 inches no problem in 30 seconds, With some cribbing, tightening the 8 line block and tackle, and re-jacking a couple times ( twice because the cribbing slipped) the bow is now about 3 feet higher than this morning.  The boat will be out tomorrow, all because of the jack, that's the tool that made the difference.

I'm sitting around waiting in line to get into the battleship Alabama memorial park, it's open today for the first time since the hurricane Katrina, it's free admission this morning, that's why I'm here, I'd say LOL but it's totally true, for anybody the really knows me, they know that's the truth, big time.  Anyway, I figured out how to make the sheaves for the homemade blocks, I'm using the two 3/4 inch pipe flanges and instead of the plastic close nipple (shortest pipe possible, all threads) that broke when the rope got into the little slot between the flanges and the force was high, I've got a metal close nipple, The problem with metal is that I couldn't get the flanges to screw on far enough to be back to back and fit between the arms of the clevises I had.  The plastic would deform enough to allow that.  I could cut the threads deeper if I could find a die or tap but had no luck finding one, again some3thing that I could at home no problem, but on the road with limited tools and resources, that's a different story.  While driving back to the boat at the last corner, I figured out the solution, I'd slice the nipple longways so that pipe and the threads could compress smaller, it worked great, now I should have the bock needed. Between the jack and the good blocks the boat should be near the dock this evening.  Right now the gates for the Battleship finally opened, more later.

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The battleship was great, basically you got to crawl around all the important parts, There was a big ceremony with dignitaries at the beginning of the day, then a re-dedication, and even a breaking of a bottle champagne.  Then after exploring the battleship there is a the Submarine Drum is available for the same type of exploring.  There are also lots of airplanes at the park, but they aren't yet reopened from the storm damage.  It rained while I was in the ships so it wasn't bad that I wasn't working on the salvage operation.  Yesterday I also took a day off, my friend Beth from Louisiana came over and we visited Bellingrath gardens south of town and then had some great BBQ, I think it was Dick Russel's if I remember right, it's in the first town south west of Mobile, Theodore.

Back on the Salvage operation after the rain today, I finished the new blocks and slacked the ropes to install them, I jacked the boat back up, it was a really high tide, the boat was full inside and out so, theoretically if I lift slow and let it drain out the water doesn't add anything and it certainly makes the mud softer.  I went swimming a couple times, the temperature was much nicer today then it had been last week, with a heavy frost one morning.  I jacked the bow up to about 5 feet and then pulled on the block and tackle with the car and now the bow is about 8 feet in the air, the gin pole is vertical and the bow is 8 feet closer to shore, so the bow is out of the hole completely, tomorrow it should be an easy pull to move the boat on it's side and slide it 300 feet to shore.  Then I need to remove the diesel engine and stabilize it from more damage.  The rest of the boat will wait till I get back in a couple weeks and then the second time in about a month.  I should be on my way to Florida with the new Hughes later in the week. 

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 I enjoy the challenge of moving this salvage boat, right now I've got 8 lines 2000 pound working each, six home made blocks from tractor clevises and plumbing fittings, 2 3/4 flanges and close nipples, a gin pole about 12 feet of 6x6 lumber, plywood scraps to make a platform on the muck you can't even stand on without sinking to you knees, and a boat with cracks in the sides and sunk down below normal floating level in this muck, got to lift first, then drag 300 feet to dry land.  Probably at least $1500 worth of salvage stuff, diesel engine always under water ( that's better then in and out, and everything else a sail boat normally has, 2000 pounds of lead, should be some dollars there.  All free for anybody that thinks they can get it out, but you have to take it all.

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After almost a week of hard work I still don't have the salvage boat on shore, the pulleys failed again, I've got the boat out of the water, keel still in the mud, starting to flip over on it's side.   I worked on the Hughes engine today, it's fine, might need a part but I think I'll get by.  It has and can run good, not a major problem.   The problem is that two of the valves were stuck open and the valve push rods had slammed into the rocker arm that was up and broke off the cup shaped end that is friction welded onto the end of the push rod.  I can't get parts quickly enough and all I have to do is retain the cup part on the end of the push rod tube.  I bought shrink tubing tonight and will try that, it should retain the cup part since they are always under compression and only have to be held side to side.

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We didn't get the boat moved, the guy with the semi was busy with a wife's car that broke down, I spent the day getting the Hughes ready.  Oh, I got a cork screw at a thrift shop, unlike any that I have, so it'll be good to see how well it works.  It looks good.   I had a couple bottles of wine and no way to open it, my corkscrews were at home, in other cars and on the other boat. I got the Hughes lifelines and old stanchions on and washed the sails from the old salvage boat.  I also hoisted and unfurled the sails on the Hughes, they look real good.  It should be ready to go, need to clean out the deck and cockpit drains and look at the maps and get a radio working.
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I should be on my way to Florida tomorrow with the boat, the salvage operation went well, still have a few things to do in the morning, can't leave till noon anyway, have to wait for the tide, the boat will be sitting in the mud in it's slip till then.  I've still got the engine to pull and the head (toilet), it was new. These will go pretty fast since the all the deck is off above them and I sprayed them all down with water to clean off the bolts.  I got lots of good stuff off the boat and some more unexpected stuff found in the mud such as a tiller autopilot device that should be OK or easy to fix.  Basically I've got spares for every system in a boat, and this boat was equipped with a lot of spare parts for all it's system, so some systems I'll have nothing to worry about for a long time.  I'll have pictures next time.  Should be on the water for maybe 5 days.  I plan on sailing night and day, I have a timer to allow me to take short naps, basically with a sailboat you can see to the horizon about 20-25 miles and if you don't see anything you don't have much to worry about for about an hour since you are traveling at about 8 knots (8 mph).  If something is moving faster they should be looking out for me.  After making it to Florida I will have to quickly find transportation back to Mobile and then back to Kansas, soon after I'll be off to the west coast, northern California and finally Oregon, the last of the lower 48.  Later
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The winds didn't co-operate, and lots of other stuff too.  I've got another good story to tell. But now 10PM I'm here in Florida and I've got a ride tomorrow at 4:30 AM  almost to Mobile to get my car. So I need to take a bath and get some sleep, the boat is good, especially after I've worked on most everything for the last week.  I'm now a big believer in Diesels.  Shrink tubing doesn't work but tygon and bailing wire does. Much more later. got to be in California Sunday, won't be in Manhattan tomorrow, that will have to be done another day.  No rest for the weary.

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I'm riding in a semi west from Mariana, Fl to Mobile, back to get my car, I got a ride this morning from some Florida friends that are going deer hunting in south eastern Alabama, they dropped me off at the truck stop and bus station there.  I had 5 hours to wait for a bus that would cost $44 to get the three hours to Mobile so I figured I might as well try to hitch hike and catch a ride.  The driver is from Bosnia, he's over here for 11 months a year, has a wife and kids back home, his 19 year old daughter will join him here next year to go to college.  He's not very talkative, has some language problems, or maybe I do.  I've been on the road since
early morning, got more continuous sleep last night then all last week, 4 hours, but still woke up almost every hour to do watch, even though I was in a bed on land.

I left Mobile on the new boat a little unexpectedly, I was planning on leaving, had a couple of the four lines loose and then the wind came up, I would have like to have stayed but the wind got my boat out into the channel, still tied by two lines but not what you would say really under control.  I decided to cast off and do my best to get out of there.  I started the engine untied the last line which by this time had spun me completely around backwards I tried to get straightened back out, no luck in the confines of the Marina with the 30+ mph winds. That wasn't going to work, so I  backed out of the marina under full power and had fairly good control.  Out in the main channel I could finally  put it in forward and pretend I was a normal sailboat captain, LOL.  Going under the bridge the engine overheated, filling the cabin with steam, and warning whistles blowing, I quickly idled back the engine and unfurled the genoa to get control and I sailed out to the main channel of Mobile bay, about 2 miles with just the genoa, then I was able to get away from the wheel long enough to get the main hoisted. I was planning on staying in the inter coastal till Pensacola (saving 18 miles) but with this kind of wind and an uncertain engine I decided to head straight out into the deep water of the gulf where there was much less to hit or get hung up on.

The first day sailing was mostly uneventful, the winds were higher than I would have liked, and the main had no reef points, originally set up to roller reef on the boom.  I'll get a chance to rectify that, latter that night I was awoken to the sound of flapping sails, a seam on the main gave out, I was already about 40 NM south south east of Mobile heading across the gulf to south Florida.  I got the main down and secured around the boom and continued on with the Genoa roller reefed in about 1/3 and went back to trying to sleep for an hour at a time till dawn when I had light to survey the damage.  I had 7 sails on board, 5 came with the boat, the main, roller reefing Genoa, a spinnaker, 2 other older gennys, and the two sails from the 25 foot salvage boat.  I decided the best course of action was to jury rig the 25 footer main. Of course nothing fit or worked easily, so with some of the many extra lines I had on board I rigged it loose footed, with a rope boom loop and tail leading to the end of the boom, two rope mast loops tied in at the reef points and a mostly loose leading edge and halyard.  That a least got some balance back to the rig.  Boy that sail looked small on the tall mast and long boom but it worked. It certainly wouldn't win any awards for beauty with all the mud stains but looked great to me pulling the boat an extra knot or two and with much better control. The next day the wind dropped off in the a little after midnight I dropped sail and slept for the night just drifting. Next morning I added one more mast loop a few feet below the spreaders and the sail actually was flying very well considering there was gap of about a foot between mast and sail (not really a problem) and about 15 feet of unrestrained sail and 10 feet of halyard to the mast top.  That worked well for the rest of the trip, I was a little underpowered but sailing well. 
My main problem was the wind, it was always blowing from right where I wanted to go, so I had to tack to get there.  I had never before had the opportunity to be on the same tack and want to be for 36 hours or more.  Can't say that anymore.  Because of the wind I ended up well over 150 miles from land (also not a problem, just not what I had originally planned for this trip).

I could now turn my attention to other things (problems and earlier noted defects)  the previous 2 days I had found that I could run the engine at 1100 rpm and not over heat, that got the batteries charged, the main purpose of the engine at sea.  I latter found I could push it to 1400 and get a little over 2 knots headway straight into the wind, but not 1600.  That was sufficient for now (I had control under power if I needed it) and I had other more important things that needed attention .  I discovered that you can't fix a broken push rod with shrink tubing, but did eventually discover that it could be fixed with tygon tubing and coat hanger wire.  That fix is still running strong, I will order the new parts and carry them but probably not open the engine to put them in till needed.  After more time to think on the problem the coat hanger wire should be replaced with nylon zip ties. That's why I do this, it challenges me to come up with creative solutions, every time learning something new, life is all about learning.  I got very familiar with dewatering the fuel system and then after that removing air from the injector lines.  The fuel tanks lines had a propensity to plug up and then the fuel pump would suck air through a hose fitting.  That happened at least a dozen times. Finally I rigged a 5 gal plastic fuel can as a jury rig fuel tank and haven't had a problem with the engine since.  The only problem was getting the fuel from the main tanks to the 5 gals cans.  That was solved by a neat little hand pump that came out of the salvage boat used for pumping oil out of a boat engines oil pan.  I solved that problem just before lunch on the last day, the only day I really motored for any length of time, all day 6 am till 8 pm and arriving at Labelle just after full dark had set in.  I did almost find on channel marker in the middle of the river, I need to get that search light working.  The wind up flashlight just doesn't cut the mustard if there are no reflective tapes on the markers.

I also was successful at getting the autopilot system to function, still has some problems but I understand them and this system will work. (the boat came with and has full set of spares and manuals for this system as well as many others too), The depth gauge works, the alarm on it doesn't yet.  Could have used that a couple times, I spent 2 hours getting ungrounded coming into Boca Grande, that was after going 5 miles back because I had managed to get on the north side of a shallow area not able to follow the poorly marked channel in the slight fog at night, I just wanted to get inside the bay to anchor and sleep, The second time running the same channel I had thought I knew it now, and I grounded while on auto pilot and I was forward getting the anchor ready.  If I had an alarm that might have been avoided.  I grounded with the tide going out, listened to the radio and found it was almost low tide so worst case I would float off in the late morning.  I could now motor at full throttle since I had found time the day before to figure out that problem, a salt water cooling hose that run deep in the bilge to the salt water pump looked fine on the outside but was coming apart and plugging on the inside.  I was able to replace the bad portion with stuff removed from the salvage boat using one smaller diameter piece of hose inside as a splice with a couple of house clamps.  My boat had a good stock of misc parts, when adding the salvage stuff I think I've got close to 100 extra hose clamps, I'm guessing a sailboats 2nd most prevalent item must be stainless hose clamps. 

Time to get out of the Semi we are now in Mobile, I offered to buy the driver dinner but he's on a tight schedule can't stop for dinner till after he drops the load north of New Orleans.

I'm now continuing this letter sitting at Beth's, my new friend in Baton Rouge. We will be in SF, Ca next week, she has a meeting early and we will be camping and hiking latter. We are talking about the Chinese New year parade Sunday evening but I have to juggle schedules and make decisions, can't do everything, got a going away party for a sailor here Friday evening at Beth's mom and dad's, got dancing, unloading the salvage diesel and resupply for camping in Ca and Oregon at home, along with Denny's birthday Saturday night and Chinese new years parade in SF Sunday night with a lot of miles in between each of them.  My appointment in Manhattan (home) got canceled so it was OK to spend a few more days making the crossing to Labelle but I didn't know that till I spent a good amount of time on the phone yesterday morning while traveling.

Anyway back to the trip report, For breakfast one of the last days while still 100 miles of the coast I had neufachel cream cheese with grape jelly on English muffins, the cheese kept very well without refrigeration (over a month, it had been traveling with since Connecticut before Xmas, I wasn't expecting much, but it was great). Seems as long it was not opened it's got a good chance of being OK, I think it was even frozen over Xmas.  I'm finding many things that we think need refrigeration often don't.  Soy milk in a box was very good.  I've got refrigeration on the boat but haven't messed with that system yet, a really don't intend on depending on it and the power (AKA money and time) associated with keeping it cold. 

After solving the last problem of the trip, the refilling of the 5 gal fuel cans and believing at the time that it would be the last problem I celebrated with a lunch while motoring across the bay near Fort Meyers. That spread consisted of canned fish steaks in pepper sauce, saltine crackers and pretzel sticks, the last apple and a can of crushed pineapple, and a couple iced oatmeal cookies and chocolate brownies.  When I reached down into the pile of salvage stuff forward of the wheel binnacle in the cockpit (extra head, hoses, pumps, life jackets, and much other misc) to get a bottle of water (a hose filled 2 liter pop bottle) that tastes much better and much less suspicious then the potable (?) water coming out of the faucet from the water tank. I was surprised when I opened it, it released gas, just like a new bottle of pop.  It was new bottle of pop, lemon lime soda, what a way to cap off 7 day celebratory meal at sea, an unexpected bottle of pop.  It doesn't take much to make my day.  I'm sure I've left out many great moments of this trip but these are some of the highlights. 

Plans for next month are for the California trip, then Oregon, finally get that eBay generator I bought 2 years ago (only thing is now I want a diesel one instead of gas) then back to Manhattan for a few days, back to Mobile to get the lead out (that's out of the keel of the salvage boat, no lead in my butt), look at the cliff spiral staircase job, back to the boats to get the old one ready to sell the new one ready to cruise, and make stops all over the country to pick up eBay items, car in NC, trailer hitch in OKC, a couple anchors in St Pete (finally got that eBay plow anchor last week, along with a manta there both new at the factory) an a huge 65# danforth anchor north of Miami, and probably a few other items I can't recall right now.  Got to figure out how the mainsail gets to Manhattan to my industrial sewing machine or a machine gets to it, to make those repairs.

Happy trails, to me, until, we meet, again. 

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I'm in San Fransisco, been here for three days, got here with an unbelievable driving spree, 34 hours of driving in 40 hours starting with no sleep.  The reason for the rush was to meet Beth, friend from Louisiana that was flying in, I was to meet her at the airport and then we would go to the Chinese New Years parade, I made it but two problem arose with those plans, first she was delayed and the airline could give me no info since I wasn't a blood relative, and two the parade was not scheduled for that evening.  Who would have imagined that a new years parade would not be on the new years, the web site certainly didn't suggest anything like that.  The parade will be next week, I might be back in the area then, depends on how much time I spend in Oregon.

Having a good time exploring downtown SF, Beth's meeting is over later today, tomorrow we are camping, not sure exactly where, probably north or east, she suggested Yosemite, might be pretty snowy that way, after all it's still winter around here.  Hard to tell that in the city next to the Ocean.  We will definitely find someplace to go dancing on the weekend and she flies out on Sunday so we will be back in the city then.  I expect a week or so exploring Oregon after that and the back to Kansas for a while.  Talk about attending Mardi Gras soon after that.

After getting to Florida I had a ride almost to Mobile lined up 7 hours after I arrived, so not much sleep caught up on there.  I had to buss or hitch hike the last 200 miles to Mobile, the bus had a 6 hour wait so I stuck my thumb out, got lucky after about an hour, a ride on semi driven by a guy over here from Bosnia, didn't speak very good English, but we had a nice conversation, he dropped me off at the exit closest to the boat and then after a short hike to Wall-Mart, I called the marina owner and he came and got me as he had originally offered, only difference is I was closer, planning to be at the bus station and not Wally World. At the marina I jumped in the car, packed some of the salvage stuff waiting at the marina and headed toward Beth's for the decision on when and how we would meet in SF and if I would stop in Kansas on the way.  We decided I would unload the salvage stuff at her place (marine diesel and other misc) stabilize the diesel, drain water and oil, set it at TDC, etc.  The off to a party and after that leave for Vegas at midnight the beginning of the 40 hour time-line.  I made it, surprised myself as much as anybody, I even took time to have lunch with an SIA friend north of San Antonio.  The reason for the missed Beth pick up, weather in Louisiana and Texas, I sort of had info she might had been on the next flight, I tried to find here there then but we also missed, finally I found her at the hotel.

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I'm in Eureka, Ca, slept in the redwoods last night, hard to imagine a tree can get that big, I'm heading to Oregon to finally get that generator, then exploring the state.  I took a hike this morning in the redwoods and went to a bar last night in a little town south of here.  They had a superbowl party with a spread of food that was super too.  Every drink you bought entered you into a drawing for prizes, I didn't win.  It was good time and met some new friends.  I gave a couple hitch hikers rides yesterday and helped a man whose older mustang ran out of gas.  He was surprised I had turned around on the highway to help somebody.  I was thinking he had along walk to town, turns out there was an emergency phone just for that purpose not far away, he was just finishing the phone call when I got there, but I helped anyway. I gave him a ride back to the car and a gal of gas.  All is well. More later. Had a great time exploring SF and the north coast, never heard from my SIA buddy up here, probably of traveling someplace, like somebody else you know that is never at home.

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I just got an email about some tires I have stored at a friends farm, he needs them moved ASAP. I might have to cut Oregon short and head home.  They are brand new military truck tires I bought at an auction a few years ago, I need to sell them on eBay.  Oregon state parks are great, hot showers are free among other things, you pay to camp but not to visit the park.  Gas is cheaper up here too, I filled up at an indian reservation just before leaving California, it was 12 cents cheaper than what I had seen, Oregon is 20 cents cheaper than that. It seems it always works like that.

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I'm in Sydney, Neb hot footing it home, got to move a bunch of near new army truck tires I bought a long time ago, anybody need some army truck tires, soon they will be on eBay.  Not much time for internet, got stuff typed up on the laptop, will send later.

Also think I might have found out one of the top Enron execs that's in trouble is a good friend from grammar and high school.  Still need to do a little more google search to be sure, heard the name on the radio.  Age and name is right.

(I found out the next day that it's not him, the Enron guy grew up in Neb.)
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I got home early Saturday, slept for a long time and then spend most of the rest of the day on the computer, cleaning up old emails and stuff and doing eBay searches. and visiting with friends in town. Today I continued to visit with friends and then looked at the tire moving problem, I'll get to that tomorrow, it doesn't look to be as big a problem as I remembered but it'll still probably take a couple days, a friend has offered to help. 

The biggest surprise was not much mail in the box, then when I got to inside I found a note from the police, seems like somebody was worried about me and called them, I assume it was the mailman because I think all the neighbors know my schedule or lack of it.  The police had been checking the house every week, they also had been bringing my mail inside to my desk, I didn't figure that out till I opened an old letter that I thought I left on the desk ( Last time I was in a hurry and left unopened mail) it was dated Jan 3rd and I realized I wasn't home since then, that's when I figured the police had been doing that.  I leave the door unlocked, figure no reason locking it, if somebody wants in they will get in, might as well not have them break anything in the process.

My biggest fear when I leave like this is that somebody will steal $300 worth of stuff and then torch the house to cover their tracks, I would loose everything.  It's always very good to see my headlights reflect off the kitchen window as I start down the driveway.   I can't describe that feeling, but it's a good one, very good.  I've even thought about leaving a note to ask them please don't burn the place down, take what you need but please don't destroy everything else I've worked so hard for. It probably wouldn't help.

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I danced Saturday night, it was slow, not really anybody I knew but the workers, once I got a dance at about eleven o'clock then everybody wanted to dance with me, what I thought was unapproachable women on dates, surprised me they asked me to dance, once they knew I could.  Sunday I got ready to move tires, Monday and Tuesday I moved them all, the last load the van broke down, actually I stopped it to reduce damage, knocking bearings, considering it was a $200 3/4 ton van, 5 years ago, and needed to be rebuilt then I'm not complaining.  I just put bearings in it without regrinding the crank, a couple hours work, a $35 fix.  I feel real good to get 10,000 miles and 5 years of occasional use.  Hopefully I can repeat that, worst case I've got another good engine in a different van I used to drive, trannys shot in it.  Actually I've got a couple extra good engines that would bolt in there, but bearings would be faster.  I nursed it as far as it would go, I needed just 6 more miles to finish the tire moving job, but decided it wasn't going to happen, so I walked most the way home, got a ride the last couple miles, took a tow bar back and towed the whole mess home with a 1 ton truck, pulling the 3/4 ton van, pulling the trailer full of tires. I was all dirt back roads, you can do that here in farm country, "if you don't get caught," LOL.

Here's a decent forward I was sent, hope it brings me and you luck.  It's Valentines day we probably all would like to get lucky today........
Subject: Good Luck this year

This is without a doubt one of the nicest good luck forwards I have received. Hope it works for you -- and me!

Lotus Touts: You have 6 minutes

There's some mighty fine advice in these words, even if you're not superstitious. This Lotus Touts has been sent To you for good luck from the Anthony Robbins organization. It has been sent around the world ten times so Far.

Do not keep this message.

The Lotus Touts must leave your hands in 6 MINUTES. Otherwise you will get a very unpleasant surprise. This is true, even if you are not superstitious, agnostic, or otherwise faith impaired.

ONE. Give people more than they expect and do it cheerfully.

TWO. Marry a man/woman you love to talk to. As you get older, their conversational skills will be as important as any other.

THREE. Don't believe all you hear, spend all you have or sleep all you want.

FOUR. When you say, "I love you," mean it.

FIVE. When you say, "I'm sorry," look the person in the eye.

SIX. Be engaged at least six months before you get married.

SEVEN. Believe in love at first sight.

EIGHT. Never laugh at anyone's dreams. People who don't have dreams don't have much.

NINE. Love deeply and passionately. You might get hurt but it's the only way to live life completely.

TEN.. In disagreements, fight fairly. No name calling.

ELEVEN. Don't judge people by their relatives.

TWELVE. Talk slowly but think quickly.

THIRTEEN. When someone asks you a question you don't want to answer, smile and ask, "Why do you want to know?"

FOURTEEN. Remember that great love and great achievements involve great risk
.

FIFTEEN. Say "bless you" when you hear someone sneeze.

SIXTEEN. When you lose, don't lose the lesson

SEVENTEEN. Remember the three R's: Respect for self; Respect for others; and responsibility for all your actions.

EIGHTEEN. Don't let a little dispute injure a great friendship.

NINETEEN. When you realize you've made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.

TWENTY. Smile when picking up the phone. The caller will hear it in your voice.

TWENTY-ONE. Spend some time alone.

Now, here's the FUN part!
Send this to at least 5 people and your life will improve. 1-4 people: Your life will improve slightly.
5-9 people: Your life will improve to your liking.
9-14 people: You will have at least 5 surprises in the next 3 weeks

15 and above: Your life will improve drastically and everything you ever dreamed of will begin to take shape.

A true friend is someone who reaches for your hand and touches your heart. Do not keep this message