Road Trip, Not Boat Trip

The open road beckoned us. (Desert along the California/Arizona border).

We are on the road – not the water.  We and Layla were ready, really ready to head south.  Packed and prepared as we were, the persistent and contrary south and southwest winds continued to discourage our plans.  It was obvious that unless we wanted to slog through uncomfortable seas, primarily motoring, this was not the time to go.  Hurricane season, July and August intense heat, contrary winds and seas, and the beckoning of cool mountain breezes persuaded us to abandon the plans for heading south on Layla this summer.

Layla was ready to go- all dressed up and nowhere to go. We decided “not now”.

The decision set in motion many tasks including off-loading perishables and valuable/vulnerable stuff from Layla, and moving Layla back to the boat yard and once again, putting her “on the hard” (boat speak for putting a boat on stands out of the water).  After all of the efforts to get Layla and us ready to go south over these many months, we had to undo some of it.

Coincident with the decision not to go south on Layla by water was the decision to go north and west by land.  Last year we took a road trip in the old Ranger pickup to the Canadian Maritime Provinces to escape the doldrums of July and August.  Inspired by that trip, we are now traveling across the US and part of Canada, in a leisurely circle to visit state, provincial, and national parks, monuments, memorials, mountains, prairies, deserts and seashores, as well as friends and family along the way. 

Sunset from our camp above Caples Lake near Carson Pass, California.

Campfires are our primary evening entertainment.

What is our plan?  We want to keep the travel simple with an open itinerary.  We are guided by the desire to spend nights in the open, with mornings awoken by the chatter of the local critters.  We envision days filled with journeys to a canyon, or river, or stream, or glacier, or mountain, or one of the many wonders of the land.  If we can get there via a small country road, the travel is even better.  We hope to be surprised every day.

This adventure demanded something more substantial than the Mini.

The Tacoma pickup is well-suited for the extended road trip.

Within about a week after we had Layla safely secured back on land, we had traded in the Mini Cooper and bought a Toyota Tacoma pickup.  It was apparent that neither the old Ranger pickup or the Mini were up to the task of this planned trip, which would easily total thousands of miles based almost entirely on tent camping.  The Tacoma seemed worthy of the plan.  We packed again, this time for land travel with gas stove, tent, sleeping bags, and lots of camping gear.

We also jumped into the 21^st century to upgrade our phone and phone carrier to keep us better connected on the road.  We now are able to text, and now see the wisdom behind this means of communication.  We apologize to all of you for taking so long to embrace this technology!

Our route to date, highlighted in red, roams across the states and into Canada. 

We have been on the road since July 13^th and have logged over 9,000 miles on meandering travel across 15 states and two Canadian provinces.  We are now in Tucson, Arizona for family visits and re-provisioning.

We sought glaciers, cool mountain air, breathtaking vistas and winding roads and found them here along the Icefield Parkway, Alberta, Canada.

One of the many charming critters, a chipmunk, we met along the route.

Icefield Parkway, Alberta, Canada

We have some time and good internet now and expect to make a number of retrospective blog postings to re-cap some of our adventures.  While by some comparisons, this road trip may not be considered an epic journey, it has been one filled with stunning landscapes, amusing and fascinating wildlife, interesting people, blue highways, lessons on “roughing it”, and the remarkable wisdom behind the efforts to preserve the beauty and the wonder of the natural world in the national/provincial parks.  

Oh, and one more thing- we are not done yet!   

The Next Phase

A message sent from Bud’s sister.

OK.  We get it.  We have been here on land a long time.  Some of you think it has been too long.  We get that.  We have lots of reasons for being marooned here in North Carolina.  The cold weather played a primary role.  And since we had some choice in the matter, we chose to stay until the weather turned.  We simply did not want to head South, despite the promise of warmer weather…….eventually.  We knew from our previous trip to Florida and the Keys, we would have to endure a very cold cockpit without an enclosure.  We went month to month on the slip on the waterfront in Beaufort, always having the option to leave if we saw a good weather window.  We didn’t.

Looking out of our back door in the middle of February, the thought of heading out with Layla in an exposed, open cockpit was not inviting.

Our second major reason was that we wanted to get our old house in shape as we wanted to have an option that once we headed out, it would in good repair for a house sitter or renter.  Just as projects on the boat were never as they first appear, our historic house (the Sarah Fisher Holland Dennis house ca. 1859) was the same.  

Owning a historic house comes with its pluses (great character) and minuses (maintenance - ie. work, work, work).

The simple replacement of a piece of deteriorated siding became the replacement of 400 linear feet of siding, and then priming and painting. On the positive side, we marveled that outside painting is far easier than inside – even when part of the painting had to be done from 25 feet up on a ladder.  

Replacing one rotten board expanded to replacing nearly one quarter of the siding on the north east side of the house.

Repairing the siding gave us an ‘opportunity’ to paint the south and east side of the house as well.  Don’t you love how these projects grow?

Then there was the repair of the 23 year old wash machine and installing duct work under the house for a dryer vent.  The old dryer vent through the roof had been eliminated with the new roof.  Oh yeah, we put on a new roof too.

The repair of the washer and dryer produced more chaos. 

With the washer and dryer out of the closet, we had an ‘opportunity’ to paint.

We won’t bore you with all the other tasks, but believe us, we tackled some daunting tasks.  And we have been busy.

So where are we now?  The house is in good shape, the wash machine still likes to dance to the Beach Boys “Good Vibrations”, but we can live with that.  And Layla, she looks pretty good. The new canvas additions Tracy sewed during those dark cold winter days have transformed Layla.  Engine oil is changed, fuel tanks have been cleaned, and new fuel filters are installed.  The water maker has a new membrane and pumps out good fresh water made from salt water –almost  magic.

We are now repacking Layla with a selection of all the things we removed and put in piles throughout the house over the past months.

Some of the organized chaos we are sorting to pack Layla’s ‘stuff’.

It felt so good to finally bring aboard Layla’s stuff to make her a home again.  Here Bud is passing me the cushions for the salon. 

We expect to take Layla out on a check-out of the autopilot, the new wind instrument, and other upgrades within the next few days.  We may go to Cape Lookout to anchor as well.

Our plans?  We expect to join our Australian friends to head South in the next couple weeks to the Bahamas.  Stay tuned for the update. 

Splash -- Layla's in the Water!

After 1 1/2 years in the boatyard, Layla takes the plunge.

The ‘to do’ list has finally dwindled to those tasks that will be addressed with Layla in the water.  Layla was ready to go into the water.

We scheduled the boat lift for 9:00 am.  Before the lift arrived, folks from Beaufort Marine and our new friends from the boatyard, Mark and Kate, surprised us with a breakfast and gifts as we stood next to Adam’s Creek - the waterway we would soon travel to a slip we rented on Taylor’s Creek in Beaufort.  Although this was only a short trip from the boatyard to the slip, everyone there knew this was nonetheless a big deal.  After a year and a half “on the hard”, Layla was going in the water.

Our friend Kate (left) and others from Beaufort Marine Center celebrate our departure with homemade strata, donuts, bagels, and tea.

In the water, Layla’s engine started after the first crank.  Layla purred.  But, as Layla has always been a bit of a drama queen, within ten minutes, she protested with white smoke and then the engine died.  We had a problem.

Since we had asked our great cruising friend, Fred, to join us, we had added confidence that we could troubleshoot.  The most likely culprit was contaminated the diesel fuel. We changed three fuel filters, and then re-learned how to “bleed” the lines.  We had discussed cleaning the fuel and the tanks with various people before putting Layla in the water.  Considering the cost and effort which would still demand that we would likely have to change filters and bleed the fuel lines anyway, we were talked out of the fuel cleaning.

We started the engine once again and looked forward to about an hour and a half of motoring to the Beaufort waterfront.  After about a mile and a half we checked our fuel consumption of the two fuel tanks and decided to switch to the starboard tank - Bad idea. Within two minutes the engine died.  We dropped the anchor, and then removed the filters once again.  After switching back to the port tank and the second filter, and bleeding the system, the motor started.

We reasoned that we should simply turn around and get new fuel in the port tank rather than risking the chance of clogged filters/fuel lines again.  About an hour later, we had filled the port tank and we were back on our way to putting Layla in her new slip.

We expected an hour and a half cruise down the Intracoastal Waterway to Beaufort.  It was a gorgeous day, even with  the trip taking six hours.

Fred and Bud enjoy the ride to Beaufort.  All's well that ends well.

 

 

The trip that should have been only about an hour and a half ended up being about six hours.  Layla is a big girl with a wide beam and the slip was a tight fit.  But it was quite a relief after a stressful day on the water.  Layla was back in her element, and we were excited to see her there.

Layla looks more at home here than in the boatyard.

It didn’t take more than 24 hours for the weather to change, with a low pressure from the southwest bringing gusts up to 40 knots.  After checking on her at 2 am and a fitful sleep, we knew we needed to find a better slip.  Fortunately, the slip adjacent to us was available and about two feet wider.  Within five minutes of maneuvering and line changes, Layla was snuggled in her new home.  This was the slip for her.

Now the new phase has begun.  We are excited about what is next.  Now when we see Layla on the water and in her slip, we can really see this is going to happen.