[Rhodes22-list] Seattle or Bust

[Rik Sandberg]

Hello All,

Well, the official sensus of the sailboat population in Long Prairie, MN 
shows that it has doubled, as recently as yesterday. No, there aren't any 
more sailors than there were 2 days ago, but there are twice as many boats. 
:-)

Sandy and I left a week ago Friday, bound for Seattle to pick up our new 
(old) Pacific Seacraft, Flicka. Arrived in Seattle about noon (Seattle 
time) on Sunday. The weather on the trip out was mostly beautiful and the 
scenery, once you get about 3/4 of the way across North Dakota, was mostly 
awe inspiring. Sandy's eyes were like saucers for most of the trip as she 
tried to take it all in. She'd never been further west than Butte, Montana 
before and was pretty much spellbound by the beauty and just plain hugeness 
(new word here?) of it all. For those who have never been there, I would 
certainly recommend a road trip through the upper Northwest. You will get a 
whole new perspective on your size versus the size of the world around you. 
It's true, they don't call Montana "Big Sky Country" for nothing. This 
pretty much fits Idaho and Washington as well.

Anyway, We saw the folks at Seacraft Yacht Sales on Sunday afternoon and 
got the keys for the boat. They were very nice and told us to make our self 
at home and use their facilities for as long as it took to make the 
arrangement for our haulout and to get ready for the trip back to 
Minnesota. They made us the loan of an electric heater and offered the use 
of shorepower so that we could stay aboard during our stay there. We were 
very pleased to accept this hospitality, since we were to learn that, while 
the food and especially the coffee are excellent and plentiful in Seattle 
and the choices of national origins are almost limitless, inexpensive is 
not a word that seems to be part of their vocabulary. Having to pay for 
motel rooms as well would have rubbed this old cheapskate, quite harshly, 
the wrong way. :-) Besides, there are not really many places to stay right 
along the waterfront in that area and commuting back and forth would have 
been a real PITA. You can't believe the traffic out there. Makes Chicago 
seem quite tame.

We hiked down, a couple miles around the point, to CSR Yacht Services on 
Monday morning to make arrangement with them for taking down our mast and 
lifting our new child onto her newly built (built it mysef) cradle/trailer. 
We found that it would be Thusday morning before this would happen. We 
didn't mind, as neither of us had ever been to Seattle before and we sorta 
wanted to take a couple days to look around a little. So, on Tuesday we 
made arrangements to take a bus tour of the city. We had an excellent time 
on this tour and saw Seattle from almost every angle and height. We also 
saw that we will not be able to afford to live there soon, if ever. :-) But 
the tour guide was very nice and very knowledgable and he showed us some 
things we could do and even explained how we could get around quite easily 
on the city buses. Believe me, you don't want to drive your car there if 
you don't have to. The traffic is just crazy and the parking is even worse. 
And, with all the hills and water, nothing is layed out straight, so it's 
kinda hard to get a feel for the "lay of the land". The tour got done about 
1 pm so we spent the afternoon walking around a thing called Pike's Place 
Market which is just chock full of restaurants, an open fish market and 
different artsy and craftsy type places. Had lunch there in a tiny little 
bistro named Matt's. Matt is a pretty good chef, by the way. He was able to 
turn a turkey sandwich into a culinary event. Then we wandered around a 
little more and bought an extra blanket (it was cold at night), then used 
our new found knowledge to ride the bus back to our marina on the other 
side of town. Then, on Wednesday, it rained, and rained and just about the 
time the sky would lighten and we thought it might stop. You guessed it, it 
rained some more. It wasn't a hard rain, just that kind of rain that is 
enough to keep you soaked and shivering, if you're out in it. So we just 
pretty much stayed in the boat and listened to a "book on tape". We did go 
out to a restaurant in the evening called Chinook's. This is located next 
to the commercial fishing wharfs and while you are eating you can sit and 
look over the hundreds of fishing vessels that are docked there. We both 
had Dungeness Crab. Sandy had a whole crab, and I had crab cakes. Lord, it 
was good, not inexpensive, but way good. I would recommend a visit to this 
place if you are ever in Seattle.

So, to get to the end of this thing. We drove the pickup and trailer over 
to CSR on Thursday morning and walked back to the marina to get the boat. 
We then drove the boat over to CSR and were just a tick early for our 10 am 
appointment. The guys at CSR were quite efficient and had the boat ready to 
pull, lifted by crane and set on the trailer in about an hour. Then we 
spent another couple hours tying her down and trussing her up for the 1600 
mile jaunt back to Minnesota. By 3 pm (Seattle time) we were ready to go, 
just in time to beat rush hour.

The trip back went very well and I am happy to report no shortage of tongue 
weight, so the trailer towed amazingly well at any speed I chose to tow (up 
to 80 mph a couple of times when I wasn't watching close enough). I was a 
little nervous about the snowstorms that had hit Colorado so hard, but it 
seemed to have all stayed to the south of our route and all the passes were 
clear and ice free. The only weather we encountered in the high country was 
a little bit of rain and fog as we went up the west side of Snoqualmie 
Pass. Again, we ooo'd and aaahhh'd as we rolled though this breathtaking 
terrain. It is truly hard to describe the beauty and ruggedness of this 
area. It inspired a much greater respect for the bravery and tenacity of 
the folks who first settled these areas with nothing but a horse and wagon. 
It is just hard to imagine how they ever did it. Tough people, to put it 
mildly.

Drove pretty much straight through until I got to Jametown, North Dakota 
and decided I wanted a nice hot shower and a good nights sleep. Got up on 
Saturday morning, partook of the "continental" breakfast (I think we are 
becoming fans of Holiday Inn Express) and ran the last couple hundred miles 
in to the house. Got home about 12:30 pm. It was a really fun trip, but 
it's good to be back home again. The round trip was 3217 miles.

Rik

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