[Rhodes22-list] Seattle or Bust

[Wally Buck]

Rik,

Glad it all worked out. I am curious; had you acutally seen the boat prior 
to this? I hope she met or exceeded all of your expectations!!

Wally






>From: Rik Sandberg <sanderico@earthlink.net>
>Reply-To: sanderico@earthlink.net,The Rhodes 22 mail list 
><rhodes22-list@rhodes22.org>
>To: The Rhodes 22 mail list <rhodes22-list@rhodes22.org>
>Subject: [Rhodes22-list] Seattle or Bust
>Date: Sun, 23 Mar 2003 11:44:20 -0600
>
>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
>
>--
>Using M2, Opera's revolutionary e-mail client: http://www.opera.com/m2/
>_________________________________________________
>Use Rhodes22-list@rhodes22.org, Help? www.rhodes22.org/list


_________________________________________________________________
The new MSN 8: advanced junk mail protection and 2 months FREE*  
http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail