September back to the boat

We had planned on taking a trip in September to make sure the boat had survived the summer and it also gave a good excuse to be at the boat.  We left Boise Friday around noon on the 4th and headed east, well south and then east.  The trip coincided with the start of Labor Day weekend and we saw the affect of that between Ogden Utah and Evanston Wyoming.  The amount of traffic and how slow everyone moved was a worry but after Evanston things thinned and we made good time.  It was a nice day/evening for a drive

The van was packed but we had a good bed above the cargo and it allowed one of us to sleep while the other was driving.  

We made good time and pulled into Severn Yachting Center on Sunday morning around 4 am. After a short nap we checked on the condition of the boat, still standing and looking good. It needed a good cleaning and so Kris worked on the inside and Dean started on the outside. A short lunch and the boat was starting to look good again, all good things have to have some hiccups. Kris heard a yell and came out to see Dean on the ground, had been on a ladder, saying I'm ok but thought otherwise. Dean had fallen off the six foot ladder and landed on the back of his right shoulder. A couple of hours later Dean agreed to go see a Doc in the box to make sure. After an examine and x-ray it was determined that Dean had a bruise/tear in his shoulder AC joint. Well that slowed the weeks plans down somewhat. Even though Dean fell on his back the front of his shoulder showed signs of injury, nothing a few pills of ibuprofen didn't help. Dean also had some stronger muscle relaxant pills but it really made him sleepy and out of it so other than at bed time didn't use it.

So with Kris doing the heavy lifting the rest of the week went with long days and not all the work getting completed.  We did get the mast info sent to Mack Sails where we purchased new standing rigging and Tides sail track.  This was the major reason for the trip to make sure we knew size and length of the standing rigging because it had not been replaced in the last 15 years.  We did get the new Excel anchor on the bow roller, it looks good.  We worked on the mast getting some of the aluminum/paint issues fixed.  The props got painted and put back on.  We inflated the dingy and moved the outboard engine out of the cockpit and onto the dingy where it should be.  We had removed the old name from the boat last time and it would not do to leave the boat with out it's proper name and home port.

So after a short/long week we left on the 11th and traveled back to Boise.  It is only 2,500 miles each way and takes 40 hours.  The GPS said 37 hours but that doesn't take into account gas, food, rest stops.  The gas stations all required masks to be worn and all the drive thru were open.  Overall it was a good trip.