Our boat gets wet

Odometer  36043
Trip Miles  200 miles

July 11, 2013

Back on the coast, after a quick trip to Medford for dental checkups, and visiting with friends.  We feel like we were caught in a whirlwind, making lists every day to get everything done and still have time with friends.

One of the things we had to do is to arrange for a U-Haul truck to take our belognings from storage in Medford to our new house in Port Orford.  When we sold our house in Medford, we thought we were being very clever and had a POD delivered.  The POD is essentially a storage container which you fill and it gets taken to a storage yard until you buy a new house and then it is delivered to that new house.  Or at least that's the way it should work.  When Joan called to arrange delivery she was told that they don't "service this area"  Another way of saying you'll have to rent a truck and unload everything from your POD and take it to Port Orford yourself.  We were astonished!  They'll deliver to Portland 250 miles away, but not to Port Orford only 188 miles away- not even for an additional fee.  We are not pleased. (end of rant)

We really enjoyed connecting with our friends in Medford, and we will do this often for sure.


On our way back to the coast, Joan drove our second car and towed our row boat, while Jeff drove the motorhome.


We kept in touch with a pair of FRS radios.  Our second car is a Suzuki X-90, a small two-place car that Suzuki  imported to the US from 1995 to 1998.  It is really unique in that it was a fully loaded car body on a Suzuki Sidekick chassis.  The car is equipped with options like A/C, 4WD, Auto trans, ABS, Security System, Glass removable T-tops, Cruise, Air bags, It is towble 4 wheels down and the list goes on.  What a hoot to drive- and it's a conversation starter at all RV parks when we tow it.

We stopped in Brookings to visit briefly with our good friend Mark, and he offered Jeff another cooked crab!  Yeah!   Joan, who doesn't care for crab, got some fish and chips at the Hungry Clam on our way north. (she shared with me!)

We got back to Port Orford at 8 PM and slid back into our regular space at the Port Orford RV Village, and hooked up the utilities in time to get in a short walk before dark.

Sunday morning, we were up early and Joan helped me get the boat into the lake at the Pinehurst boat ramp.

We had to row the boat across the lake before it sunk on us- so Joan's job was to run the bilge pump on the trip across.  Okay that needs some explanation.  This is a real wood lapstrake boat and they leak badly when they are dry- and ours was bone dry.  As the wood takes up water the boards swell together and hold out water a lot better.  

Joan did well and we made it with about 6" of freeboard to spare.  

When we arrived off shore from the lake acces by our new house, Jeff rowed back out and dropped the anchor and attached the Anchor Buddy to the anchor chain.   The Anchor Buddy is essentially an enormous bungee that allows you to hook up- row into shore- and then let the boat go back out to it's mooring.  A rope to the shore lets you pull the boat back in.  

We left it floating, mostly full of water to soak.  By Wednesday we should be able to bail it out and it will stay reasonably dry as long at we leave it in the water.

Tomorrow we plan to drive to Gold Beach to fill out paperwork on the home sale, and Jeff wants to get his fishing license.

Your Traveling Friends,

Joan and Jeff