We’re usually busy in the mornings, when the sun is shining in the backyard with views of the mountains. But in the afternoon, when it’s time to unwind, we have the sun streaming into the front yard. We’ve turned into garage people, where the weather is fine and the views are beautiful.
Strolling the gritty, mean streets of Green Valley. Grammy has quickly gone from bedridden, to walking across the room with me holding her up, to getting around with a walker, to a 4-wheel walker, and is now able to walk on her own (mostly still using a walker for safety, though). Numerous times in December we were all sure she wouldn’t make it. In January we weren’t sure she would ever get out of bed again. And in February we’re walking around the neighborhood. Her mind is also 100% back to normal. All in all, pretty remarkable.
Building a tiny terrarium.
Bridget has a favorite spot in the garage, too.
With Grammy on the mend, Ali gave me the go-ahead to get back to the boat for a few days. While a lot of cruisers are setting off for the South Pacific right about now, our plans have had a 3-month monkey wrench thrown in them. Now we have to figure out if we can put things back on track or not.
While this may not have been the number one job on the to-do list, it was no less important. Bumfuzzle finally got her name.
The nice thing about going alone to work on the boat is the ability to tear things apart and leave them torn apart for days at a time. Running the wiring for new solar panels was a major job. Threading wiring through areas that were sealed off when the boat was first built is not nearly as easy as it should be. The only way to run the new wires was to unhook a current solar panel, tie a string to the end of its wires, and pull them back out into the ceiling so I could then tie the new wires on and pull it all back through the walls.
This hatch is above the cockpit with nothing important underneath it, so its leaking wasn’t really a top priority for me. I eventually tackled the job because I figured it would be about a one hour job and it would feel good to cross something off the list. Instead, I discovered that someone had use the devil’s glue (3M 5200) on it. It took ages to pry it up. 5200 is designed to keep things from ever coming loose, but it always fails miserably at its other objective, which is keeping water out. To make matters even worse, instead of doing the work to repair it right, someone had tried to put a bead of silicone around the edge after it had started dripping on their head. Even with both of those, the water came right through. I can’t believe that once upon a time I wouldn’t be caught dead without a couple tubes of 5200 on the boat. Now I would never allow the stuff anywhere near my boat. For a hatch like this there is no substitute, in my opinion, for Butyl tape.
No, our underwater lights aren’t green, they’re white.
I didn’t have a car, but in Mexico that little detail doesn’t stop me from going to Home Depot and buying an 8′ sheet of plywood. Took about two minutes for a taxi to roll in ready to strap things to his roof.
Replacing a ceiling panel in Ouest’s room thanks to another leaky hatch. We found that leak right when we moved aboard, along with a handful of others, and had already sealed it up. The ceiling panel damage had already been done, though.
I got a few other projects knocked off the list. The bilge flooding from the last visit had ruined some wiring and a couple of pumps. Those got fixed, so the kids’ bathroom is open for business again. Some new lighting which required cutting the old holes 1/4 inch wider. Easy, but oh so messy. Dinghy floor’s paint scraped, sanded, and painted. I also moved a bunch of wiring and hoses for the watermaker. When they installed it they seem to have just taken the absolute easiest route for the install. They had wires running right up the outside of walls and into ceiling panels. The watermaker is underneath Ouest’s bed, so all of this wiring was scattered around her room. I cleaned it up, hiding it in walls and bilges, all nice and tidy.
In addition, I started the watermaker for the first time. It’s a Rainmaker system and overall I was pretty impressed. It was very easy to use. Push the power button and turn the pressure valve slowly, test the output water, and switch the valve to the water tank. It was making over 40 gallons per hour. My only concern is power consumption. Its high pressure pump is massively hungry. Looks like about 125ah. It doesn’t look like it will be realistic to make water at anchor without running an engine (we don’t have a generator). This means we’ll always plan on making water when we’re motoring somewhere, but will have to do some planning when we’re at anchor for more than a couple of days. After playing around with that I pickled the system, allowing it to sit until we need it again.
After a few days it was time to go. Somehow, I had managed to let my driver’s license expire. With how often I rent a car, that wasn’t going to work. Especially when the only reason I knew about it was the rental car company’s app letting me know it had expired. MN wouldn’t let me renew online, so off I went to spend a few hours in the great white north.
And, one week later, I was back in Arizona hiking around Madera Canyon with the kids. Seemed like a busy week, but it paled in comparison to the week Ali had. Lot going on with Grammy right now, but we’ll talk about that later. For the time being, everyone is doing well and looking forward to the future.
14 Comments on “Pressing On”
Glad to see your Mum recovering so well.
Hope all is well with Grammy!
It is so stupid MN won’t renew online. My college kid just had to make the trek north to renew his and we discovered the same issue (he is only in Iowa, but still, it was near 200 miles, roundtrip, missing class, etc.).
The pictures all look so nice and WARM and sunny.
I hope Grammy continues to get better.
That Grammy of yours comes from strong stock! Continue to get better!
For watermaker power you might consider a Honda 2200 generator. Yea, another fuel to carry.
That’s what we did on the Grand Banks. We have zero interest in doing that again.
I thought your Porsche was frying left taillights every 2000 miles until I read the entries as “lube + oil” instead of “L tail”. My inner-wrencher is deeply embarrassed. 🙂
Go Grammy, go! Don’t stop moving…! Well done… Goodonyas!
The gritty mean streets of Green Valley. Ha! Why not just switch to an AZ dl?
Wonderful that your Mom is doing so much better. My Mom is 84 and somehow has avoided Covid. The odds are not in her favor. We keep our fingers crossed that when she eventually gets it the case will be mild.
I have a mental picture of your last trip south to the boat laden with boxes and bags of new gear for your many projects. It doesn’t matter if you own a house or a boat. There will always be a project list.
All the best on planning your next adventure. Whatever it may be.
Great to see Grammy taking a walk with you! That is real progress!
Your mom is a tough one. God bless her too. Glad she is on the mend and the boat is progressing. Stay the course, safe travels.
Its been a while since I wrote. Still reading your post after many years. We were the Canadians that purchased the Travco and began roaming. Thats now a 43 ft 1999 diesel pusher with updates. The North Coast of the DR is where we call home. Head back to the RV in summer to see family & friends.
In the next year we will rent out the property and kick around Europe by train.
I wanted to share I always had interest in your financial skill sets. After selling off our property at the height of craziness went in search of competent money management to work with. We gave all of the big banks a scenario. Through many contacts in the financial community located an independent after tons of research and due diligence and provided the same. The independent outperformed x 2.
The old adage if it’s too good to be true…..but after more consultation we became clients.
When I began following your family some 8 years past it was evident our path forward relied on our decision and not the consensus of the masses. That has served us well in large part thanks to people like yourselves we adopted. You demonstrated moving about outside of your comfort zone takes dreaming, daring, tenacity and experience.
When Covid hit most gringos thought the island the best prescription. Fresh air, sunshine ect. And yet when the Canadian govt ordered subjects home or health care and travel insurance would be voided the exodus began.
We remained. We witnessed from afar the leaders of countries challenged by decision making. I’m not blaming but rather pointing out who really knows, Whose right and wrong ect.
In closing we have found a balanced lifestyle here on the North Coast. We play ball hockey 2 x weekly thinking any week now the hockey gods will find us. We sit and marvel as little kids to grandparents surfing the waves. I run into people hanging around the colmado after surfing the morning and listening to their life stories. All of this goes against the grain of working for most of a lifetime and preparing for retirement. Of course you know this narrative..I’m preaching to the choir. I send this update for it was your exploits that presented an option to people like me…..find the courage and move forward. Remain curious. We found the child-like features we were born with…. to admire with eyes wide open, learn, and listen, be better.
If by any chance you find yourself hanging around Luperon pls reach out. Not sure if you know Trio Travels but they settled here. Currently operating Pizza PI in Christian Bay. In the summer we are on lake Huron across the bridge from Port Huron MI. if you find yourselves cruising this way don’t hesitate. paul
Peace & Love to your family.
Paul { Pablo } Tessier
One of those “it’s a small world things”, I guess, but my wife and I are headed to Madera Canyon from Arkansas in early April. Fun to see you guys enjoying it. Have you seen or heard an Elegant Trogan? I hear the Carrie Nation Mine trail is the best place to look. Glad to hear Grammy is improving.