The reason we didn’t write about our adventures on Traveling Soul this summer is because …
well … we didn’t have many adventures on Traveling
Soul. The most important adventures
we had this summer were ashore and away from the boat. Here is a quick summary.
In May, while our boat was still in Oriental, NC, we rented
a car, drove to Northern VA and attended a retirement party for one of my last professional
mentors, Andrew Marshal. Those of you who are in the national security business
might know, or might have heard, of Andy and the Office of Net Assessment. I
worked there for several years while on active duty and even longer as a
contractor in support. Anyway, Andy is truly a legend in the Defense Department
and I could tell you a hundred stories about his tenure – but most are so
classified that I would then have to kill you and someone would have to kill
me. So, let’s not go down that particular path. For those of you who are not
affiliated with DoD and know nothing about Andy, let me just say that he is,
and has always been, a strategist’s strategist and one who spoke “truth to
power” to more Secretaries of Defense than most of us could name. He was and
remains a national treasure.
The other great aspect of Andy’s retirement party was that I
had a chance to see many of the folks with whom I had worked while at SAIC. I
am not going to list all of them for fear of accidently omitting someone, but
it was fun seeing so many of the young men and women that I had hired – or to
whom I had given an initial work experience – and who have since developed into
national security professionals. It was also great seeing the folks who were my
colleagues back then – including and especially my former bosses Jeff McKitrick
and Jim Blackwell. Good luck and God Bless, guys. I hope we meet again.
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| Picture from the Aerial Tramway |
In June, after returning to the Chesapeake, we left the boat
in the capable hands of Rick Nissan for repairs and upkeep, and headed out west
to visit our west coast family.
Initially we stayed with my mom in Tucson, AZ. We then went to visit our
daughter, Lisa, her husband Dave and our three grandchildren, Nik, Maddie and
Trent, in Twenty-nine Palms, CA. Now, I wouldn’t say Twenty-nine Palms is in
the middle of nowhere, but you pass Death Valley to get there. I’m just sayin’.
Anyway, while there, we not only visited the kids, but Lisa took us on the Palm
Springs Aerial Tramway, which took us from an elevation of 2643 feet to 8516
feet in ten minutes! It was hot as Hades in the Valley and downright chilly at
the top. All in all, it was a great trip. After that, Ann went to Portland,
Oregon to see her mother and sister while I came back to check on boat repair
progress.
Now I am convinced that this blog has four types of readers.
The first three are: family and friends who are interested in what we are doing
(and trying to figure out why in the
hell we are doing it), boaters who are trying to determine if they want to
follow in our footsteps, and finally, those who kind of enjoy our retirement
antics. There has to be, however, a fourth type – the orthopedic surgeons (and
their groupies) who track the progress of my Achilles Tendon. I am sure they
had a betting line on whether or not I would need a fifth surgery this summer. I
have to tell you that it was close. It wasn’t until May or June that it became
clear to me that there was yet another batch of pseudomonas bacteria on the
attack. So, the answer is … (drum roll please) … “Yes,” I spent another week at
the National Military Medical Center at Walter Reed and another six weeks aboard
Traveling Soul with a PICC line in my
arm, using various types of walking devices (crutches, a walking boot, etc.) to
get around. I know, I know, this is getting old, right?
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| Gavin's Birthday aboard Traveling Soul |
Okay, I know what the rest of you are waiting for. You want
to know what we had done to the boat this year. The answer is, “a lot.”
Actually, that’s not quite right. There weren’t that many things, but together
they cost a lot of Boat Units. I am just going to give you a few highlights.
· The front of the flybridge had developed a number
of “micro-cracks” in the gelcoat. It didn’t happen because of anything anyone did,
it was simply the result of 25 years of exposure to the Florida (and Virginia)
sunshine. The repair folks had to sand, epoxy, sand, then paint the front of
the bridge. The cost? Lots.
· Part of the deck of the flybridge had become
discolored and ugly. We had them re-gelcoat the deck. The cost? Not quite as
much as the paint job, but still, lots.
· Left unattended, the bottom of any boat can
develop algae, barnacles and all sorts of growth that slows the boat and is generally
yucky. As a result, every other year (or so) boat owners either paint, or have painted
the bottom of their hulls with special paint. This was our year for
bottom-painting. Cost … not THAT bad (comparatively).
· There were a few places where it leaked into the
salon (living room) when we had a rain storm. I think those are pretty well
fixed.
· We had a couple of things done to the generator
– and it is causing us a lot fewer problems now. We also changed our starting
procedure. We used to press the preheat button for about 10 seconds before
hitting the “start” switch. The preheat button heats up the glow plugs,
increases the oil pressure, and starts the fuel flowing. It recently occurred
to me that our problem might be that we were flooding the engine with too much
fuel, so I started pressing the preheat for five seconds rather than 10. You
know what? So far so good (knock on wood).
· Finally, we made one major IMPROVEMENT, rather
than just a repair. We added two big 150 amp alternators to the engines. Alternators
generate electricity that can be used, inter
alia, to charge batteries. Long time readers will recall that we have
always had electrical issues of one sort or another – usually associated with
getting enough electricity to the batteries. In turn, that meant we had to run
the generator a lot. With a couple of big alternators, we do not have to run
the generator as much.
o
Now, the boat had alternators previously – but
they were rated at only 40 amps, which wasn’t very much. Moreover, there was an
even bigger problem – they were both broken. Well, we decided to have the
alternators replaced with two 150 amp alternators. Now, 150 amps is something! (Remember
the Tim Allen TV show? “More power! … hehehe”). Anyway, many of our electrical problems
have now been solved. When we run the engines to move the boat from one point
to another, our batteries arrive at the new location fully charged!!!
o
The new alternators have solved a second problem
– what to do on the case of generator failure. If you will recall, our
generator has failed twice, once outside of Georgetown, SC and once at Great
Sale Cay in the Bahamas. In each instance we had to get to a marina quickly
before all the food in our refrigerator went bad. Now, all we need to do is
crank up the engines and let the alternators charge the batteries and that will
take care of the problem.
o
The one big problem that the new alternators do
not solve is when we are sitting at an anchorage for more than one day. At
anchor, we still drain more power than I want, and are likely to have to use
the generator more than once a day. We will address that problem later this
winter – in the Bahamas.
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| Dolphins playing in the wake of Traveling Soul |
Rather than always write her own notes, Ann has decided,
once in a while, to let Spot have a corner of the blog. So, without further ado
… here’s Spot.
Remember: Dogs have Masters; Cats have Staff
Meeoowww … I have a pet peeve that I must get off my chest. My name is Spot, but some people use "nicknames." For example, Dave Wolf – one
of my associate staff likes to call me Spot-o-saurus. That makes it sound like I can be like a dinosaur. Good heavens, I am a nearly perfect cat -- not a lizard!! The male member of my staff sometimes calls me Spotticus. Sorry,
kind of boring. Since no one will come up with one that I like, I think I will make up my own. Personally, I like, and think I will use Spot the Magnificent.
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| Spot the Magnificent on the aft deck |
I am nearly one year old and over that year, I have seen
things that few felines ever get to see. I have seen all kind of birds, big ones,
little ones, fast ones and slow ones. I have seen dolphins – dozens of
dolphins. I have seen sunrises and sunsets like you wouldn’t believe and I have
seen birds – did I mention that already? I have seen boats and bugs. In fact, I
am becoming renown for my bug catching ability. I also chase windshield wipers
and ping pong balls.
Anyway, this is my first entry and, unlike my staff, I don’t want to write too much and bore you, so I think I’ll call it quits so the male can get this published.
Anyway, this is my first entry and, unlike my staff, I don’t want to write too much and bore you, so I think I’ll call it quits so the male can get this published.
And since the female staff member is not here …
Traveling Soul … Out
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