Penn Valley

Saturday afternoon to Sunday morning: visiting with Maria. Great food, talk, a little wine, music that makes you want to dance in the evening. A warm fire, women's magazines, hot coffee, and more talk in the morning. BFF!!

Back to Guaymas

This morning Dick began a 24-hour bus ride to Guaymas. I'll join him in five days.

Power Outage

I love it when the weather causes the power to go out. Justin built a great fire

and lit some candles.
Dick worked on a crossword puzzle using a headlight.

Later, after the lights came back on, we played dominoes.

Arlete won.

Happy Thanksgiving

L-R: Lenin and Thais, Arlete holding Sophia, Justin, Alma, Kellen, Doug and Stacey.
Doug has his hand on Emmitt Gerald to be born in April 2010.
Thank you, Dick, for taking this picture.

Farmers Market in Davis

We met Mike and Nicole in the afternoon. After lunch at Sam's, we walked over to the Farmer's Market for coffee and dessert.

Pizza night in Dixon

L-R: Clara, Kevin, Tom, Dick. Julie was out of town helping her mother.

Family dinner

In the afternoon, Dick and Carolyn discuss how to divide up the USA into three independent republics.

Dick with his mother, Leta

Dueling oatmeal

Mark and Dick were both having oatmeal for breakfast, but there were two pots on the stove. I asked them how their preparations were different.



Mark: I don't like all that extra crap in my oatmeal. I like it straight, 2:1 water to oatmeal, boil the water first then add the oatmeal, turn it to low, set the timer for 6-7 minutes, stir occasionally. Remember to set the timer.

Dick: Mark is an older man with a poorer memory that's why he needs to keep things simple. I put all the water, oats, banana and dried fruit together, cover and top with the teapot, bring to a boil, turn off the heat and go have a cup of coffee, come back later, add milk, reheat and eat.

Good morning Palo Alto!

We arrived in PA yesterday evening. We knew Mark & Carolyn were having dinner out so we went the a nearby pie shop to satisfy one of the things Dick misses the most: pie.

BTW, he had razzleberry a la mode.

We got back to Mark & Carolyn's and they still weren't there. We parked on the street and fell asleep. A couple of hours later, Dick woke up and noticed that their car was in the driveway and all the lights in the house were out. He knocked on the door and called on the phone but no one answered. So we slept in the car all night in their driveway.

Land passage to California

We left Guaymas in the early evening yesterday (Wed 18 Nov) so we could cross the border in Nogales AZ during the night. It's much faster at this time of day.

A quick stop in Tehachapi CA to refuel revealed a cute town that needs more exploration on another trip.

It was a 20 hour drive and it went quite well with two of us driving. Now, we must apply these land passage skills to passage-making on the water. Just one night of sailing to the next anchorage exhausted us last year. It would take 2-3 days at anchor to recover.

Lost in Translation

Here in Guaymas, Ley is the equivalent of WalMart in the USA. Someone said they're owned by Safeway. It also marks an entire area of town, to get here you take a bus that has "Ley" painted on the window. This year, they've put up new signs to identify what's in each aisle, written in both Spanish and English to help all the gringos who shop here. Dust Soap = powdered detergent. You can also buy Dust Milk. Donkey to Iron had me confused so I cruised the aisle until I found the product.

Answer: An ironing board in Mexico is a burro on which you iron clothes.

Mountable games? Despite looking intently for this product, I could find nothing. Maybe I don't want to know.

Another favorite along the main street in the central district is Maria'ss Bufeet. In US dollars (today) that means all you can eat for $4.24. Dick's eaten here (he loves a bargain) and said it wasn't that good. Note the ledge you must step over to get inside.

Parade Day

All summer, Dick has been listening to various drum and bugle groups practicing on the malecon or Plaze de Tres Presidentes. This morning the parade began and lasted for several hours. First came the military section.





Sadly my camera batter died at this moment and I wasn't able to capture the next hour of school groups. I think every school in town was there, some in historical costumes. Back in the USA, many would have disapproved of the students dressed as revolutionaries carrying paper knives and guns. The next 2 hours were drum and bugle groups, local clubs for dancing, sports, etc. The final 2 hours of the parade consisted of every fire and police vehicle in the city blasting sirens and honking horns. Finally, after about 6 hours, the city streets returned to normal.

How to fix a rudder, part 1

The rudders were full of water and the rudder bodies were loose on the rudder stock, so we had to find out why. Dick cut out the side of the rudder and found that all the stainless steel inside was good but the foam was not, especially after digging it out to look at the stainless. And it was only low-density spray foam, to be replaced with high-density pour foam. Then I took over the repairs.

I cut a plywood cover for the opening and a smaller cardboard inset.

My assistant glued the inset into position on the plywood.

I used a drill to screw the plywood onto the rudder

and drilled pour holes.

The two-part foam components which become active when mixed 1:1

Pour together, stir throughly and start pouring within 45 seconds.

Here, I'm holding the pour spout waiting for my assistant to do the pouring. The foam grows to 8 times the original volume and gets rather warm.

We did the starboard rudder first. What a mess as the liquid leaked and later the foam squished out at the top.

The port rudder was second and a thing of beauty.

We must wait for everything to cure and dry before pulling away the plywood.

Mark Mulligan

Club Nautico is an outdoor bar/inside restaurant here at Singlar Marina. In an effort o bring in more customers, especially Americans, Mark Mulligan performed tonight. Another crusier described his singing style as "Jimmy Buffett without all the alcohol."

L-R: Biaggio, Steve, Dick who was able to hoist a few beers with his left hand, thank goodness.

Splash

Gem from Victoria BC went in water today.

When we were hauled out last March, we were the tenth (or so) boat in the yard.

At the height of the summer season, there were maybe 50 boats.

But now, the yard is beginning to empty and the winter sailing season begins.

Horacio, above, operates the ___ by remote control while Biaggio,

Gem's owner, watches and takes pictures.

We first met Biaggio at Los Frailles anchorage about a year ago, then ran into him again in La Paz and Espiritu Santo. He sailed the South Pacific for 8 years, has a wealth of knowledge.

We are farther away from our own splash than we thought.

As you can see, the hull below the water line needs to be painted and all the "stuff" under the boat needs to be put back on the boat or thrown away.

Singlar Social Club

For some reason, the underside of our boat is a magnet for others to stop by and chat.

During the day, it can be a distraction if Dick is trying to finish a task, but at the end of the day, it's the perfect place for everyone to have a beer together.

L-R: Steve, Bill, Biaggio (behind the barbecue on the table), and Dick (legs and left arm only).