One if by Land!

Well, as you all know, we love to travel. There is the old saying "one if by land, two if by sea" this trip is a "one", we are currently in Durango, CO. With us staying in the US for the summer, it was decided to make a much needed visit to our families, and a much needed break from the continuing boat projects. So we wouldn't be stuck with deadlines, we made the purchase of Blue Flash, a 1997 Vovlo 850 station wagon. Tuesday morning we packed up the cats, turned everything off on the boat (except the bilge pump), and headed out of California. Scott wanted to take a couple of detours and I said yes. Boy was I glad! We stopped in Oatman, AZ. It's on one of the old sections of Route 66. Oatman is an old mining town turned tourist trap. There is nothing but dinners and shops.... oh and pack mules! The donkeys wander through town allowing visitors to pet them. I must have walked up to a dozen of these docile sleepy animals. They are so calm they just walk into stores and on sidewalks. One old-timer was just standing in the middle of the street and nothing could move him. He just stood there while cars went around him. Tuesday night we made it to Flagstaff and just chilled in our room for the night. Wednesday we drove the back way to Four Corners. It's the only spot in the US where four states come together, IE: another tourist trap. We didn't stop, but headed on into Durango, CO. It's beautiful. Another old mining town turned tourist trap, but it's worth the stop. No donkeys this time, but friendly people and a wonderful margarita. Today is what we call "Hell" day. There's nothing really interesting between us and Scott's mothers house in OH, so we drive straight through. It'll take a full day to get there, but we've done it before so it's not really a big deal. We actually treat it like shifts on the boat. A couple hours on, a couple off. Well, that's about it for now. More from the road later!

Update on the Great Mold Emergency of 2012

So we went through all this trouble of cleaning the locker, cleaning off any cans we could salvage, allowing them to dry in the sun for a day, putting in bubble insulation, and adding a liner over that just to find an inch of standing black water in the bottom a week later. We were not amused, but there is no way that it was condensation over the winter for it to happen so fast. It took a while to figure it out, but we did. Scott was worried we had a small hole somewhere and wanted to know if it was salt water, yup.... I did the grossest thing ever and dipped my finger in and took the smallest taste I possibly could. It was the only way to find out. Sure enough it was salt water. Scott remembered we have a pipe with a vent that runs through that locker. The pipe is for the raw water. Apparently, whenever we start the engine the raw water bubbles out that vent and runs into the bottom of the tank. The next step is to move the vent higher. Scott believes it to be too close to the water line and moving it higher will prevent it from bubbling up any further. All in a day of learning on a boat. There's always a learning curve. We've taken this one with a grain of salt (LOL).

Never Leave on a Friday

"Never leave on a Friday" is an old sailor's mantra. It is supposed to be bad luck. For the most part, we take this advice. I'm not really sure why, it's illogical, but we do it anyway. The funny part is that every time we've left on a Friday, we had to turn around. Years ago on our friend, Jim's, boat we left Half Moon Bay on a Friday heading for Monterrey. Two hours later we were sitting back at the dock. The head winds and waves were against us and we were making about 1/2 a knot. There was another time, with pretty much the same results. So, while I can't find the source of this tradition, we try never to leave on a Friday.

The other is offering the Sea God a shot of alcohol! When Scott first left Oregon on Lunar Dawn 4 1/2 years ago the crew all did a shot and offered one to the ocean before crossing the Columbia Bar. We still do this and so far we've come in safe to every port. It may not have been an easy trip but we made it safe and sound. So the Seas will continue to get a shot of rum. The one time I ran out of rum we used Sake. The Sea God was not mad, but I think he didn't like Sake because our engine quit. LOL! I wouldn't recommend that!

Another superstition is renaming of a boat. I did a ton of research on that one. We removed every bit of evidence of her old name and then ask the Sea God forgiveness of her past sins. Then... you got it... a shot of rum to the Sea God. After about 2 weeks we did the renaming ceremony. Two years ago; June 26, 2010; we renamed her. What a blast and thanks to all my friends who helped celebrate. The tradition is, after asking the Sea God and the Four Winds to protect the boat and crew, the boat is christened. A female is to do the christening, and it is usually a female member of the boat builders family. Since we had no family in the North West we asked our dear friend and surrogate mother, Sherry, if she would christen Reisender. Well, all went well and Sherry did a little research of her own and found out not only does the boat get soaked in champagne, but so does the boat builder, SCOTT!!!! He was drenched and we all had a good laugh.

These are just some of the superstitions of the boating world. I don't always know where they come from, and by no means am I superstitious, but it seems better to be safe than sorry on a boat.

Smooth Sailing to all of you, but not on Friday.

Let's Talk Pizza!

We love Pizza! Our favorite is a toss between Scott's Thai Chicken Pizza and my BBQ Pork Pizza! The other day we bought a Smithfield ham because it was on sale. Well, after 3 days of ham I'm getting sick of it. Time for pizza! I make my own BBQ sauce and top it with shredded ham and pineapple chunks.

Dough: 1 tspn yeast, 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour, 1/2 cup corn meal flour, sprinkling of salt (I use kosher), 2 tblspn olive oil (I use EVOO), and 1 to 1 1/4 cups water.
Mix all dry ingredients, add oil and mix, add 1 cup water and mix until a loose dough ball, add more water if needed, allow to rise in a warm area. Scott and I like a thin crust so I only allow it to rise while I'm making the sauce.

Sauce: 1 cup ketchup, 1 tblspn sugar, 1/8 cup white wine vinegar, 1/8 cup cider vinegar, salt/pepper to taste, 4 tblspns liquid smoke, 3 tblspns Worcestershire sauce, 1/4 tlbspn hot sauce, 1 tspn mustard powder, squeeze of 1/4 of a lemon, dash cayenne.
Mix all ingredients and bring to a simmer for 10 minutes stirring occasionally.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Bake crust alone for 20 minutes or until firm and will slide from pizza stone or baking pan. Top with sauce, I only use about 1/2 the sauce made and reserve the rest for other things. Top with shredded pork or ham. Top with shredded white cheese, jack is good. Top with chunks of pineapple. I then grind pepper over the top to taste. This goes back into the oven for 20 minutes or so.

Enjoy! I do the Thai Chicken Pizza another time!

Day Number 2404

This is day number 2404, approximately, of living aboard a sailboat. Sometimes I refer to it as day number 2404 of slavery. It sometimes feels that way. There are days when it feels like I've had everything taken away and a life I don't want has imposed itself on me. Isn't that what slavery is? It's not all easy times on the deck sipping cocktails in the sunshine. It's the hard work of over 6 years that has gotten us here. That is more my normal life than the relaxing days. We've given up almost every form of comfort over the last 6 years to do this. We camped out on a small boat in the Oregon winter for 3 years with no walking room on the boat and the showers and toilet at the other end of the marina. Try that at 3 am on a Northwestern winter. We ground fiberglass and learned to lay it up, built molds and battled mold. We had to be plumber, electrician, painters, body workers, engine builders, and wood workers at the same time we were trying to learn to sail. The day we got the engine running I cried. The day we got running water I cried. The day we moved aboard I cried. Some days I feel I cry a little inside and don't let anyone see it. We've trudged on through all the hardships. We've propped each other up and tried not to let the other see when we are about to give up. We've talked about selling the boat and giving up, but we are both way to stubborn for that. When those thoughts creep in we start looking around and begin to get proud of our boat. She's not done and not likely to be for a long, long time, but we can move her and she's ours. We get sick at living this way. Little organization, no hot water, dealing with constant problems that suddenly come up. This isn't what either of us signed up for, but would I trade it for a cubicle and mowing the lawn on Saturday? No, I don't think so. It isn't easy and it won't be, but we've gone this far and we will continue to go on. I miss my comforts and we both dream of the day when we have them back, but this is our life and we choose it. Things get a little better everyday on Reisender. Sometimes we just need to step away and get refreshed and see her anew. Today is one of those days. Thanks for listening my friends.

The Great Mold Emergency of 2012!!!

Yesterday afternoon I needed to go deep into our food locker. It's mostly stuff for when we are away from shore and can't get fresh items. It's canned meets and veggies mostly. We've had this strange musty smell coming from  the locker for a few weeks that I wasn't really wanting to find out what it was or were it was coming from. Well, as I said, I went deep into the locker and there it was..... 6 inches of stagnant, black, moldy water!!! I started to empty the locker and slowly make sure nothing that wasn't already in the water shared the soon to be fate of the items that were already down there.... the trash. It took two hours to fully clean and half a gallon of bleach, plus a bottle of wine for the work crew! We threw out about 5 dozen cans of food and after checking some of the dates they were on there way out. So what are we to do, we laughed it off and had good learning experience. With our already loaded list of things to do, we now have one more project. Scott and I will be putting insulation in to keep that locker from sweating. It was the lack of air flow combined with a wet winter and no dehumidifier that was the culprit. We feel lucky as this could have been a health related issue for both of us. Mold, water, and salt are enemies of a boat!