Following the last post, things started falling into place –
mostly right on top of us. The sale of the Placerville house and the purchase
of the house in Citrus Heights went without any further hitches. A frantic
month followed. Judy had negotiated a 30 day rent back on the Placerville
house. That 30 days was used to do a LOT of work on the new house. The house
appeared to have not been updated since the mid 80s. The carpets were in bad
shape. The paint was old and the family room had dark wood paneling on the
walls. The window coverings were old, yellowing venetian blinds. Overall, the
house was dark and depressing.
I pulled out all of the old carpets except the living room
to get ready for installing new flooring. We ended up with Pergo Antique Oak flooring
everywhere except the living room and the bathrooms. The bathrooms have new vinyl
tile. Looks great! Judy talked me out of doing the installation. Good thing! I
could not have done it as quickly as the pro did it and we were pressed for
time.
We had the interior completely repainted. We replaced most
of the ceiling fixtures except for the ones that have fans.
The master bath needed a new counter top and sink. Replaced
toilets in both bathrooms.
All this activity was interspersed with frantic shopping trips
to find just the right pieces to do the updating. Oh yes, we were packing for
the move during this time as well.
Moving day came and the new place was pretty much ready. The
house is amazingly lighter and happier feeling. We managed to carry along much
of the decorating theme that we had and loved in Placerville albeit in a
smaller space. The kitchen is tiny compared to Judy’s dream kitchen in
Placerville. We lost about 300 sq ft of space in the move.
The smell of new paint and out-gassing from the new flooring
was eye watering. We lived with the windows open as much as possible for the
next couple of weeks. Fortunately the weather cooperated and we were able to
have the windows open all night and much of the daylight hours.
We hired a moving crew who finished the packing and loaded
the truck – a 26 ft Penske van. Mostly they did a good job but they were definitely
not professional movers. Some things got broken and banged up even though the
move was less than 50 miles. They showed up at 11 AM to begin packing and
loading. They finished just before midnight. By the time we paid them, found
the things we needed to take showers and make beds, it was almost 2 AM.
One of the rooms of Hell must be one where you wake up in
the morning in a bedroom full of boxes to be unpacked. You stumble into the
kitchen to make morning coffee and spend half an hour or more looking for the
coffee and the pot. And the day goes downhill from there. To add to all this,
Judy’s allergies went into high gear with all the house dust, cardboard dust,
out-gassing materials and the Sacramento Valley air quality. But, as usual, she
soldiered on and we gradually began to bring order to chaos.
By the time I left on July 1, we were down to the last
stubborn boxes. Some of these contain things that need to be winnowed out for
the down sizing – a painful process. The new window coverings arrived the day I
left. Judy says they look great.
In the background of all this, I had been trying to get the new sails and
get paid for the trip home to pick them up. The sails did finally show up – two
days after the date of the return trip I had originally booked. This despite
repeated promises that they would be ready the first week in May. Also, I am
having trouble getting Hood to make good on the promise to pay for the trip
home. They figured that was the cheapest and safest way to get the sails to La
Paz – their idea. As I understand it, they are trying to weasel out of paying
by saying that I would have made the trip home anyhow to help Judy with the
move. This completely ignores the fact that I would have turned around back in
April and sailed home except that the sails were falling apart. I am still
working on them to pay up.
The trip from Sacramento was about what you might expect –
long. My flight left Sacramento at 0930 but I had to be there two hours early
since I had booked an international flight. I ended up breaking the sails up
into two packages which just barely qualified as standard luggage. The heavier
one was 45 lbs. I had the bundles tightly tied up with clothesline – and handles
made of clothesline. That stuff is not a comfortable way to carry heavy
luggage!
On arrival at San Jose del Cabo, I spent at least half an
hour arguing with customs that I should not have to pay import duties since the
sails were replacement parts for a boat in transit. I lost. I did get them to
reduce the import duty to about 1/3 of the original amount they mentioned.
After paying $160 to get the sails past customs, I sat
outside waiting for my ride to La Paz. There were two tropical depressions
lingering offshore to the southwest bringing unusually moist air to add to the
90+ degree temperatures. My scheduled ride with EcoBaja Tours showed up on
schedule. A three hour ride followed. We went into Cabo San Lucas to pick up
another passenger then proceeded up MX 1. There were some wonderful views of
desert leading down to sandy beaches and the sun setting into the Pacific.
As we approached La Paz, we saw evidence of the side effects
of the dying tropical depressions. A strong thunderstorm had come through La
Paz in the afternoon dumping lots of rain. There were numerous places where
dirt side roads has washed out onto the four lane highway we were on. Some lanes
were flooded. On the other side of the highway, there was a car upside down in
one of the big puddles. A couple of police vehicles were directing traffic and
keeping a crowd of bystanders out of the way.
I got back to the marina a little after 9 PM La Paz time
(Mountain Time in the USA). The tour bus driver very kindly dropped me at the
marina instead of taking me downtown to the terminal. That got me home at least
half an hour sooner and did not require a taxi.
The first thing I saw as I approached the boat was that the
lightweight sun covers had gotten shredded by the wind in my absence. I had
expected that. I was prepared for the worst inside the boat. It had been closed
up for two months in the heat and humidity.
My fears were mostly not met. The boat was quite stuffy and
warm. With only a little breeze to cool it, it took until after midnight to
cool the interior to the point that I could sleep.
The refrigerator had failed while I was gone. I rather
expected this. I would not have left it turned on with food in it had I known I
was going to be gone for two months. Oh well, the refrigerator lid was closed
tightly so it didn’t smell too bad. I left the clean up for the next morning.
It is a strange feeling to be in the place that I have known
so intimately for the last 2 ½ years and feel out of place. I had gotten used
to being at home with Judy again. She is not here. I don’t have a big clean bed
where we can snuggle up in a cool room at night. This morning, I am stumbling
around trying to find all the things I need to make breakfast and have my
morning coffee – things I used to do on autopilot.
This is one of the few times in my life that I have flown from relatively cool, dry climate into hot, damp climate. It takes some adjustment. This morning finds me feeling very sluggish - hard to dive into the work that needs to be done.
Well, enough whining and procrastinating. Time to get on with the work. I have some cleanup to
recover from the effects of being closed up for so long. Then I need to get the boat ready for the return trip. It shouldn’t take
much – everything is pretty much as it was for the trip down. I should need
only some food and a few miscellaneous small repairs.
The plan is to take the offshore route back to San Francisco.
That means that I sail South to Cabo San Lucas then out into the Pacific toward
Hawaii. I will be monitoring the location of the North Pacific High in the hope
that I can catch the most favorable winds. I am estimating about 30 days at sea
for the return unless I get really good or bad conditions. The best thing that
could happen is for another tropical depression to start up the coast of Mexico
and pass about 200 miles offshore as it passes Baja. That would give me a good
wind out of the south and speed me homeward.
I hope to be out of La Paz within the week. We shall see. As
always, I will be posting on Facebook via the inReach communicator while I am
out of Internet range. You can see my latest position on a map by going to
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