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So… I finally escaped work and grabbed Frankenstinky to pull “Me & ‘er” to Lake Roosevelt (Washington State). It was a rough start – appointments and a new prescription to be filled invaded our morning evacuation schedule, so the loading was not as smooth as normal.
A little backstory: It’s hot in the PNW this year. I don’t mean “Oooo… I feel so sticky” hot, or moob-sweat hot – I’m talkin’ record-breaking, evergreen-tree-killing, fruit-harvest-ruining, asphalt melting, “The truck upholstery smells weird” HOT. We are a few hours South of a place in the mountainous region of Canada that exceeded 120 degrees F (almost 50 degrees C). Let that sink in for a sec… 120 degrees F would make headlines in Palm Springs, and exceeds the (to-date) all-time high in Phoenix… and it hits CANADA.
That was JUNE. Guess what… it cooled down a little since then – we’ve been riding that damn century mark on the thermometer this whole time, with a few dips into the 90s. We expect hot weather in our region from mid-July to as late as early September, but in spurts... not lying on the ironing board and place a giant iron on our backs – set to “Cotton”.
So… that little foray into global climate change was just to clarify how anxious we were to get on the road (before the real heat of the day), to reach the soothing and medicinal effects of boating and swimming in the clean waters of Lake Roosevelt. Anxious efforts invariably lead to omitted salient details – which translates to “when you rush to beat the heat, important stuff gets left behind”.
The first omission was putting the drain plug in before launching. I’m a practiced and skilled boater – certified by Washington State and the United States Coast Guard, and I haven’t made this beginner’s mistake since… uh… 1992 – almost 30 years. Punch to the pride there.
On our way to the fuel dock and pump-out (Seven Bays), I watch the trim gauge “sag”, so the trim system will not be with us on this trip. No matter... less cruising and more anchoring for swimming. At least.. that’s what I tell myself while grasping for that alleged silver lining – because I know… at the end of this vacation… putting the boat back on the trailer without dragging/damaging the lower unit is a thing. Then… I’ll be spending a lot of time jury-rigging straps and doing heavy lifting in the heat to secure the lower unit up for towing home. There will be blood.
We cruise to our favorite anchorage, but it’s occupied by a runabout with lawn chairs on the beach. This is actually good news – no tents. This group has been reserving our spot all day, now we just need to watch for signs of his heading back to camp. Within 1/2-hour, he was folding lawn chairs and stowing them in the runabout – we finally caught a break today. I pull in as he pulls out of the anchorage.
I set the anchor, and now I need to set the shore line to keep our bow into the wakes and sun (I have a solar panel that goes on the bow). Grabbing the shore line, I flop into the water - expecting that brief shock to the system and quick acclimation to the water temp. The only shock I got was how instantly soothing the water temperature was. I now know where I’m going to be for a few days. Anyway, I loop the line around a tree and cleat the end back to the boat. This method allows me to retrieve the line without the need to swim to shore… when our stay at this anchorage is over (usually early morning).
NOW is when I learn of the second omission: I’m foraging through my travel bag, making note of a complete lack of swim trunks (that fit) or underwear. “Uh… hon? Did you grab my chonies? I mean… from the drawer?”
Response: “I packed what you had on the bed”.
I hadn’t finished laying stuff out, I was distracted.
Well… we now have a theme for our vacation:
The Commando Cruise
That completes day one of our vacation.
I won’t bore you with the details of the following three days of rest and relaxation while on the hook… except for one thing the first morning there: “Hon… where is my toiletries bag?”
Silence.
That makes the thirdAND fourth omissions – neither toiletry bag made it on this trip... toothpaste and deodorant being the key issues. There is now an addendum to the vacation theme:
The Calamitous Commando Cruise
After four nights on the hook, the full trash bags became too numerous to ignore, and the holding tank needed a good draining – we weighed anchor and set a leisurely course for the fuel/pump-out dock. On the way there, we stopped at Frankenstinky to “optionally” omit more stuff from the boat that we would not need - now that anchoring is our key activity. Seven Bays had toothpaste and deodorant, so the remainder of the vacation theme has been reverted back to Commando-only status.
We found a real easy spot to anchor across from Fort Spokane, near the mouth of the Spokane River. Here’s a 360-degree view:
The area in the middle of that photo (the area off our stern) is what I would loosely call a wildlife sanctuary. There is so much bird noise and activity, we were struggling to keep up with identifying each bird call. Turkey, Goldfinch, Mallard Duck, Blue Heron, Osprey, Bald Eagle, Seagull, Quail, Kingfisher, and a plethora of other wildlife put on a non-stop show just for us. This is also where we learned how huge the Black-Tail Jackrabbits get. I never knew we had those around here.
At one point, a mama Mallard brought her four ducklings to the boat swim deck to “forage” for food. I guess these are metropolitan Mallards, but I squir… er… digress. Anyway… the ducklings are obviously newbies - they still have their yellow color. We don’t see them this young very often, so I grabbed my phone to take videos of them (phone works great for close subjects). I’m leaning waaay over to get close to the ducklings for a good video, and my wife screams “OH MY GOD!!!” so loud that it frightens mama and babies away.
Pause.
My mind does what my mind does when something goes awry – root-cause analysis. Linda would never intentionally frighten off wildlife we enjoy watching, so all the squirrels are caged while I sort this out.
1. I’m leaning waay over the transom to get a good camera angle.
2. I’m wearing an over-sized shirt – not quite a mumu, more a mini-moo.
3. Shorts are drying on the windshield.
4. It’s the Commando Cruise.
5. She's sitting squarely behind me.
Aha… I think I have it.
For those of you who chant “Pictures or it didn’t happen”, let me leave you with this… we found a good therapist for my wife, we think she’s going to pull through. At least I can grab a screen shot of just before “the event”.
Rich, you have been missed just as much as your adventurous tales and detailed posts.
Recently when Kate and I stopped in MT to see Cody I told her "this is a lot worse than it looked in the video" when Cody showed us your old truck Stinky.
We are all grateful that you two walked away from the crash.
Trips and vacations are always an adventure. Sometimes good adventures and sometimes not so good. What you make of those moments will live on in memory for years to come.
I have to say you had me rolling the whole time! Glad your wife has a good therapist, pretty sure she needed one for a while with some of the adventures you had over the years ! Keep smiling and drive on!!
btw I really liked the little cove you have there nice and peaceful!
You're okay. It's not as bad as a music video with these lyrics:
Me not working hard? Yeah, right, picture that with a Kodak Or better yet, go to Times Square Take a picture of me with a Kodak Took my life from negative to positive I just want y'all to know that
Great story telling like usual. Glad to see you back on once in a while. I also saw your old truck at Cody's, boy you guys were lucky. God bless and have a great vacation.
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