Dances with strangers…

As 2023 winds down, I can't help but think back to calmer times; times when fun was always just around the corner. I have a memory to share with  you; I hope it makes you smile. The date was Thursday, December 31, 2015. The location was in San Carlos where we were living aboard and preparing SV Shannon's Spirit for the upcoming cruising season. The memory goes like this:

'OK, so there I was, minding my own business...tending to the folks at my end of the table and enjoying the company and the ambiance. It was today, New Years Eve, and we'd gone to La Palapa Griegga for dinner and entertainment. The show turned out to be music (by Mark et al) and while the meal was delicious (Kathy had a rack of lamb and I had steak and lobster and  we shared) the music included fabulous selections of many of my favorites... toe tapping, thigh slapping.. great music!

And, there I was... keeping up with the base on my legs and the table (and having a margarita or two :-) and wondering how it would go if I asked Kathy to dance (being Mexico and all, we try to behave),  when Mark called for a "mosh'. Not knowing what a mosh was, I watched and learned quickly.  Lots of folks stood up at their tables and began to gyrate... and so I did too; I love to dance. Then Kathy joined me and slowly the rest of our table moshed on in.

That's when I noticed a gentleman... somewhat older than myself, hanging on to his white plastic chair and letting his feet begin to move. Now, he could have been Fred Astaire or some other dancer... but me... I'm just me and I sidled over and offered him my hand. Well, didn't he take it and didn't the two of us just dance our toes off for the rest of the song. We jived and we did other steps and he was a great lead... (yes, I can follow :-) It was great!

The evening (spent mostly at Kathy's side) was terrific. But I wanted to tell you about the dance... because, much like the ferry trip from La Paz to Pichilingue (another story I'll share later) I experienced something outside my norm; a moment to remember.

I hope that each of you have experienced such a moment this year... and Kathy and I, and [then] Princess Sophie [now] wee Maddie, wish each and every one of you the blessing of peace in your life and the opportunity to enjoy dances with strangers. Reach out a hand ...in [2024]. Have a great one!  CJ'

(borrowed from the blog of SV Shannon: www.svshannon.blogspot.com )

The call of the desert is strong…

… and demands to be heard.

Having experienced the shortest vacation ever…. we will not be deterred. Nope… no pouting, no more anger, no more feeling sorry for ourselves. Life is a day by day kind of thing… and losing days is not something we desire. Oh yeah… there's also the call of the desert which is a very strong song. As you know we had big plans for this winter… and, with a little luck, we are not done yet. In fact, a rather surprising kind of miracle occurred a few days ago.

There we were, busily filling out forms and claims and making notes and taking photos of damage….and well, didn't Kathy trip over an ad she just couldn't ignore. You may recall our Lucy. She is a Spirit Deluxe Casita 17 and we sold her to a very nice fellow who absolutely loves her. That's not the miracle. What is… is the fact Kathy tripped over another one, the same model but 6 years newer, for sale in White Rock.

Of course, being sensible adults and not prone to sudden changes of direction… of course we ignored the ad. NO WE DIDN'T ! We were on the 0515 Duke Point ferry the next morning. Yes, we're probably crazy but… we're not done adventuring yet.

Lucy Too needs a little work (to bring her up to the same standards we set up with
Lucy I) and/ but she's going to be great! She is here in Duncan now - being tended to by our trailer care team (who still have the blueprints from the previous Casita work). We hope to be 'on the road again' by mid to late January and, with a bit of luck, we will amend our original route plans a bit and be able to enjoy the people and places we love to visit.

That's my report for today… I must get busy. We have lots to do. Again, I send our
love and thanks to all of you for your support. We are blessed to have you in our lives.

TTFN (ta ta for now). CJ & K. The happy wanderers.

Plans in sand...

You are all amazing.  Your supporting and loving emails have been almost over-whelming. Thank you... all of you...  I'm writing this post for a couple reasons. One is to explain that we have a lot to do with respect to insurance claims, reservation cancellations, and other such stuff connected with long vacation planning,  and we're not going to be able to respond to every email. Please know we have received and read each of your messages and feel blessed to be supported by so many.  For now, we need to focus on tidying up our affairs.

You may remember, some time ago, I used to speak about sailing plans being 'written in sand, below the high water mark'. This situation is an example of what that means.  All original plans have now been wiped out of the sand as the tide rushed in.  We now have to rebuild a new plan, complete with all the thoughts and second-thoughts and hind-site and foresight that goes along with that.

Thanks again for your support and your understanding.  Consider this as a great big hug from us to all of you. TTFN (tata for now)...  We wish you and your families all the best over the Christmas season and for 2024.  CJ, Kathy & Maddie.

PS:  Julia's Pet Spa just sent us this fun photo of our Maddie.

Closure …

 Why no living creature should be in a trailer being towed… 

…  Enough said.

Thank you…

Hi everyone… to the, over 30 at the time of this writing) people who have sent us your love and offers of support.. thank you so much. Please forgive us for not responding to your emails individually. We've only just returned from sorting through the debris and loading up a U Haul trailer… and, I must admit we are a bit numb and still going through the 're-living' of it… like you do. Thank you for your offers of help, your support and your love. We are still fine… spending the second night in our little hotel room and working out our plans to head home…towing a different trailer (a U Haul). Hope you are having a good day… and thanks again for checking in…. Sending you all big hugs… CJ and Kathy & Maddie.

PS. Once the dust has settled, we'll share some photos of this 'event'.

www.cjdaley.ca
www.ruddyduckpress.ca
www.svshannon.blogspot.com

We are fine… but, “exercise over”,



Let me say again… we are fine; but trailer- not so much. Yesterday (Thursday) was not our greatest day. Having overnighted in Shelton, WA., we left earlyish in the morning and headed south on I 5; destination the Columbia Riverfront RV Park. We didn't make it.

The weather was all over the place with rain, mist, hail and wind gusts interspersed with brilliant sunshine and patches of blue sky. We stopped in Olympia where Kathy spent hours trying to sign us up for a US phone with Verizon - to no avail. While the representative was trying to be helpful, the quagmire she was working within … well after three hours, we gave up and carried on with our trip.

Our vacation came to a slithering, life threatening, horrifying end… just north of Longview, WA. We are fine. Ricky (the truck) has dents to his left rear quarter panel and tailgate and the canopy has shifted approx. 1". The trailer did not do as well and we believe it is a write-off.

We were travelling south in the slowest lane because we were maintaining a speed of 55 MPH while most other vehicles were travelling 65-70 MPH. I chose the slower speed because, for us, given the road conditions and the wind gusts, it was the most comfortable and safer speed for us. The gusts from big transport trucks were buffeting the trailer fairly heavily at the faster speeds. Unfortunately one such truck went by so fast it sent a huge gust of wind that began a series of escalating events we could not control. The trailer was pushed away quite sharply, then swerved back, and then it swerved over again. While I yelled "hang on " and did my best to counteract the increasing forces, they continued and got worse. Every ounce of driver training from my earlier days came back and I did my very best to prevent a disaster that could well have been life threatening. Truck and trailer, joined at the hitch, spun so violently that at one point, as we were spinning out of control… I looked over and the trailer was beside me (still attached at the rear)… and then as we continued an out of control 180 - still on the highway… we were actually facing the direction we'd been coming from, looking at on coming traffic and skidding sideways. The entire, entwined mess of truck and trailer… with trailer now on it's side, slid off the highway and carried on along the verge before, finally, coming to a stop some 70' further down the road.

We were lucky. All three of us survived without injury. In fact, wee Maddie was more concerned about the location of her ball than what had just occurred.

A large truck that had been behind us very kindly pulled over and Homer, the driver, came to see if we were okay. He was expecting the worst and was very relieved when he realized we had not been injured (thank you seat belts). He stayed with us and provided a strong and calm presence for us to kind of lean on. He stayed until he was sure we were in good hands. Both a police car and officer and a State Highway Patrol car and officer attended the scene, confirmed we were okay, and stayed with us until a tow truck was able to untangle the two vehicles and roll the trailer back onto its wheels (all four somehow survived the crash). Also miraculously, Ricky (the truck) started up and was drivable so after providing paperwork, ID and statements, we followed the tow truck and trailer to the towing company yard and retrieved a few pieces of clothing from the wreck. We've taken a room at a nearby hotel and will be here tonight as well. It will take that long to sort through the inside of what's left of the trailer and retrieve what we can of what's left of our 'personal belongings'.

This has been one hell of an end to our three month vacation plans. We three are absolutely blessed to be unscathed physically and, for Kathy and I, the emotions will calm down in time. Maddie just wants to find her ball… so we will. :-)

We are also extremely glad and relieved that no other vehicles and people were involved. That would have remained a scar on our lives forever.

So for now… know we are OK and/but will be sorting this out for a little while. We should be home in a few days and will give ourselves a few days after that to calm down and sort out what the future adventures might look like.

Bless you all for caring and thank you for enjoying our blog. Sorry this post is not up to our usual standard of 'fun'.

Stay well, enjoy your winter, and always always wear your seat belt.
Until I write again…. Adios. CJ






www.cjdaley.ca
www.ruddyduckpress.ca
www.svshannon.blogspot.com

Ooops!

Ooops! Sorry about that old post of CJ’s (“A sailor would say…”)  ending up back in your Inbox again last night. We are having to make some adjustments with our Blog-to-Email service and that last post was resent to the entire list by mistake!  

Our SV Shannon's Spirit tech department (nudge, nudge, wink, wink...) is working on fixing things at this end, so hopefully we'll have things sorted out in the next day or so.

Thanks for hanging in there wth us!