Voyages

The trips we take, the paths we follow, the adventures we seek; trying to leave nothing in our wake. To say this month at home has been extremely busy would be an understatement. We are now turning our minds to the upcoming travel. Yes, we hope to be on our way to England and Ireland (2 weeks each) at the end of this month. We're going to do our best to travel light; not an easy feat, and we'll be staying in a few different places and using them as base camps. We're both looking forward to enjoying some walking, cycling and exploring…along with some overdue rest.

This next week will be filled with packing and preparing…and haircuts all around. Hope all is well with each of you. Bye for now CJ


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


> On Apr 21, 2024, at 7:49 AM, Carolyn Daley <cjdaley727@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> 
>

Salt water symphony…

Aha!!  The sea is definitely calling. I hear it in the gusts whistling through the rigging and the loose halyards slapping out whatever tune they wish.  Even the tarps are joining in today.  The SE is kicking up quite a symphony at our marina.  

It was all hands on deck today as we have little time left to play with Shannon's Spirit and her dinghy before we head east to the UK for May. Yes, we have another trip planned (it's a bucket list thing) but we'll be back in time for the late spring and summer cruising season.. have no doubt.

This is only our 8th day at home (March 31 doesn't count) and we've been, not running but sprinting, through each day. I won't bore you with the details but please forgive me if my posts are shorter than normal.  Like now... gotta go... glad to be home.. looking forward to going sailing.. and looking forward to visiting England and Ireland during May. Hope each of you are enjoying every day.  TTFN.....  CJ

Sorry honey, but it’s time to head home…

And, so we did.

‘Twas with mixed emotions we realized it was time to point our noses north and west.  What a winter we’ve had.  Don’t worry. I’m not going to rehash the challenges we had to work through this time… they have been set aside and will be moved to the ‘lessons learned’ and other such files in due course.

Instead we will focus on the beautiful scenery and skies we had the good luck to enjoy, the wonderful people we met along our route and the natural ‘high’ one experiences when you step off the usual path and seek out new horizons.  We remain blessed with our friendships (old and new) and we consider ourselves extremely lucky to be able to live this life and share the good times. We are determined to continue ‘living’ our summer, sailing locally, and exploring warm places in the winters as long as we can. We wish you all your own beautiful horizons each and every day.

Suffice to say we are home; tired and road weary… but home.  April will be a busy month as we have dedicated May for a long awaited ‘Bucket List’ journey.  More on that at a later date.  For now, we must unpack and tuck in to all the springtime chores that houses and boats demand.  

Bye bye for now. CJ

Wine anyone?

So last night's stay may not have been 5 star but tonight's certainly is. We headed on down the highway to an address unknown. But, there was wine involved… how bad could it be? Fact is, it was perfect.
As advertised; large, flat. open parking area…
Free wine tasting, dogs welcome, lovely hosts, and fun at the wine tasting. This is a well run, family owned, small vineyard that has been owned by the same family since the 1930's. Except when Charlie (the family wee dog) decided to voice his displeasure (we assume related to the presence of Maddie) by urinating on the floor behind my chair- narrowly missing the sleeve of my favourite fleece jacket… aside from that, it was a perfect visit (and the family was quick to apologize and mop up the evidence! 😄.

We had fun and met some nice people too. Tomorrow, we head to another mystery stop called Walker Lake. Stay tuned. Adios for now. CJ.

Plan B… Hooches 66

Plan A had been leaving Cattail Cove SP this morning and heading to Tehachapi, CA where Kathy was going to experience a ride in a glider. Unfortunately Mother Nature had other plans for us. Once packed up and getting ready to leave, like all good sailors, we checked the weather and highway forecasts. Oops…. Heavy winds (up to 40 mph) forecast in all directions but one. And…apparently Tehachapi is expecting the winds… and snow! Ergo, cancel Plan A. 

We stopped at Lake Havasu SP to see if they might have room for us for one night, but no dice. They did allow us to park in their parking lot long enough to come up with a Plan B.

Don't know if you've heard of the Harvest Host program but it allows folks like us to stop and stay the night… sometimes on the hosts residential street, sometimes in an actual Vineyard or ranch or farm… and sometimes in the parking lot of a Pub or some other business venture. Each host asks the camper to spend a little; like a purchase from their shop of whatever wares they are selling, or a donation to their favourite animal rescue group or, as in the case we chose… a meal at their eatery.

So, Plan B brings us to a small and dusty town on Route 66 called Topock and a bar and grill called Hooches 66.

 The photos say it all but they don't tell you about the dirt bikes, dune buggies (“side-by-sides”), and antique cars travelling all around us. Today being Saturday, as it turns out, was one of those “club poker rides”, kinda of like a pub crawl by motorcycle, where each rider collects a poker card at each bar and grill they stop at on their route.   Yup, it's a little noisy and camping on a level dirt parking lot isn't my first choice BUT the price is right, the food is good and it got us on the road. 

Tomorrow, we cross over the Colorado on the I-40 from Arizona into California, a scene which might be familiar to you, from the movie Easy Rider. 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/roadtripmemories/14705690006

All going well, we will continue to hop north and west and, hopefully, get to stop at the Seven Feathers RV resort on Canyonville for at least one night on our way home. Until you hear differently, all is well, we're travelling towards home, and we still plan to make the early Coho on the 31st. 

No more news is good news… we're 'on the road again 🎶 …. TTFN. CJ & Kathy

I know there’s a toy in here somewhere!

There may be, but odds are it's well buried. And, as you can see, it's time to start sorting and packing up. We've had a lovely stay at Cattail Cove SP… including meeting up with friends and making a few more. Even the weather cooperated. We'll be heading west and north starting on Saturday and we're booked on the March 31st Coho.
Hope all is well with each of you. CJ

Look who’s turning five today!

Wishing a happy birthday to our funny, playful, devoted, brave, friendly, resilient, smart-as-whip, fast-as-the-wind, and sometimes very, very loud Wee Ms Maddie Mulhaley!   May you have lots more snuggles, scratches, treats and balls and many wonderful adventures ahead! 

Maddie says hi to all her buddies at Camp Yellow Dog.

Group photo courtesy of Julie Davidson @CYD.

 

The Hitching Post

One of the craziest, funnest bars I've ever been to… and with excellent food, great servers and good music. This place is just down the road from the State Park we're staying at and we noticed it was always busy. We went to find out why last night and had a super time. We didn't sit at the covered wagon table but it sure was cute. The other photo is a little hard to see but the inside of this place is crazy. The walls and support beams are all covered in dollar bills. Everything from bicycles to stuffed animals hang from the ceiling and every square inch of wall is sporting some unique piece of history or whatever. And, did I mention… the food was great!

We move sites today, for one night dry camping and then we head west to Cattail Cove State Park, just outside Lake Havasu City. The weather's going to turn a little wet and cool. Hopefully it won't last long. All is well here…. Hope you are too. CJ
>
>

Beauty at home too…

Seems my orchid is enjoying winter at home. Thanks Holly for the photo and orchid care.
>
>
>

Mother Nature… no words required.

Double rainbow. 😄

The view…

These are the views I drive into when I return to the park… and the view even the garden enjoys from our site. So beautiful and it changes throughout the day as the sun rays creep across. It's magic! And a great place for contemplating. I hope you have found your good place. Be well. CJ.

CJ update

Thanks to all of you for checking in. We're finally back from town (Kathy tending the laundry system (at our favourite pink laundromat) and I wandering the aisles of the adjacent ACE hardware store. The laundry cost a fair bit… but I won the "who can spend more" contest. Seems the hardware store had everything I needed…and even more that I hadn't realized I needed (until I saw it) 😇.

As for my knee… seems I will survive after all…although I believe I am now a 'retired pickle ball player'. Too many years of field hockey and tennis have taken their tolls on my poor old knees…and it kind of sucks to be in the heart of hiking territory and being, now, in the 'watching' position rather than the 'doing' position…sigh 🤨.

What I am very happy about is how quickly the AZ medical system worked for us. From the triage centre to the Orthopaedic surgeon referral to an MRI appointment has occurred over a scant 2 days. Apparently angels were on my side and, even the Dr. was surprised I was there a mere 2 days after the injury. He surmised there must have been a timely cancellation as he is usually booking two months out. My good luck continued as Dr Scroggin is a very nice guy and the appointment went well. He did the doctorly tests and predicted that I have a "complex tear of the lateral meniscus of my right knee". He then booked an MRI (next week if you can believe it!) to confirm his diagnosis. The MRI results will also predict whether I need a wee bit of surgery (arthroscopy) to tidy up the loose ends of the tear or not. He also gave me a corticosteroid injection which has helped considerably…. I'm barely limping today and doing fine without the cane (just one day later).

Yes, I promise to be careful and am not at much risk today as just when we arrived home from laundry etc., the heavens have opened up and the wind is blowing and this is expected to last until sometime tomorrow. Oh well, we have Crib, Jenga and other games to keep us busy… not to mention the great books we are reading. Even Miss Maddie is settling in to life on board… lots of naps.

Hope all is well with you…best wishes to our friends who are struggling with some challenges right now. Know our thoughts are with you and we keep you close in our hearts…❤️… until I write again. TTFN. CJ

Slight glitch, but still having fun…

We do love it here. The natural beauty is something to behold… and to treasure. Just as I was about to start this note, a small hawk landed on our humming bird feeder hook for a short visit. Beautiful.

Ok, the slight glitch is I have managed to hurt my right leg… just about knee level. Seems I twisted when I should have twirled! After wandering through the initial levels of the AZ health system, I have an appointment with an ortho Dr. Will let you know how that goes.

For now we 'ice and elevate' and wait. At least I had an old cane available ( carry it to retrieve things from the truck box. I also carry a long boat hook…. Works like a charm). Anyway, glad to have the cane along. And funny thing. The left over pain pills from the dental surgery work like a charm for leg pain. Too bad I only have one left ☹️

Having said all that… life is good! Beautiful sunset tonight; great company ; all (mostly) healthy. It could be so much worse. And the guy in the motorized kite… came by again tonight. I think he liked it when I waved at him last night!

Stay well my friends…and keep your eyes open for new experiences, where ever they may lay. Adios for now CJ
>

Lost Dutchman

Another of our favourite state parks… and we arrived yesterday, right on schedule. The trailer's set up (even the old awning), the hummingbird feeder's out (and attracting all kinds of birds), the garden's enjoying the sun, Maddie's enjoying a rest and the mountain view is as spectacular as ever! Oh, and we're enjoying the warm sun and crystal blue skies as well. We're here for two weeks and plan to do some hiking, reading, resting and even play some pickle ball with friends in town (Apache Junction). Aaah, the name Apache Junction reminds me of a quick story.

My Grandpa Daley (Fred was his name and Eva was my grandmother)… used to tow a small travel trailer from White Rock, BC to Apache Junction, Arizona…wait for it… in the 1950's!!

I remember the '50's fairly well and I know roads like the one through the Fraser Canyon, were only just being built. A drive from Vancouver to Shuswap Lake (for us) started at 0300 hrs. with three little girls and a dog stuffed into the back seat of our older car and separated by pillows, and included stopping in Hope, BC at the Caribou Cafe for breakfast, 'stop and go' in 30 minute shifts through the Fraser Canyon on a dirt road with no guard rails, the foot-long hotdog stand in Kamloops for lunch, and the Balmoral store beside a huge tree at the road we turned off on to get to our wee cabin overlooking Eagle Bay. Dinner that night was usually canned beans or the like, heated up on the old pot-belly stove. What I also remember is the canvas water sacks hung on each side of the front of the car and the spare tire lashed to the roof.

This brings me back to my grandparents.

Can you imagine what their drive south must have been like? Given our own experiences driving a similar route and with all that today's development and technology has created; I can't imagine making this same trip without GPS, cell phone coverage, the internet, gas stations on both sides of the highway at regular intervals, rest stops and tow trucks a phone call away. I can't even read the fine print on paper maps without a magnifying glass!!

But they did it, without any of todays conveniences… and they did it year after year. There's more to their story, like their work on behalf of an orphanage in Apache Junction, and my grandmother's trike and baked pie deliveries… there's much more. But that's for another day. For now, I will just applaud their courage and stamina with respect to a drive that remains onerous today and must have been horrific back then.

Best wishes to you all for a good sun-warmed day… and may your roads be mostly paved and your GPS remain charged. CJ

Catalina State Park

There are dozens of State Parks throughout Arizona and I doubt we'll have enough time in our life to visit them all. That being said, there are a few that draw us back year after year and this is one of them. Nestled along the foot of the Santa Catalina Mountains, the park offers walking and hiking trails as well as babbling (and some not so babbling) streams and beautiful scenery all around. The sites are well maintained by the park hosts and the surrounding desert feels like, and basically is, wilderness. We're here for a few days before we push north to the Apache Junction territory. All is well here and my teeth have stopped hurting 😀. I wish you all a good day and hope you find beauty wherever you are. CJ

PS. always be careful where you poke your nose. This morning I pulled Maddie away from a large flat rock she was finding interesting and when I bent down to see what was so intriguing…. I was looking at the back of a rather large sleeping snake!! Needless to say we backed off a fair distance lest we wake the sleeping giant.

www.cjdaley.ca

New bridge….tick

Yup, all done. We pulled up stakes this morning and high-tailed it back to the border for the follow-up dental appointment. Given the timing and miles to be covered, we decided to book in to the Sleepy Hollow RV (not really a park… more like a parking lot). See photo. Anyway, it's right at the border, has full services including a clean washroom, and is a short walk to the border crossing gate.

Short story is; we came, we booked in, we walked, I had the new bridge installed, we went for yummy tacos and then we walked back to Ricky, Lucy and Maddie; all in good shape.

We're going to miss all the friends we met at Rio Bend… but the road is calling and we must respond. We head to Catalina State Park tomorrow and, hopefully, we'll get some good walks and hikes in while we're there. It really is a lovely park.

That's all for now. Just wanted to let you know I survived and the road trip continues.

Until next time. Adios amigos. CJ

To the dentist I must go… in Los Algodones

The drive was uneventful (except we forgot about the time change between CA and AZ). Luckily, being Capricorns, we'd left plenty early and arrived with time to spare. The walk across the border was smooth and quick (no questions… didn't even want to see our passports). Then things got busy. What had been peace and tranquility melted quickly away as we stepped out of the customs area and into the Los Algodones street. Cars, bicycles, people pushing carts overflowing with wares, hucksters and hawksters every where you turned: it was enough to make you dizzy. We had, we thought, an hour to have lunch before my appointment with the dentist at 1:00.

Walking up the street was like running a tactical marathon. Every two feet someone (mostly men) stepped out of doorways to confront us and challenge us. "Where you going? I can help you". Want a dentist? I will take you." "Need some glasses? I know the best one." And on and on and on.

After a few blocks of walking we found ourselves in the same block our dentist was supposed to be. There were a lot of doorways and many were under construction or renovation. We stopped and were considering our options when a woman, dressed like an office attendant came out of a door right beside us. It was a door with no title and the area around it was obviously under construction. She asked us if we were looking for Dr. Chavez and we assured her we were. That was when we realized the time difference. She went back inside, apparently looking for the Dr. and we waited outside. A few moments later a man came up behind us and asked us to follow him; to another door across the street from the first door. Needless to say we were getting a little nervous and wondering if this was a scam and we were being lured to the office of a butcher. That's about when the woman reappeared and we questioned both of them. To our relief it turned out Dr. Chavez's office was being renovated and he was using the office of a different dentist until his was ready.

We finally got sorted out and I saw Dr Chavez in the office across from the one being renovated. Turned out my crown could not be replaced and what was left of the tooth had to be extracted. It also turned out my gums were receding from the older bridge in the same area. There was a second option as well that involved bone grafts and an implant and even more work… we chose the first option and he got to work. Two hours later I was released and we made an appt. to return on Friday for the permanent bridge.

The return to our vehicle wasn't nearly as smooth as walking into Mexico. The line of people waiting to cross back into the U.S. was over half a mile long and moving forward very slowly. With no other option, we joined the shuffling line and about an hour later managed to pass through security without even a question. Back to Rio Bend we fled.

Not much more to this story but suffice to say, I m glad the worst is over and there is hope for my smile yet 🤓

May your teeth remain strongly planted and your day be filled with sunshine. CJ

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

Stuff happens in threes… right?

I think we're there. First there was the accident… then there was an earthquake. Remember last summer when our sail to Desolation was rudely interrupted by my toothache; and our speedy return to home where I underwent not one but two root canals on said tooth - which involved working through the crown to conduct the root canal. Well…… yesterday, while enjoying some lunch with friends, the &@#$!! crown came off. The good news? I didn't swallow it. The bad news; now I have to go to a dentist.

There is one positive to all this. I'm pretty sure I'll be needing some implants in the years to come and I'm absolutely certain my savings account won't be big enough to cover the cost of having them in Canada. But, as we sit here in El Centro we are very close to the Mexican border in general and Algodones in particular. So, IF the crown had to fall off… this is the place where I would have wanted that to happen. A good friend of ours has seen one of the many dentists in Algodones for years and his dentist has been very good (and his implants have presented no problems). So, while I don't need implants at this time 🤞I will be meeting Dr. Chavez on Monday at 1 PM. The plan is, we drive to the border (about one hour away) and park. Then we walk across the border and to his office; a short walk. I'll let you know how it goes.

The pics I've included are of one of our morning 'fly byes' (the Blue Angels are training for an upcoming show and they practice in our skies… a terrific show) and of another creature of flight, I caught at the small lake in the resort.

I hope your skies are blue, your sun is warm… and your teeth are firmly planted 😀
Have a good day. CJ