It's Like a Lake in the Middle of a Farm

Yes, we have rednecks here in California too. You just have to head a little bit east over these hills, and the entire landscape changes. I hate to admit it, but my brother lives over there. I'm wondering if you are going to be that redneck, you might as well just keep going and move into Texas. It's cheaper down there.

But, this isn't the point of this post...

One of the local Hobie fleets has "Fun Sails" once a month, so we loaded up the truck and took the 2 b's (the boat and the Beemer) to Woodward Reservoir a couple of weeks ago. We had already been warned by my sis-in-law that the place was home to a wide variety of meth-heads and Hispanic parties. She wasn't kidding, but at least the little area we were camped out in wasn't home to either (well, if you don't count the loud Mexican disco music just south of our campsite).

We met a wide variety of people there, many of them from Modesto, and many of them with some teeth ("some" being the operative word here). The temperature hovered around the high 90's most of the time we were there, with the requisite California cooling-off later that night. After setting up our tent (we were the only ones there not in a gigantic RV, bringing back to mind the quote "it's not really getting away from it all if you are taking it all with you"), we set up the Getaway on the beach of the campsite and took off for a sail. This lake is warm, definitely has steady wind, and we were able to spend significant time on one tack, getting the feeling of the boat and how it reacted to gusts and traveling and sheeting the main. After our first sail out, we were informed by the "commodore" of the fleet that we needed to go out and race in the "Toilet Paper Regatta". Being the non-racers that we are, we really didn't want to, but we succumbed and surprised ourselves by coming in 2nd, only to the commodore who was by himself on a very fast Hobie 17 racer.

It dawned on me shortly after we arrived that the womenfolk were minding the campsites and the breadwinning men were the ones doing all the sailing. So, it shouldn't have come to my surprise (but it did) when I hopped on the catamaran, Chris got ready to push us off, and the "vice commodore" (fully decked out in his old swastika tattoo from his Korean War gig) said to Chris, "why don't you hop on the boat, and I'll push you off." Chris told him that I had the helm and we were all set. The guy looks at me, looks back at Chris, then says, "she knows how to sail?" I think the guy was really shocked.

After sailing for about 4 hours, it turned out to be a very long night. The group gathered around the fire, sang songs accompanied by the guitar-playing of the local "professional musician", and roasted marshmallows. I had flashbacks of YMCA camp from my childhood only without the Kum-ba-ya. We hung out because we felt like we had to, but shortly afterwards retreated to the safety of our small tent. We woke up the next morning hearing cows mooing. I'm not kidding.

The highlight of the trip was when we were presented with our 3rd place "trophies" for the Toilet Paper Regatta. We would have come in 2nd, but we didn't participate in one function. The trophy is a piece of wood with an inkjet-printed note glued to the top of it. It's unfortunate that the trophy probably won't make it to my next place of residence, but it's proudly displayed behind my computer at the moment.

A VERY PROUD MOMENT FOR US

All in all it wasn't a bad experience, but it was very strange. I had to start seeing the humor in everything that was happening or I would have lost my mind. We will go back to the lake to go sailing but not likely with that group of people.

We did hear through the grapevine that the "commodore", who owns his own wood building business of some sort in Stockton, built a bomb a couple of years ago and blew up his competitor. He spent 2 years in jail for that one and recently arrived back in the general public again. We concluded that this must be why his kids refer to him by first name.

Would you like a sample while you shop?

Just a note to all of you within driving distance of an HEB:

You have it good. That's a hell of a store. Appreciate what you have.

And between me and Lisa D: They don't do samples out here... what's up with that.

Well Blow Me Down or The Twins Ride Again!

So Wednesday, Kim and I took our new Getaway out to Del Valle Regional Park. We started out low on gas, so Kim was anxious about getting home. When we got to the park, we had to get checked out for mussels (those would be "Quagga Mussels", the same little bastards they checked for at the checkpoint when I was towing Tempus Fugit - T.G.) or something. We had to pay an inspection fee, and if we wanted to come back without paying another inspection fee, therefore not going to any other body of water, they were going to zip tie the boat to the trailer to ensure it hadn't been launched anywhere else. We were a little bummed about the additional charges and the delay, but made friends with the Park Ranger dude.

We rigged the boat in a relatively short while (especially compared to the H17), and launched it with only a slight difficulty (mainly because I didn't rig/raise the main properly at the dock). We took off like a shot once we cleared the dock, and Kim was impressed with the speed of the Getaway. Kim took the helm, and I took the jib sheets, and we practiced tacking all the way up the lake (upwind due to canyon effect). We got to the point where we gave up on the H17 in a third of the time, and proceeded farther up the lake. We saw white caps in a wider area, but were undaunted.

Sure enough, something went wrong, we hadn't gone over how to depower the boat, and the windward hull started to rise like a great white whale out of the sea. Kim un-assed the boat like a Navy Seal diving off of a Zodiac, so the boat continued to go over. I ran uphill to try to flatten out the boat, but the god-damned 303 sunblock I had sprayed on the tramp acted like Teflon, so off I went, stopping suddenly while straddling the submerged shroud.

I made sure she was alright, swam the mast back into the wind and clambered up onto the boat. I told Kim that she'd need to be up here too to help me and said she couldn't climb up. I helpfully grabbed her life jacked and hauled her up onto the bottom hull like a gaffed fish. The other hull was just above us, so we grabbed onto the righting line and leaned out. Splash! We fall in. Meanwhile, we're drifting into the shore, the boat sticks in the mud, so I stand in the water and lift the mast up over my head, into the wind. She's finally back up and we take a breather.


We sail off the muck, and do a few more tacks until I'm ready to go downwind. In ten minutes, we're back at the docks, so I take my turn at the helm and totally botch it up, especially considering I've had a Getaway before. Sigh... So we decide to beach her for another photo op. We have a cocktail and plan our attempt at the docks. Evidently talking things through helps, because we sailed right into the dock, with a little bump on the hulls and I stepped off like I knew what I was doing.

We put the boat back on the trailer, took down the mast and got her ready for trailering, had the worst wraps ever for dinner, and limped home with no gas.

All in all, another great day. We made a lot of mistakes, disscussed things, and learned a lot, and lived to go sailing another day. Kim and I certainly need more practice before we tackle anything like the the Bay (that would be next year or the year after, especially after I get a wet suit - T.G.). We're hitting Woodward Reservoir this weekend with Hobie Fleet 20 to get schooled. Lisa Chapin (a.k.a. "The Lisa") will also be out here in a few weeks to give us some more hands on training. She evidently raced cats in Miami a few years ago.

Some Assembly Required...

So, Tuesday, Kim and I went down to Santa Cruz mid-morning to meet Jeremy of Surf City Catamarans. After picking up some beer and coffee (depending on your drothers), we started opening large cardboard boxes that evidently had a 2008 Hobie Getaway inside of them.

We glued the aluminum mast to the Kevlar reinforced fiberglass comptip (which reduces attracting lightning, and allows more bend for sail shape). While we let that cure, we slid the crossbars into one hull, slid that assembly into the other hull, and laced up the trampolines. We then attached the wing seats, Hobie Bob, and various parts of the trailer. All the pictures of building the boat are here.

Six hours later, we had a fully assembled Getaway on the trailer, ready to go. We had polished off a twelve pack, and I think Jeremy was pretty happy with us as customers and potential friends. He has practically required us to do the Santa Cruz to Moss Landing Race (which I call the "Half Way to Monterey" race). We've been talking about doing just that, only if we do the race, we'll have safety in numbers, namely chase boats. Kim and I definitely need more sailing practice before we tackle something like that.


So we bid farewell to Jeremy after doing some paperwork, and hit a seafood place he recommended (i.e. "Rock of the Sea"). It turned out to be a mediocre Mexican place, but we passed rush hour in fine style. Kim took us the "scenic" way home, so 2 1/2 hours later (with one end of a sail bag crammed into my crotch), we pulled into Livermore. All in all, a great day...

I've Been Everywhere Man...

Neat video that was forwarded to me about The Republic of Texas. I've been to a lot of these places myself.

Deck: Done Deal!

The first project Cathi had me work on was her rotted out quarter-round deck on the back of the house, facing the pool. We rented a dumpster, and I spent two wonderful days demo'ing the old deck. Cathi was intrigued by the Trex composite decking, so we ordered a bunch of that and a pile of treated lumber to be dumped onto the driveway about six weeks ago. Working in the Livermore heat has been educational (I actually got a tan through my shirt). Kim has a photo gallery of all of the pics I took as I wrecked and built the deck. Most of which were taken from similar vantage points to give a webcam feel of my progress.



For those of you who might be considering Trex, it's a pretty interesting material. It's made of recycled plastic. It is very dense, gets pretty hot in the sun, and is quite flexible. It's also considerably more expensive than wood. You also have to vacuum up all of the sawdust from the machining operations, as it's plastic. It comes in a variety of colors (gray, redwood, etc.) with more coming out all the time. It has a smooth side and a faux wood grain side, depending on how old school or contemporary you want your deck to look. The good news is no splinters for the munchkins.



I forgot to mention that one of the major design considerations is that the new deck fit perfectly where the old deck was as the previous homeowner poured concrete right up to the wood deck. I think I achieved that pretty well. Cathi wanted more ventilation, since rot is what caused the premature demise of the old deck. She also wanted some lighting, so I strung rope light under each step. The effect at night is pretty cool.



I'm looking forward to dining out on the deck again (we ate out there several times when we first got out there). I'm also looking forward to the first pool party. Several visitors have commented favorably on the deck already.

Happy Birthday to Me!

So, Kim and I are sitting around talking about things we need to do while we're here. The fact that Kim spent all of the Summer Sailstice sitting on a Valiant 42 has been weighing heavily on my mind. She's been promising me that I'd get my chance. Several weeks ago, Kim found a friend, Alex Weinert, an old High School friend, on Facebook and pinged him. Come to find out, he lives in Seattle and owns a Valiant 42 (made in Texas, BTW). Kim pumps the conversation, and soon we're invited to come up and go sailing "someday". I find out that the Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival is Sept. 5-7, which Jeff Barger has inspired us to attend. I thought, "What a great thing to do for my birthday this year." Kim tells Alex, and he's all like, "Let's go!"

In the mean time, I've been reading the Valiant Owners' Newsletter I received a few days ago, and Kim mentions that we should go sailing on "Cariad", Alex's Valiant 42. My jaw drops, and I reach over and hand her the printout that I read while I was having my morning coffee the other day. The front page of the Newsletter is Alex's article he wrote about winning the Swiftsure, Division D this year! Alex said we're going to hit Port Townsend on the first day, go sailing the next, and then we can cruise Seattle. Evidently, Alex is doing quite well at Microsoft and has a house on Puget Sound, with his boat in his backyard. Not a bad setup. Needless to say, I'm pretty excited about my birthday (9/4/69) this year. This will definitely require a follow up blog. This is why we moved out here. Did I mention that the Valiant 42 is on our short list?

Driving in Hawaii is Cheaper

This is the sign posted on 7/10/08 from a gas station in San Mateo California, here in the Bay Area, right off of 101/92 and El Camino:

What Happens In Vegas...

Other than the three-way, getting the clap from the midget prostitute, the narcotics possession charge, waking up in the dumpster, and the trip to the ER, it was an uneventful trip to Vegas...

Carpe Vino

We picked up 2 wine barrels at our favorite winery, Bent Creek Winery yesterday. The directions from the winemaker had us going through the vineyards down a dirt road, take a left at the creek, and the 2 barrels could be picked up there. They are made of gorgeous french oak. We'll be dismantling them to do some crafty kind of things with them (if you are one of our closest friends or family, you'll know soon enough!). It was cool driving through a vineyard and then driving across town with the wine barrels in the back of the pickup truck. I'm hoping they will let us volunteer at the winery in exchange for the barrels (might as well seize the opportunity while we have it).

Homecoming

I forgot to mention (because of lack of sleep), that the night we went to White Castle, at 4:30am, the front desk called our room to help us settle our "movie" problem. Evidently, some other room was having trouble and we were dialed instead.

OK, so after the last entry on Friday morning, we ran over to the Art Museum. Once again we were afflicted by people yelling at their brats to be quiet in the museum. We even left the Stickley room, it was so bad! We waited until the heat of the day to stroll around the Zoo. It was really nice, and they have added a lot of new attractions since the last time I was there (like a giant rhinocerous beetle that I could wrangle):

Once we found a beer stand that sells "pounders" (16oz), we were in heaven. Fortunately, there was no auto-eroticism or feces flinging going on (I got enough of that in Texas). The St. Louis Zoo is rated the best free zoo in the US. We ran out of time to hit the Botanical Garden, but we checked it out first thing Saturday morning. I really liked the Japanese gardens and the koi lake. It was a very soothing way to start the day. We even gave some herb-growing advice to some fellow visitors. We capped off the day by hitting Rigazzi's on The Hill.


For those of you who may not know, The Hill had most of the five star Italian restaurants in the United States. The Catholic church there is so powerful they made the state of Missouri build crosswalks across I-40 since it was built through the middle of the parish. Also, Zia's Tutto Mare (seafood pasta) recipe is to die for if you're not shy about heavy cream sauce.

We then went over to my old high school buddy's house to stay for the next few days. Mike has an awesome Victorian in the Maplewood section of St. Louis, near where I used to take Aikido and sword. There also happens to be one of the few Penzey's stores just down the street, so Kim and I stopped in and bought several bags of what might appear to be drugs to a TSA agent. Kim took a big whiff of dried jalapenos and about had a seizure.


From there, I gave Kim a tour of my old haunts in St. Louis, Cedar Hill, Rolla, and all points in between. We stopped at St. James Winery, "the largest, by volume, winery in Missouri". Evidently, they're focusing on quantity instead of quality. The "pourer" didn't actually pour. We had to pour our own while he stood behind the bar with his hands behind his back. I wonder if TABC has a branch in Missouri... Check out the fine crystal we were drinking out of! For a while there I didn't know whether to pour wine or whiz in the cup. I think the end result would've been about the same.

We also found out that my college, University of Missouri at Rolla (UMR) has been changed to Missouri University/Institute of Science & Technology (MST, MIST, or MUST, we couldn't figure out the real name). It seems to me they're trying REALLY hard to sound like MIT. We had Imo's pizza after we got back into town:



Sunday took us, including Mike and his son David (aka "Buddha") to Grant's Farm, a really cool petting zoo run by Anheuser Busch. The great thing about Grant's Farm is the free beer you get at the end of the tour. Afterwards, David was ready for a nap, so we dropped him off with his mom and headed on over to Anheuser Busch for the brewery tour.
The best thing about the brewery tour is the free beer you get at the end. It was kind of a theme. Mike made some orange roughy italiano, and we headed on over to Ted Drewe's, quite possibly the best ice cream stand on the planet.

Monday, we went out to the Museum of Transportation. It was mostly a kid kinda thing to do, but I'd been there several times as a kid and wanted to show Kim some of the quintessential things to do in St. Louis.

We then ran over to Schlafly Brewpub to meet Eric, Lisa, their son Miles, Eric's sister Heidi, and her family for lunch. Since we took the scenic route, we were running a little late. Miles immediately recognized us and we sampled a few of Schlafly's finest. From there, we went to go check in to our hotel, the Millenium (which I think used to be Stouffer's Concourse). It's directly between the new Busch Stadium (2.0) and the Arch.

We walked over to the Arch, but the lines were long, and we had Cardinals tickets, so we regretfully left without going to the top. Kim made me promise we'd do it in the morning, so with a much lighter heart, we tooled on over to the game. The Cards spanked the Mets 7-1, so we were in high spirits. I definitely feel the need to mention that the beer prices at the ballpark more than made up for the free beer we had on Sunday. We ended up ordering Imo's pizza delivered to the hotel room for dinner that night, and washing it down with beer from the bar on the first floor. All in all, I think we spent over $100 for the equivalent of a twelve-pack, and it was only Bud-Light!



Tuesday, Kim and I ascended the 630 feet to the top of the Arch and saw a large chunk of Missouri and Illinois from up there. I was pleasantly surprised that our elevator didn't smell like the previous tenant's flatulence, an uncommonly rare occurrence.

Having satisfied almost all of the stops on our itinerary, Kim and I decided to start making our way to the airport, via Gus' Pretzels and the Planetarium, which is evidently now called the Science Center. Kim got some pretzels and hot mustard to take home with us and we ended up running a little late at the airport. We also realized that some stuff we bought at Penzey's and the mustard could not go with us on the plane. Damn terrorists! So we made a charitable donation in order to not be strip searched, thus making us miss our flight.

We arrived safe and sound in San Jose, via Santa Ana and ran over to a local pub to grab some grub instead of fighting the evening traffic. All in all, it was a great trip. It was great to show Kim my roots (not that she can't seem them already), and hooking up with the Drehers made it all worthwhile. Ironically, we're off to Vegas to meet up with Robin on Sunday. Since what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas, I can't promise a blog on that one. Kim talked with our Hobie dude, and our new baby should be here on the 10th, just after we get back, so I'm sure we'll be heading back down to Santa Cruz to commission her and bring her home. You can expect a blog on that one. I wonder if Kim will name her "The Twins 2.0"...

kim here: Chris forgot to mention we went to West Marine in St Louis, for those of you following our West Marine travels:


All of our St Louis photos are HERE!