Six flights in ten days! My trip back to the US was certainly a good training ground for the upcoming European festivities. Besides the usual overwhelming lights and noise of the States, my trip was a smooth one. If you have never been to Idaho, I strongly recommend a trip! Beautiful mountains, lakes, farms. The sunset in Boise was at 10:45pm so we had lots of daytime hours for exploring and the people were really nice! The main purpose of the trip was to spend some time with my two sisters and my 20 month old great niece. My great niece, Charlotte, is the cutest, smartest, most amazing child ever put on this Earth (at least according to my sister). We stole Charlotte away from her parents for a day and by the time we returned her home, she was spoiled rotten, only wanted cookies and had at least half of the toy store unloaded into the living room. While Charlotte was sad to see us go, I am sure her parents did a happy dance as we left for the airport. From Idaho, I left my sisters and flew to New Orleans to visit my daughter for a couple of nights. We had a great day at the New Orleans Zoo which was spectacular! At least the animals at the zoo were in cages instead of running free on Bourbon Street drinking too much!
The return trip to St. Maarten was uneventful with the exception of the boat parts that I was carrying in my bag. Even the TSA agent had trouble hoisting the bag and gave me a not so pleasant stare as I made my way through security. Luckily, Bill met me in the airport once I landed to take over being the mule! While I was gone, Bill had been busy working on the dinghy flip and Big Boy was coming along nicely. I was in charge of the overall cleaning of Big Boy. As you recall, we had used a Magic Eraser to plug the leaks so he would not sink. We had the holes repaired so now I could use the Magic Eraser to clean him! What a versatile invention that little square of wonder is! As I finished cleaning Big Boy, I prepared to get back on Galt. I grabbed onto the dock line that was holding Galt in place. I had one foot on Galt and one on Big Boy when the wind suddenly kicked up and Big Boy decided to float away from Galt. I found myself swinging from the boat lines, both feet in the water and missing one shoe. I called out to Bill that I had fallen in the water. He stuck his head out of the hatch and said, “What about the water?” to which I responded, “I am in it!” He said, “Well, that’s not a good place to be!” By this time, my nonexistent upper body strength had completely given way and I was treading water by the boat. Usually, we have a swim ladder attached to the boat but we had the ladder off in preparation for the haul out. So, no ladder. No upper body strength. Bill tried setting up several ladder options for my rescue but my stellar coordination was not cooperating. I finally swam across the marina to the hotel area and found some really disgusting, slimy steps so I could climb out of the water. Needless to say, between hauling the boat parts through three airports and falling in the water while cleaning, the sales price of Big Boy has been raised! This next week we will be doing the final preparations for Galt’s haul out. It will be the first time we have hauled Galt out of the water so I am sure the nerves will be high but the yard does a dozen haul outs a day so we should be in good hands! Haul outs are impressive to watch so I’ll be sure to take some good pictures for you!
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AuthorSally Miller Archives
May 2024
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