[Rhodes22-list] Seattle or Bust

Rik Sandberg sanderico@earthlink.net
Sun, 23 Mar 2003 12:07:39 -0600


Wally,

No, our first "in person" visit with her was on last Sunday afernoon. The 
closest we had been up to that point was through the pictures that the 
surveyor took and sent to us. I don't know, maybe I'm just lucky, but 
everything about the boat was "as advertised" and she seems to be in 
beautiful shape. This might say something about the integrity of the lady 
that was selling her, I think. I hope she knows how much I appreciate it.

I am hoping to get a pic or two today of her sitting on the trailer. It's 
amazing how big she looks up there. I climbed up last night to put in some 
antifreeze and needed an 8 foot ladder to get even with the gunnels. She 
just seems a lot bigger than her 20 foot size suggests. With the R22 I can 
step on the tail light bracket and swing my leg over the gunnel to get in. 
With this boat, stepping on the tail light bracket would barely get you to 
the water line.

Rik

On Sun, 23 Mar 2003 12:36:09 -0500, Wally Buck <tnrhodey@hotmail.com> 
wrote:

> Rik,
>
> Glad it all worked out. I am curious; had you acutally seen the boat 
> prior to this? I hope she met or exceeded all of your expectations!!
>
> Wally
>
>
>
>
>
>
>> From: Rik Sandberg <sanderico@earthlink.net>
>> Reply-To: sanderico@earthlink.net,The Rhodes 22 mail list <rhodes22- 
>> list@rhodes22.org>
>> To: The Rhodes 22 mail list <rhodes22-list@rhodes22.org>
>> Subject: [Rhodes22-list] Seattle or Bust
>> Date: Sun, 23 Mar 2003 11:44:20 -0600
>>
>> Hello All,
>>
>> Well, the official sensus of the sailboat population in Long Prairie, MN 
>> shows that it has doubled, as recently as yesterday. No, there aren't 
>> any more sailors than there were 2 days ago, but there are twice as many 
>> boats. :-)
>>
>> Sandy and I left a week ago Friday, bound for Seattle to pick up our new 
>> (old) Pacific Seacraft, Flicka. Arrived in Seattle about noon (Seattle 
>> time) on Sunday. The weather on the trip out was mostly beautiful and 
>> the scenery, once you get about 3/4 of the way across North Dakota, was 
>> mostly awe inspiring. Sandy's eyes were like saucers for most of the 
>> trip as she tried to take it all in. She'd never been further west than 
>> Butte, Montana before and was pretty much spellbound by the beauty and 
>> just plain hugeness (new word here?) of it all. For those who have never 
>> been there, I would certainly recommend a road trip through the upper 
>> Northwest. You will get a whole new perspective on your size versus the 
>> size of the world around you. It's true, they don't call Montana "Big 
>> Sky Country" for nothing. This pretty much fits Idaho and Washington as 
>> well.
>>
>> Anyway, We saw the folks at Seacraft Yacht Sales on Sunday afternoon and 
>> got the keys for the boat. They were very nice and told us to make our 
>> self at home and use their facilities for as long as it took to make the 
>> arrangement for our haulout and to get ready for the trip back to 
>> Minnesota. They made us the loan of an electric heater and offered the 
>> use of shorepower so that we could stay aboard during our stay there. We 
>> were very pleased to accept this hospitality, since we were to learn 
>> that, while the food and especially the coffee are excellent and 
>> plentiful in Seattle and the choices of national origins are almost 
>> limitless, inexpensive is not a word that seems to be part of their 
>> vocabulary. Having to pay for motel rooms as well would have rubbed this 
>> old cheapskate, quite harshly, the wrong way. :-) Besides, there are not 
>> really many places to stay right along the waterfront in that area and 
>> commuting back and forth would have been a real PITA. You can't believe 
>> the traffic out there. Makes Chicago seem quite tame.
>>
>> We hiked down, a couple miles around the point, to CSR Yacht Services on 
>> Monday morning to make arrangement with them for taking down our mast 
>> and lifting our new child onto her newly built (built it mysef) 
>> cradle/trailer. We found that it would be Thusday morning before this 
>> would happen. We didn't mind, as neither of us had ever been to Seattle 
>> before and we sorta wanted to take a couple days to look around a 
>> little. So, on Tuesday we made arrangements to take a bus tour of the 
>> city. We had an excellent time on this tour and saw Seattle from almost 
>> every angle and height. We also saw that we will not be able to afford 
>> to live there soon, if ever. :-) But the tour guide was very nice and 
>> very knowledgable and he showed us some things we could do and even 
>> explained how we could get around quite easily on the city buses. 
>> Believe me, you don't want to drive your car there if you don't have to. 
>> The traffic is just crazy and the parking is even worse. And, with all 
>> the hills and water, nothing is layed out straight, so it's kinda hard 
>> to get a feel for the "lay of the land". The tour got done about 1 pm so 
>> we spent the afternoon walking around a thing called Pike's Place Market 
>> which is just chock full of restaurants, an open fish market and 
>> different artsy and craftsy type places. Had lunch there in a tiny 
>> little bistro named Matt's. Matt is a pretty good chef, by the way. He 
>> was able to turn a turkey sandwich into a culinary event. Then we 
>> wandered around a little more and bought an extra blanket (it was cold 
>> at night), then used our new found knowledge to ride the bus back to our 
>> marina on the other side of town. Then, on Wednesday, it rained, and 
>> rained and just about the time the sky would lighten and we thought it 
>> might stop. You guessed it, it rained some more. It wasn't a hard rain, 
>> just that kind of rain that is enough to keep you soaked and shivering, 
>> if you're out in it. So we just pretty much stayed in the boat and 
>> listened to a "book on tape". We did go out to a restaurant in the 
>> evening called Chinook's. This is located next to the commercial fishing 
>> wharfs and while you are eating you can sit and look over the hundreds 
>> of fishing vessels that are docked there. We both had Dungeness Crab. 
>> Sandy had a whole crab, and I had crab cakes. Lord, it was good, not 
>> inexpensive, but way good. I would recommend a visit to this place if 
>> you are ever in Seattle.
>>
>> So, to get to the end of this thing. We drove the pickup and trailer 
>> over to CSR on Thursday morning and walked back to the marina to get the 
>> boat. We then drove the boat over to CSR and were just a tick early for 
>> our 10 am appointment. The guys at CSR were quite efficient and had the 
>> boat ready to pull, lifted by crane and set on the trailer in about an 
>> hour. Then we spent another couple hours tying her down and trussing her 
>> up for the 1600 mile jaunt back to Minnesota. By 3 pm (Seattle time) we 
>> were ready to go, just in time to beat rush hour.
>>
>> The trip back went very well and I am happy to report no shortage of 
>> tongue weight, so the trailer towed amazingly well at any speed I chose 
>> to tow (up to 80 mph a couple of times when I wasn't watching close 
>> enough). I was a little nervous about the snowstorms that had hit 
>> Colorado so hard, but it seemed to have all stayed to the south of our 
>> route and all the passes were clear and ice free. The only weather we 
>> encountered in the high country was a little bit of rain and fog as we 
>> went up the west side of Snoqualmie Pass. Again, we ooo'd and aaahhh'd 
>> as we rolled though this breathtaking terrain. It is truly hard to 
>> describe the beauty and ruggedness of this area. It inspired a much 
>> greater respect for the bravery and tenacity of the folks who first 
>> settled these areas with nothing but a horse and wagon. It is just hard 
>> to imagine how they ever did it. Tough people, to put it mildly.
>>
>> Drove pretty much straight through until I got to Jametown, North Dakota 
>> and decided I wanted a nice hot shower and a good nights sleep. Got up 
>> on Saturday morning, partook of the "continental" breakfast (I think we 
>> are becoming fans of Holiday Inn Express) and ran the last couple 
>> hundred miles in to the house. Got home about 12:30 pm. It was a really 
>> fun trip, but it's good to be back home again. The round trip was 3217 
>> miles.
>>
>> Rik
>>
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