Slept aboard of course, bed's a tiny low space in the bow they call the V-berth. ("V" is the shape.)

My ~plan was to actually LEAVE here today, but, not capable of rushing, i asked the marina office to let me stay thru Fri. They consented, for only another $15, bargain. It's so easy docked, especially with multi-necessary-trips to the hardware store. So thats a load of pressure off.

I ~adjusted the outboard mount. The main engine is 4-cylinder, but only sensible to have a backup, eh? So the good man who sold me the boat threw in a new outboard too. Trouble is, the mount on the back was for a different-shaft-length OB.

What the mount does is raise and lower the OB, in-water for use, out when not in use, for less drag, corrosion, etc. Some while back I emailed the mount manufacturer about an adapter, but they dont make such. Me, a ~carpenter, figured i could do it with a 2' 2x12.

[Fiji: every village has a carpenter. On a visit to a remote vill, i came to the house where i was to stay. Tools hanging on the wall, i said to the landowner, "You are a carpenter." "I TRY to be a carpenter," his modest reply.]

I've brot certain essential tools (battery-powered & other) with me, because never know when you might have to rebuild a boat mid-journey. [On the Baja trip, 1980s, my sailboat aluminum boom snapped in a storm. Anchored safe the next day, i shaved down a 2x4 to fit the oval shape of the boom, jammed it into the broken hollow ends, and continued as if nothing had happened.] I picked up a scrap pressure-treated 2x10 at Heikes on the way up, it'll do i think fine, tho it was a struggle hanging off the stern, sure my nuts, bolts, and tools would find the bottom of the harbor. (So that heavy awkward outboard would not do the same as i wrassled it to position: the rope.)

The outboard is brand new, so once mounted, i had to fill the oil reservoir. First step take the cowl off. Took long time to finally figure out how, no instructions for that in the manual, which no doubt figured it was obvious. Not. Then there was the oil filling, again juggling oil jug, the dipstick, etc, all in hope of not dropping in the water. [I have experience with that too: Baja, near the end of the 2 month trip, outboard acting up; i thought it mite be the fuel pump. So i removed its cover. As the cover came off, BING the spring-loaded parts flew out; splash. Luckily fuel pumps arent that important, i mounted the fuel tank on the cabin roof and let gravity do its thing.]

While so engaged, the 2 laborers waxing the yacht across the way got into a serious cussing match over a dropped cockpit cover. The boss was afraid it was scratched and he'd be charged; the employee, not so concerned. Employee lost the argument, loudly fired. Exchanged 'Fuck You's went on quite awhile, threats of physical violence. But no shots fired.

Boating: serious stuff.

Meanwhile, the jets. Whidbey Island is a big-time Navy training center for FA-18 fighter-jets. They fly low & slow, the roar in this rich populated recreation area is rather at times extreme.

Out of dread, i put it off, but finally time to START THE ENGINE. My greatest fear is that it won't. And it doesnt. Once again, i wish i never got into this. I dont know engines. But i open the cover. Remove the air cleaner. There's the 1981 carburetor, the butterfly valve, or whatever it's called, (the choke), wide open. Well THAT aint right. I push it shut, and indeed feel a lot of resistance, like the thing was physically stuck. Try the key again. With a couple minor backfire pops, it fires right up. Wow, maybe i know something of even engines.

One of the major problems i discovered on the trip out i took several weeks ago was that when the engine was going cruising speed, 3000rpm, it was putting out 16.5 volts, which is too high, potentially damaging batteries, & causing the inverter (which charges electonic devices) to shut off. So idling here in the slip, i ran it up to 3k rpm, checked the volts again. There's no problem. Which is a ~problem.

Arrived Oak Harbor Marina, Whidbey Island, WA. Relief, WA traffic on I5 always very slow.

Reported progress to Cathy, Helsleys, Lee, Lee's sister Janet, Mitch (my friend in Vancouver/Bellingham), parents, and Bill (the previous boat owner).

Tomorrow and probably more days will be busy:

• breakfast with Janet, who happens to be on the island here, working on her Dad's boat (which is also here in same marina).
• modify outboard mount, which doesnt fit the new outboard.
• meet Bill so he can pickup some misc property i still have.
• replace alternator, which Bill lately replaced as a precaution before sale, but the new unit is putting out way too much volts (16.5, should be max 14). He says the old alternator is still aboard, so i hope to just replace it with the old 1.
• load up the boat with all the supplies and equipment i brought.
• coordinate with Hanna, a local Mitch knows, who'll take my truck til it gets transferred over to Mitch.
• ask the marina folks if i can stay a couple extra days, since there's a lot to do.

Now that i'm here and hands-on, feeling much better.

Becky tells me blog is not showing her comments. Checking, yes it wouldnt show MINE either. I googled the problem, tried a different comments setting, it works now, but you have to take the stupid 'I am not a robot' test.

continued struggle with Spot-X, i feel sorry for Cathy, it's very important we have reliable communications. So i summoned tech support daemons, i was next in line for 'chat' for a long time, then suddenly chat was unavailable, maybe they went to lunch? But i got thru by phone, the man spent a very long time with me as we tried various tests, indeed his depth of understanding of the underlying system behavior details made me wonder if he programmed he thing. Bottom lines are 1)it seems to work... 2)except very sensitive to trees (even thin trees, by Trinity standards); 3)it's kinda dumb, the programming's linear, not a lot of concurrency; 4)i think out on the open water it'll be fine.

i am so disgusted with tech. It made my ~fortune (ha), but it promises your imagination, then disappoints.

on my cruise in WA some weeks back, i found my batts were being charged at 16.5 volts, which caused my inverter to shut off. I figured the volts were too high. Now researching, i was right. It shouldnt be more than ~14! So i called the previous owner and his mechanic. Both these guys are great! so helpful! Sounds like it's complicated thing (ha), a belt-driven salt-water-cooled volt-regulator [the mechanic called it STUPID], but the good news is the good previous owner Bill replaced it even tho it was working at the time, so maybe all i need to do is put the old 1 back on?

I am lucky to have such good friends! All so encouraging. I'll leave for WA sunday. As beauty as it is here now, i wish i'd instead stay.

ordered anchor, PFD (hope not too bulky), and personal emergency strobe from West Marine (the REI of the boating world). My original plan was to pick it up at an Oregon store, thereby avoiding the tax, but i procrastinated so long that it won't get there in time, i have to pick it up in WA.

Cathy & i continue to try to get my satellite-texter to successfully receive a msg from hers. So far no joy.

Attempted to set a forwarding address for my snailmail at usps.com. I entered my address as "HC1" Box 576. It didnt like that, the website code asked politely if i meant "HC 1". Yes fine whatever. Now they have a new thing where they charge your credit card $1.05, using that (besides more $$) as a confirmation that you really are who you say, by comparing the CC info to who you are claiming to be. [Because of, for example, THIS.] But when i entered my CC info, THE ADDRESSES DIDNT MATCH. Because the CC no doubt had "HC1", not "HC 1". So i had to drive to the PO and do it in person. Arrived 2minutes past door-locked-closed time in Trinity Center, but the nice postal lady let me in anyway. Actually was very pleasant, the human interaction. I wish i could completely eschew the internet. But then i'd have to send each of you a letter every day. It would take many stamps.

Similarly tried to suspend DVD delivery via dvd.netflix.com. I'v done this in the past, but today i couldnt find any such option. So i had to phone, was told i'd just have to CANCEL, then restart when i get back. Whatever.

Details. Dang.

Now, trying to publish this post, the Verizon data net isn't working. It's gotten much much WORSE over the years, as has even the voice system, while i buy much more expensive and advanced phones from them, then they blame it on my phone. There is so much very wrong. As Steve Friedman has asked: "Where are we going? And why are we in this hand-basket?" Reboot.

cathy & i again tried testing my 'gadget', the satellite txtmsg-er. It works with her phone, good, but we havent managed to get it to send successfully to HER gadget, which is on a different system.

I ordered the raft, and started moving my more valuable possessions to good friends' basement. Dang, still working on making websites work, it's very complicated.

i have a long list of things i must do before i go. Some i am "check"-ing off, as i accomplish them. Others i "x"-off, because no way they'll be done. In that sense, it gets easier & easier.

Frontier Days website finally working, i can relax a bit on that, tho websites (& all else) are never "DONE".

today collected some yaya (great Fijian word for 'stuff') to go to the boat, plus all my better tools to relocate to more secure storage while i'm gone. Will have to forward mail (which i nev4r read anyway) to a trusted friend.

another ~raft possibility is this kayak, which'd be cool but it's longer, heavier. (Heavy, important, cuz it likely'll end up stored on the roof.)

did some research re electrical. One of the ~problems i had when i did my test-trip in WA was that my inverter shut off when the engine ran at cruising speed (~20mph). Lower speeds it was fine. So i think the engine puts out too many volts when running ~fast. I need my computer, cellphone, "gadget" (Cathy's term for satellite-textmessager), lantern, etc, to charge up while i'm running during the day. Also, tho' the boat already already has 2 good marine batteries, i am so paranoid about the batts running down in the afternoon/eve due to the electronic devices and the "anchor lite" which law requires i leave on all night long, that i want a third battery. So maybe if i got a volt-regulator for the 3rd batt, i'd be ok? But i don't know about such things.

Deathly slow internet here at Covington Mill complicates everything. Hoping it'll be faster in Alaska.

i must leave in less than a week, and i am totally unprepared. because i procrastinate. hence, at nite i am in a panic, but days i am fine: i'll deal with it.

• apparently i can use 'visitor' tie-ups in various marinas in WA while i make final preps. They provide these cuz boaters are good for the local economy? So thats good news.
• checked into custom regs, US & Canada. I'll need to go thru customs *4* times: WA to Canada, Canada to AK, AK to Canada, Canada to WA. Ick. And the Canadian website maps wouldnt work, so so-far i dont know where to go to check-in.
• sent Cathy my "Float Plan", she'll watch over me while i'm out there. So then we tested my new "Gadget" Spot-X, frustrating, it's not like cell-fon text-messaging, it relies on satellites so e very msg takes a long time.
• thinking of this RAFT, something to get me from boat to shore when anchored or tied to a buoy mooring. I know it's not at all much, but it needs to be small. Cuz my main boat is: Small.
• good news: my credit cards work with no extra currency-exchange fee in canada.

dragged out my old raft today, found many big holes, i'll need a new one.

ha i forgot to relate this story before...

while i was up there boating in WA: the cabin is enclosed (because it's cold, rainy, windy, buggy in alaska). The door into the cabin is a rather conventional sliding glass door. So at 1 point i was working outside the cabin, i shut the door of course, now try to go inside... the door won't open! Turns out something i'd piled inside had slipped down, blocking the sliding door from opening! (Just like some folks with sliding doors out to the patio will secure it by laying a dowel in the track.)

This seems a significant design flaw.

Very luckily the front hatch on the bow was unlocked, so i could enter there.

Meanwhile, now home, all prep is on hold as i do website stuff for folks. I told them all i was leaving, they'd have to get someone else, but they tried, and some failed. It truly is too hard. So, with 2wks to cast-off, i'm still working on Frontier Days, Art in the Alps, and Weaverville Car Show.

struggled today to get my satellite-texting device figured out. It's a Spot-X. It text-messages to/from via satellites, works all the important places on earth (tho not everywhere), and it's GPS so each msg has lat/lon coordinates showing where sent from, plus it tracks at set time intervals, and posts the points to a public MAP, so y'all can follow along the progress. Unfortunately: the map only retains 7 days of data. Dumb!

Further, anyone can text me via the SpotX at 254.543.8348.

(My regular cell phone should work normally much of the way as well.)

I havent been updating this as a blogger should. Sorry. But of course there really isnt anything too exciting yet.

The big thing was i did the 2-day drive to Washington, and: Boated.

I spent a few days inventorying, checking & figuring things out, etc. Slept aboard, not sure that was allowed in Oak Harbor Marina, so not only was i quiet & no lights, but i even moved slowly/carefully, as a rocking boat makes ripples.

Then the big day i'm to go out-there. Engine wouldnt start.

Realize i'm a sailboat guy past. I dont trust engines, despite i have a truck that almost always starts. And now here it was, my fear. I took a walk, wishing i never got into this at all, a stupid idea. Phoned the seller, i was calm and nice with him, because luckily he really is a very nice & honest man.

His best advice was i try again.

It worked. Soon i jockeying the power boat out of the slip. Even this wouldve been a bit embarrassing, had anyone witnessed, as i didnt really understand how to make the thing go forward & back.

(Realize i was, for 2 seasons, an actual Lake Patrol Law Enforcement Officer, in a fast powerboat. You'd think i'd know these things.) (It turns out there's an extra button at the base of the throttle. In, it's like neutral. Out, you go.)

Somehow i managed out.

Sunny, water glassy, a perfect day.

I havent tried its top speed, not important, but this craft cruises at 20mph, a low and economical 3000rpm.

The coolest part was the navigation display, something i've never experienced before. The detailed nautical chart for the area is on a computer screen display. GPS-enabled, my boat is a triangle center-screen. So it even tells you which way you're pointed. Truly, if not for fear of hitting a log or other vessel, one could never look out a window & still get there. Amazing.

And so i got there. Just a short few nautical miles, to a small bay i'd selected or its proximity and 'protection' from various wind directions. (It's what you seek in an anchorage. Tho the weather forecast was benign.)

I tossed the anchor over the side, not bothering to set it properly. It'll be fine.

There was a minor wind, less than 1' waves, but even that was enuf to blow me across the small bay, despite the slipping/sliding anchor.

No matter, i pulled it up, it slimy with grey clay & weed, motored back to where i'd started, tossed it nonchalantly back.

This time it held well for the silent nite.

Morning, fog. A swimming float near held gulls, later seals.

These actionless interludes, i stayed busy investigating the unfamiliar equipment, researching manuals, planning for the Big Trip.

But finally impatient, i navigated off into the fog, rightly trusting the GPS display, tho going a bit slower, maybe ~10mph, for safety, eh?(Funny, cuz with my previous sailboats, TOP speed was ~7, ha felt i was flying.)

Back to marina, inexperienced with this one, took me a few back&forths to to get into the slip, but no one watching, no damage.

A few days before, i'd climbed into the cockpit, for the first time there alone, the nitemare registration problem solved, and i was truly simply happier than in years. Happy to just SIT, exist, experience, be, in the moment. For the longest perfect time.

But finally it seemed i should DO something. ~Productive.

Too bad.

Every nite i wake, irrationally afraid, overwhelmed.

On, soon, to Alaska.