August Boat Trip

Look Ma, no hands!

We spent a long weekend down on Logos this month -- actually, Barry stayed for a full week to work on some projects, while I had to come home for an important week at work (our latest software release went to its first customer and I was on the first-line support team).

Motoring down the Neuse River on the way to Bonner Bay. There was a large barge up ahead you can barely see. No wind whatsoever, so we didn't raise the sails.

We anchored out for one night in Bonner Bay off the Bay River, which proved to be a completely secluded anchorage and very peaceful, minus an evening storm with a nearby waterspout sighting. Fortunately it didn't come our way and suck us and Logos up into the sky in its whirling vortex....

Bonner Bay anchorage shortly after putting down the anchor -- no other boats and gorgeous weather... A little later...oops!

Barry put a kellet on to help prevent the rode from wrapping around our wing keel in a wind shift. It was mostly for practice and probably not needed, but good to try anyway.

After I left, Barry completed his installation of a washdown pump that will make getting the sticky Neuse mud off our anchor, ground tackle, and foredeck much easier in the future. He also began installing our new Raymarine autopilot, only to have a part of the wheel drive break off. It will have to be sent back to the manufacturer for replacement. It's always something!

Heading back to the marina on Sunday - I definitely shoulda worn a hat! Another of Barry's projects - an outboard motor mount he'd made out of starboard. Super nice and saved us a lot of $ over buying one.

Another Kind of Adventure

After bugging Barry's folks for at least two years to have a garage sale with us at their perfectly located house for getting the hoards of traffic one wants at such a sale, they finally relented. We had been setting stuff aside for such an opportunity for awhile. Lots of stuff. Stuff from the attic, garage, closets, mostly, but a few things that were sitting out here and there and just more than we needed to dust. It felt really good to clean out all this clutter that we weren't using any more, empowering really. So, in a style the Beverly Hillbillies would certainly approve of, we packed up Barry's truck until not a single additional doohicky could be smashed in, and drove to Bev-er-ly...oops, I mean Ohio. Yeah, yeah, it's a bit far to go for a garage sale. Most of the people I mentioned this plan to were surprised that we'd go to that kind of trouble instead of just donating the items or selling them locally, but we owed Barry's folks a visit anyway; and call us crazy, but we think garage/yard sales are kind of fun. We'd held a couple with Barry's folks years ago that went well, brought in a little cash, and provided nearly instant gratification since you can move a lot of stuff out the door in just a few days of preparation. And talking to the shoppers, happy with their new-found bargains, is surprisingly entertaining. Yeah, we're a bit twisted....

Barry's truck after we'd arrived in Ohio and already removed an old desk that was tied on the tailgate!

Paisley staked out my duffle in our closet to make sure she wouldn't be left. Unfortunately, we did have to leave her in the kennel for the first time so we could concentrate on all the work at hand, but being the social butterfly she is, she did great there! When we arrived and started setting up for the sale, I think Barry's folks were taken aback at just how much stuff we'd actually brought. We set up table after table, and when all was said and done, Barry's mom proclaimed it the biggest garage sale she'd ever seen. The first day was exciting. We had a lot of shoppers (garage sale regulars, no doubt) in the morning and sold a ton of stuff, especially construction supplies and tools Barry had cleaned out of the garage. My books, household stuff, and Christmas items (I had enough to decorate at least two houses and four Christmas trees so was trying to offload the excess) moved slower, but sales were made. After lunch on day one, the crowds slowed to a trickle, and the entire second day was similar. Note to self: a one-day sale is probably plenty if we do this again.

I played cashier while Barry's mom wrapped and bagged.

Although we sold at least two-thirds of what we took up, we still came home with a fair amount of stuff, along with nice little stack of cash; which covered our gas for the trip, a couple of meals out, Paisley's kennel, and even left a few bills for our bank account. The leftover stuff we had to haul back will be parsed out to donate, list on ebay, or sell on craigslist. All in all, it was a worthy venture, and although we couldn't convince Barry's folks to part with very much, they got into the spirit of the sale over time and kept bringing items out one or two at a time. They also bought some of our stuff they could use.

The spoils after the sale

A cycling-related note: The only downside of a trip at this time was missing four exciting stages of the Tour de France, which we'd been glued to here at home for most of the month of July. Barry's folks don't get Versus, and we knew we'd be too tired in the evenings (and yes, we were!) to hunt down a sports bar to try to catch coverage. Thankfully, a cyclist on a forum I read informed me that Versus provided replays of their daily live stream online for a small fee. So each night we'd retreat to the basement, plug in my laptop, and catch the day's stage. Cheering Lance on to his eventual third-place podium position made this trip complete!

Watching the Tour de France