Crescent City, California

Left Portland, left Oregon. Long, long day driving. Movies, books on tape, snacks, art for the kids. Beautiful southern Oregon, Grant's Pass' caveman and then the absolute wonder of the redwoods as we approached the coast. Amazing amount of semi-trucks. We swam in the hotel pool, ate some dinner and are now hanging out in the hotel room watching cable (a big deal to our cable-deprived children). Tomorrow, the redwoods... and if we can, the long stretch to Alameda. But 350 miles still to go. At least the pod stayed closed!

Seattle to Portland! (AKA Running around on the Interstate picking up clothing...)

Believe it or not, Ben, Samey and I were able to get into the uber-stuffed Highlander yesterday afternoon and leave Seattle for San Francisco. Exhausted. I struggled with the Yakima Roof Pod which knocked me off the car and flat on my back with the lid to the pod on the ground next to me, deeply bruising my side as I fell, but finally almost everything fit. I was eager to leave but left so much undone... I did as much as I could as far as packing and arranging affairs and house things but, if you know my house, there was much to do and little time to do it. I basically started in earnest only after we were able to get Marcus, Max and the boat launched.  I think Jugurtha and Samira will be comfortable there as they house-sit for us for the year and I got the house to where I felt better about leaving it behind. Harder than I expected or ever realized. I am exhausted. The kids were excited to get going and "go see Daddy", finally. after days and days of me being frazzled sleep deprived and NOT being the best of Mommies. The drive was fluid and easy. We stopped for a potty break south of Olympia and I noticed that there were plastic bag corners sticking out of the sides of the pod and found it strange (I used big black plastic bags to pack so I wouldn't have luggage to store on the boat once we arrived). I knew the pod was pretty darn full but I had checked the locks, sat on the pod to make sure all the "clicks" happened but decided that air must be getting in somewhere and blowing the plastic out of the sides. But I still felt uncomfortable about it. Rightly so. About 60 miles north of Portland that pod opened up and jettisoned my full bag of clothes for the year and Ben's full bag of clothes for the year and one of Max's diving flippers out into the air like confetti, spreading them all over the freeway at high speed. I was incredulous. I pulled quickly over to the side and screamed at Ben to stay in the car with Sam as I ran back. I watched in horror as one of the 50 trucks sped by, one of them crushing Max's flipper and one of them dragging one of Ben's shirts by on its undercarriage. The clothes were EVERYWHERE. I ran along the shoulder picking up what I could. The wind from the semi's blew some of it to the shoulder. Some good Samaritans stopped behind me and helped me gather up what we could. But the bulk of it remained spread out all over I-5. Both lanes. And then a car saw what was going on and stopped for us, blocking one lane, and then a semi-truck stopped in the other lane and we effectively stopped all traffic on I-5 for a good 4-5 minutes while we ran all over gathering up all the clothes in our arms (the bags were exploded). I was grateful to that couple who carried everything in their arms with me and not a little unhinged. Remember, I was close to insanity and exhaustion before this even happened. We threw all the clothes at Ben's feet and on the front seat next to me and closed the pod with what was still in there and continued on. It took me a full hour before I could calm down and stop coughing and feeling noxious. And I didn't feel I could trust the pod for quite a while, either! I couldn't wait to get to our good friends' Cristi and John Bishop's place in Multnomah Village in Portland.

Their home is one of my all-time favorite houses in the world and between her gardens, her essential oils, her gourmet food, their hot tub, some red wine and their comfortable guest room, I was finally able to pull myself together. The kids don't seem any worse for the wear and they loved the hot tub and watering Cristi's garden and eating blueberries, tomatoes and strawberries from their garden. What good friends we have. This morning, I will head out to the car to "repack". And head south. We are deciding whether we take the scenic route down 101 to the Redwoods or just high-tail it down to Alameda. I guess you could say, the adventures continue.

After only 6 days, Appa arrives in Alameda!

This is the photo I got this morning!

Amazing but true. Leg One? Check. A little motoring, a big storm, a big push and voila! Appa can rest for a couple of weeks until Ben and Samey and I can get down there.

Finally, Day 5, Some News from the Delivery Crew

Marcus finally called me this afternoon from the satellite phone. I had not heard from him since Saturday evening so I was busy convincing myself not be worried. But I was. Just a little. Until then, we had been in truly amazing contact. I could call him and ask him even silly questions and send him texts with photos like he was at work across town. But then it was silence. A little unnerving. When you go on http://shipfinder.co/ship/367569340 and it goes from a huge map of the US and then zooms down to a little, little boat off the coast and I think that my husband, my son and four other very important human beings are on that little floating piece of a French Princess Wench (what we call "Appa" since she is basically Marcus' mistress and takes all his time and attention, devotion and obedience!)... it can be pretty sobering. But today he finally called and I knew he was attempting to not worry me about what the crew has been through in the last 36 hours. I imagine I will get the full story when they are safely docked in Alameda. But I gathered the following from our 2 minute talk: BIG storm hit them, big winds, Max was seasick after not taking the seasick patch, Holm did a great job steering and was a big asset and that they are only 25 miles from San Francisco already! They were planning on being there by Friday in the best case scenario so this is amazing news. They'll be there tonight or tomorrow already! He said the boat did really well and he seemed happy and somewhat relieved. And scared as in "after-the-fact" heart palpitations. But the connection was not great and the conversation was short so I don't really know much but I was glad to hear his voice. Meanwhile, my preparations of the house and kids continues. Dry, stable, no storms here. Just BIG HECTIC. And probably the same level of exhaustion. And of the "rocky-rollies". There is still so much to do to get ready to go. I am shooting for Wednesday, August 28 to leave Seattle in our car with Ben and Samantha and drive to Portland, then Redwoods on the 29th, then Alameda on the 30th. It all depends on if I can get it all together here by then.
Here is the only photo his Android sent to my iPhone during the whole delivery thus far (apparently he sent others but I have not received them):

Max, on Appa.

Appa and the crew gather in Neah Bay, Washington for the San Francisco delivery

Today was a BIG day for Appa! Holm Abrecht, Max Albrecht, Chris Carden, Rich Bustamante and I left Seattle this morning in Rich's Suburban to drive up to Neah Bay. Marcus, Patrick "Papa" Fox and Jugurtha Azzouz had arrived there late last night from Port Townsend after leaving Seattle on Monday, August 12. We met up with them at the Makah Marina, moored right next to Non Sequitur! Pete and Rachelle Jacobsen were there knee deep in projects. Scott Malone had just arrived and we missed seeing Mary by about an hour. Pete's brother Eric was also around. The four of them are also San Francisco-bound. All was well. Marcus, Papa and Jugurtha told us that they had a long motor to get to Neah Bay and not much weather excitement. They spent the time organizing, eating and doing other boat projects, including re-wiring the reading lamp above my head in the stateroom.

Here is a photo of the crew today aboard Appa (guess who is the skipper?):

 

The Crew

We unloaded a ton of food and personal items that we had brought along and then Jugurtha and I left them to put it all away and get ready to head down the coast. As Jugurtha and I drove away from Neah Bay along the coast heading back to Seattle, we saw a whale so close we could hear it from the car. We stopped and took a photo (see the whale spout below). Very long driving day but also a very exciting day!

Whale Spouting off the coast near Neah Bay