Miles and Miles of Texas

Some of you might remember the old Asleep At The Wheel Song...
Miles and Miles Of Texas...... Next Thursday, 7/31/2014, Tana and yours truly will be leaving Galveston, Texas and driving to Tucson, Arizona then to our final destination about 300 miles south of the Mexican border..... where I've rented a house for six months. We plan to chill, think, write, screw off, sight see, travel around Mexico, drink beer, study Spanish, fish, spend alotta time at the beach, and generally just hang. Most of the trip getting there is spent crossing this Lone Star State of ours.
"How many miles is it across Texas?" Tana asked me. Not knowing.....what did I do? You all know...Google it!!......
Did you know that the distance from.....
     London to Paris = 289 miles
     Los Angeles to San Francisco = 382 miles
     Paris to Madrid = 781 miles
     New York to Chicago = 791 miles
     Galveston, Texas to El Paso, Texas 794 miles !!!!
     El Paso, Texas to Tucson, Arizona = 372 miles

Now we know what Asleep At The Wheel was talkin' about !

We'll be leaving in a few days and plan on taking you guys with us..

Until we leave........take care and peace to you....don't forget to hug your kids today and tell your luv bunny how important they are in your life and how much you love them.....

seeya

When is out of the the box.....in the box?

It's Saturday afternoon and I got a cold Corona going and feel like visiting with you guys for a while.......
One thing that all of you will probably agree on if you have spent any time hanging around marinas is that they usually harbor a few unusual types mixed in with the ordinary folks, the well heeled yachties, and the visionary romantic dreamers. Mine does!
Got up this morning at the crack of 9:30 and headed for Starbucks for my usual "Venti Blonde Roast with room for cream". To get out of the marina, you wind your way around various waterways, channels, small lakes, and sloughs. These are all favorite haunts of local fishermen.....oh sorry!....fisher persons because they all connect into Galveston Bay which is one of the most productive estuarine ecosystems in the world and it is full of fish.....trout, redfish, flounder, mullet, and hardheads. 
I was noticing these folks out enjoying the morning, bonding with friends and family on the water all anticipating a bountiful fishing expedition. It was a perfect morning for all....men, women, kids, pirates, philosophers, voyeurs,  and everyone else. Being a boat addicted sort, the boats themselves were of particular interest for me. When my sailing days are over, its a fishing boat for me. but that's another story................. Meanwhile back at the marina....

A 18 or 19 foot Mako....T-Top.....rod holders......live bait wells.... fish boxes.....fightin' chair.....trolling motor.....rocket launchers...

Big Merc.....a real nice rig...

Nice 16-17 Vip with about a 115hp Johnson.....not rigged as nice as the Mako but a good all around fun boat....

Another nice 19-20 foot fishing rig with good power....hydraulic jackplate for thin water....trolling motor....a fishin' machine...!

Another nice 17-19 foot center console fishing machine.....

"OK! OK!....nice boats but where you going with this Rich"... you must be wondering..........remember my comment about marinas usually having a few unusual types in their tenant mix that see things a little differently than most?.......

This guy is out there....on the edge.....wouldn't you agree....?

No motor....guess he paddles it? It's square....! You can't row it or sail it......!!

I see this guy all the time.....out fishing. One time he was about a half mile out into the bay.....another time he was in the middle of Clear Lake.....!!

I swear this is true and not just something that I put in here to be clever.......this dude is the only guy that I saw catching any fish !! I wouldn't lie to you my friends.....

Its time to say goodbye for now and for another Corona....this one I'm gonna toast to all of you out there that live on the edge but don't know it.....

Until next time...........Peace to you all my friends 

Down Mexico Way................

Once again, Tana and I confront that Axiom of Life that suggest we are concrete beings encompassed in a fluid existence and no matter what we plan for our life's journey, its all subject to change. So it is with you and so it is with me. Some say whims of fate. Others lean towards Divine Intervention. Many of us become unnerved at the thought of  existence without some modicum of a life predictability. Others are uncomfortable with certainty and embrace serendipity and can't wait to see whats gonna happen to them before they die. Some thrive in an ordered existence, others whither. Us? We are pretty much skewed in direction of the latter. No right or wrong here.....we all are simply life forces trying to seek happiness and fulfillment while making the way to our ultimate destiny.   

You must be thinking by now....What the heck is this dude babbling about? Well, here it is......we are tying ZOSHA down good and tight, getting her hurricane prepped and then driving down to the Sea of Cortez on the west coast of mainland Mexico where I've rented a house for six months on a mountain overlooking the Sea.

The plan is to come back in six months and get ZOSHA provisioned and geared up and head for Florida and the Bahamas and ?????

We are leaving Galveston around August 1 and heading to Mexico...and, yes of course, you are invited to accompany us via this blog. I'll be touching base with you guys in a week or so when we will all embark.................until then..........

Crystal clear....

About 10 minutes from the house......only seven cars on the beach on a Saturday afternoon about 2 pm.....90 degrees with high 70's water temp!! Why no people you ask? Sharks? No!  
NO Tourists....the place is not overrun with touristicas. Why? there is no airport here. To get here you gotta drive from the states or grab a Mexican bus at a border town and cruise down. Most people don't want to do either which is fine with me....oh you can sail your boat 1000 miles from California....pretty nice huh?

Again, no peeps.....10 minutes from my house.....this will be a good place to hang for six months..!

Peace to you all my friends until next time....

Volvo MD 11c oil change....ZIP Ching.......!!!!

If you own a boat with an inboard engine whether diesel or gas, you probably hate to change the oil!! Why???? First is Access. Unless you have a big boat, the engine compartment is usually cramped and everything is next to impossible to get to..... next we usually have to pump the oil out thru the dipstick hole which can be a PIA and slow and messy.....more often than not the oil filter is screwed down tight and impossible to get a filter wrench on so we end up hammering a screwdriver thru the filter to act as a handle to get some leverage....which works, usually, but typically leaks about a pint of dirty oil into the bilge....add to all of this numerous skinned knuckles and gouges in your perfect body and blood dripping on the sole.... this is why so many of us procrastinate when confronted with this recurring maintenance task. Most of us dread oil changes ....yours truly is no exception. ZOSHAS trusty 1978 vintage Volvo MD 11c needed an oil change. I've been putting it off for months. So today was the day...... 
First: got my stuff together...........

Got this great transfer pump from Harbor Freight for 6 bucks. West Marine has them for $59.00 if you want a MARINIZED version!

OK.....let the games begin....First try to access the oil pan thru the dipstick port.....

Here it is.....now lets try and screw the BIG cap off....oh joy!! guess what....zip ching its off!! It was finger tight like it was supposed to be....off in about 10 seconds !!!! Whoa...this is too good! 
Set up the transfer pump....sorry forgot to take pics of this!! I was too darn ecstatic over the access port coming undone so easily!!!

The 1/4" OD diameter transfer hose slides into the access port...
 zip ching.....it took about two minutes to pump out three or so quarts of old oil into an empty 1 gallon milk jug.....no mess either...
.

Here is the whole dipstick assembly....like I said screwed out very easily.... old oil is out.....lets get that filter off....

This old filter doesn't look good......trembling I reached down there and softly grasped the perfectly smooth grooves and tenderly twisted it towards my anticipating body.....and guess what?...it came loose....ZIP Ching Baby!!! It unscrewed in about 5 seconds and the new filter was on in about another five seconds....Yes, the old filter was on finger tight like it is supposed to be!!  

This whole oil change took about 15 minutes to perform.....! 
Zip Ching!!!!
or as our British pals often say......
"Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy"
Thank You! Thank You! Guardian Angel of mine.....

Take care my friends.......seeya soon....

Fixin screwups....

When it comes to our boats we all have our own ways of doing things. Its always been my philosophy to keep my mouth shut about what or how you do things to your boat. Whatever you do is fine with me. Some of you know my position on Forum Holes.

BUT.......!!!! Sometimes I see something that somebody did to their boat that is so screwed up, so lame, so Numb-Nutsy, so stupid, so Rube Golderbergish that I can't keep my mouth shut! Unfortunately this aforementioned captain once owned my boat ZOSHA.......and today I have spent about 5 hours fixin' it. What? What? You must be wondering.......well, let me explain.

Some of you might remember one of my blogs a while ago when I bragged on the high quality of finishing that Westsail did on their boats and among other things managed to go on about the magnificent bronze ports. Yep, ZOSHAS got 8 round opening bronze ports with screens. Four of them are 8" diameter and 4 are 6". After all these 34 years they are still beautiful. So its beyond me why one of the past owners of this boat did to them what they did and treated them with so little respect. OMG! what did they do you ask? It seems that maybe one or more might have developed a small leak. This often happens when you tighten them down too tight and deform the gasket.....remember finger tight!! For whatever reason one of the past owners pulled the gaskets out of all the ports and caulked them all closed tight!!!!  Get a load of this.........

This old brittle caulk chipped away and pieces flew all over my boat....whata mess it made....

Ya need the right tools....

The gasket groove all cleaned out ....unbelievable but this gasket material is what was used in the original ports and is still available...if you know where to look.....$1.40 ft.....

That's what I'm talkin' about.....a good port gasket job...

The last one #8.....finally......30 more minutes to a cold margarita and some tunes.....yeah buddy....

You didn't think I was kiddin' about that Margarita didja?

Take care my friends....until we meet again...peace to you all....

We all make mistakes...........

Hello my friends.......
None of us is perfect....well except my ex-wife's ex-husband but that's another story.
In this blog we've talked about the fluidity of our life's path before. Just a couple of blogs ago Tana and I were on our way to South Padre Island to hole up until hurricane season was over and then head out for the Bahamas. Good plan. Until we got the opportunity to go live in Mexico for a while, then things changed. Mexico is in and cruising is on hold for a while. It is so very expensive for me to take ZOSHA to Mexico with us that in a moment of weakness I advertised her for sail on an Internet sailboat brokerage site. As soon as I did it, I knew that this was a major screw up. ZOSHA is  part of my heart and soul.....I can't sell her. 
A couple of people came by to look at her. As soon as they got on board they couldn't get off her fast enough to suit me.....I'm not selling her. I've got to bite the bullet and come up with the cash to keep her tied up safe and secure until we get back. The harbor master at my marina and some of my dock neighbors said that they will keep an eye on her while we are gone. My marina has floating docks and is well protected. We will hurricane prep her and tie her up solid and go to Mexico leaving around August 1, 2014. The plan is to get back January-February 2015.........
I'll keep blogging and take you guys to Mexico with us. 

This is my grand daughter Sophia who was named after my mother whose family endearment name was ZOSHA.....

Until next time....

Take care my friends ....peace to you all...