As I stated earlier, we are back, a fact that should be obvious as you are getting these musings. We left the boat at the Boat Rental dock last wheneverthehellitwasthatwegothere. We went to the boat at 8:15 and our volunteers were already there. We all loaded the boat with our appropriate gear. After stowing all the food, gear and other “stuff”, we introduced them to the Giz. He promptly ran to his toy stash, grabbed a favorite toy and ran to them with a “play with me” look in his eyes. They did and we started the trip on a good note. After a few toy tosses, I reined them in and gave my welcome/safety lecture. Near the end, Terry Bell, the NPS Interpretive Guide showed up. She gave her welcome speech and we then picked her brain for a few minutes about places to work and to play on our day off. She then took off and we fired up the engines. Our trip further into Bullfrog Bay took less than a half hour. Boy are we saving money for the company on this trip!
I was told to head up the bay, look for two big rocks on the right and pull in between them. Here were (supposedly) two places to park a boat. Well, one (the best) was taken, but the other was open and we pulled in and gently settled against the bank. We wrapped our stern lines around two fairly large tamarisk trees and called it “done”. After a quick lunch, we headed out to “Trash Track”. We returned at 5:00 with quite a few bags of trash removed from the head of Bullfrog Bay. The next day, we finished the upper end of the bay.
Day Three found us heading for the RV camping area known as Stanton Creek. However, we stopped short as we got behind the marina. What a pig sty! We kept finding heaps and gobs and bunches and piles of stuff and then hit the mother lode. It started with a 4’ x 10’ x 1’ block of waterlogged Styrofoam. Styrofoam, BTW,NEVER, NEVER, NEVER degrades or decomposes. Styrofoam is Styrofoam…FOREVER!!!!!!!!!!!!! Anyway, this piece of slimy, gooey, dock float weighed about 150 pounds. We stood it up
and I grabbed the now-slightly-used DeWalt reciprocating saw and started slashing.
Boy was I having fun! I cut that puppy up into four manageable pieces in nothing flat. We continued on and found more. Out came the saw again. Then we found a huge tent frame and the saw came out for the third time. We then added a sheet of plywood, the rear deck from a power boat and a folding table, and, and, and… The barge was getting full. We hit one last area and that did it…totally full. We called for a trash truck pickup at the main launch ramp. Two very nice NPS guys showed up and helped offload our treasures. They were amazed at what we had collected in such a short time.
For our third day, we finally got to Stanton Creek. We added to our totals and more than half-filled the boat in that one spot. This day we found more Styrofoam, plywood and a 250-pound mooring buoy. Now THAT was fun to wrestle into the boat…NOT! It took three of us to roll it into the barge. We also found three HUGE tractor tires that are used as a floating breakwater to protect the mooring areas.
There was no way we could retrieve them. They will have to be picked up by the mooring barge and its crane. Again, we called for a pickup. After offloading twenty-odd more bags, we called it quits and took the barge to the pump-out dock for a wash down. Our total trash collected for three days was 67 bags of trash plus the loose stuff. It totaled an estimated 4,665 pounds of junk removed from the lake.
Our fourth day was our fun day and we set out to do some canyon exploring. We visited Lost Eden, Lake Canyon, Slick Rock Canyon and Annie’s and found some really neat spots to park the boat in the future.
We removed nearly a full bag of trash during these travels. We then went uplake about 15 miles to see a huge tapestry wall that had a long horizontal crack in the face.
If you look at the bottom of the crack, you could see round white splotches that are three-toed dinosaur tracks.
The temperatures were approaching 103 degrees (“but it’s a dry heat”) so we all went for a swim. Well, almost everyone. Claudia opted out and sent Gizmo in her place.
Day five…the end of the first Bullfrog trip. We had previously refueled both the small boats during routine travel and the TT didn’t need fuel so we just headed to the Boat Rental dock and offloaded our volunteers. Claudia, Gizmo and I then took the TT to the pump-out dock to pump the holding tanks and give the boat a washdown. We then went to the Ghetto Dock to finish cleaning up. We found something new…mouse poop! Out came the mouse traps and some cheese. I personally like peanut butter but we didn’t have any. I will report the results of the mouse hunt later. We then found out that the Ghetto Dock does not have power or water. Wonderful, absolutely wonderful! We are going to talk to the dock boss tomorrow and this will be the #1 item of discussion.
After buttoning up the boats, we headed for the RV, a shower and a few chores. We got the car gassed up AT $3.60 A GALLON (less our employee discount. Boat fuel is $3.92) Our drive to work is only 1.5 miles so we might not have to fill again. One good thing here is that you don’t spend much money. We splurged tonight by going out to dinner at the “EDR”, as in Employee Dining Room. We had teriyaki pork chops, mashed potatoes (or au gratin potatoes) and green beans for $5.00. They also had a big slab of salmon for $3.75. Nice, huh? Oh yeah, soft drinks are free as long as you bring in your own glass or container. The biggest downfall is that we are so far away from any store. The closest place for supplies is a small store up at Ticaboo, about 15 miles up the road. The next closest fair sized store is in Moab and the next big store is in Grand Junction, CO. I guess you have figured out that we are approximately 237.4 miles southeast of Timbukthree, with nothing in between. Everyone here is really helpful and there are solutions for just about anything. The key operative word(s) is/are “just about”. I’m still working on getting the diesel fill tube brazed or a new one ordered from Freightliner. I also just found out the main awning is refusing to work. I hear a “click” and it sounds like it is getting power but nothing moves. Oh well, another project, another day!
Projects here are almost like “two steps forward and one step back!” I get one or two done and something else crops up. The biggest problem is that there ain’t nuttin’ here. Our front air conditioner continues to malfunction. It runs fine and then freezes up and blows hot air. I was told that it’s an “ice block”. Fine, so it’s an “ice block”. Fix it! Today’s modern fix is to replace the unit with a new one. Someone here knows how to work on air conditioning units. I just have to find out who.
Today, Thursday, is our first day off in over two weeks and we have a list going. I got the diesel fill tube ordered from Freightliner and some new suction cups for the windshield sunshade ordered. Sunshades are a vital necessity around here. They cut the inside heat factor down by at least 50%. The cups we have on the rig now have gone “flat” and don’t stick on in anything over a 4 mph wind. Our winds here are usually in the 15-25 mph range so the sunshade in usually on the ground when we return from our trips.
OK, Claudia is now off the phone and we are off to do “things”. BTW, the cell phone service here is like the wind…it doesn’t blow, it sucks! If you need to call us, use Claudia’s phone, (281) 714-8587, which is on the external antenna on the motorhome and has five bars of reception. A normal cell phone without an external antenna is very “iffy” around here. Tonight is “Steak Night” here at the EDR. For $6.00, yes, that’s SIX DOLLARS, you get an 11-oz. ribeye, a baked potato and beans. I miss the soft-serve ice cream and I’m still waiting on the espresso machine for the boat. Stay cool!
1 comment:
you guys are doing awesome!
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