We loaded the boat with 18 blocks of ice and one bag of crushed and finished the final preparations for the arrival of our volunteers. This week, we have four ladies from Colorado. They are all Special Ed teachers/aides who take care of very developmentally handicapped high school graduates. We loaded the boat, received our welcome briefing from Gizmo and Christine, a new ranger with the N.P.S. We then slipped the dock lines and headed north into Bullfrog Bay, our target area for the week.
After a short cruise up the bay, we slid against the shore in a semi-protected small cove and set out three anchors, two right and one left. I later added two more for a total of five due to the approaching bad weather. We had a quick lunch and took off in the Eliminator to get to work. On one of our first stops, we found a shark and a turtle.
At 3:30, we were chased back to the Trash Tracker by an imminent large thunderstorm.
It hit with a vengeance an hour later. We just lashed everything down that was outside and hunkered down with all doors and windows closed and locked. I fired up the grill (it was under an awning) and we had a delicious dinner of buffalo burgers
from one of the volunteers family’s ranch. They were cooked “low and slow” and were extraordinary! Everyone went to bed somewhat early.
At 1:00 am, I was semi-awake due to the rolling thunder and lightning in close proximity. At 1:13, everyone on the boat was instantly jolted awake by a simultaneous lightning strike and thunder clap. The boat lit up like a hundred 1000-watt halogen lights were instantly turned on. Gizmo was at the foot of our bed, silhouetted against the window, looking out the window with his ears perked wide and high. The “clap” shook the boat! That took care of any sleep for a while.
Due to little sleep and rain in the morning, we got a slightly late start but did finish most of Bullfrog Bay. The only stretch left was the shoreline from the boat to the marina. That was scheduled for tomorrow, weather permitting. The evening’s dinner was chicken enchiladas that reminded us of home. I ate 2½! The ladies started out sleeping on the “sun” deck but were soon chased below by more rain.
We started out on Friday by heading back toward the marina. We found several water and mud-soaked mattresses.
Each weighed several hundred pounds and had to be cut into manageable-sized pieces by the reciprocating saw.
One had to be cut into 12 pieces in order to be picked up. We also found a submerged kayak that also took a bunch of manhandling to get on board. With all the bags of trash, four mattresses and the kayak, the Eliminator was getting pretty full.
After picking up the kayak, I tried to start the outboard. Oops! Dead battery. Crap! I called the office and asked them to send out a chase boat for a jump start. I also called to a volunteer across the small inlet, telling her we had a dead battery and to just stay put and that help was on the way. There was a houseboat nearby and they obviously heard me call to Thea as one of the occupants approached with a portable jump start machine. Hallelujah! I connected the jumper cables and fired off the engine. Profusely thanking the boater, I backed off the beach…just as Robin (from the Boat Shop) and a mechanic arrived. I backed next to their boat and told them I got a jump and the engine was now running. I then put the engine in gear…and it died! Robin handed me a battery but it had the wrong terminals. Due to both batteries configurations, I was able to invert the new battery (it was a new sealed type) and press the exposed terminals against the terminals of the dead battery and start the engine. I kept the new battery for any future jump starts and Robin left for the Boat Shop. Whoa! Hold it! Robin looked in the boat and saw the purple kayak. “What’s that?”, she asked. “Trash. We found it sunk over there” and I pointed to where the motor had died. We asked if she wanted it as we were just going to throw it away. She replied that the dock employees would love to have it to fix up. No problem! That helps us out by giving us more room in the boat and gives the dock employees a new toy. We transferred the kayak to her boat and, this time, she did leave. We later got many thanks from several dock employees. Score one for the Trash Tracker! P.R. is the name of the game!
I picked up Thea, dropped Claudia and two other volunteers off to clean the final stretch of beach to the marina and headed for Bullfrog to get the correct battery and find out what was wrong with the engine. When I arrived, I installed the proper battery and waited for a mechanic. I estimated the wait time would allow us to make it to the dock store for a soft-serve ice cream and return before the mechanic arrived. I was correct! The mechanic found the engine was not charging the battery because the rectifier had fried. Wonderful! I got a new rectifier from Robin to see if it was the correct one. It wasn’t! This is the story of my life! OK, we’ll get it sorted out on Monday and get the correct parts ordered. We then picked up Claudia and the volunteers and returned to the TT for lunch.
Gizmo greeted us in his usual lavish manner and we all set to making our lunches. After lunch, the ladies and I jumped into the runabout and headed for Stanton Creek to find some family members camping there. We couldn’t find them and headed for Bullfrog for fuel. Although there was an approaching storm, there was no wind and the water was smooth and glassy. We pulled up to the fuel dock and filled the runabout. As I capped the fuel tank, it hit! The wind went from nothing to about 40+ Mph in less than 15 seconds. It was instant chaos! I bailed out of the boat, ran inside to sign the fuel bill and sprinted back. In less than two minutes, we had three-foot waves inside the “protected” area of the marina. We untied and I backed the boat out from the dock. As I turned into the eye of the storm, we started taking water over the bow. I fast-idled out of the marina…screw the no-wake rule…and headed for the safety of the Trash Tracker. We got soaked! The water was coming over the bow, the port side and from the skies. The ladies were shrieking with delight. They were having a ball!
After a water-soaked, ten minute, E-ticket ride, we arrived at the TT and got inside. I never thought a hot shower would feel so good! It felt WONDERFUL! I again fired up the Barbie for a delicious steak dinner. If any of you were thinking that I was going to lose any weight this summer…forget it! After we chased a bat out of the main salon, the ladies went to bed for another night of semi-sleep.
Saturday was our “Play Day” for two reasons. One, it was designated as such by Claudia and me and, Two, the Eliminator was dead and we couldn’t work anyway. The skies were threatening and the weather report was calling for thunderstorms in the afternoon. I felt we could do a short sightseeing trip safely, so the ladies and I jumped into the runabout while Claudia and Gizmo stayed behind to make sure the TT stayed safe.
We first ran uplake to Forgotten Canyon and the Defiance House ruins. Next were the dinosaur tracks at Tapestry Wall. Following the tracks, we headed back downlake to Hansen Creek Canyon and the now-famous dead cow. After the appropriate amount of “oohing” and “awwing”, we returned to the main channel, passed Halls Crossing Marina, Halls Creek Bay and pulled into Lost Eden Canyon. We turned into the first right fork to see the swim cave, moved to the middle fork for a huge cavern and finally to the left fork for the piece de resistance, a spectacular slot canyon. Although the N.P.S. was constantly belting out warnings to stay out of slot canyons today, mostly further down the lake, I felt it was safe to enter at the moment, as no significant rain had reached anywhere near our area as yet…with a major emphasis on “as yet”. I squeezed the runabout down the VERY narrow channel to the end and nosed it against a rock. With a warning not to dawdle, the ladies jumped out and walked quickly to a pool at the end of a flat sandy area. They heeded my warning and soon returned, squealing with delight. It was the highlight of the trip! We returned under the beginnings of a light rain to a chicken fajita dinner. The food on this trip has been superb! Thank you ladies!
The evening bat score inside the TT was Bats-3, Ladies-3. To determine the winner of who was going to occupy the main salon for the evening, the girls called on me. Now, I like bats. Bats are cute(?) and fuzzy and eat bugs, which is a very good thing. However, after some encouragement, the ladies won and I ushered the bats out of the boat. They went to bed but, as I heard the next morning, the bats came back for a recount of the vote. Thea pulled the covers over her head, Jane screamed insults at them and Kelly slept through it all. Fearing drastic measures were forthcoming, the bats finally left and the ladies went back to sleep(?).
Sunday was bright, sunny and beautiful. Go figure! After a slow get-up, we started cleaning amidst a breakfast of whatever was left in the refrigerator. Claudia and I settled for orange juice, cold cereal and two cups of coffee. We then pulled all five anchors, side-tied the Eliminator and headed for the pump-out dock. Following the pump-out, we went straight to the main dock to offload the volunteers. The fuel status on the TT is well above ¾ so we didn’t need to fuel it. The other two boats are going to have to wait and see what the mechanics are able to do with the Eliminator. If they can’t get the charging system to work before the next trip, we will have to cancel it.
P.S. – I just heard from Dani at the Boat Shop. She “thinks” that Matt (the lead mechanic) got the rectifier installed and working. The connecting leads were not compatible so he had to do some sort of “mechanic magic” to get it to work. This rumor will be confirmed in the morning. The Eliminator is also scheduled to be pulled out of the water after our next trip (if it goes) for a complete (and very necessary) total tune-up and make-over. Cross your fingers, toes and eyes that all goes well and that we finally have a decent running engine on the Eliminator.
P.P.S. – I just heard from Matt. It’s working! The rectifier is plugged in and charging, but he didn’t have time to mount it permanently. I’ll go down in the morning with my socket set and secure it and a ground wire and it will be good to go. Things are lookin’ up!
P.P.P.S. – My camera is toast! I was walking back to the Eliminator after an especially nasty cleanup of a fire pit that involved the use of a shovel. During the walk back, the camera swung against the shovel and smacked it good. It bent the lens tube and popped the lens and all internal parts out onto the ground, some intact and some in multiple pieces. Luckily, Claudia has her camera (my old camera that was handed down to her) which will continue to digitally record the trip from now on. Claudia’s first remark to me after seeing the now-defunct camera was, “Oh good! Now I get what I want”. Let me stew on that one for a while. At least I was able to retrieve the pictures from the trip before it hit the trash can. Anyone have a suggestion for a new camera?
1 comment:
I have a Canon Rebel XTi with two lenses and an external super hot flash unit but I don't think you want to know what it cost! Maralba got a Sony-Cyber-Shot 14.1-Megapixel Digital Camera for $190. It's one of those rectangular jobs that looks like an iPhone and has a 4x optical and a 2x digital zoom (8x total). She really likes hers and it's quite small. Probably would be pretty difficult to hit with a shovel!!!
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