We went down again today in the late afternoon to load 15 blocks of ice and to check the boat for tomorrow’s departure. Guess what? The shifter wasn’t fixed. I won’t bore you with what transpired, but, after reminders to three people by me personally, face-to-face, and several calls and/or emails by Cody, they “forgot” and it didn’t get done. They are going to put an outboard mechanic on it at 8:00 o’clock tomorrow morning. We, however, are leaving at 7:15. We are going to leave the runabout at the dock for them to fix and are “borrowing” a rental boat to take with us. When, and if, they fix the runabout, they are going to deliver it to us uplake and come back in the “borrowed” rental boat. Works for me!
We have to leave a little early tomorrow morning to gas and pump the TT before we pick up the next four volunteers at 8:15. This, out last trip out of Wahweap, will be to Rock Creek. When we return on Monday, Claudia and I have to totally R&R the boat to get ready for the trip to Bullfrog. On Tuesday, we have to catch up on email, bills, laundry and shopping. We take the motorhome to Bullfrog on Wednesday and catch the mail plane back to Page Thursday morning. As soon as we get off the plane, about 8:00 am or so, we run for the boat and leave on a two-day trip back to Bullfrog. That gets us there Friday afternoon, just in time to leave on the next trip on Saturday. WHEW!
Trip #7 was interesting and fun. We anchored at Dry Rock Creek
in the afternoon and got in a few hours of collecting local trash. The next day, we started out early and got in about 6-7 hours of picking before the wind chased us back to the boat. The wind was directly behind the TT but we set out two anchors on each side in case it veered any. We rode it out fine. It was just a little bouncy and uncomfortable.
Day #3 started out early and with high hopes for a good full day of trash collecting. We put in a full day and collected lots of light stuff, like bottles, cups, plastic bags, towels and clothing, two knives (that strangely didn’t find their way to the dumpster), a stringer of fish,
(released…4 alive, 3 deceased), one pissed-off rattlesnake
(very carefully released) , one dead fish (released to the wild),
a partial bundle of firewood (see below), a fireworks launching pad, etc.
Nothing really heavy or bulky came into the boat, but we sure left the place looking good!
Sunday was their “Free Day” and we headed to Rainbow Bridge.
Today was the exact day of the 100th anniversary of the bridge and there were heaps and gobs of big boats, small boats and jet skis (“lake lice”). We beat the rush and found a parking spot at the head of the dock. The volunteers grabbed their sticks and trash bags and headed off. Even though the area had been cleaned by N.P.S. for the Centenial, our sharp-eyed volunteers managed to come away with a goodly amount of discarded debris.
After Rainbow Bridge, we hit several other canyons to sightsee and clean and then zipped down to Dangling Rope for ice cream. They had a special going on…orange and vanilla swirl soft-serve ice cream. It was delicious…and refreshing! It gave us renewed energy so we cleaned all of the Dangling Rope Marina and scored big time! After dinner, we removed the partial bundle of firewood from the Eliminator, broke out the chairs and had a very nice bonfire. I again set the boat up for an early departure, as we wanted to be back at a reasonable hour due to all the work that had to be completed on Monday.
Monday started early, as in 0600! After everyone had coffee and was semi-cleaned up, we pulled the anchors and took off at 7:00 on the dot. We pulled the pre-set-up release lines and the two little boats fell into line. We headed for Wahweap, arriving 15 minutes before noon. The launch ramp was a zoo, but Claudia squeezed in and held us a place, assisted by two N.P.S. Rangers. I deftly docked the boat and we unloaded the barge. The volunteers then loaded their cars, said their goodbye’s and headed off into the sunset. Although we didn’t fill the boat, all due to a lack of large bulky items (tires, docks and the like), they did a great job and really cleaned some major camping areas of the lake.
Claudia and I then finished cleaning, pumping and gassing all the boats and brought them back to Stateline for the last time. We finished at 3:30 and headed for the motorhome. Frank and Vivian called and asked us down to their boat again for a farewell dinner of tri-tip which we gladly accepted. Tonight we will relax. Tomorrow will be a full day!
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