Shortly after I arrived in Chimacum I noticed a bouncing or hopping in the rear of my truck when slowing down. Les Schwab balanced the tires, I replaced the two rears, then they turned the brake rotors under warranty, then I got a second opinion from my regular mechanic, then Schwab replaced the rear brakes entirely today under warranty. I then had the front rotors replaced just because. Everything is fine now, a great relief. So this summer...
After about 20 days, the rowboats are coming into Ketchikan. Two of them crossed the line within a minute of each other. Two more are still in the race, and getting close, but one may not make the race deadline and be disqualified. You row 749 miles in a 750 mile race, you lose. Well, not lose, just never did the race at all. Doesn't count. Not even last place. Nothing. On Saturday the participants in the Paddle to Nisqually reach Port Townsend....
I wanted to watch the arrival of ALULA, the chair-bound boat, last night but when it got a bit dark I gave up, thinking the live video wouldn't amount to much. I forgot that it doesn't get dark until very late in Ketchikan. Oh well, I watched the video this morning. It was nice to see Mark again, obvious on the boat as it came in because he never stops moving. I was surprised to see three on the boat because when I was at Pt Hudson I thought I...
It's Day 18 of the race, and some of the smaller boats have crossed the line. In about an hour or so the boat with the chair-bound guys will cross, with my friend Mark on board lending help. They're disqualified from the race for losing a crew member, but they appealed for help to reach their goal anyway, and it looks good for them. They're a crowd favorite, even with their misfortunes, so the Race Committee is tracking them as if they're still...
I was heading to Seattle for Mazie and Amos' birthday party when the Hood Canal bridged closed. It was stuck in the open position. The bridge is critical to getting anywhere from the peninsula, even access to ferry boats. They manually cranked it down so there's a roadway now, but now we've got a broken bridge.
Stories are coming in. Apparently Mark's boat suffered some damage and water got into the dry sleeping gear, making it quite uncomfortable. Then, weather and seas combined to do some serious damage to the front of the boat. Well, he made it; whether it's worth barging the boat back to San Francisco, I'd wonder. Remember the team of chair-bound guys? They had a lot of problems early on, barely making headway. When they got to Campbell River...
As of today, the State of Washington is now completely in control of the "legal" cannabis market. Anyone near the plant requires a license issued by them. All pot dealers must report every sale and send one-third of their money to the state. All others are now members of the "black market". Well, except for a tiny few. Washington now has a medical marijuana law that if it were implemented ten years ago would have been impressive, but now is...
Mad Dog Racing won the race Thursday morning in 3 days and 20 hours, beating the record by a day and a half. I'm sure even the winners would admit they had some astounding luck on their side, in addition to a fast boat and excellent skill. Today about 6 boats crossed the finish line. My friend is about to cross in about 4 hours, the last of the similar, fast, trimarans and catamarans in the race. He should have done much better, at least stay in...