Bike tour revisited, arrived at starting line and organizing gear and food

Dear friends and family,

Happy New Year to all and a healthy one as well.

Today is launching day for getting the boat wet and off the trailer. 

It has been a long drive to get here. Where is here? I am in Port Isabel, which is quite close to the Mexican border and a convenient launching point to sail north.

As I drove here from Lake Havasu City I got to enjoy driving a lot of the same roads that I bicycle toured three years ago.

What I realized and didn’t quite remember:

It is a long way between towns and the riding is desolate and hot. The hills are long and higher than I remember, and that was before I even got to the Texas hill country. I guess I was in better shape then as by the time I got to the middle of Texas I had already ridden for over a month and 1500 miles. Or maybe I was younger…

I sure enjoyed the desert scenery, with all the rocky brown mountains, often with snow near their peaks. But, it is a looong way here from Washington.

On my last post I showed the two kinds of blades on the oars for rowing. One set came with the used boat, and were designed like the ocean rowing oars for those crossing big waters, with wood handles and less catch for easier rowing on the body.

As soon as I sent out that blog post, I got an email from Chuck, who lives in the middle of Texas letting me know that he built the wood handles for those oars. So, I buy a used boat from a guy in Twisp, Washington, which includes oars and someone in Texas built them! Got to love that.

And Chuck, who started a company called Duckworks, which sells boat designs and then later a lot of small boat parts, invited me to visit him and his wife Sandra, since they were actually on my way through Texas. 

I did and enjoyed their company, heard about the connection through Duckworks to build the oars and also heard a lot about sailing the waters that I intend to sail, since he also started the Texas 200, which is a small sailing boat rally held every June leaving from exactly where I am starting and sailing as a group 200 miles north, camping on beaches or anchoring along them. 

Chuck participated in over 20 of these rallies over the years and sure helped me figure a lot of logistics out. In addition they put me up and fed me at their almost off the grid house, which was homemade out of chicken wire and ferrocement. Very cool!

Then Chuck put me in touch with two friends; Gerard and Gordo, who know these waters well and are helping as well.

Remember the Texas angels who helped on the bike tour? Well, more Texas angels showing up here already. 

When I booked my motel here and mentioned their names, the price got better and so did the support, since the rally often starts at this place.

When I arrrived here the wind was out of the north (my intended direction) and blowing from 25-40 knots; pretty intimidating.

Now it has settled and is switching to the southern quadrants, so the intent is to launch the boat this afternoon, take the truck and trailer to storage tomorrow and depart on Saturday.

I am waiting to launch the boat from the trailer until the tide comes up because the ramp at low tide is so very slippery and I worry about sliding into the water with the truck, which could ruin my whole day.

I am hoping the boat still floats with all the gear I’ve loaded up with. I guess the owner of Liteboat sailed the Race to Alaska with one crew and my gear probably weighs about what another person might weigh. It sure seems crowded inside though. 

I for sure am suffering decision fatigue as every item has to be decided to take or leave in the truck. Will I need it? Want it? Not be able to restock it?

All the unknowns and my best guess as to the answers.

Quite a number of people staying here are interested in my plans. No one yet called me crazy, but I do detect the occasional raised eyebrow. Enough to make me wonder.

Best get that boat ready to launch.

Sending love,

Charley