No, I haven’t died or been in jail, I was in computer-less purgatory.
You know that place you end up when you depend on your laptop to communicate with the outside world.
And sure, a cell phone is great for talking, but if you think I’m going to write a blog post on it, as my mother would say, you have another think coming.
But a new motherboard for 500 bucks installed and at $67 battery from Amazon and my little HP Envy laptop is as good as new.
So, what did you miss? A lot really. Almost all of it too painful to even think about, let alone write about. But I do feel responsible to those of you who have spent your valuable time reading my rantings and ravings in between an adventure or so, so here are a few highlights:
- The $1,000 to replace the leaking seals in my transmission. They still leak.
- The reconditioned heat exchangers that started leaking 10 minutes are leaving port
- The 60-mile detour (doesn’t sound like much in a car, but that’s 9 hours in a boat.
- Being beaten back to Cabo San Lucas, not once, but twice. This from a person who never turns around.
- Deciding to take the dingy 3 miles in a 30-knot wind only to discover it goes much faster downwind than up. Oh, and then I bent the prop, twice, the second time, with a belching of oil. And we were still three miles away from Dauntless, which we could not see in any case.
- Checking into the USA with Dauntless for the first time in 4 years.
- Being stopped by the Mexican Navy.
- Being chased my fishing boats
- Hobby horsing until you think you are going to die.
- Entering yet another harbor at night, having to anchor by radar, having vowed years ago, never to do such things.
Umm, I had forgotten most of that. I’ve burned thru money this trip like a drunken sailor, but I’ve been so stressed for all the above, I’ve drunk much less than normal.
Through it all, and because of some genuine and generous friends, I was able to leave Dauntless for a week and make a quick trip to Fairbanks, Alaska, which was as as I’ve ever seen her and attend a wedding at 11,000 feet, which, left me breathless.
I hope to get back to my writing routine in the coming days. I start with the end, first.
Coming Next, Anchoring at Night in Strange Places: It’s not for the Faint Hearted.
Dauntless at Sea 