TO DATE

I know It’s been a long time since I posted, but I really have been very busy. I had to make two round trips to the States that totaled over seventy hours on the Bus. These trips, as you know were made to ascertain the repairs and retrieval of my v-drive. I won’t go into the trials and tribulations of this trip. Suffice it to say that it was not a pleasant experience in itself.


However, I am a firm believer that there is always a good side to everything, depending of course, on how one perceives the results of their tribulations. In this case I can look back and see several rewarding experiences that made those grueling uncomfortable hours on the Bus, more than worthwhile. First I was invited to stay at Lynn and Richard’s house. For those who don’t know, Lynn was my first wife and we are still friends. This afforded us the time renew our longtime friendship and catch up on old times. Unfortunately, Richard fell ill with cancer and was in the hospital and then rehabilitation. The good side is that he has a great attitude, his cancer is treatable, and he will survive. Also on the good side was that we were able to visit him daily, which I believe kept his spirits up.

While there my Daughter called and said that she would be coming over to La Jolla from Arizona the next weekend. Well of course, I decided to stick around for her visit, as we hadn’t seen each other for over two years. She arrived the following Saturday and we spent three days together catching up. We all visited Richard in rehab each day and tried out various restaurants in the La Jolla area. This really made me appreciate the 15 to 20 peso tacos in Mexico! I had a hamburger and a non-alcoholic beer at the Black Angus. The cost? $24.00.

I came back and installed the v-drive and lined up the prop shaft only to discover that the drive shaft was way, WAY OFF. This led to the discovery of the initial cause of the v-drive failure. The rubber in the front vibration dampeners, commonly known as “motor mounts”, had turned to a soft gel. The studs had pushed through it and were resting on the struts. This condition also resulted in the pan resting on the struts, a very bad thing. I procured new mounts from Lopez Marine in La Paz and had them shipped to Santa Rosalia. I won’t bore you with all of the technicalities of the installation. It is now completed and in line, with adequate clearance under the oil pan.

Yesterday I noticed that the roller furling was a bit slack, so I tightened it up. While doing this I noticed that the block that keeps the halyard from twisting around the tubing was turned half around. Before I leave It must be taken care of, but not today, as the wind is up to 30 knots, and I’m not going up the mast in that! The wind is supposed to die down a bit in a couple of days, so I will fix it then.