the hump, sailing lessons and a boat?!?!?1

I wasn't sure I'd make it through the week but I can proudly say I did. P and I started our American Sailing Association classes this week and it's been harder than I'd imagined, but ultimately more rewarding.





I almost quit the first day.





I thought I had made a HUGE mistake---everything was different than the sailing lesson I took at home--the boat was bigger, it heeled much more (pushing 40 degrees, which pretty much means you're standing on the side of the boat since it is riding completely on it's side) and a lot more was expected of me in terms nautical know how. I was pretty much flailing around like a fish, completely out of my element and quite uncomfortable....I'll admit it, there were a couple of moments of biting the inside of my lip to quell any emotion as I was really frustrated, and perhaps more than frustrated, horrified by the idea that after a year of planning and dreaming the big sailboat dream, that I might be the worst sailor around.





I hate the thought of failing, and hate the idea of being a quitter.





After a rough couple of days with our trusty Cap'n Don (yes, he really spells his name that way and he does look a bit like the guy from the fish sticks commercial), he unleashed us on to the water on our own.





Oh my God, honestly, does the man know what he's doing!?!?!?





I was pretty sure P would end up wanting to kill me that day due to my marginal sailing ability, but the reality was, I knew what to do. Not always perfectly, but competently. And I did it on my own, without having to check in with P all the time. We worked well as a team. Again, not perfectly, but whatever bumps we encountered we figured them out. And that's what we've set out to do in life, so we might as well learn on a sailboat!





The first day out on our own was both completely terrifying and utterly exhilarating. After a couple of runs, I turned my face to the sun, felt the wind whip through my hair, gripped the helm with my fingertips and knew with certainty, that I can do this!

Oh! Before I sign off for now, just to let you know, we have a boat in escrow....keep your fingers crossed, we hope it's what we're looking for! More details soon!

Gastro Distress and Midwest Eating

I forgot to tell all of you about our hilarious McDonalds encounter in Missouri. And it's a must, especially for my girls (and Will!) at the CRC.

We've been on the road for weeks and I've become quite the connoisseur of gas station/truck stop cuisine. As many of you know from my last road trip to Annapolis, truck stop food and the like is no good for any stomach, particularly mine. It pretty much equates to any sort of honeymoon being over pretty quickly if you get my drift. There isn't much option for healthy-ness along highways. I tried to buy slightly mushy apples and oranges at gas stations, but other than that, greens were hard to come by. I'm pretty sure putting jalapenos on my nachos doesn't count as veggies!

After a long day of driving in the snow, we pull off the road to a McDonald's. I can already feel my already bloated unhappy stomach starting to rumble in protest. Ok, I decide, I'll get a salad, even if it means stopping and eating in the restaurant. P and I head in, order a couple of their southwest salads with grilled chicken and wait off to the side. Wait and wait. And wait some more. Almost 15 minutes has passed and still no signs of salad! However, it has given me the opportunity to see what others are ordering--including 6 double cheeseburgers, extra mayo please. I know what you're thinking--McDonalds cheeseburgers don't come with mayo, much less EXTRA mayo! Blah! It's like I'm doing a public health survey right in the McDonalds! I feel my public health cogs working in overdrive as I speak!

So we're waiting, and waiting. So far, no trouble for the staff banging out the double cheeseburgers with extra mayo. I think that came out in 15 seconds flat! Finally, I see a manager and let her know we're still waiting for our order. She apologizes (people are really quite nice in the Midwest!) and heads back to to the kitchen. I see her conferring with her food preps guys and them she bellows "Does anyone know how to make a chicken salad?????" Apparently, they aren't ordered too often!!! I almost dreaded getting it--how old was the lettuce REALLY?!?!?!--but it was actually quite tasty (which may have been my body's response to severe vitamin deficiency, but who knows!)

Ice Storm 2009

Ice on trees--Kentucky 2.2009

Ok, admittedly, I've been delinquent these past couple of weeks. I'm excited to get you all up to speed! Our post-Colorado adventure found us smack dab in the middle of ice storm '09. What we anticipated taking a couple of days actually took over a week.

We roared through Kansas on our way to Oklahoma City, where Patrick's friend from high school, DJ, lives. Let's put it out there--I'm not kidding when I say roared through. There isn't much to see in Kansas except gas stations, large Jesus billboards ("Are YOU saved?"being asked by a rather menacing looking 30 foot tall, slightly wind-battered wooden Jesus....not exactly a way to win the folks over!), and a biting cold wind! My ass was chapped, in more ways than one, I kid you not!

Patrick loves to drive, and has pretty much been driving since we left San Francisco....he likes to drive and I like to ride so it's worked out so far. We decided to trade off in Kansas for a bit....as soon as I pulled back on to the freeway, I see a cop behind me. I check my speed, I'm a-ok (for once in my life, I am UNDER the speed limit! I must have left my lead boot at home!) so I move over to the right hand lane. The cop pulls up along side me and falls behind me again and wooot-wooot, pulls me over. Let it be noted I've been on the road all of 60 seconds. P drives for 2000 miles and nary a second glance from a cop. I drive for 1 mile and bam! He's the epitome of the country cop, and I am already hot because I know he has no reason to pull me over. After I give him my license and registration, he says asked where we've come from and where we're going. I told him we were going to Florida from Hawaii. Blank stare. "Via (yes, I actually said "via"!!) Oakland," I clarified. Another blank stare. I was starting to give him the "are you an idiot" stare, but P jumped in and told him we left Fort Collins that morning. Finally--a city he recognized! Thank goodness for P, I was about to get myself in trouble! He let us off with a warning (no blinker) and we headed to Oklahoma as fast a we could! Dorothy, you are DEFINITELY not in Kansas anymore!

Oklahoma found us warmly nestled in DJ's fabulous home. Went to dinner and I ice skated my way to the car--must have been a solid inch or more of ice on every flat surface there! I was initially paralyzed, pretty sure ordering a pizza would be the way to go, but this was all part of the experience I guess! It was heinous, utterly heinous to have to shuffle our way to the car as I grabbed on to P for dear life. My butt was clenched the entire way (I guess it could count as exercise after not doing a darn thing for 3 weeks!) and I was terrified of falling and wiping out taking everyone with me!

DJ and P

After our respite we hit the road again. The conditions were awful--pretty much only tractor trailers and us on the road. Apparently everyone else has the good sense to stay home! We saw lots of cars skidded out and abandoned, or flipped over entirely. If any of you got a late delivery from FedEx, I'm pretty sure it's because we saw an entire trailer flipped in the ditch somewhere in Oklahoma! I've honestly never seen anything like it--snow and ice and wind and hail! P is a good driver (OBVIOUSLY I gave up driving again after Kansas!) and our car, for all the times we've been sure she's a bonafide P.O.S., really pulled through and kept us safe.

Sometimes it takes "bawls" to drive in the storm!


On a country road in Missouri


For all the driving horror, it was beautful when you stopped to take a look

Illinois brought us our second encounter with a cop in as many days. P and I pulled off the freeway to take a look at the scenery--because honestly, even though it was cold and windy and icy and horrendous for most of the time, it was also really beautiful in parts. We drive around this lake, about 5 miles on an unplowed backwoods road, about 20 miles off the freeway. It's lovely and we are the only souls out there. Our car is holding up (yay to our old girl!) and we are having a great time. We realize we can't go any further up the road because it drops off, so we turn around--no easy feat as it is a one lane road with lots o' snow! We realize there is a highway patrol officer behind us....and he's stuck stuck stuck behind us. Wheels spinning, digging himself deeper and deeper. We have a shovel (how prepared of us!) and P heads back to see if the cop needs help digging out. When he gets to the car, he looks into the window and sees on the police laptop not any sort of police data program but an exercise video. Specifically a female aerobics video. The cop tells P he was headed out to "take a piss"--which he repeatedly tells Patrick over and over!!--but I'm sure he didn't need to drive 20 miles to use the bathroom!.....hmmm, but to watch aerobics videos, that may need some privacy! Super Trooper looks exactly like the cops in the movie--crew cut, wearing Oakley blades sunglasses, sporting a rather large mustache, and has cargo pants tucked into his shoes. He looks ready for Armageddon, but doesn't have a shovel. We try to shovel him out, and he asks us to help push his car. We brace ourselves against the back bumper and puuuuuuush. Wheels spinning, going nowhere. "Try again!" he says, and we ready ourselves for another go....but this time he's hitting the reverse lights! We scamper and avoid being run over. I told P it would have been a tragedy to have our life of adventure cut short by a Super Trooper in the backwoods of Illinois. We never did get him out!

P and the Super Trooper

We continued east stopping in West Virginia and heading to NYC....West Virginia was the end of the ice storm, and we were glad to see the sun (even if it was cold outside!)