... and Alice was traveling, too!

  When it was time to travel north to meet up with Bill in Tacoma, Alice planned a four day trip to break up the 1300 miles she would have to drive.  First she stopped in Clovis to visit daughter Alison and her family.  Although it was just for an overnight, she was able to see Alison and Rod and all nine of their children.  James, now 21, will leave for BYU in August.  Blake, now 19, will leave June 22 for a church mission to Peru.  The day after Alice left, their family flew to Hawaii for a weeklong family vacation- probably the last for a long time!
 Then Alice drove to Central Point, Oregon and stayed the night with her high school friend Shirley.  We talked, and ate, and walked, and talked some more, especially about our upcoming 50th high school reunion.  The next day she drove on the Eugene, where she had lunch with her college roommate, Susan, who took her to a Naked Lady Party... well, a clothes exchange- what fun! 
  Driving on the Portland, Alice followed her GPS directions and Stephanie's as well via phone, to find her at her apartment.  We spent a fun night of talking, eating, and even the traditional backscratch!
The next day we did some shopping and then drove to the Portland LDS Temple in Lake Oswego. Although it was misty, Alice took quite a few photos, including the above photo of Steplanie. It was so good to see her again, since the last visit was in 2008.   By that night she was in Tacoma and back on good old Grey Wolf with her honey hubby!  Whew!

  This snowy scene is of the Wasatch Mountain Range in central Utah, where Alice traveled for ten days following Bill's departure from San Diego. She saw six different families and even spent an evening with Justin's friend Ruxandra who was in Salt Lake City on business that week!  The weather was bad all but one day, actually the day she took this photo...  Regardless, it was a wonderful trip down memory lane, visiting families she knew in Fresno and Indio who have relocated to Utah.

   It was tulip time in Utah and, in spite of the inclement weather, they were in their full glory.  It seemed like everywhere she went, Alice saw tulips! From front yards to shopping centers, to temple grounds, they were outdoing themselves.
   Having never stopped to visit Thanksgiving Point, a tourist hotspot just north of Provo, Alice was thrilled to be able to meander around the complex with her good friend Margo who now lives in Lehi, Utah with her family.

THE REST OF THE STORY...

Part way up the coast of the United States, Douglas had a close encounter of the wicked kind, falling and cutting a pretty good gash on his nose.  His Aunt Dorothy was quick to the rescue and applied her nursing skills to fix him up.

Bill also took a bad fall and gored himself in the chest on a sharp corner of the helm.  As he lay writhing on the pilot house floor, Dorothy thought he was having a heart attack...  No, he just managed to pop a rib.  He is still holding his chest when he sneezes, but is mending nicely now that he is here and safe in Tacoma!

Between cooking, washing, cleaning,  nursing, and helping stand watch, Dorothy managed to keep a journal of the trip north.  Alice asked her for a copy of it and that is how she found out what REALLY happened on the wild ride north.

Even though she was assured that the seas were "not that bad" and "nothing we haven't already be through", she found out that it was way worse than anything she and Bill had experienced in Latin America...  Now she knows why her first reaction to traveling north was the right reaction:  "What a great idea:  I will meet you there!"  Regardless of the frightful times, both Douglas and Dorothy have volunteered to take the boat SOUTH if we ever do!

Rub-a-Dub-Dub: Three in a Tub!

Douglas De Fluter, Dorothy Mathews, and Captain Bill Johnson

On the calm morning of May 10, 2011, Captain Bill and his crew of two,  friends Douglas and Dorothy from Oklahoma, set out on an amazing journey to Puget Sound, Washington.  Alice waved them off and then rushed to the end of Harbor Island to capture their departure on her camera.  Seventeen days later they arrived at Chinook Landing Marina, Tacoma, Washington!  The guide book we'd purchased said that it would take a month if one traveled each day and rested each night.... that was certainly not the case for Grey Wolf.  She took on three Pacific storms, getting damaged all three times, and the crew sought shelter three times on the way north:  Morro Bay, Eureka, and Crescent City.  Otherwise, they traveled day and night.  Now, Captain Bill does not get seasick, and Dorothy had her home remedy of ginger juice to get her through the rough spots, but poor Douglas really felt the effects of being on the water even when it was SMOOTH.
We had been warned that it would be very cold, and indeed, it was even cold coming north from Cabo to San Diego.  What we didn't realize was how cold it would get:  49 degrees in the cabin as they approached the Strait of Juan de Fuca and turned east to meet the waters of Puget Sound!  Dorothy was very grateful she had packed thermal underwear and Bill just kept reporting to Alice that he was COLD~  his thin "Mexican" blood will thicken in time...  Now it is time for Alice to drive the Prius north and meet up with her awesome husband, Captain Bill, who now has another notch in his belt~ having conquered the wicked Alaska current in the Pacific Ocean.  He reported swells way above the height of Grey Wolf and even tried to photograph them, unsuccessfully.  That give him another mental memory, as we call it, for those times when one sees something so stunning that there is not time to capture it on camera.

Leaving San Diego, with Point Loma in the background.