Good timing Chris, things have finally settled down enough that I’m off on a mini-cruise that I was going to post about this afternoon from the beautiful spot where I am anchored.
http://www.findmespot.com/mylocation/?id=CarGW
The current runs fast enough through that narrow opening I just came in through that I can’t get out of here at maximum flood. There are beautiful walking trails on the point to the left if I get tired of being on the boat.
It’s been a busy three weeks. I’ve been taking care of unfinished business from my transition to living aboard which involved a lot of basement cleaning and trips to the dump and my storage unit. This, together with a hike around beautiful and rugged Richmond Island on a day sail caused my hip/back to blow up again. It wasn’t as bad as before and cleared up in a few days but is sobering to think about happening in some remote place during bad weather. Last year’s physical therapy and the exercises I now do bought me nine months of feeling half my age but I’ve got to get an opinion as to whether that was the result of my being constantly on the move cruising or just a temporary reprieve from the inevitable march of time.
In order to get a referral to one of Portland’s best sports medicine bone and joint doctors, I had to see mine and it was time for a physical anyway. That led to one of those,
Oh, what’s this lump? moments while she was poking and prodding. That kept me a bit distracted until it could be checked and determined to be a simple cyst of no significant concern. Further good news is that there are a lot of 30 something’s, and even 20 something’s, who would love to have my cholesterol and blood pressure numbers.
So, I’m off cruising the way most people do, drifting around locally for a few days. I’ve got to stay close to Portland until I get my appointment with the joint doctor. After that, I’ll either be heading downeast or putting
Strider up for sale depending on what he says after looking at the X-rays.
My schedule depends somewhat on how the bottom paint holds up. I’d like to put off the annual haul as long as possible to extend paint life next year and put as much time between the back trouble and all the buffing and painting. So far, the rudder looks fairly clean and I’ve lost less than two tenths of a knot of speed. It blossomed pretty fast last year though when the water warmed up.
