January Meanderings

Following is a detailed version of what we outlined in our Planning: 1st half of 2015 post:

We stayed in Fairbanks during the Holidays, and then towards the end of January started a tour of friends, family and events.  We engaged a couple of house-sitters, and we knew the house and cats would be in good hands.

Bill left Fairbanks on the 21st and headed to Wrangell to check on Denali Rose, and do a few maintenance projects.  He replaced the shore power connector that had failed earlier with the new Smartplug setup, and did some engine work.

In the pilot house, looking down into the engine room.

Bill left Wrangell, and flew to Seattle to commission the truck and camper for our upcoming road trips.  I joined him in Seattle on Feb 26th, and we spent the next 4 days at the Seattle Boat Show.

There were boats! boats! and more boats! And then there were the vendors!  Anything even remotely connected to boats was on display, to play with, purchase, or talk to the experts about.  Everyday also had lectures, demonstrations, and workshops, we managed to make of few them as well. We succeeded in leaving our currency behind in many places, especially since we could load it into our trailer and drive the supplies to Wrangell.  This was a terrific way to avoid shipping costs.

The next Party Boat for Big Lake, very plush!

We got to spend a day at the show with Alexa, and it was great to connect and spend some time together.

Alexa's favorite little tug.  It was pretty cute.

A Plane-Boat..

This was pretty interesting.  Check them out. Aero They already had orders for 50 of them.

Planning: 1st half of 2015

Update 4-Mar-2015: 

Phase 2 completed with our return to Fairbanks. 

We arrived back in Fairbanks with the truck and camper after successfully completing all phases of the 1-Jan plans outlined below. 

Family and friends were visited, new friends were made, and an old friendship renewed during these well traveled weeks. 

We attended, enjoyed, spent plenty of $ and reconnected with long-term friends at the Seattle Boat Show. (Watch for all the future project posts the boat show purchases will spawn.) 

The flights, ferry rides and drives were all spectacular, along with the weather. We couldn't have asked for better. 

Now to finish things up in Fairbanks and get back to Wrangell... 

Here are Donna's post synopsizing our January and February "Meanderings"...

[Original Post: 1-Jan-2015:]

Living on a boat ofttimes requires complicated logistical planning. Not only for transiting the vessel, but also for provisioning, land based travel, accommodating guests, etc.

The execution of our planning began in the spring of 2014 when we retired and acquired Denali Rose. We drove our wagon train [see Our Adventure Begins... post for details] from Fairbanks, Alaska, to Seattle, Washington- where it was stored over the winter. [Thank you Ralph and Gloria!]

Our wagon train... [White Mountains, Alaska]

This winter and early spring [Jan-Mar, 2015] we intend to initiate phase 2 of our initial plan and bring said wagon train, replete [chock-full, actually...] with boating hardware and supplies, and island supplies [e.g., our ATVs and additional hard shell sea kayaks...] to Wrangell Island.

We know: Hardcore cruisers advocate "...sell everything and go..." Good advice; but what if you don't really have to? Besides, it has yet to be seen how hard core we become this time around... and we (and many guests) still like to play on land on occasion. After all, we view the boat as a conveyance to visit 'other' lands... We'll see how it goes...

Along the way we will take time to attend the annual Seattle Boat Show, and more importantly visit with some friends and family in Washington, Oregon, Maryland (flying, not driving...) and British Columbia.

We also have lined-up a few additional errands while in Canada including possibly dropping off our Feathercraft K1 kayaks at the factory in Vancouver, BC, for a couple of modifications we have been wanting, and having our NEXUS interview at the Vancouver airport.

Here is a Map showing an overview our basic driving routes [some of which have no alternatives. e.g., The AlCan Highway to Prince Rupert, BC, where we catch the ferry to Wrangell, AK...] Then take another ferry with the truck and camper only to Haines, where we drive back to Fairbanks!

We will be driving, flying, and taking ferries along the way; ultimately so we can go boating again...

Of course before we take off in the boat for the summer [of 2015] it is time to haul her out of the water into the boat yard so we can  refresh the bottom paint and take care of a few other details on portions normally underwater...

We look forward to you joining us on the boat in Southeast Alaska waters this year... [You know who you are...]

Sounds like fun! 

We will update this post as details and the adventure itself unfolds...

Stay tuned...