August 25 - 31

Since I doubt anybody wants to hear blow by blow details of life on land, I'm going to lump a week or so together and just hit the highlights. 

First, the sale of Barb's house closed on Thursday.  That was the last unfinished business that we had left behind.  We want to extend our special thanks to the realtor, Robert, and our friend Gary who did the signing for us, for making this all happen relatively smoothly.

Saturday we went to Mohonk Mountain House for their breakfast buffet.  Mohonk is an incredible old resort, about twenty miles from my brother's house.  As kids we went there to hike the trails to the top of the mountain.  When you step inside the building, it is like stepping back in time.  We had a wonderful breakfast and then hiked up to the lookout tower at the highest point on the property.  We took the easy trail, unlike my childhood days when we took the Labyrinth trail.  I encourage you to glance at their website to appreciate just what a beautiful place this is.

Sunday afternoon, Kitty arranged a small get-together for some neighbors.  The significance of this was that many of the neighbors are the same neighbors that were here thirty-five years ago when I grew up in this house.  If I never mentioned it before, my brother lives in the house in which we grew up.  While there has been a lot of growth in this area, and new houses built, many of the original families still live here.  There were a couple of  friends that I went to school with who I haven't seen since the late 60's, and a few of their parents, all who still live within half a mile.  There were also a few new neighbors, who live close, who were nice to meet and I think they enjoyed hearing about the past of the neighborhood.

We did a few things on the boat Monday.  I changed the fuel filter in hopes that it may have been the cause of the RPM's fluctuating a little when motoring.  I haven't test driven it to see if that helped or not.  I changed the oil and filter. And, I finally changed the wiring of the wind generator so that I can see it's output on the Link 2000 battery monitor.  I have determined that the original voltage regulator for the 150 amp alternator is not working properly.  So, I got a Balmar smart regulator and will install it soon.  In the two weeks that we were gone on the road trip, the house batteries went dead even though everything was turned off.  When we left, the Link 2000 showed zero amps being drawn, so how the batteries died is a mystery for now.  After I install the new regulator, I will move the boat back dockside and recharge from the shore power, then look for an electrical leak.

Tuesday we made a stop at Orange County Chopper's showroom.  If you aren't familiar with OCC, they have been made famous by the Discovery Channel's show, American Chopper.  If you are familiar with the show, one of the employees there is Cody.  Cody was a student at the high school my brother taught at and was placed at OCC as part of a program that my brother put together to help at-risk students finish high school and learn a trade at the same time.  Obviously, he is a success story.

Wednesday was a big day for us.  We got up at 03:30, left the house at 04:15, and caught the 04:57 train from Beacon, NY to Grand Central Station in New York City.  We arrived at Grand Central at 06:15, and walked to the NBC studios to be outside for The Today Show.  We were about the twentieth people in line for the show.  The weather was forecast to be rainy, and it was mid-week, so the crowd was fairly small.  We had a banner which we made on a vinyl window shade that said "We Sailed From Texas" and had a couple of sailboats on it.  Our first challenge was the security people when the line was let into the main audience area.  We were not allowed to have any "sticks", so we had to remove the roller and end-stick from the shade.  Once that was done, and they approved of the message on our banner, we were allowed in.  We taped the banner to the crowd control fence, and felt we were in a pretty good spot to be seen.  As it turned out, we were not the background for any of the weather segments which they do outside, but we were in a picture for about a second when they panned the crowd in the last half-hour of the show. 

After the Today show was over, we went to breakfast at the Carnegie Deli, and then for a walk in Central Park.  About 12:30, we went to the Gershwin Theater to see the play, Wicked.  If you aren't familiar with this play, like I wasn't, it is a story about what went on before The Wizard of Oz.  It primarily focuses on how Glenda became the "good" witch, and how the Wicked Witch of the West became "wicked".  This play is pretty much sold out for months to come, but we had gone online and looked for single tickets.  We found and bought three, and then bought one from a person at the theatre.  Even though we all sat individually, we thoroughly enjoyed the show.  If you have the opportunity to see it, I recommend it.

After the play, we walked to the West Marine store, to pick up the things I had ordered last week.  I ordered the aforementioned voltage regulator and a remote control for the stereo which I can mount in the cockpit.  From there it was back to Grand Central for the ride back home.  We had avoided the forecast rain all day, and had a wonderful time. 

I would be remiss if I did not mention the bad news of the week.  Hurricane Katrina has come and gone and changed the face of the Gulf Coast forever.  It has been odd being here in the Northeast amongst friends and family who see the images on TV and of course feel the nations pain, and compare that to our feelings, having been Gulf Coast residents until recently.  Anybody who lives near the coast, where hurricanes are always a threat, and especially a boat owner, should be very aware of the possibility of a hurricane striking.  I think that awareness of what a hurricane can do makes us feel closer to those affected, even though we are safe here in NY.  We have been in contact with our friends in New Orleans and elsewhere along the coast, and as far as we know, they are all alive and well.  It is still a very eerie feeling though, to know that so many places that we visited and passed through in the last couple of months may be gone, or at least changed.  Our thoughts are with all those affected by this terrible event.