OUR EPIC JOURNEY from FINLAND to ALASKA has startedy...

[Spinner1]

Cass, Rhett the cat, and I spent a week on ORCA and did some sailing (without the cat) with Geoff,
a new friend we made while we "lived" on board, at the harbour. Geoff has a wooden boat about the same size.
It was wonderful sailing with him. He is a great sailor and studying to be a boat-wright...

Here is some sailing pictures...

Captain Geoff securing things before sail...

Geoff showing Cass how to use the pole to keep the boat from touching the dock and the pilings... This was before we took off...

Out of the harbour..

 

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Here is a container-ship... It was huge.

Here is the famous/infamous Alcatraz, prison island. Now it caters to tourist, who can catch a "ferry" to there...

San Francisco, nearing Fisherman's Warf...

An old war ship built in the Bay Area...

 

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Cass at the helm. BTW, the wind was starting to pick up....

Check her hair in the wind....

...and the bay started churning....

See the horizon...We were taking in water, but just at free-board........

 

[Spinner1]

Cass seemed like an old hand at this...lol....The wind is really blowing now. We were near Alcatraz where
the wind blew more....

We weren't making any headway anymore so Geoff started the engine so we could motor-sail back to the harbour.

There was smoke as the engine run. Geoff went to check on the smoke...

I on the helm, while Geoff was checking smoke...

Alcatraz in the background. If the horizon was level, you'd see the angle of the boat on the water...

Wind in the hair...

Here it was windy and COLD....but see the delight and happiness on Cass's face....

Main sail is up....

 

[Spinner1]

The wind had died down on the north side of the bay...

On the way to the harbour...a houseboat named Taj Mahal...

We were told by another boat owner who is moored near Taj Mahal, that no-one lives on it full time,
but when the owners come and throw a party, the end of the dock roped of and the "door men" (dressed up
in formal wear) check if you are on the list.
You get near the end of the dock and to Taj Mahal by invitation only.

Getting close to Berthing.....

 

[mqqn]

From Crazy Horse we headed toward Wyoming. We didn't find a suitable place to park for the night and drove until wee hours in the morning.

There were so many, MANY deer on the road and next to it I asked Cass to be my second set of eyes. The going was slow until we got out of the area...

Following will be some of the things we saw on our way to Cody, Wyoming...

Hi Spinner1 -

Awesome pictures and review of your trip.

I know what you mean about the mule-deer in Wyoming - they just line up alongside the road.

Last July two of my good friends and I rode our motorcycles from our homes in Central Illinois (south of Chicago) all the way to Deadhorse AK - 9400 miles in 15 days. That was quite a trip. We also stopped in Palmer at a friends home for the evening.

I love road trips - this years long adventure is a tour of Maine and the New England States - we are calling it the Lobster Run.

Here are pictures from my Alaska trip if you have time and are interested in seeing them -

http://www.iammoon.com/albums/No Pansies Alaskan Tour/

Thanks again for the great pictures and documentary.

best regards -

mqqn

 

[Spinner1]

Hi Spinner1 -

Awesome pictures and review of your trip.

I know what you mean about the mule-deer in Wyoming - they just line up alongside the road.

Last July two of my good friends and I rode our motorcycles from our homes in Central Illinois (south of Chicago) all the way to Deadhorse AK - 9400 miles in 15 days. That was quite a trip. We also stopped in Palmer at a friends home for the evening.

I love road trips - this years long adventure is a tour of Maine and the New England States - we are calling it the Lobster Run.

Here are pictures from my Alaska trip if you have time and are interested in seeing them -

http://www.iammoon.com/albums/No Pansies Alaskan Tour/

Thanks again for the great pictures and documentary.

best regards -

mqqn

I really enjoyed looking at your pictures. Great trip, beautiful scenery and incredibly fun times....

That's a LOT of miles on a bike in a such a short time. How did you fare?

LOBSTER RUN???

I know what you mean about road trips as I love them too. I did AL-CAN highway thrice last summer.
First this trip from East Coast, and then twice between Alaska and California.
In a few weeks I'll be driving it again. It's always different...and always beautiful.

Warm regards, -Spinner

 

[Spinner1]

Couple of more pictures before we head back to Nevada and pick up the Coachman.


A nice houseboat in the harbour.

...and a nice wooden canoe...Very nice craftsmanship.

A float full of seals sunning themselves right in front of our boat's slip. They live on the float 24/7 except when they
go into the water to catch food...
They had some young pups and they were wonderful to look at....but the float was quite odoriferous under certain wind conditions.... :barf:

 

[Spinner1]

This....ahem..."interesting" rock formation is just east of South Shore, Lake Tahoe on the Nevada side...

...and they call it "Mother Earth"...looks somehow masculine to me...

 

[harkamus]

First time seeing this thread. Amazing pictures and stories behind them.

 

[Spinner1]

Some photos that didn't get posted before......This house was huge, unique and interesting.

We had also stopped at this campground in Cody, Wyoming. The gentleman was very artistic and they were nice people to boot...

Here is some of his pottery. He also did large bronze castings and wrote aand illustrated a children's story.

This is the teapot I bought...

 

[Spinner1]

First time seeing this thread. Amazing pictures and stories behind them.

Thanks. Glad you are enjoying our trip.

My husband, daughter and I had lived in Finland for the last ten years and Cass was very young when we left Alaska.
I wanted to give her a trip she will always remember...fondly, I hope.....

.

 

[mqqn]

I really enjoyed looking at your pictures. Great trip, beautiful scenery and incredibly fun times....

That's a LOT of miles on a bike in a such a short time. How did you fare?

LOBSTER RUN???

I know what you mean about road trips as I love them too. I did AL-CAN highway thrice last summer.
First this trip from East Coast, and then twice between Alaska and California.
In a few weeks I'll be driving it again. It's always different...and always beautiful.

Warm regards, -Spinner

Hi Spinner -

Thank you - I hope you enjoyed my pictures half as much as I have been enjoying yours!

We fared very well on the motorcycle, as my two very special riding buddies and myself just love the road and riding. It was quite and epic adventure though, most people take a month to cover the same route.

I will look forward to seeing more of your pictures as your adventure unfolds for us here.

Thanks and best regards -

mqqn

 

[Spinner1]

Hi Spinner -

Thank you - I hope you enjoyed my pictures half as much as I have been enjoying yours!

We fared very well on the motorcycle, as my two very special riding buddies and myself just love the road and riding. It was quite and epic adventure though, most people take a month to cover the same route.

I will look forward to seeing more of your pictures as your adventure unfolds for us here.

Thanks and best regards -

mqqn

Hi again and thanks, I really did enjoy your trip. It would have been interesting to know where the pictures were taken...

I didn't have a chance to look at all of them yet and if you don't mind I like to go back to look at the
rest of your pictures when I get some more time to do so.

I'm currently preparing for the long drive to take the supplies to our S/V ORCA in California and getting ready for
the LOOONG sail/motoring the boat to Alaska. That's about 3600 miles or so....

....anyway, I look forward to seeing the rest of the pictures of your trip...

BTW, did you see the movie called "Wild Hogs" with Tim Allen, John Travolta, Martin Lawrence and William H Mac?
We thought it was funny....

Wishing you all the best... -Spinner

 

[Spinner1]

Here are some more interesting things we saw on the way...

Meanwhile back at the Coachman.....

 

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Silver City NV...

Virginia City....

Virginia City...old Boot Hill...

 

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White Ladybug.... The very first and only one I've seen... Have you seen one?

 

[hoyer]

Thanks for the wonderful report! Beautiful trip!

 

[Spinner1]

Here we are parked for the night, We stopped often at the truck stops. Felt they were safe places to stay, without being bothered...

 

[Spinner1]

OK, sorry to back track, but I just found some pictures that came before now...

Here is the spring near the Carter Caves in KY... We went there several times and got water...

I still have a gallon of it. I figured I'll save it till we get to Alaska and make ice-cubes out of it....
This way we can have a cocktail with "Mike & Kathi's" water....this way they are kind of with us when we are enjoying
our little nip....

Kind of an interesting spot for a spring....You stand below a rock ledge...