Houseship #11

The morning of our docking dawned bright cool and calm. We got up, ate breakfast leftovers and whatever. We did some research, and found that Wal-Mart, would take back all the food, liquor, and mixers we hadn't used. (good old Wally Mart). We came up with a plan for some of us to take the return stuff back and the others to stay and return The Ship. I was required as the small boat captain, so I went with the return crew. Prior to leaving The Ship, we packed everything up, and reordered her in preparation for docking. After de-anchoring, and stowing the anchors and lines, we headed in. We arrived early in the small boat, unloaded it, gassed it up and turned it in. While we were off at the Wally Mart returning the stuff, Capt. Jimmie arrived at the dock, and astutely had the young fellows at the dock land The Ship at the gas dock and then unloading dock. We ended up putting about $500 of fuel @$3.95/ gal. in The Houseship. We were way under what the literature predicted we would use. We did all the riding we desired, and ran the generator as much as we needed, so we were pleasantly surprised. We attributed it to Captain Jimmie and I having small boat experience, and knowing that medium speed on outboards is much more efficient than wide open or near wide open. The Houseship was equipped with twin 115 hp Mercury 4 stroke outboards. Normally while cruising, we ran them about 3200-3400 rpm for 7.5 mph forward progress. Max speed was about 5200 rpm, but we didn't use that. We found that as expected, the speed increase of the boat vs. the speed increase of the engines was definitely much smaller as you got over cruising speed. I.E. the boating law of diminishing returns. Also, I had brought along a refrigerator thermometer, and I could monitor the temp of our stored food. I only ran the generator as much as necessary to keep the food safely stored. We kept all our ready access drinks in a cooler, and avoided opening the refrigerator constantly. (this was suggested in the boat literature) The return crew got back from the Wally Mart, and we proceeded to haul all our stuff up the hill back to the old Previa Van. After a somewhat sad parting with good old S76, we headed off to Zion National Park. Zion was about 2.5 hrs away across a great 2-lane road through the desert. We arrived at Zion about 5 p.m. and checked into the Zion Park Lodge. The Zion Park Lodge was very nice, and we secured dinner reservations for 8 p.m. at the restaurant. We watched the deer gather on the front lawn of The Lodge to graze, and then had a festive evening celebrating Jerry and Brenda's anniversary. We ended the evening in the rocking chairs in front of the huge fireplace in our lodge foyer, planning our seeing of Zion tomorrow.

More Later,

Wes

Houseship #10

All during the night last night, the wind howled past the rear of the boat. I got up once to check the anchors to see if they were pulling out. But our anchor team and the size of the anchors did the job. This morning dawned calm, cool and bright with the boat still securely attached to the shore. We had a hearty breakfast and are now preparing to up anchor and head downlake.

The de-anchoring went without a hitch, and we headed back toward our home bay with speedboat in tow. Everyone settled down to the routine of cruising. Some read, some played cards, and some napped. It is a very scenic slow cruise moving The Ship around on the lake. We got back into Waweep Bay, and went up creek past the marina to a great anchorage we had found. Captain Jimmie beached us smartly and retook the refrigerator punting record. We got anchored, and were fortunate to find a significant amount of driftwood to collect for a fire. That along with the supply of wood we had brought allowed us to have a nice fire that evening. The previous very windy nights had pretty much precluded beach fires. We had a dinner of leftovers from the week, and had a little beach party till it was time to go to bed.

More later,

Wes

Houseship #8

The computer says it is 09:17, but that is Eastern Standard Time. That makes it about 06:17 here in Utah on Arizona time. Go figure. The Navajos don’t recognize Arizona time, and Arizona doesn’t observe Daylight Savings time. But Utah recognizes Daylight savings time and the lake is in Arizona and Utah. But all the marinas operate on Arizona time, even if they are in Utah. (I think) Then my cell phone keeps changing towers between Utah and Arizona, so I never know what time it really is. But then on this wonderful trip, we don’t care. We sleep when were tired, and wake up when we want to. I’m an early riser, so I monitor the sunrise and let everyone know when it is starting to get beautiful. This morning it is a little bit cloudy, and the sky isn’t as pretty as yesterday. But then isn’t as pretty here is still stupendous. We beached last evening in Rocky Creek Canyon amid a setting of buttes that looks like something out of the Roman times. Just above us is a rock formation that looks like an ancient roman ruin. Oh the sky just went fiery pink as the sunrise is on its way. It’s 0: something: 26. We were talking yesterday while exploring Navajo canyon: this day in age, there is no way the environmentalists would let them build a dam and flood a canyon like this. I am in favor of protecting the environment, but this is a whole other environment unto itself. Yesterday when Brenda and I scouted this landing location in the small boat, we commented, we might as well be on an alien planet. This place is that remote. We are in the middle of the desert on a boat. Sounds strange doesn’t it. It’s had to imagine what our forefathers found when they discovered this area. With the water, many of these canyon walls are 5-800 feet high. Without the water they would be like 1600 feet high. We keep looking up on the tops of the canyon walls expecting to see a Navajo raiding party preparing to attack us. Today, the hikers are going to take the small boat and head for Rainb ow Bridge, which is the largest natural arch in the world. When Glen Canyon Lake is full, you can boat to the arch, but with the current water level (90 feet down from full pool) it is a 1 plus mile hike to see it. Well everyone is stirring and it’s time to start the generator and make coffee.

Later...they all came back early because the weather report called for high wind warnings. They gassed up the small boat that took 21 gallons for our use so far. (@ $4.135 per gallon) We proceeded to double secure our anchors and batten down anything that could blow away. Our preparations were not in vain. The wind picked up to gale force and buffeted The Houseship far into the night. We cooked dinner and enjoyed the comfort and safety of our home away from home. We are staying at our anchorage tonight again and we will repeat the attempt to see Rainbow Bridge tomorrow.

More later,

Wes

Houseship #7

Woke up early this morning since I had left the drapes open on purpose. The sky prior to sunrise was unbelievably beautiful. While we were still in relative darkness, the rock canyon walls looked like a black cutout against the colored backdrop of the sky. As the sunrise got closer, you could see more and more detail of the rocks, until the sun finally popped up over one of the promontories. While awaiting the sunrise it was so silent you could hear the ducks muttering to each other along with a loon and the small waves lapping on the shore. After watching the sunrise I headed in to start the generator and breakfast. We had a great breakfast, folks had showers, and we’re headed off in the small boat to explore Navajo Creek. Navajo Creek was an incredible experience. We rode 12 miles up the canyon with walls of often 500 feet on each side. The canyon twisted and turned, with new unbelievable vista at every turn. It took us a couple hours to make the round trip to Navajo Canyon in the small boat. When we got back it was time to unanchor the Houseship and head up the lake. We proceeded back down Warm Creek and turned upstream headed for Rock Creek Bay/Canyon. We had to do some serious time distance figuring to see if we could make Rock Creek before dark. We ended up raising the Houseship speed slightly and made it with half an hour to spare. As we approached Rock Creek Brenda and I jumped in the small boat and scouted ahead for a landing spot for the Houseship. We rounded the pump-out station, and turned up Rock Creek. Because of all the houseship traffic on this lake, they have pumpout stations where you can stop and pump your holding and grey water tanks. This keeps the lake pristine and the water close to drinkable. About 4 miles up Rock Creek we found a cool beach complete with fire pit. We couldn’t reach the Houseship on the radio, so we ran back down the canyon until we could talk to them. We reported our discovery of an acceptable beach to Captain Jim mie and awaited their arrival. We did the compulsory anchor digging with great care as the weather is forecasting 30-mph wind gusts for Sat night. We intend to keep the ship parked for the next 2 days and use the small boat for sight seeing. We fired up the grill tonight and cooked steaks with salad and baked potatoes. We sat around the diner table telling stories of the most famous people we have shaken hands with or been close to. It was an amazing list of folks that included some very famous people. Watched a movie and turned in for the night.

More later,

Wes

Houseship #6

I woke up early this morning. Got up, made coffee, and watched the sunrise. This is an incredibly beautiful place. We were still at the dock and the sunrise/scenery was unbelievable. We had planned a classic bacon and eggs breakfast for our first morning on the water but since we never left the dock we made a collective decision to switch to the second day抯 plan of a light breakfast and save the killer breakfast for our first real morning on the water. We got everyone fed, washed, brushed, and dressed, and were ready to leave the dock. The wind was still blowing but significantly less than yesterday. Vickie and I took the speedboat and stood off in the harbor awaiting departure of S76. Captain Jimmie backed our houseship smartly out of the slip and pivoted toward the harbor exit. Vickie and I slipped out through the exit to take pictures of the maiden departure. Captain Jimmie handled the wind and unfamiliarity with the boat and made it safely through the exit buoys. We headed up into the wind and soon secured the powerboat for tow behind the houseship. After that we turned downstream keeping the appropriate buoys on the appropriate side of the houseship. Forward progress was at approximately 7.5 mph and we motored down the lake toward the point where we had to disconnect the tow of the speedboat to traverse "The Narrows". The Narrows is a passage through the rocks with 100-foot cliffs on either side. Vickie and I drove the powerboat followed by Captain Jimmie and S76. When we reached mile marker #9 on the other side of "The Narrows" it was time to reconnect the tow. We proceed up the lake observing the incredible scenery heading for an anchorage in Warm Creek. I commented to friends "This is like the Grand Canyon only full of water" and that抯 what it抯 like. If you built a damn and filled the Grand Canyon full of water this is what it would be. We proceed up Warm Creek and found a likely looking place to land. About this time the guys from the marina s howed up with a replacement speedboat. On our original boat I had noticed an ominous looking puddle of oil under the steering wheel that reappeared every time I wiped it up. In the middle of them arriving, we beached the houseship quite smartly. It being our first time The Captain wasn抰 sure exactly how fast we should approach the shore. We know now we were going a little faster than we should have been. I believe the guys from the marina had a good story to tell their friends when they went back. But then they have probably seen it all in the boat rental business. A little while later Jerry said, "Does this kitchen seem smaller?" Turns out that a full size household refrigerator, slap full of food ice and drinks, combined with having wheels and a fast beaching, equals forward motion. In essence the boat stopped before the refrigerator did by about 5 feet. We proceeded to bury the 4 huge anchors in the sand as we had been taught in the training video. Quite a bit of manual labor w as involved for Jimmie and Jerry. We had to dig four holes in the sand 3 feet wide and about a foot deep. This is necessary to keep the ship from being blown off the beach by the wind in the middle of the night. Idea is you don抰 wake up floating in the middle of the channel as a navigation hazard. After we had securely anchored, we extended our bow ramp, and hung out on the beach. Jerry and I decided to try out the water slide the boat is equipped with. (well actually Jerry first) The water temp was about 2 degrees above stopping your heart when you splashed down. However, after you were in for a while, it was not all that bad (to me). I got Vickie to get me the bar of Ivory soap and I had a lake water bath. Later I slow cooked a ham on the grill, made some scalloped potatoes, and we had a fine dinner. The hikers in the group went on a nature hike while I cooked. After dinner we had a small fire on the beach and turned in early for a good night's sleep.

More later,

Wes

Houseship #5

Getting the ship and getting all the supplies yesterday was quite a memorable event. We arrived at the rental office soon after 8am and were assisted by a very nice knowledgeable girl. She processed all the paperwork, and we headed down the hill (because the water level is 90 feet below full pool) to The Ship. We found our ship which was #S72. We inspected it for necessities i.e. Coffee filters, pillows, paper towels, ice bucket, and ice cooler capacity and soon our instructor arrived to teach us how to houseboat. Jerry & Vickie left and drove the van to the loading dock. The rest of us stayed with the instructor as we went to the fuel dock to fill up the tank. We filled up the 290-gallon fuel tanks and moved to the loading dock. Vickie & Jerry were waiting on us with carts full of luggage. We loaded the luggage onto the ship realizing immediately there was no place for luggage on the ship. We said we’d worry about that later and sent the shopping team off to Wall y Mart. With knowledge and lists in hand Jerry, Vickie, and Judy headed off for supplies. Brenda, Captain Jimmy, & I stayed for houseboat training. The young houseboat dude whose name was Will from New Zealand proceeded to take us through the indoctrination (of course Will had only been working houseboat training for 6 mos. of the 10 mos. he’d been in the US). When I asked Will why the lights on the right side of the AC electrical panel were not on he said "Oh they are just burned out". After I proved to him that there was no juice on that side of the panel, he called the electrician who took the screws out of the panel and condemned the ship to the repair dock. We then moved all of our stuff across the dock to our new home #S76 which had a functional electrical system. Jimmie, Will, and I proceeded through the training. It was soon obvious that we knew way more about the boat than Will did from studying the DVD that they sent us. As soon as we had had all the compulsory CYA in doctrination we tipped the young boy and sent him on his way. I called Vickie on the cell phone at the Wally Mart and she reported the shopping was proceeding and I informed her our new ship number was S76 so they would not put the groceries on the wrong ship. Jimmie, Brenda, and I sat around on the new ship awaiting the arrival of supplies. In the meantime, Brenda and I went through the training on the powerboat we had rented to tow with us. The training involved.... here’s the boat....here’s the lifejackets....here’s the throttle...here’s the key....you push the throttle forward to go fast....end of story. The crew adjourned back to the boat to await the supplies again. Finally I got a cell phone call from Vickie that they were in route with supplies. I stole a cart from another houseboater who was not using it and stood prepared in the parking lot for unloading. Vickie said they were 3 minutes away 15 minutes before they arrived. Jimmie and I stood with the dock cart in the wind driven sandstorm in the parking lot awaiting their arrival. After we were thoroughly sand blasted the overloaded Previa came waddling down the drive. We proceeded to unload the contents of the van into the rolling dock cart. The first load was so heavy Jimmie and I tandem pulled it. Finally all of the supplies were transferred to old S76. Jerry told me that his first trip through the Wally Mart checkout was $576.00 (of course he had the liquor list). The girl at the checkout asked him if he was starting a business but he said no it was just a good party. She asked him if she could come. He said only if you have a boat. We proceed to stow the supplies in every available orifice in the kitchen, which is very large by boat standards including a full size stove, microwave, and refrigerator. Something I forgot to mention was that the wind was 15 mph gusting to 24 mph on our inaugural boat day. We astutely decided that since it was already 3pm (dark coming at 6:15) that we would stay ti ed up to the dock and shore power the first night. All of the folks we talked to on the dock said that that was a wise decision considering the wind and water conditions. We festooned the vessel with our four strings of Flamingo hanging lights. We then fixed dinner consisting of slaw and Mario's’Salmon Tailgate Packets then watched a movie and went to bed planning an early departure.

More later....

Wes