The vacation that almost wasn't

We haven’t had vacations in a LONG time.  Retirement isn’t like a vacation – we still need to get away.  About three weeks ago we had a short 2-day trip to Lake Powell, driving both the car and the motor home over, and “camping” in luxury in the full-service part of the campground.  We decided to do it again, this time for three days. 

Part One – the Motorhome

Last Monday we took off from home at about 1pm.  I was driving the Explorer, following my husband who was driving the motorhome (with our two dogs).  About ten miles from home, right when several large trucks were passing us (going the other direction), and seeming to throw out or kick up lots of “stuff” onto the road, the motorhome had a dramatic blow out of one of its back tires.  It exploded - large and small pieces of tire flying through the air.  He pulled over and I pulled behind him.  There wasn’t much of a shoulder to the road so we were still in part of the east-bound lane.  The inner tire of the driver side back pair was history.  The outer tire was still inflated.  However, the blow out had been so forceful that it distorted the heavy metal bracket for the mud flap.  That twisted mess sat right on top of the remaining tire.  If the motorhome was driven it would cut the remaining tire to shreds.  What a mess.  My husband is very strong, but due to the position of the tire and the metal and the wheel well, he couldn’t force the metal piece out of the way.  A DOT worker stopped and helped him, and after a while they were able to raise that twisted mess high enough that the motorhome could be driven, albeit VERY SLOWLY.  While they were fighting metal, I was on the cell phone (with a very tenuous signal).  I called the campground and found out that we would be out $40 if we didn’t show up that night and I called our mechanic and found out that he didn’t have the right size tires in stock, but could have them by Tuesday afternoon.  The DOT worker suggested another source for the tire, and they had it, so I called our mechanic back and cancelled that order, and called the campground back and told them we would be there come hell or high water (we hoped).  It took almost an hour to drive into town.  Another hour or so to get the two back tires replaced on the driver’s side.  Then we hit the road again a little after 4pm, and make it to the campground only 3 hours later than we had planned.  Not too bad.  End of first day.  $350 in the red so far.   

Part Two – the Boat

We picked up the boat from the storage lot on Tuesday morning.  Excited that it was a new day, we put the boat into the water, and headed out to a spot we enjoy to start fishing.  We drove for a little while, looking at the fish finder.  We found what seemed like a nice spot and I turned off the boat motor while my husband got ready to start the trolling motor.  After a minute or so, he said “we are really low in the water back here.”  Then as he was starting to lower the trolling motor, leaning over the back, he repeated “we are really low back here.”  A few seconds later he yelled “start the boat and head back to the dock right now, and don’t worry about the rpm’s or speed, we’re sinking.”  Did I mention that my husband can’t swim?  So I got us started, on top the water, red-lining the engine, and back to the dock.  We didn’t sink.  I stayed in the boat at the dock while he got the car and trailer; I drove the boat onto the trailer and he pulled us out.  We hadn’t sunk (WHEW).   When he took out the plug a huge amount of water drained out, instead of the few cups-worth that we normally have.  We had a problem.  So off we went into Page, to buy a new plug and marine silicone to re-seal everything we could think of that might be leaking on the boat.  We had dinner in town, instead of the dinners I had in the motorhome fridge – too frazzled to even think about cooking.  My husband siliconed the boat, after dark, using the lights from the motor home.  End of day two, which was supposed to be our first nice day on the water.  Only a few dollars in the red from today since plugs and silicone are pretty inexpensive.   And we didn’t sink….

Part Three – the Boat, again

The next morning we were both pretty hesitant to take the boat out – dreading that it would still leak.  So delayed a bit, had a few sweet rolls, and talked about our “plan” for determining if we were still leaking.  After a while we couldn’t delay anymore, so we went to the ramp and got started.   He backed the boat in, I started it, but stayed on the trailer, checking in the engine compartment to see if we were taking on any water.  There was some water at first, but then in didn’t increase.  After ~10 minutes of that, he backed me off the trailer and I drove over to the dock.  We stayed at the dock for almost an hour.  Since we weren’t taking on any more water, we decided we would risk going out into the open water.  I drove us back and forth, forth and back, over and over, for a half hour, not very far from the dock.  We stopped every 5 or so minutes to look in the engine compartment.  No additional water.  Unfortunately, we hadn’t brought any fishing supplies, or food or water, with us, so after another 15 minutes of driving around, we pulled the boat out of the water.  A bit more water drained than usual, but not nearly as much as the day before.  So much for a fun day on the water, but we didn’t sink!  At that point we headed to Page for a sandwich, and to see if we could find a different propeller.  The propeller we had on the boat was not the right pitch for Lake Powell – it was for higher altitude use.  We found a propeller at a wonderful little marine supply store (a hidden treasure) and went back to the lake to demo it.  It was wonderful, just right for Lake Powell.  So we drove around again, checking periodically to see if we were taking on water (we weren’t), but still didn’t have fishing supplies with us.  So we pulled the boat out and headed into town, yet again.  We paid for the new prop, and again had dinner in town.  So much for packing food with us!  But we didn’t sink!  End of day three.  $110 (plus dinner) in the red.

Part Four – Fishing, finally

Our last day at Lake Powell - we planned to head home in the afternoon.  Excited about the new prop, and the fact that we didn’t sink (yet), we went out onto the lake, with food, fluids, worms, and anchovies, and had a lovely time.  We didn’t take on water, but we also didn’t take on any fish.  I shouldn’t say “we” since I drive and my husband fishes.  We were right over fish at 50 to 100 feet, but none of them thought that dangling anchovy was tasty enough to try.  We also tried worm fishing in a beautiful little cove, but no luck there either.  It was a gorgeous day, we had a boat that wasn’t leaking, a propeller that was sized correctly for our location, and a motorhome with two new tires.  What more could we want? 

Our next vacation will be better, once we pay off the debt from this one.