The odyssey continues with another trip to Newport Beach to rebuild the blower box to lift the MONSTER out of the water. A third vehicle has been christened ODYSSEE, my Ford F150 pickup. It will make the next trip across the country with the new blower motors, and bring back the motors originally supplied. Claria and I will head west on Thursday, June 3. Stay tuned!
ODYSSEE #3 was ready to hit the road for
the next odyssey, a road trip to Newport Beach, CA
with the parts necessary to rebuild the blower
box for the MONSTER boat lift.
Thursday we spent the night in Monroe, LA, Friday we had lunch with a dear friend from M20 racing days in Dallas, and proceeded to Abilene, TX for the night. Saturday night had us in Willcox, AZ at the Arizona Sunset Inn, an old motel located on business I10 on the old main drag through town.
This motel has been completely updated, was spotless, and you are served breakfast to your order from a limited menu, REAL hospitality.
On Sunday we joined Ann and Lovable Bill, sailing friends from D boat days back in 1957, for brunch at Hacienda Del Sol Guest Ranch Resort.
The last few miles in this leg of the trip was to Mary and Larry's home in Carefree where Claria will stay while I go over to Newport Beach to rebuild the blower box on the MONSTER boat lift next Tuesday.
We did successfully rebuild the blower box with the new blowers, but they did not produce the pressure promised. So we continue to have problems getting the boat out of the water. this picture sums it up!
Once again we packed up to head back to South Carolina. I drove back to Carefree on Saturday, June 12. On Sunday we enjoyed one more get together with Claria's cousins, David and Mary, Tom was in Minneapolis. We left for home on Tuesday morning, June 15.
Our first stop was a quick stop in Albuquerque, NM for a simple pizza supper with my first room mate at Hamline back in 1957. Ron and I have kept in touch since we both graduated from the University of Minnesota with 5 year engineering degrees in 1962. Our wives, Marcella and Claria have gotten to know each other as we have visited each other at both of our homes. As the sunset to the west, we got back on the road, we drove to Tucumcari, NM for the night.
From there we had two long days of about 13 hours each with delays from construction and accidents, getting home just before midnight on Thursday, June 17. It's always tougher to drive against the time zones and lose an hour each day.
Let me add a quick conclusion to the saga in Newport Beach. I made a third trip to the job to clean up some minor problems, but still could not lift the boat. Two major problems with the boat and one suggested improvement to the lift. The project is on hold while negioations continue on how to best proceed.
