R22 Discussion Group

Geoff,
I wish I had known your timetable for going home. We live about six miles  
off I-85 at exit fourteen. You could have spent a much more comfortable 
night in  our guest quarters. Like Bob said, she sure is pretty.
About the launch. This coming weekend is the SuperBowl and being a true  
blue Packer fan means that the party starts Friday at 5:00 pm. The wife and I  
are going to Cape Kennedy for the shuttle launch on the 23rd. Any time in  
between would work well for me.
If I remember correctly you will be sailing on Big Green Lake this summer.  
I'm envious. It is a wonderful sailing lake and the boat is well suited for 
 those conditions. I grew up in Fond du Lac and I spent several summers in 
a  rented cottage as a youth on Big Green Lake. I learned to water ski 
there. Many  fond memories.

Rummy

In a message dated 1/30/2011 1:40:36 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,  
geoffreylfarrell at gmail.com writes:

We got  back to Gulf Shores on Thursday PM. Total trip was about 18 hours. I
never  drove over about 60 and was totally freaked after first leaving
Stan's.  Here I am driving on the highway with all these other vehicles and 
I
have  this beautiful boat behind me that anyone on the road could smash into
if  they happen to receive a text message that they just can't resist  
reading
while I'm slowing down for traffic. Whew! And, there do seem to be  many
people on the highway staring down at their lap smiling. My assumption  has
always been that they are reading a text message; although; it's  entirely
possible that they're staring at something else in their lap and  that's
what's producing the smiles (at least the men). Not that there's  anything
wrong with that, but, certainly not while driving.

Every  time I glanced at my rear view mirror I said to myself, "holy crap,
I've  actually finally done this thing that I've been dreaming about for  
ages
(actually, my first reaction was always "who is that a$$hole  tailgating me
so closely? Oh wait, that's not a tailgater, that's my  boat."). It's
amazing, though, that after a few hours of driving I finally  settled down
and actually spent more time looking through my front  windshield than my
rear view mirror. The F150 handled the towing fine. The  extra weight I
carried by towing the boat was offset by the lightness of my  wallet after
paying Stan.

Stan's crew did a great job prepping the  boat for trailering. Everything 
was
locked down. During one rest area I  tightened down one strap about 1/2 inch
and that was it! Wow.

While  at Stan's the weather was miserable. Rain and cold. When I arrived 
the
boat  was sitting in his yard fully rigged. We launched the boat just to  go
through the trailering procedure but we couldn't sail. Very cold and a  
thick
fog. Once back on land his crew took me through the derigging  procedure one
step at a time. I participated somewhat, but my hands were so  cold I
couldn't even take the rings off the pins. While the derigging was  going on
my wife Joyce was standing by with an umbrella, a pencil, and a  soggy piece
of paper writing down all the steps as I yelled each one to her  over the
sounds of wind and rain. You know, things like "remove the pin  from the aft
lower shroud and connect the turnbuckle to the.....". You get  the idea. 
Over
dinner that night we tried to decipher the soggy, smudged  list she had
written and the above item came out something like "remove the  pin after 
the
low shods and turn the buckles." We had some good laughs.  Maybe it was just
the martinis I was drinking. I so wish I would have had a  video cam to
record the whole thing.

We spent the night at the  Captain's Quarters B&B in downtown Edenton (what 
a
beautiful town  Edenton is). The next day we added some straps to the rig 
and
were on our  way. We stopped at a rest stop before Atlanta and slept for a
few hours in  the truck and then proceeded. No way was I going to leave the
rig in a  hotel parking lot. I wouldn't have slept well worrying all night
about the  boat while suffering separation anxiety. I did sleep relatively
well at the  rest stop knowing the boat was attached to me via a steel
umbilical cord of  sorts.

The first day's drive was windy, cold, and rainy. The second day  was
beautiful. We were soooo happy to be out of the cold wet  weather.

The boat is sitting in our boat yard here at the condo where I  just stand
there and stare at it lovingly. For the next few days I'll be  sorting
through things, getting some supplies, prepping and starting the  engine,
reading Stan's literature, etc. while I wait for our ramp work to  be
completed so I can rig and launch (Rummy.... still  interested?).

This boat is freaking gorgeous. What a beautiful product  they build. It was
great to finally meet Stan and Rose; they look well.  Mark and the crew were
also wonderful.

Thanks to all of you who have  supported me and advised me thus far in this
adventure.

Some initial  pictures are  at:

https://picasaweb.google.com/geoffreylfarrell/Rhodes22?authkey=Gv1sRgCKL8sbT
Olv-LPg&feat=directlink

Geoff

The Rhodes 22 Discussion Group

R22RumRunner at aol.com

Can't wait