The day before leaving, Vinni and I say the magic words to each: “Make ready for sea”. Make ready for sea.  Taste those words.  They are magic, bringing up visions of empty oceans, faraway anchorages, adventures beyond description and life as a cruising vagabond.  Make ready for sea.  Any cruiser will tell you that they…

We left Port Angeles August 21.  Our intention was to visit the National Parks scattered like pearls across the western United States.  I have, over the 30 some years Vinni and I have lived together, told her many times of the fantastic places and parks there are in the US, especially the western part.  Someday,…

What a sorry sight that awaited us when we finally came back aboard Capri.  She has been lying in her slip here in Port Angeles for almost 1.5 years now, alone and tending to herself. She’s fine, but looks depressingly dirty and desolate. When we lift our dinghy, Little Capri off the coachroof and onto…

What a wonderful sight we see when the blue Pacific pops up out in the horizon after four months of Caprise fighting her way up and down the mighty Rockies.  We did give her 3 months off, parked at my brother’s house while we caroused in Florida with the grandchildren and put on an ungodly…

We drove out of Death Valley, over the Sierra Nevada Mountains, down the other side into the gigantic San Joaquin Valley.  As we crossed through the Tehachapi Pass and started our decent, we could see a layer of dark clouds below us.  It took us a few minutes before we recognized it as not clouds,…

It is about 300 miles from Las Vegas to Joshua Tree National Park. A bigger difference in one’s surroundings is difficult to imagine.  Las Vegas is one huge amusement park and Joshua Tree National Park lies in the middle of the Mojave Desert.  The Mojave Desert, for those that have never been there is empty. …

The two brothers weren’t smiling much the morning we said good-bye after staying with Carl for over two months. It was a sad day and I had tears in my eyes, because when will we see him again?  We’ve had a wonderful time here and it was a gift to stay here and see him…

We left Hovenweep and made our way into New Mexico, spending the night at Hotel Walmart in Farmington.  We planned to spend a couple of weeks exploring the northern portion of the state before driving south to visit my brother Carl Ulrich (yes, there is a bit of confusion here.  In the US Carl is…

As we wrote in an earlier blog, it was cold in Bryce Canyon, very cold.  We camped in the snow and the temperature fell to about 5 degrees (F) below freezing at night.  Of course, since this is Vinni and Carsten traveling, our wonderful heater began acting up during the night.  We had to get…

When we left Canyonlands National Park, it was our intention to drive to Moab, a town that lies just between the entrances to Canyonlands North and Arches National Parks (this part of Utah has many National Parks).  We arrive in Moab and found a fine campground in a National Forest just outside.  Moab, on the…