Depths of winter in Taos

Meet....
Frick and Frack...or....Yin and Yang.....or....Heckel and Jeckel. Their names are actually Jack and Lily--brother and sister.  One of our big (and hairy) responsibilities while house-sitting here in Taos, NM.  They are two of the most lovable cats I've ever met. 
There's never enough lap-time for their liking and Lily will often take the shoulders when there is no lap.  Black clothing becomes hairy-white and white clothing becomes hairy-black.  Ya gotta love 'em, t's not a choice.

Frodo and Pippin--looking for the ring?

We left the boat (on the Florida brokerage dock) at sea-level in mid-December and returned to the icy-snowy depths of Taos at 8000ft It was like Frodo crossing from his homeland in the Shire to Caradharas (snowy mountain-pass of Lord of the Rings).  

We celebrated our first family Xmas together in two years with Krista in from Vermont. It snowed....and snowed....and then some more.

Orcs? or dwarves?

And we loved it. Afterall, this was home for 25 years. It made for lots of shoveling, but really awesome skiing.  And since we work up at the Taos Ski Valley---that white stuff is called job security.  It's the first time we had crossed over from the recreational skiing to actually working on the mountain. We are part of the crew of 40 in the Guest Services department. We're the friendly greeters, ticket checkers and tour guides on the mountain.  We carry radios, so we can communicate around the mountain and/or call for ski patrol-medical assistance as well.  It's actually a lot more skiing than we had originally thought.  We hit the floor running at 5:30am to commute 1/2 hour up the mountain and don't stop until we get back home around 6pm, dragging our butts, wiping out our footprints.  
Thank god for the star-lit hot tub here 😅





Ya gotta understand---we haven't worked for 2.5 years and now we're standing on our feet (or skiing) for nine hours a day (4 days/week) in the snow and cold temps for $10/hour.---yep, it's good to be humble.  (I can hear the groans coming off the Snook Bar at the marina---yeah, have another sunset beer for me Ron and Brian---miss you salty guys)

1/30 of Taos Ski Valley

Malia hunting for dud bomb ~~~ 😟

We also get to work around Malia, our oldest daughter--28 yrs.  She is in her 3rd year on the ski patrol and one of three women out of 40 patrol.  She loves her job with avalanche bombing her personal fav.  On our mountain radios, we can hear patrol say,  "Fire in the hole!"  followed by a huge kaboom!!  One guest skier said to me, "sounds like the boys are having fun" and I proudly say, "yep, that was my daughter."

Avalanche rescue dogs, Hattie and June ready for duty

Injury rescue out of big steep bump terrain--Malia on left

Leslie has tele-ski-luv :)  Free-heeling fun!!  

Three years ago the Taos Ski Valley was bought by an environmentally minded billionaire (who also owns several islands in the Bahamas that we visited last winter on Fiesta), and he immediately added a new lift up to a previously 'hike-to' only terrain called Kachina Peak.  It has added a lot more lift-service terrain to our backyard playground and we love it.

New Kachina Peak chairlift

Riding up to heaven...up to 12,481ft

Tim capturing Roswell-UFO cloud on video 

Dos Amigos

One of the best stories to come out of the season, is a small-world tale. Part of our job is to scan lift tickets before skiers can take the chair lift up.  It's not one of our higher purposes in life, but it can be fun or monotonous.  One day, Tim was scanning a season pass card and the last name read Mutchler.  He asked the young woman if she knew of a Dwight Mutchler.  She pointed to the fatherly figure standing next to her.  
"Dwight!  It's Tim Reeves!!!"  
Holy guacamole.  These two had not seen or talked for over 40 years since they travelled together as young men in South America in the '70's. Dwight is where Tim had originally learned about the skiing in Taos, NM.  Long lost traveling friends reunited.  

Long lost friend found us again---JT!!

Throughout the last four months we had old friends from the past drop back into our lives, as well as crazy nephews to remind us not to take it all too seriously. Thanks guys for three days of deep belly laughter----it will cure anything that ails. 

Loco relatives (nephews) to prove our own insanity....

Tim's trademark---who needs ski poles?

Tim's video production creativity has continued from the warm water world into our winter world.  Here's a link to his latest----an imagined perspective from Ernie Blake, the founder of the Taos Ski Valley, revisiting the massive changes to his beloved ski valley.  It's 4 1/2 min.

We have had so much snow, that our season has been extended an extra week---closing date set at April 9th----one more week on the clock and then it's into our next phase.....which is ???   We still don't know.  We're tired of worrying about it, so we will just take it as it comes.  Ya know, it just always seems to work out for us anyway.  After all, who needs ski poles?

Little guys are baaaaack!!!

So dear friends and family and lovable blog followers, hang in there with us, as we continue our mid-life wandering and wondering.  

And remember.....we're all here....cause.....

we're not all there.   Cheers!!    

Paid to smile----and ski :)

Laundry day.....is this the north pole?

It's a new world....

And so the story begins again, after four months gone.

Me and "it's me Al"
Before we left Florida in early July, we rendezvoused one more time with my first college roommate, Alison, aka "it's me Al!"  That was her nickname as college freshmen in 1977, and mine was...... "Wally."  Don't ask.

This is the last palm tree this car will ever see

What happens in Nawlins, stays in Nawlins....

 

We bought a 4-wheel drive car (in Florida--- hard to find actually) and then ventured for five days back across the southern US--via New Orleans,  to Dallas for a visit with relatives and old friends.

Big D....

More great old college buds @ the Burgins

Wyly laughter

And into the dusty plains of west Texas to visit Leslie's brother, Roger, fiancé Vicki and son Dylan Wyly in Lubbock.

Housesitting jobs suck....wink*

Then it was on to the mountains of northern New Mexico where we have a housesitting (and cat-sitting) job for some friends.  It was a beautiful summer at 8,000ft.  

Jack and Lily---double love & double hairy clothes

New Mexico sunsets forever in my heart

Over the four months, we worked a variety of odd jobs.  One memorable one was working security for a crowd of 7,000+ fans at an Alabama Shakes concert in our local park (7,000 people is larger than our town population).  

Fried Wyly girls---with niece Stacy :)

We also volunteered for another three day music festival, and then we ventured to Santa Fe to help our niece and husband work their fried food wagon at the annual Renaissance Festival. Have you ever tried a Pickle Dog?  You should.  It's their personal savory invention and simply amazing.

Rusty and red leaves

"If I ain't happy here, I ain't happy nowhere..."

We were also hired to clean up and winterize several fall gardens. And what a beautiful fall it was.  We love the changing of the seasons and had missed this the last two years while down in Florida.  

While in Taos, Tim produced three more videos. All can be found on youtube.com—-just search for TimReevesVideos or try this link:          https://www.youtube.com/user/TimReevesVideo

He currently has a total of 54 self produced videos on his channel.  Some serious, some….not….so….serious, like “Zorro’s Treasure Hunt” featuring a local eccentric Taos artist and crazy thespian friends.

Leslie pulled the beads and jewelry supplies out of storage and fired back up her Etsy shop—free shipping for the holidays!!!

This right brain creativity is just what we needed to balance out the left brain survival programing that a 35ft sailboat takes.  Balance is always good. 

I also took some of your encouraging comments to heart, and starting writing a story.  Forever Blue is actually more like episodes, like an hour long TV series.  I drew my ideas and inspiration from the many colorful alternative minded characters that populate Taos, NM—an unforgettable and quirky town.  I’ve thought about this written portrayal for years.  When I arrived back in town in July, I unleashed my satirical view of what Taos is like (in my mind anyway).  Quirky it is.  That’s why we all love Taos so much.  I’ve got two episodes written and mostly edited, with more coming.  I might let them go public….and then again, I might not. 

******************

Sea Monkeys to C-dock

Remember these adds about Sea-Monkeys all over comic books and MAD magazine?

"Own a bowlful of happiness---Instant Pets!"

"So eager to please.  They can even be trained"

"Always clowning around, these frolicsome pets swim, stunt and play games with each other."


Well, here's the fun fact truth about these critters (isn't google wonderful for explaining these childhood questions).

Frisky Sea Monkeys

They are actually brine shrimp.  That "frolicsome" activity is either the males fighting or a male/female having some "mommy & daddy" fun that can last for days.  Yep....days.  Males have beards, females do not. They don't have smiling human faces or cute little pot bellies. They don't even have crowns on their heads.  They are itty bitty shrimp. That's it.

They breathe through their feet and are born with one eye, but grow two more upon maturity.  The "train your pets" part is that they naturally gravitate towards your finger and/or a flashlight.  So, you're wondering what this all has to do with Tim and Leslie's great adventure?  

Another skunked metal detecting trip to the beach

We had arrived the end of April back from the Bahamas to Boot Key Harbor, Marathon Florida Keys.  It had gotten very....very....very warm the last two weeks, uncomfortably muggy and sticky.  Even a dinghy trip to the beach and a dip in the ocean was like bath water.  The sultry night air made for sweaty sleeping. Sweat and wet was the tropical look of the daily existence. 




After a month of sitting on a mooring ball in Boot Key Harbor, the growth on the bottom of the boat was ASTOUNDING; fuzzy, hairy things and small barnacles the size of thumbtacks. 

Typical Boot Key Harbor dinghy---our's wasn't this bad

In many cases, months of unchecked growth leads to very large gnarly dreadlocked beards hanging underneath. Which actually resemble some of the salty-bearded boat owners of Boot Key Harbor life (love this laid back harbor).  Anyway, two days before departing we dove in the water with fins, mask and snorkels to shave the crud off. The water was murky, dense and dark green, opposite the Bahamian blue.

Bahamas waters---see anchor 12ft down

We went at it with plastic scrapers.  After an hour, we emerged to find some of that "crud" stuck on and inside our swimsuits and then I noticed some of the particles were itchy and wiggling. Yup, you guessed it....Sea Monkeys. Eeeuuuwww.  A shower rinse on the swim platform left a bunch of 'em dry and stuck dead everywhere.  Learn something new everyday.

C-dock mates reunion in the Keys

On the fun side of things, we had a great time and rendezvous in Boot Key Harbor with several of our C-dock friends from our marina, five other boats to be exact.  We're all on a life path of filling dreams and making memories.

Dingy-drift with the local dinghies

After checking several weather resources, we happily departed Marathon on Tuesday morning May 24th with one of our C-dock friends, Kacy and Larry on S/V Providence, heading 215nm north

Sailing with Providence--Kacy and Larry

back to Regatta Pointe Marina.  It would take 2-3 days traveling an average of 5mph.  We buddy-boated for a day and a night across the Florida Bay---notoriously known as crab-trap-hell---but easy now with the crab season over and further up the west coast of southern Florida.  It was a banner day with beautiful cloud formations, dolphins and flying fish.  A manageable rain shower followed a beautiful sunset as we sailed on through the pearl moon-lit darkness of the night off the Everglades. 
Tim loves and does better than me on these overnight sails. My beauty becomes the beast without sleep.  Nonetheless, we take shifts of 2-3 hours each.  All night long we watched a spectacular lightening storm dancing through the gigantic cumulus clouds to the south, as Scorpio chased Mars across the sky westward. 

About 3am, we communicated via VHF radio to our buddy-boat, Providence, as they peeled off towards Ft Meyers anchorage for the next night, while we sailed Fiesta on further north to stop in one of our favorite anchorages in Pelican Bay, near Charlotte Harbor, mid way up Florida west coast.  Dropped the hook and we were in bed and conked out by 8:30pm, up at 6am to start the final 70 mile leg of our six month journey.  It was another picture perfect day of sailing Fiesta. We were feeling confident and loving this life, until the last seven miles up and around Anna Maria Island into Tampa Bay.  It became the three hour jaunt from hell with 19kt winds on the nose and waves smashing and bashing us backwards.  Fiesta and our amazing Yanmar engine rode that wild hobby horse with determination. Welcome back to reality.  It's in these tough times that Tim takes the helm with strength and perseverance and I tend to whine and curl up in the cockpit corner wishing it over (or wishing I was a dolphin under water watching from a another realm).   We joke about me being the "Captain" and he the "Admiral", either way, it's really good to have back-ups and onboard support. 

Back home on C-dock in Regatta Pt Marina

It's been six months since we left the marina docks the 28th of November with 4.5 months of it spent wandering around the Bahamas. 

I'll repeat---it's all about the journey, not the destination and where one journey seems to end, another one begins, starting all over again; phases and stages.

We have decided to dock the boat in Regatta Pointe Marina in Palmetto, FL instead of St Petersburg City marina (where we are still on a wait list anyway).  We will be fixing onboard projects for a month while plugged into the dock for air conditioning, thank god. Around the first of July we will return to Taos for the next four months (or longer) to housesit for some friends leaving for Thailand.  We also will be looking for jobs (anyone got one?).  

Stay tuned....as we continue looking for "what's next?"

Happy sails and trails!

Sailing Angels

"Sailing Angels"

Tim's latest video

Song written and sung by our good friend 

Shake Russell

TimReevesVideo on youtube.com

It's all about da love.....and rum

After eight nights in the protected harbor of Hatchet Bay in Eleuthera, we busted out one fair day and made our way westbound 16 miles across to Current Cut, a gap in the islands with a monstrous current. So get your ducks in a row and watch your p's and q's.  We did, making sure the tide/current AND wind were in sync flowing with us. We clocked our fastest speed yet at 11 knots (12.6mph)------yeah Fiesta!! woohoo!

Spanish Wells

We were on our way to the very northern island in the Eleuthera chain called Spanish Wells.  It's claim to fame is the largest fishing fleet in the Bahamas for lobsters and many other fish varieties. It was a culture shock on several levels.  First was the clean and well kept appearance of the soft pastel colored houses.  Second, was that the citizens were all white Bahamians, descendants of the British Loyalists that fled other parts of the Bahamas when a slave uprising drove them out in the mid 1800's.  It soon became all to obvious to us that there was a definite gene strain common to all. Not only was there a physical similarity with the family name of Pinder everywhere, but there was this....accent, unlike anything I've ever heard.  I kept expecting a mid-west or Texas accent to come out of these common looking white folks, but instead, it was truly indescribable.  A linguist would have a blast with this one.  One young waitress pronounced Bahamas as Bee-yamas, very cute if not quirky.

S/V Grateful (Dead)---farewell Jamie and Niki

But here's the best part of our stop in Spanish Wells, the first night we had just crawled into the V-berth bed and I checked phone messages.  Lo and behold, an old childhood friend was anchored in the same harbor about 150 yards out from us and they were leaving early in the morning to catch up with us in the last harbor we had just left!!!!  We jumped out of bed and lowered the dinghy. We reinstalled the gas tank and outboard, started it up and off we went into the dark to a distant catamaran with a fading light shining from the cabin. It was a great reunion of Elenbaas and Wyly that our partying parents in the 1960's would have been proud of.

Tim, Leslie, Niki and Jamie Elenbaas--sailors passing in the night

We hung together for a couple of days exploring the island, reminiscing old times and catching up on the current news.  This was yet another amazing "large ocean....small world" story.  
Jamie and Niki will continue on through the Bahamas, down to the eastern Caribbean and eventually over to the Mediterranean and onward.  

Sail safely my friends.....may the winds favor your wandering direction.

I tell ya, his whole trip has been about the journey, not the destination. There's been some high hi's and low lo's, as with everything in life.  The lo side of this life is the farewells, it's hard to see a boat pull out of harbor.  It sets in a certain melancholy that says to us, time to move on too.  And so we did. 

Dolphins off the bow

We took our departure from Spanish Wells, westbound to the beautiful Berry Islands and found serenity surrounded by turquoise blue for seven days.

Berry Islands.....or is it Gilligan's Island?

The conch critter is still in there!  

Another secret deep blue hole--Hoffman's Cay

  

Great Harbor Cay--north Berry Islands

We spent four nights in Great Harbor Cay waiting for a weather window for a 76 mile passage (19 hours) over to the Bimini Islands, but made a quick decision to leave one afternoon around 3pm and go all night with a full moon. It was one of those difficult passages, though the winds were a perfect 10-15kts, the rolling waves on our beam threw us around quite a bit. Thank goodness for that full moon to keep us oriented. We arrived in Cat Cay anchorage at 10am, wiped out.  

Final Bahamian Island.....Cat Cay---south of Bimini

Gulf Stream---pics can't capture those steep waves....

This was our final stop in the Bahamas. Time to go home for real. We slept all day and spent an extra day and night resting and waiting for that picture perfect window to cross the BIG river, the Gulf Stream, back to Florida, about 70 nm. It was Friday April 22 (oops, mariner taboo says never leave a harbor on Friday). When we woke up, the winds were on the frisky side for a GS crossing, SE at 15-20kts, which means the waves will also be high, but we went for it because the next few days were going to be calm and we're not into motoring for the next 60 miles.  With a reefed mainsail and full jib, we made 6-7kts for the first part of the day.  Winds were actually perfect, but the waves were exhilarating with the taller ones hitting us on the broadside at about 10 feet. The weather experts predicted these waves to be 4-6ft, because they take the average height of the highest 1/3 of the waves, but individual waves may be more than twice this height.  Nonetheless, we were so happy to have an Island Packet yacht that day. We sailed her strong and she handled it beautifully.  To compensate for the strong GS current, we steered 25 degrees southwest-ward off our direct 240 degree bearing for eight hours, until we finally felt the Gulf Stream push against us dropping our speed to 2-3kts. Oh yeah, here she is.  So we had to fall off northward of our intended bearing to make any way.  There's nothing that says: "Gulf Stream River here!"  

Gulf Stream approx location

The edges move around east and west over the 2000ft deep trench.  You just know it when the compass and speed goes weird. 

Long after a beautiful sunset we pulled into Key Largo to the northside of Rodriquez Key and dropped the hook among a dozen sleeping boats at 11pm, exhausted.  The downstairs salon area looked like a war zone. There was stuff everywhere.  Even when I thought everything had been tucked away or battened down, the mighty ocean showed me different.  The mighty ocean---keeping sailors humble for centuries and chasing that bottle of rum.  

This current blog is being reported to you from the warm and secure bosom of Boot Key Harbor in Marathon, Florida Keys, where we will hang for the next month on a mooring ball.

Here we have run into several of our crazy neighbors from C-dock in our home marina of Regatta Point and more are enroute on there way here. It's gonna be fun to see them all again.  As of today, we are scheduled to return to Palmetto, FL (Regatta Point Marina) by June 1st and then decide where our future will be from there.

       

Last note observations: there are a few things we would like to include after our 4.5 months in the Bahamas.  First of all is the abundance of friendliness of the citizens.  Except for one tyrant in one harbor, the general majority of Bahamians are "all about da love".  It's customary to say "hello!"  to everyone you pass. It is so warm and friendly.
Also remarkable here is the security we felt while drifting around.  At no time did we feel ourselves or Fiesta or our dinghy in jeopardy. (though we did not visit Nassau, Freeport or Marsh Harbor where caution is prudent). 

Another note of interest was the availability of fresh veggies.  Most come from afar and always via the Mailboat, though that's typical anywhere in the world these days. We ate very well supplying our meals from the the little mom and pop stores all over the islands.  We actually both ate well, lost weight and gained muscle in this live-aboard transient lifestyle.

Lastly, because we don't favor the drama side of life, we went prepared and though there was a daily risk to everything we did, we stayed on the cautious side of that fulcrum.  With due diligence on engine and boat maintenance, we had only three minor repairs and returned happy and satisfied with a journey of 1138 nautical miles (=1309 standard miles). All those miles and only $300 spent on diesel.

Well done....now let's have some rum!