It's in!

Reminds me of the joke on the old Rosanne Show: she talked about honeymooning in the town of Izit... and she and Dan stayed at the Izit Inn.

Cut to the chase: the boat is in the water.  But, it has been a runnin' around kinda day.  No, we didn't get the run-around at the boat dealer: they took good care of us, and had our steering issue taken care of faster than we expected.

We were up early, and I got the boat ready for the road so we could be in Harlingen for our 9:00 am appointment.  It's about 45 miles away, and, as is our usual style, we were 10 minutes early.  At 9:00, I did the paperwork, and two service guys were right on it.  I was planning on changing the oil myself, but I asked, "Would you have time to get the oil changed, too?

"Yes, sir - we can do that."

While they were working on the boat, we went to the nearby Sam's Club.  Masks and gloves, and carefully staying 6' away from anyone else in the store.  I realized, this is the first time I've been in a store since we got home from Arizona.  We made a stop at the pharmacy, and stocked up on meat and wine (nothing else we needed).  Back to the Tracker dealer in Bass Pro... while we were looking at boat stuff, one of the service writers said, "Mr. Bathurst - we have your boat ready."

It had been one hour.  I appreciate the service here, because I am able to make an appointment and know they will get right on it (I always schedule a first thing in the morning time).  We pulled around to their service bay, hooked up the trailer, and made the 45 mile drive for home.

A gas war in Los Fresnos (about half way) resulted in us getting gas for $1.35/gallon.  The CR-V handles this light-weight boat, but the slab front on the boat makes for crappy mileage.

Back in Port Isabel, the install of new power poles and lines in town makes for slow going as the east-bound lanes have to merge into one... and at a place that there are no alternate back streets.  Our bridge was out while a tug and 3 barges went through.  Joan brought a cold lunch for us, in case we got held up with the boat... didn't need it there, but it hit the spot while waited the 20 minutes for the bridge.  We put the boat in the driveway, and I got it ready to launch.  We swapped the regular hitch for a stinger (gives us more reach to back the trailer into the water), hooked up the boat, and drove to the ramp.

Joan opened the gate at the ramp while I backed the boat almost in.  Our routine: I get on the boat while she backs it the rest of the way in.  I fire up the motor - test the steering (all good), and back off the trailer.  "See you at home!"  While I bring the boat around, Joan rinses the trailer, puts it in the driveway, and meets me at the dock to grab lines.  On the way from the ramp to our dock...

Unusual for me: I had butterflies in my stomach as I motored around.  I looked for dophins along the way, didn't see any.

Joan was back home faster than I could get there, so she swapped out the stinger hitch for the regular one.  I pulled up to the dock, she handled the lines on the front while I did the aft, and the boat is finally "home."

No, we didn't go for a ride.  Well, not in the boat.  In order to get our driveway back (so I can get the scoots out), the trailer needs to go back to our storage unit... which is about 6 miles from the same Sam's Club we were in this morning; different road, though.

Motorhome out, Joan swept while I backed the trailer in; she positioned the trailer while I pulled the motorhome back in.  We have this down.  Still, it takes a lot of running around.

Back towards home; even more traffic backed up thanks to the power pole construction.  By the time we pulled into the driveway, we both needed to just kick back.  Tomorrow is another day, and there may be some boating... but, today was go-go-go.  The take-away: the boat is in and ready to go.  :-)

I need to learn from Rufus: take time to chill...

He loves his "big chair."