Breakfast Cruise...

What a great premise - we take passengers to an island where a crew has set up to prepare and serve fresh cooked meals. The boat crew helps dish out the food... kinda reminds me of a "chuck wagon" style, but with the spectacular Tetons as a backdrop.

It was chilly this morning when I got onboard the boat at 7:00... frost on the windows. Warm up the engines and check out the boat before we board passengers for a 7:30 departure. It's a beautiful way to start the day.

I'll try to get some photos on tomorrow's breakfast cruise.

First Day...

My first day on the job. I went on one cruise as an observer, a trip to the clinic to pee in a cup and blow in a breathalyzer, back to the boat, where I drove and one of the other captains was an observer, another cruise.

Here's a look at the cabin...



And my "office" for the summer...



Certainly, quite the view! The Tetons are magnificent. The boat is comfortable and stable... and a surprising number of passengers this early in the season.

Tomorrow - my first breakfast cruise.

Officially Official

I checked in today. There were some computer problems, so I got through most of the process. First day on the job is tomorrow. In the meantime, between going back to see if the computer was up, and the pants (for the uniform) were ready, we got to look around a bit. We know where the employee dining room is located, the post office, the laundry. While cruising around, we drove by the mooring balls at Leeks Marina and came across a C-Dory on a mooring...


A mediocre image, but you can also see the low clouds... most of the day was off and on drizzle, temps in the 40s, and a cold breeze. Like in the Pacific Northwest, there were a few sunbreaks. On the bright side, the weather trend is improving.

Up, Over, and Down...

The Love Shack has landed. We don't fit in the employee campground, so we are in the "real" campground. Not a problem - we have 50 amp service, ran a cable WAY out to get satellite TV, and (as you can tell from this post) we have a wireless broadband signal... weak, but if it's always at least this good, I will be content. The campground manager is our next door neighbor, so if we need anything... There is room for the HH, motorcycle trailer, and the truck on our paved site. It's snug; anything would be after Hart Ranch.

I check in tomorrow. It sounds like it may be more hours than originally discussed.

It turned out to be a beautiful ride up, over, and down. No ugly wind! No precip, until just now (5:00 pm). If the signal holds up, I'll get some photos posted.

Little Izzy isn't sure about all this... LOTS of trees, no wide open grassy area. There are little critters (ground squirrels) running all around.

On edit, some photos...

Coming up to the pass...

Our first view of the Tetons (through the grubby windshield)...

At a pull-out in the park...

Getting settled in the campground...

Blowing Like Stink...

We drove about 2/3 of the way to the Tetons today. I don't mean to make this all about the weather, but the wind was out of the south at about a gazillion miles per hour. Of course, I am exaggerating... it was out of the south southwest at about a gazillion miles per hour! We were traveling mostly south, then west. If I had not agreed to show up early, I would have pulled off or never started today. The truck and HH handled it fine... but we did feel passing trucks more than usual. But with the wind gusting consistently above 40, getting out of the truck was a lot of work - the wind had the door "pinned" shut. Speaking of pinned, we had to put the pin in the step today; first time we've used it. With the strong crosswind, it was actually blowing the step out!

On the bright side, much of the drive was in blowing dust/dirt. We are down for the night in an RV park in Riverton, WY... I plugged in, hooked up the cable, and called it good. I violated my 2/2/2 Rule, but I may try to make up for it with 2 drinks tonight.

Forecast for tomorrow: less windy (20+), chance of thunderstorms (possible snow at the 9,600' elevation of the pass we have to cross), and a high of 60 degrees in the Tetons tomorrow. Never dull.

As always, Izzy took it all in stride. Once we put her in the truck and get ready to roll, we open her carrier. She divides her time between Joan's lap and her blanket on the console... and sleeps through most of the traveling.

With the wind on the nose or a quartering headwind, fuel mileage was atrocious. We were in 5th gear much of the day. Big Red likes to see 60 mph before she shifts to 6th. This was one of the rare times that wind and hills frequently kept us below 60 mph. We passed quite a few motorcyclists going the other direction... white knuckled and leaning a bunch (even on the straight stretches).

Hi Ho Hi Ho...

It's off to work we go. The marina manger called, asking if we could come any earlier for our summer jobs. Yep; so we'll be wrapping up our time in the Black Hills and heading west.

The severe weather from the last post did some damage in western South Dakota, including nearby flooding. BIG gusts during the evening and night rocked the HitchHiker. No damage to us, but the 50+ mph gusts and heavy thunderstorms made for a restless night

I got out on the motorcycle yesterday and stopped to visit an old sailing buddy, Steve. He couldn't wait to show me his newest "toy" - a Porsche Boxster S. What a gorgeous car and an amazing performer. He said, "You just have to drive this..."

I told him, "I don't have room in my life for a sports car right now." But, what a machine!

We had supper with Steve and Jan, then went back to their place to go over some charts for an upcoming trip Steve will be doing to the San Juan Islands. It's one of our favorite places to cruise, so we were able to give them tips on places to check out. It got me excited, just talking about the area. If we were not going to do these summer jobs, I'm sure we'd be heading to the PNW for the summer.

But, we are excited about our up-coming summer experience. Heading out tomorrow.

A friend on the C-Brats drove through the Colter Bay area and got a photo of my summer "office"...


Not as stylish as Wild Blue, but designed for a purpose - scenic cruise boat. I'm looking forward to seeing it in person.

Remember when you were a kid and you were excited about going to summer camp? Or when you got to be a teenager and you could get a summer job? This is going to work out well, since I seem to be entering my third childhood.

Ugly weather...

Tornado warnings (several sighted in western SD), hail (the size of baseballs), heavy rain, flash floods, wind... but other than that, it was a nice day.

I watched weather radar on the computer and my Droid to see if we needed to head for shelter. Nice technology... we could see the worst of the storm system slide just east of us, and stayed put.

Driving back from Rapid City, the rain was so heavy that cars were pulled over on the side of the road and hiding in underpasses. We wanted to get back before Spring Creek ran over its banks... little Izzy was in the HitchHiker by herself.

All turned out well, but the sky was as nasty looking as I've seen it. Our timing was good - hail in the northern part of town as we headed south (just a few pea size hailstones hit us). Heavy rain that we drove out of when we got to Hart Ranch. We unloaded the truck in a light rain, and the sky really opened up and poured once we were inside. Flood warnings all over the Black Hills as I write this.

I was surprised by all the thunderstorm activity with the temperature, in the low 50s... 3 to 4 inches of rain in a couple hours. Golf ball size hail in the area that we had just vacated.

We were ready to go to shelter if necessary - we brought Izzy's carrier in, had the raincoats ready, and know where the closest solid shelter is. Thank goodness we didn't have to implement that plan.

Whew!