Hey everyone,
Kay and I are happy that we can now start up the blog again.
We had to shut it down because someone that knows us (our
friends or someone I work with) turned us into the State of Washington for
failure to pay a “user fee” to put our boat on Washington waters. Little did we know? Evidently when a non-resident brings their
boat into Washington State for more than 180 days, they are required to pay
this water user fee which is equal to their sales tax. The tax is around 10%. For us with our yacht and riverboat, it
amounted to just over $15,000 that we had to pay out last week. They were using this blog as evidence and our
attorney wanted us to stop it for a while.
Yes I don’t like the tax and I believe it is wrong to charge
non-residents this fee just to float their boat on the golden waters of
Washington. But what hurts even more is
that either one of our friends or someone I know at work turned us in, trying
to ruin our retirement plans. To think
someone would sink to such a low. It
makes me think of the secret police and the Nazis. Our attorney is trying to get a copy of any
recordings made and if he is successful, then I may recognize the voice. It has
been a tough few months for Kay and I. We almost gave up our plans. Enough
of this
We have been busy over the summer getting ASD ready for its
first big adventure. I have finished the
installation of all the electronics with the last big item being satellite TV. We are now concentrating on safety gear. Kay got her Gumby Suit (Cold water immersion
suit) and mine is on the way. We will be
practicing getting them on in less than a minute. They will also be equipped with a locator beacon
so if we do have to go into the water rescue personnel will be able to find us.
This past weekend we went to Walker Island, one of our
favorite places to go. Ron, Kathy, Jerry
and Laura joined us. Since I had the Sat
TV, we could watch some college football games…Go Dawgs! The boat seems to be running great, but I
have a lot of little things to do before we go.
Kay and I would like to thank you for following us and sticking with us.
Happy Fall equinox! We have 7 months till we depart for the Inside Passage.....dang I still have a lot of work to do.
Kay and I would like to thank you for following us and sticking with us.
Happy Fall equinox! We have 7 months till we depart for the Inside Passage.....dang I still have a lot of work to do.
My buddy Cruiser
awesome sunset 12/12 hours Happy fall
On our way to Walker Island
Bow pointing west
The fall and winter has some great sunsets
Midnight Sun at Walker
Great clear warm weekend
Fresh Willow Grove corn. The best there is....
George Emery heading home
Jerry and Kay in deep discussions
Looks like ASD is ready to head north
Midnight Sun heading home
We are heading home
Kay gets her Gumby suit
Practice practice
She and I will be practicing getting these on this winter.
Before we go north she must be able to put her suit on in less than 1 minute.
