Back Up and Running

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.

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.