The Beetle Has Landed

Crossing Puget Sound Friday evening, Sept. 11. The odyssey is over.

The Edmonds/Kingston ferry

Hauling out at Lake Wenatchee, WA

Lake Wenatchee sits just north of Hwy 2 in the Washington Cascades. The lake's known for its high winds but Friday there was just enough to ghost along or practice with the sculling oar. It was the last sail of the trip. Notice the boat is in one piece.

Grand Coulee, WA

Thurs, Sept. 10.........I sailed this morning on Park Lake, one of the lakes of the Grand Coulee in Washington state. It's at the base of Dry Falls - at one time the largest waterfall in the world. 3 1/2 miles wide, 400' high.

You can just make out James Bond in the shadows.

This is the interior of Power Station #3 at the dam. Beneath each of the circular blue covers is a generator. Grand Coulee is the largest producer of electricity in the US.

Spillway of the Grand Coulee Dam

I took the tour Thurs afternoon after leaving Park Lake. The scale of the photo is misleading. Each of the vertical slots in the spillway could accommodate the Beetle or my Ford Rangerette. They're eight feet wide.

Lake Pend Oreille, ID

Tuesday, Sept 8.............Overnighted at Farragut State Park on Lake Pend Oreille, south of Sandpoint, ID. The park is located on the site of the former WWII Farraugt Naval Training Station. Pend Oreille is one of the deepest lakes in the US - about 1100'.

But I chose to stay in Libby.

Tues morning the tire shop said I wouldn't have done any damage driving on the spare. I could have driven to Sandpoint. To Spokane. I could have driven to South America.

Downstream of the falls

Kootenai Falls

Sun, Sept 6............I had another flat tire passing thru Troy, MT, just west of Libby. Which is pretty much just west of nowhere. I decided not to pull the trailer with the smaller spare tire and holed up in Libby until the Les Schwab shop opened after Labor Day. The falls are on the outskirts of town.

Lake McDonald, Glacier National Park

The wind picked up and drove us off the lake. Paula had to return to work so I dropped her off at the airport the following day in Kalispell, MT.

Would somebody hold the tour bus?

Remote untouched wilderness

Paula and I hiked high into the remote alpine country on a secluded trail to photograph this mountain goat.

...here.

Our campsite at Fish Creek. But we're told you can here the orchestra playing at the lodge on a calm evening.

We arrived at the lodge in Glacier on Saturday and walked through the lobby on the way to our room...

Escape from North Dakota

In slowing the trip down we've added a few extra days. Who would have thought 3 nights in North Dakota? We've been in MT the last few days - overnighting in Glascow, Fort Benton and Glacier Park on Fri and Sat. This photo was taken after leaving Hwy 2, detouring south to Fort Benton, Great Falls and back north to Glacier.

Paula at the wheel

A few days ago on Lake Itasca.

Lake Sakakawea on the Missouri River, ND

We spent Tuesday, Sept 2 at Lewis and Clark State Park near Williston, ND. This was the only campground where we arrived early enough to put up the tent during daylight.

Theodore Roosevelt National Park, ND

This is the campsite they assign when you give the reservation agents a hard time.

Devils Lake, ND

North Dakota.........it's the thin line separating the sky from the water.

Searching for plan B

Making 250 miles a day while fitting in sailing was too hectic a pace. At Devil's Lake, ND we decided to cut back and shorten the days. Here's someone else looking for plan B. We took this photo near Fertile, MN - about 45 mins west of Itasca State Park.

One slip and ninety days later she'll show up in the Gulf of Mexico.

Paula crossing the headwaters of the Mississippi River.

Lake Itasca

Itasca State Park, MN

We finally drove out of the rain by the time we crossed into Minnesota. Here's Lake Itasca the morning after our arrival.

As close as we got to the Apostle Islands

High wind and rain kept us in the harbor in Bayfield, WI.

Little Bohemia Lodge, Manitowish Waters, Wisconsin

John Dillinger fled through the window here after being surrounded by twenty federal agents in 1934. Johnny Depp sat here during the filming of Public Enemies. Kent and Paula ate a walleye sandwich here.

North Shore of Lake Huron, Ontario

Rain has been hounding us since Maine but this turned out to be a beautiful day on Lake George in Killarney Provincial Park.

St. Lawrence River

I was the only boat that came back in without any fish.

Wellesley Island State Park, NY

The St. Lawrence River was a good opportunity to try out the sculling oar. This is off Wellesley Island, one of the Thousand Islands.

On the water in Lake Placid

If he could sit up, this would be his view.

The backside of the 120-meter ski jump.

Lake Placid. As good a place as any to lie a-mouldering.

John Brown lived for a short time near lake Placid and is buried on the outskirts at the family farm.

Lake Placid, NY

The trip has become a race to see how far west I can get before I put the Beetle in the water. Fitting the sculling oar to the transom in Orono, ME and a flat tire west of Skowhegan after the garages had closed put me about a day behind. I skipped Lake Champlain and pressed on to Lake Placid. Heavy rain during much of the night. Here's the lake lapping at my tent site.

Camden Harbor, Maine

Wed, Aug 19th I drove most of the day from Portsmouth, NH inland to Houlton, ME. The Canadian border near Houlton marks the beginning of Hwy 2, the route I plan to follow west back to Seattle. The first planned sail was to be in Camden harbor on Friday. I overnighted at Camden Hills State Park Thurs night and woke up to fog and no wind the next morning. This is the head of the harbor.

Judith Point Lighthouse, RI

Judith Point Beach, RI

Where people go to walk off dinner at Iggy's Chowder House - the beach near Judith Point Lighthouse.

What my tent looks like to the boogyman

This is the tent set up without the fly at Fisherman's Memorial State Park near Judith Point. Lighting a candle lantern isn't the first thing that comes to mind when it's already 85 inside the tent. It's a small price to pay for the ambiance.

Maiden voyage

Mark from Beetle, Inc spent most of Tuesday afternoon patiently checking me out on the boat. He's sailed a beetle for 30 years. Here he's wondering if I'll make it through the first week.

Loading the Beetle

I arrived in Newport around noon on Monday with a new boat trailer in tow. I'd barely been in town 5 minutes when a lady rear-ended me at a stop sign. No damage to the trailer, but it put a sizable gash in her hood. I towed the Beetle Monday night to Fisherman's Memorial State Park where Narragansett Bay empties into the sound.

Per Peterson of IYRS handing over the keys to the Beetle

It's a beautiful boat. Spent Monday afternoon at IYRS finalizing the paperwork and loading the Beetle. I received some nice comments at the boat ramp on its first sail the following day.

Raise the speed limit and you could thin it out a bit

Near Wareham, MA. It didn't occur to me while planning the trip that I'd be pulling a heat wave across the country with me. Camping out seemed like a great idea until everything in the truck started sticking to me. Last night I camped in a Best Western.

I'm amongst my people

Cape Cod KOA campground near Plymouth, MA

It'll Do

Newport, RI

I dropped by the IYRS campus in Newport on my way to overnighting in Plymouth, MA. My boat's the blue one in the middle. A few blemishes to buff out before I pick it up tomorrow morning. I like the shark motif.

Follow Your Dream

Ellensburg, WA

I happened to stop in Ellensburg to recruit crew for my trip. This gentleman elbowed his way to the front of the line when I asked for a show of hands of who wanted to go to sea in a 12' boat with me. He's following his dream.

I'm hoping a suitable name for the boat will appear as a revelation somewhere along the trip. Toad's Express, yup that's got cache.